Why You Should Invest in Summer Camp for Your Child’s Future

As parents, it can be hard to imagine sending your child away for two to four weeks in the summer. Not having direct, continuous communication with your kids is rare these days, and often it’s parents who are more nervous about going to camp than their kids! (Here’s a great article about how parents can alleviate their own anxiety about their kids going to camp.)

But don’t forget: The many benefits of summer camp and outdoor adventures should far outweigh any parental hesitation. Below, we outline why tech-free summer programs are a necessary investment in your child’s future.

Friendships and social connections

In Jonathan Haidt’s recent book The Anxious Generation, he points out that kids’ time spent playing with friends (in real life, not online) has plummeted since the rise of smartphones. Summer camp has phenomenal benefits for children’s social development:

  • It helps combat anxiety and loneliness caused by lack of in-person connection.
  • It introduces them to a whole new group of people they probably otherwise never would have met.
  • It provides the opportunity to immerse oneself into a brand-new community, which teaches kids how to get along with peers from different backgrounds and varied hobbies, interests, personalities, and belief systems.
  • It shows kids how to find commonalities among new friends to create tight bonds and that our world is much bigger than they originally thought.
  • It also gives kids the chance to be themselves—not someone they’re pigeon-holed into being at school, or a persona they think they should adopt based on social media’s standards.

Yes, kids can—and should!—do hard things

All too often, children are told they cannot do something, as parents think it is too hard. Even not giving your child the chance to do something (because you’re not sure if they can handle it) sends the message that you don’t believe in their abilities or strengths.

Camps operate with the kids in mind and help them find their inner strength. Adventure Treks has 33 years of experience working with kids in the outdoors. We know our students can climb Mt. St. Helens and conquer 10 miles in a day with 4,500 feet of elevation gain. We know they can hike in the woods for five days, with everything they need on in their backpack. We know they can learn to manage negative feelings in a constructive way and receive feedback on how to grow. We know they can navigate an airport by themselves. We know they can have fun outside in bad weather. In fact, we know that not only can do they do it, but they’ll thrive with the opportunity!

Challenges are important for adolescents because it allows them to push the boundaries of what they thought was possible. Facing challenges helps them:

  • Build confidence in themselves.
  • Develop problem-solving skills.
  • Adopt a more positive and growth-oriented mindset because they might not actually succeed the first time. And that’s OK! They should be given the opportunity to fail (at AT, it’s in a safe, supportive environment)—and the chance to pick themselves back up and try again.
  • Grow a stronger sense of resilience and work ethic, and the attitude that “I can do anything if I put the work in.”

Letting kids face challenges and do hard things at camp translates seamlessly to life at home. On the first day of school, they’ll stand a little taller, less intimidated by new faces because they learned at camp that they can indeed make friends with anyone. They’ll try to run a little faster at track because they believe in themselves, or be inspired to join the science club because they found a new passion at camp, or better prioritize their homework because they learned time management skills during the summer.

Don’t sell your kids short. Give them some credit and let them do hard things. It’s not only good for them—it’s crucial to their development into healthy, competent young adults.

Tech-free

I’ll reference Anxious Generation again (we’ll be posting a longer blog on this book soon), which dives into the decline of a play-based childhood and the rapid rise of the phone-based childhood. It’s no secret that kids spend too much time immersed in social media or video games. Parents oftne lament the difficulty of prying their children’s eyes away from screens. But there is hope!

Adventure Treks (like many camps) is completely tech-free—students hand over phones immediately upon arrival. They soon learn how rewarding and refreshing it is to not be bombarded with everything the digital world throws at them. They don’t worry about how many likes they got an TikTok because they’re feeling liked and appreciated in person! It is probably one of the most important resets to their brains that we can give them.

Leadership and responsibility

Adventure Treks allows teenagers to step up and lead their peers with guidance and support from our instructors. Back to Anxious Generation: As we continue to give our kids more freedoms as they mature, so too should their responsibilities increase. Trusting teenagers and charging them with productive tasks gives them a greater sense of purpose and helps them feel useful and valued. It also keeps them grounded and more deeply connected to the people around them. At Adventure Treks, teens have endless opportunitities to take on leadership roles, like:

  • Taking responsibility for themselves at the airport, for example, when they’re flying to Adventure Treks (often traveling solo for the first time).
  • Becoming leader of the day for their backpacking groups, helping plan the day and navigate on trail.
  • Cooking meals for each other, ensuring that everyone gets enough food to eat.
  • Taking part in food shops and learning how to navigate a grocery store, manage a budget, and buy food for a large group.

Harvard agrees: In an ongoing 75-year study, researchers found that kids who do chores are more successful as adults because they adopted a solid work ethic early on. At Adventure Treks, students will take on different tasks around camp to make sure our trip runs smoothly; they’ll help wash dishes, set up and take down camp, organize gear, and so on. They learn how valuable pitching in is, and they see it as not just work—but as a way to connect with those around you, and as a way to care more deeply about the community you’re in.

Our instructors guide our students into these roles and then take a step back, giving students a real voice. Staff will provide feedback if and when needed, and debrief how that student’s leadership role went. What a great “low consequence” way to learn to lead!

Positive social environment

As teens go through middle and high school, the pressures of drugs, alcohol, and the “party side” of being a teenager increase. Summer camps show students that they can have even more fun and make greater friendships without those kinds of pressures. Our traditions, like plus / delta during evening meeting, shows students the value of publicly recognizing others for their hard work and acts of kindness and service, which in turn encourages everyone to be their best self.  Our instructors act as role models, helping espouse great values that every family can appreciate, like kindness, selflessless, respect, and wholesome silliness.

Personal challenges

Your child will at some point struggle in life—it’s important to learn at a young age that this is not a bad thing, but rather something that makes us stronger and better. At camp, a personal challenge might look like homesickness, or learning how to have interpersonal conflict, or pushing yourself forward on an uphill trail. If we see our students engaged in too challenging a struggle, we’ll step in and provide support and guidance—they won’t be alone. By facing personal challenges at camp, they’ll learn strategies to help them face anything head-on—and they’ll be well-equipped to leave home after high school and live on their own.

Being able to lead a group, make genuine social connections, do hard things, be a crucial member of a thriving community—these are all important in the workplace and life! When you send your child to camp, you’re not only setting them up for a life-changing summer, you’re also providing them with the tools to succeed later in life.

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Adventure Treks’ Scouting Trip to Scotland

“And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.” – Albus Dumbledore

I knew that some filming in Harry Potter movies had taken place in Scotland, but I didn’t realize how much of an influence this country had on the series’ setting!

Soon after our scouting trip to Norway, Amanda and I set off for Scotland to walk through our summer 2025 itinerary. Before we left, I was unsure what to expect. I had grown up with stories about the Highlands and lochs and munros from my mom, as she had lived there for a year after college. Prior to our arrival, all I could picture was black lakes with a lurking monster, a few sea cliffs, haggis, and bagpipe players everywhere. (Not very imaginative, I know.)

The reality could not be further from the truth! Scotland has a STUNNINGLY diverse and beautiful landscape, with lofty, windswept peaks; quiet, mysterious lochs; rugged coastlines… and even “Caribbean” beaches! We were constantly greeted with a warm “Hiya!” by friendly locals, continuously impressed by delicious food, and regularly in awe at the rolling hills stretching as far as the eye could see. (Sadly, we did not hear the bagpipes until our last day in Scotland.)

Just a few minutes outside Edinburgh and Glasgow, the countryside beckons: Sheep being herded by Border collies, shaggy Heilan’ Coos (Highland cows) peacefully grazing, castles and ruins peeking out from the birch forests, and hillwalking* trailheads in every town (hillwalking is one of Scotland’s most popular pastimes).

The day we arrived, we climbed to a small summit in Loch* Lomond and The Trossachs National Park that overlooked the loch itself and Ben Lomond, and which also sat on top of the Highland Boundary Fault. Superb views of the loch, lots of islands, and rolling green fields awaited at the top (as did a herd of friendly cows munching on grass).

The next day, we hiked the last stage of the West Highland Way, Scotland’s first long-distance hiking route at 96 miles long. Compared to the Appalachian or Pacific Crest trails, it’s not that long. But what it lacks in length, it makes up for in history and beauty. That day, we walked for 15.5 miles from Kinlochleven to Fort William, winding through the Mamores range of the Grampian Mountains. Ben Nevis (Beinn Nibheis), the United Kingdom’s highest peak, calls the Grampians home, and the 4,413-foot mountain is on full display as you descend into Fort William. Civilization quickly falls away as pink orchids and violet bluebells dot the fields on either side. We even saw pine martens darting across the trail! We happily topped off our day with some gelato in town.

We also hiked to Steall Falls, one of the country’s tallest cascades at about 390 feet and right next to Ben Nevis. The discerning eye might recognize this famous waterfall from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (when Harry is being chased by the Hungarian Horntail during the Triwizard Tournament).

The next few days took us along the Great Glen Way canoe trail, Scotland’s famous water route from Fort William to Inverness via the Caledonian Canal. (We paddle southwest to northeast so that the prevailing winds are at our backs.) Not only is this a unique and beautiful way to see Scotland, but it’s also really neat to see the route’s 29 lock* gates, including Neptune’s Staircase. (We were lucky enough to pull up just in time to see this lock in operation.) Students will paddle the waters of Loch Lochy and Loch Ness for five days, camping on the “river” banks each night. Bonus: There are lots of opportunities to grab ice cream and other fun treats when we portage our boats! We’ll also get to paddle right up to a castle and explore it. (Unfortunately, there was no sign of Nessie as we explored Loch Ness.)

Our last big adventure included a hike up Scotland’s second-highest peak, Ben* Macdui in the rugged Cairngorms. This particular range in the Highlands lends itself to endless rock climbing, skiing, and even ice climbing adventures, as there are many large rock formations and snow patches lingering in this arctic-tundra environment. It’s also home to Britain’s only herd of reindeer. This 10-mile round-trip boasts 2,000 feet of elevation gain (so a little easier than our Mt. St. Helens summit hike). However, it’s no easy walk in the park, especially for our October visit, when weather is famously finicky—we were blown over a few times by the wind, while getting pelted with sideways rain. Luckily for our students, June, July, and August typically see many more blue skies! We celebrated with a cappucino and caramel shortbread in the lodge at the trailhead.

For our final day, we headed back to Edinburgh, but not before stopping by the River Tay to see our rafting and canyoning location. We also fed some Heilan’ Coos, watched a sheep dog and shearing demonstration at a working farm (and fed some baby lambs!), and walked around downtown Edinburgh, including the picturesque street that inspired Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. We met with our in-country partner, Tom, to go through our itinerary and finalize a few of the smaller details, including trailheads, lodging, and the moments of WOW that make an AT trip so special.

We loved how deeply Scotland reveres outdoor recreation, and how its people have worked so hard to maintain incredible trails all over its mountains. We’ll be able to top off so many of our adventures with fun treats in old villages or tours of historic ruins, turning a classic adventure into something unique and unforgettable. Scotland is the PERFECT international location for an AT trip!

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Needless to say, Scotland was extraordinary. From how friendly everyone was, the incredible food, imposing landscapes, and history blending into the modern world, Scotland should absolutely be on your bucket list!

*For simplicity’s sake:

  1. Hillwalking = hiking 
  2. Loch = lake
  3. Lock = device for lowering and raising watercraft in canals between waterways
  4. Ben = mountain or high hill
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Adventure Treks’ Scouting Trip to Norway

Earlier this fall, Dmac and I took a scouting trip to Norway. WOW—what a SPECTACULAR place! When planning or debuting a new trip, it’s important that we visit these new locations to meet with our in-country guides and check out all aspects of the itinerary ourselves.

Check out our scouting trip gallery below! It was quite rainy in the national park while we were there, but weather is typically much warmer, drier, and blue sky-er in summer months! 

What do we do on a scouting trip?

Meet with our in-country partners and guides

When working with any new partners, meeting them in person is crucial to making sure it’s a mutually good fit and that we’re on the same page for working to create the best experience possible for our students. These in-person visits follow many hours of vetting over multiple Zoom, phone, and email conversations. We choose in-country partners who have experience working with teenagers in the outdoors and have excellent reputations for safety and fun.

This also gives us the chance to meet some of their guides—we can often hand-pick specific people we’d like to work with our students (these folks not only guide us through the trip itself, but become just as central to our community as our instructors). In Norway, for example, we spent our via ferrata day with Iain, an experienced guide from Ireland who’s also a whitewater kayaking coach and rock climber with a long history of working with teens outdoors.

Lastly, spending face time with our partners gives us the opportunity to talk about Adventure Treks’ program goals, gush about our students, and get our guides as excited to meet them as we always are.

Walk through the itinerary

We don’t visit a new location just to say we’ve been there! We walk (quite literally) through as much of the itinerary as we can. That way, we’re well-versed in the actual trails and rivers, possible challenges, where to find the most scenic spots, local knowledge and history, and much, much more. We visit campsites, drive the route, hike the trails, check out drive times, create a menu that features local cuisine, and make any tweaks necessary.

It’s crucial to make sure that physical challenges are age-appropriate for our students, which is why we hop on trail and hike the actual routes we’ve planned. We cannot wait for our students to experience Jotunheimen National Park and the fjords—the landscape is simply magical!

Make any necessary changes

After running through the itinerary, we’ll discuss possible changes to the planned itinerary and create backup plans just in case. There’s so much to experience in only 16 days that we want to to make sure our students get the absolute most of of their trips!

What our students will love about Norway

We cannot overstate how beautiful the Nordic landscape is. Once you drive out of the cities and head north, you become surrounded by towering mountain ranges. Tumbling waterfalls cascade hundreds, maybe thousands, of feet down the cliffsides EVERYWHERE you look. Mountain spring water is so clean that locals drink it right out of the stream.

The sea kayak route in Nordfjord is gorgeous; students will love gliding through the dark blue waters, surrounded by grazing sheep on surrounding bluffs. One of our campsites is nestled in a remote valley right next to a pristine river—beautiful!

I’m excited for our students to hop on the Hornelen via ferrata. Fun fact: Our in-country partner was the driving force between getting the Norwegian government to build this into the cliff. There are multiple routes of varying difficulty, so similar to rock climbing, students will be able to choose their challenge as they traverse, downclimb, and ascend Hornelen. No matter which route they complete, they’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment—and the views are nonstop!

Jotunheimen was perhaps our favorite part of the trip. Our backpacking route will take students next to many alpine lakes, whose deep, alluring teal waters eclipse even the emerald waters of the North Cascades in Washington (one of our favorite places to paddle in the US). Well-marked paths have been carefully carved through the hillsides, and Norway’s “right to roam” laws (aka allemannsretten) means we’ll have our choice of magnificent campsites. Trails are challenging but accessible—perfect for AT students.

This is going to be an utterly unforgettable experience for our students. We cannot wait for them to experience the wonder that is Norway!

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Adventure Treks and the Battle Against Phone-Based Childhoods

I was reading through college essays the other day, shared by current and former Adventure Treks students who’d written about the impact their AT experiences (climbing Mt. Shasta, backpacking in Alaska, etc.) have had on their lives. I then came across an essay on letgrow.org by a student named Finn Fox. One quote in particular stood out to me: “We don’t know how to solve some of the biggest problems in the world today, but if we’re willing to be flexible, get lost a little, and accept failure as part of the process, we can create innovative solutions to complex problems. All we need is a mindset of exploration.”

Letgrow.org is a site dedicated to helping parents give their children some freedom to explore, play, and be kids without the distractions of phones, parental safety-ism (or “overprotection,” as some call it), social media, and other hindrances. This led me down the rabbit hole of blogs from the American Camp Association and a few recent articles from The Atlantic, including one titled “End the Phone-Based Childhood Now,” written by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt.

This article dives not into into current statistics about youth mental health, but also when studies started showing increases in loneliness and depression, while scores in reading and math began to decline. Though changes have been happening for decades, the real shift began in the 2010s when—you guessed it—smartphone use became more and more prevalent. And what came along with smartphones? Drastically higher rates of social media use.

One of the most interesting things I read in the Atlantic article: “Young people do not like their phone-based lives.” In fact, many young people are actually in favor of new laws regulating social media in kids and teens. He also refers to the 2021 Facebook debacle that showed that “teens blame Instagram for increases in the rates of anxiety and depression.”

“Once young people began carrying the entire internet in their pockets, available to them day and night, it altered their daily experiences and developmental pathways across the board. Friendship, dating, sexuality, exercise, sleep, academics, politics, family dynamics, identity—all were affected. Life changed rapidly for younger children, too, as they began to get access to their parents’ smartphones and, later, got their own iPads, laptops, and even smartphones during elementary school,” Haidt writes.

Essentially, it’s nearly impossible to escape the internet’s influence these days.

As someone who got his first cell phone at age 19, and a smartphone many years later, it’s staggering to take a step and think about Gen Zers who never had to get creative with contacting their parents or accessing the internet or figuring out a ride home from school. The younger generations have grown up with the entire world accessible 24/7 at their fingertips.

Research has shown that the younger generations—the kids with the “phone-based childhood”—are shyer and more risk-averse, and they’re even less likely than previous generations to get jobs as teenagers. Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI—arguably one of the most relevant technology products available today—said in an interview last year that he was surprised at how few young people dominate the tech scene in Silicon Valley today.

Side note and fun fact about Sam Altman: He is an Adventure Treks alumni!

Phone-based life and its implications

Haidt puts it simply: “Smartphone-based life, it turns out, alters or interferes with a great number of developmental processes.”

As a tech-driven society, we have stolen play-based childhood away from children and replaced it with phones. In the past, children had social groups to interact with, they had to be creative when they got bored, they were able to take risks and problem-solve. Now, they are connected to a screen of some sort at all times, without any guidance on what to do or where to go with it. Children are rarely afforded the opportunity to fail in low-consequence situations, leading to their unwillingness to go outside their comfort zones. Screens used as distractions for very young children deeply ingrains a habit that is incredibly hard to break.

Haidt says one of the most far-reaching consequences of a phone-based childhood is the dramatic decline in face-to-face social interactions, and the loss of developing communication skills in what he calls “embodied” interactions (using body language, gestures, facial expressions, etc.). Kids’ skills in “synchronous” interactions have also declined—that is, the ability to learn and read social cues in timing and natural conversation/dialogue. They are also less motivated to work hard to create meaningful relationships in online communities—instead, much more likely to “dispose” of a friendship after any kind of disagreement (rather than face conflict and practice coming to an understanding). There aren’t as many stakes with online friends whom you may never meet in person.

Parents have been trying to keep their children safe from the real world, while doing very little to protect them from the online world.” Children are kept indoors, with a device to occupy their time. They have access to an incredible wealth of information, content (both wholesome and harmful), and data. There are laws in place that should keep teenagers off social media sites, but getting around that only takes a few clicks or swipes. Once that happens, kids get to contend with the algorithms of billion dollar companies that feed on the insecurities of teenagers and build FOMO (fear of missing out).

How does Adventure Treks relate to all of this?

Our philosophy was built upon the concept of forming real, meaningful, genuine, and long-lasting relationships with peers and role models—friendships that lead to lifelong bonds that are not easily broken. As we always say, outdoor challenges bond people together like no other environment.

Our tech-free environment allows this to happen in real time, with those embodied and synchronous interactions in a community where everyone is valued. They can learn from others, embrace their differences, and celebrate each others’ strengths.

Kids’ lowered allowance for taking risks is an unfortunate outcome that cannot be overstated. Without a growth mindset—or one that’s not afraid to try new things and go out of the comfort zone and potentially fail—adolescence is severely stunted, leading to the inability to push and challenge oneself and learn and effectively self-regulate as adults.

Our trips take place in the great outdoors alongside experienced outdoor education instructors; they’re designed to allow students to not only take calculated risk, but to learn how to assess what risks are reasonable versus too risky—and to build a mindset well-versed in taking chances in environments where consequences aren’t too high.

Back to college essays and the “mindset of exploration”

All is not lost. In Finn Fox’s personal essay, he says his parents “just happen to believe that real world challenges are good for building problem-solving skills.” He expresses gratitude that his family allowed him to roam at the ripe age of 11 and build a sense of responsibility and independence.

His parents actually published his personal essay online because Finn sadly passed away from brain cancer before he could embark on his next adventures to university: “We’re sharing it in the hopes it encourages more parents to nurture and activate their children’s sense of exploration and independence.”

Finn had said, “I see the unknown as an adventure, something to go toward, not something to fear. The unknown to me as a kid was Chinatown in a city 30 miles from home. Now the unknown is the future. I can’t predict what comes next, but I trust that no matter what happens, it will be okay.”

Adventure Treks’ mission is to create the safest, most exciting, and most substantive outdoor summer adventures for teenagers through our personal attention to every student, our caring, and our competence. We hype our Great 8 Outcomes for a reason: kids who spend time outdoors, trying new things and pushing themselves while surrounded by good friends who genuinely care for them, are happier, healthier, and more well-adjusted, and become more confident, resilient, independent, capable, and optimistic people in the long run.

Let us help your child experience what it’s like to join an inclusive community of peers in gorgeous locations this summer!

[button url=”http://www.adventuretreks.com/enroll” target=”_self”] Enroll today! [/button]

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Our Adventure-Inspired Reading List for Fall and Winter

If you’re anything like me, the next-best thing to going on an epic adventure is reading about someone else’s! At the same time, I can only handle so many memoirs about climbing Everest before I start to wonder what else counts as adventure, exploration, or going beyond a “normal” life. Below are some of my favorite recommendations—books inspired by adventure, the natural world, personal development, or all of the above. These are stories of expeditions, experiments, and triumphs of many kinds.

Disclaimer: unless otherwise noted, these books are written for an adult audience, and therefore may include adult themes and language.

Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America’s Stolen Land, by Noe Alvarez (memoir)

This epically cool book is both a memoir and a collection of stories, as Alvarez chronicles an intense journey through North America in his own voice and the voices of others he meets along the way. The following is from the literature of the group he runs with, called Peace and Dignity Journeys, and is quoted in the book as well:

“Peace and Dignity Journeys occur every four years and start with Indigenous runners on opposite ends of the continent (Chickaloon, Alaska, and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). They run for six months through hundreds of Indigenous communities where they participate in their respective spiritual practices and traditions; spark dialogue on the issue of peace and dignity for Indigenous peoples; model their responsibility to Mother Earth, Father Sky, communities, and themselves; and receive the community’s prayers. These prayers and conversations are then carried to proceeding communities until the runners reach the center of the hemisphere.”

The two groups meet at the Panama Canal in a ceremony of unity. Pick this one up to learn quite a lot about a variety of Indigenous peoples’ traditions and beliefs, as well as the social aspects of organizing a multicultural event.

The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert (fiction)

I’ll be the first to say it—this is a slow read. However, anyone who has ever been on a hike with me (or a walk, or simply been outside in my presence) can tell you that the thrilling amount of information about mosses (bryophytes!) in this book is enough to make a person obsessed for the rest of their days. This is an adventure through the eyes of a botanist, and very worth reading if only to be immersed in Gilbert’s beautiful storytelling and description of natural spaces.

Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren (memoir)

Hope Jahren is a geobiologist and an award-winning author. Her relatable memoir has much to say about the experience of a woman in science, mental health, and friendship, all intertwined with nearly unending knowledge of trees and other plants.

Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen (fiction, young readers)

Carl Hiaasen’s colorful novels are a treat for all audiences, but his series of novels for young readers is surprisingly silly and heartfelt for any age of reader. Hoot chronicles the creation of an animal-rights activist as a young man stands up for a family of owls, and Flush tackles water pollution with a quirky cast of characters. Like Hiaasen’s novels for adults, his books for young readers are set in Florida and overflow with exploration of one of the country’s wildest habitats.

The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature, by David George Haskell (nonfiction)

If you enjoyed My Octopus Teacher on Netflix, this is the book for you! The author visits a small patch of the local forest each day for a year to observe the myriad of things happening within it. This is, surprisingly, really not a memoir! Haskell writes poetically about his observations, then focuses deeply on the science behind what he sees, and sometimes connects spirituality with the natural world.

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy (fiction, young readers)

This adventurous tale about an impassable wilderness and a brave girl’s expedition into it is written for young readers, but is a lighthearted and compassionate adventure read for any age. You know how Harry Potter is immensely enjoyable even when you’ve well outgrown the age of person it was written for? Meloy crafts a similar atmosphere—there are magical elements, talking animals, and mystery, all beautifully told. Enjoy it as a light read on vacation or before bed!

A few more Adventure Treks book recommendations:
  • Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit, by Lyanda Lynn Haupt (nonfiction)
  • To Shake the Sleeping Self, by Jedediah Jenkins (memoir)
  • Dogs on the Trail: A Year in the Life, by Blair Braverman (photo story. Check out her other work on living in the Arctic and working with sled dogs—it’s fascinating.)
  • Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (nonfiction), and The Overstory, by Richard Powers (fiction), both reviewed by AT staff here.
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The Benefits of Journaling in the Outdoors

Self-care doesn’t have to pause while you are on an Adventure Treks trip (#treatyoself). Some of the regular practices that we keep in our daily lives can carry us through tough days on trail so we have the energy and mental fortitude to be our best outdoor adventuring selves. I am a big cheerleader of writing in a journal. This is something that I do before bed every night, and I have found many benefits from extending this habit into my Adventure Treks trips as well.

What are some of the benefits of journaling?

There are so many!

How do you journal?

I remember getting stuck on this seemingly simple question at the beginning of my journaling days. I had a few close friends who I considered to be journaling experts, and I asked them this question, wanting to be sure I was also on track to expert level. But, of course, there is no right or wrong way to journal. The art or practice of recording things on the written page can be customized to be of ultimate value to the individual.

Journaling can be about processing your day, setting intentions for the day ahead, tracking your thoughts and emotions to look for patterns—or whatever else you want it to be. What works for you? If you want to write in your journal every day, that is awesome! However, if this does not fit into your schedule, then this goal is probably going to stress you out more than be beneficial to your overall well-being.

What I have learned: Set realistic goals for yourself and be open to the creativity and flow of each entry. Even on days when I thought I had nothing to say, I have been able to find some interesting insights to reflect on.

Where do I start?

A blank white page can be intimidating. I know this on a personal level; every time I start a new writing project (like this blog), it seems like I suddenly have the energy and focus to do anything but write. But never fear! I have compiled a few tips and tricks to help you embark on your journaling journey.

Keep it simple: When I started out, I bought a small 3.5” x 5.5” journal. A smaller page is less overwhelming to fill. I began with bullet journaling (i.e., quick, short line entries), and often go back to this method when I don’t have a lot of time but still want to capture memories or thoughts while they’re fresh.

Utilize prompts: You can create a “cheat sheet” of prompts at the front of your journal. The ideas can set creative boundaries for those times when you can’t decide where to even begin. Below are a few of my favorite prompts that help me process my thoughts.

  • What are you grateful for today?
  • What emotions came up for you in unexpected places today?
  • Describe something you experienced for the first time recently.
  • How did you challenge yourself today, and how do you plan to challenge yourself tomorrow?
  • How did you show up for yourself today, and how do you plan to show up for yourself tomorrow?
  • What are three new things you learned this week?

Create space: Like any new activity, journaling can easily integrate into your daily life if you set yourself up for success (that is, make it a habit). I like to spend 10 to 15 minutes in my tent jotting down thoughts from that day before I fall asleep. I find this is the easiest time for me to journal, and therefore has the highest likelihood that it will actually happen.

Make the experience comfortable with a cup of tea, wrap up in your sleeping bag, or find something soft to sit on. You can also ask yourself these questions to help you figure out your plan of action. “Do I process my thoughts better when I wake up or before I go to sleep? Do I need to be alone or can I do this in the company of others? How much time do I need for each entry? What would block my ability to journal and how can I prevent those barriers from getting in the way?”

Add the “WOW!”

At Adventure Treks, we love adding the “wow” to everything and anything. Wow is the special magic added to events that would otherwise be just everyday activities (this is one reason you’ll see us wearing silly flair at Costco). Journals can also have the AT wow factor. Try adding stickers to the cover of your journal from the locations of your AT trips. Or take scenic photos of all your journal spots during the trip. Wow, like journaling, is all about creativity, so make it personal to you!

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10 Things You Didn’t Know about Rocky Mountain National Park

One of the neatest things about Adventure Treks is the places we get to visit. In all of our backpacking areas, we have permits from whoever owns the land—often national parks and forests—to recreate (permits are crucial because the most pristine places need the most protection in order to keep inspiring nature lovers!).

Here are some interesting things you might not know about Rocky Mountain National Park, where our Colorado Explorer trips spend a few days backpacking and summiting 12,720-foot Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain.

1. The Continental Divide of the Americas runs through Rocky Mountain National Park. A continental divide is a natural land feature that separates watersheds—rain that falls on the western side of the Rockies flows towards the Pacific Ocean, while rainfall on the eastern side flows towards the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico! Try it out on this neat map by dropping a raindrop in Grand Lake (west side) or Estes Park (east side).

2. If you’re extra curious, the Continental Divide Trail (or CDT) is a 3,100-mile trail that traverses the spine of the Rockies and is popular for thru-hiking. The CDT is part of the “Triple Crown” of hiking trails, along with the Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail. All three are National Scenic Trails, which means that they are designated outstanding natural areas with additional environmental protections. Lots of AT instructors have hiked these trails!

3. A number of trails in the park, including the Tonahutu Trail (where many AT groups backpack), were originally used by the native inhabitants of the land. The two major tribes in the area were the Ute and the Arapaho, whose main lands were separated by the Continental Divide but who competed for hunting territory in the mountains. They were hunter-gatherers who moved between grassy plains and higher elevations in search of larger animals.

4. Glaciers played a huge role in the formation of the steep peaks and valleys that characterize the park today. A glacier is a large chunk of snow and ice that doesn’t completely melt during the warmer months, and is so heavy that it constantly shifts downhill. Rocks picked up by the slow-moving ice scrape against the ground under and beside the glacier, carving out valleys over long periods of time.

5. All of the glaciers in Rocky Mountain National Park are cirque glaciers, which are the small leftovers of much larger glaciers from long ago. But the glacial habitat is just one of four found in the park. The montane ecosystem is defined by meadows and hills and supports a wide variety of plants and animals; subalpine forests consist mostly of evergreen trees and host beautiful lakes and wildflower patches; and the alpine tundra ecosystem allows only the hardiest of plants to survive harsh temperatures and weather conditions.

6. A single step can destroy hundreds of years of plant growth in alpine environments. On any AT trip, you’ll learn about the principles of Leave No Trace hiking and camping. In the alpine areas of the Rocky Mountains, many of the plants able to survive extreme cold and high winds grow very close to the ground and are quite fragile. It is extra important to stay on established trails so that our feet don’t squish and damage these plants and the soil they grow in.

7. Rocky Mountain National Park is known for big animals: Moose, elk, bighorn sheep, black bears, mountain lions, and deer are some of the largest. The park is likely to pop up on lists of the best places to view wildlife because these big species are so visible, but there are a whole host of tiny animals in the park as well…

8. … Such as the pika! Pikas live in the alpine tundra ecosystem and look like wild hamsters. These tiny mammals call and sing to each other across their territory, so they are more likely to be heard by humans than seen. Pikas are considered an “indicator species” for climate change because they are so well adapted to the cold that they cannot survive in warm temperatures. The National Park Service is monitoring pika populations in Rocky Mountain National Park to see whether rising global temperatures is affecting them. 

9. Longs Peak is the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park, though it doesn’t actually make the top 10 highest peaks in Colorado! Climbing to the top is a true mountaineering adventure–usually, even in the height of summer, the summit is covered in snow and ice and requires snow tools to climb!

10. In 2009, most of the park became a designated wilderness area, meaning that extra precautions are taken to make sure it is not permanently impacted by humans. As long as good ethical practices are used, people can still visit the furthest reaches of the wilderness to experience solitude within the beautiful landscapes that Rocky Mountain National Park has to offer. 

Interested in seeing Rocky Mountain National Park firsthand? Check out our trip options here!

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10 Things You Didn’t Know about the Salmon River

The Yellowstone Teton Adventure might start in the two national parks that give the trip its name, but the second half of the adventure involves a multi-day raft trip on the Salmon River. This section of river is so popular with rafters and kayakers that there is a lottery system that awards permits to a limited number of floaters each year.

Here are some of the things that make this trip such an awesome experience:

1. The Salmon River is 125 miles long. As one of the original eight rivers protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968, 79 miles are designated “wild” river, and 46 as “recreational.” The “wild” miles are not accessible by road and draw from an unpolluted and undeveloped watershed.

2. The wilderness area that the Salmon flows through is called the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness… what?! Frank Church was a senator from Idaho and an author of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The area is named for him and the river itself, as the Salmon was once known as the River of No Return.

3. What an imposing title! This river has traditionally been a one-way passage, due to the frequency and difficulty of the rapids. There are now boats that can successfully navigate upstream, but for most of its history, once someone floated down the Salmon, they didn’t return (at least by water).

4. Traditional landowners in the Salmon River watershed include Nez Perce, Shoshone, and Flathead tribes. These peoples were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who regarded the Salmon as a sacred place and valuable food source. One important thing to know about the Nez Perce tribe is that they call themselves Nimipuu—the name most people now know them by was given by French Canadian traders and means “pierced nose,” although the tribe never practiced body piercing.

5. Do you remember learning about Sacagawea in history class? She was a very young Shoshone woman who aided Lewis and Clark’s expedition to the Pacific Ocean, and she grew up near the Salmon River. Her story has been rewritten to cast her as a Native American “princess,” but her skills as a naturalist, translator, and navigator are what actually make her legendary.

6. Did you know that the Grand Canyon in Arizona is not the deepest canyon in the U.S.? The deepest is actually Hells Canyon on the Snake River, which is geographically close to the second-deepest canyon in the country—the Salmon River Canyon. For about 180 miles, the canyon created by the Salmon is more than a mile deep.

7. Canyons are formed by a river eroding through many layers of rock. In the case of the Salmon, much of the rock is gneiss, schist, and quartzite, and the oldest of these rocks were formed about 1.5 billion years ago. The canyon was formed 35 to 45 million years ago as the Salmon started to wind its way across and through the area’s interesting geology.

8. Where does the water in the Salmon River go? It flows into the Snake River at the border of Idaho and Oregon, then into the Columbia River in Kennewick, WA. The water travels along the border of Oregon and Washington, passing through Portland, before becoming the Columbia River Estuary and draining into the Pacific Ocean. It’s more than 900 miles from source to sea.

9. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Chinook salmon live in this river. Salmon return to the place where they hatched to spawn, so if a fish is born in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho in the Salmon River, it swims all the way to the sea and then back to reproduce. Salmon are endangered here, and in most rivers where they live, hydroelectric dams block their ability to swim upstream.

10. Finally, one neat addition to a Salmon River rafting trip is the ability to soak in natural hot springs! Students might not have time to stop and hang out on every trip, but the Salmon runs along a geothermal hot zone, resulting in multiple pools and even waterfalls of hot water alongside the river’s cool flow.

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Gear Series: Tips for Buying Rain Gear

Interpreting the language of outdoor retail

When it comes to buying outdoor gear for Adventure Treks (or even for a personal trip), there’s nothing more daunting than trying to decipher every obscure label, material, fabric, and technology that comes with buying even the simplest outdoor item these days.

But Adventure Treks is here to help! This spring, we’re launching our Gear Series: Tips for Buying Outdoor Gear. We’ll discuss some of the materials, technologies, labels, and other features commonly found on outdoor equipment, and attempt to clarify their meaning, use, and how they’re helpful on an AT trip.

Waterproof rain gear

Waterproof rain gear is an essential item on any outdoors packing list; no matter the weather, it’s an indispensable piece of your personal gear kit. With that said, it can be confusing to know if you’re purchasing the right item. “The list says rain coat; this one looks good, but it says it’s a hard shell, not a rain jacket. Will that work? Oh, it’s GoreTex; do I need GoreTex? Wait, what is GoreTex?”

To make your shopping easier, we’ve included some helpful terminology below with advice on choosing the right rain jacket and rain pants.

(Note that while we mostly talk about rain jackets, the following applies almost identically to rain pants.)

Rain gear glossary

Waterproof: An item that’s truly waterproof means it’s made from PVC vinyl or fabric that’s treated with a rubberized coating, creating an impermeable layer that water can’t get through. While these products are indeed waterproof, they’re heavy, bulky, and don’t” breathe” for hiking or other activities (the classic yellow fisherman’s coat comes to mind).

Because we’re so active in the outdoors at Adventure Treks, we need something that’s both waterproof and breathable (backpacking in a rubber coat would cause a swampy, sweaty mess).

Bottom line: Don’t buy this kind of jacket or pants for an AT trip.

Waterproof-breathable: The magic phrase! This describes technology built into a garment that prevents water from seeping through the fabric on the outside, while allowing water vapor from your body (i.e., sweat) to escape. Essentially, the “pores” in waterproof-breathable materials are small enough to keep water out, while still allowing vapor to escape. This means you can hike in this kind of jacket and not worry about sweating or getting that clammy feeling—while being protected from the elements.

Many companies have proprietary waterproof-breathable technologies such as Polartec’s Power Shield, Marmot’s PreCip, Patagonia’s H2No, or The North Face’s DryVent— but they’re all just different names for the same thing.

Bottom line: A waterproof-breathable jacket and pants are a MUST for any Adventure Treks trip—or if you live in a humid, rainy climate where you’ll spend a lot of time moving around outside.

Hard shell vs. soft shell: Hard shell simply refers to a waterproof-breathable fabric that has no insulation (like a heavier ski jacket). It doesn’t keep you warm and dry, just dry. We like to layer fleece jackets or comfortable baselayers under a rain jacket to keep warm.

A soft shell is a pliable fabric made from woven synthetic fibers that is, well, soft and feels more like a sweatshirt than a rain jacket. While not waterproof, these fabrics are often treated with DWR (see below) to provide some protection. While they provide some insulation and protection from the wind, they’re not acceptable substitutes for rain protection.

Bottom line: Your Adventure Treks rain jacket should be a hard shell jacket. 

DWR (durable water repellent): This is a treatment applied to a fabric to create a hydrophobic (“water-fearing”) surface. This is what causes water to “bead up” on the surface and roll off instead of soaking in. However, DWR does not mean it is waterproof!

Bottom line: DWR does not equal waterproof-breathable; make sure you purchase waterproof-breathable.

GoreTex: Similar to Kleenex or Velcro, GoreTex is a brand name commonly used as a “catch-all” for waterproof-breathable technology. GoreTex  is widely considered to make the most effective waterproof-breathable membrane, and therefore can be commonly found on many different brand-name clothing. GoreTex is durable and reliable; if you plan to spend many hours being active outdoors, then it makes sense to spring for GoreTex.

Denier: This is a term that describes how thick a fabric is, and it often appears in a product description as a number followed by a “D” (e.g. 30D). The lower the number, the thinner and lighter the fabric. 10D is very light (think pantyhose); 300D is very thick (think heavy canvas). Most rain jackets are somewhere in the 30–50D range.

Rain gear styles
  • 2-layer shell: This refers to rain gear that comprises the “face” (outer) fabric and the waterproof-breathable membrane on the inside. These two layers are laminated together or sprayed on as a coating.
  • 2.5-layer shell: This is the similar to the 2-layer; these products are usually more affordable, but they are slightly less durable. Plus, people often report feeling a little clammy or moist on the inside.
  • 3-layer shell: The same first two layers are laminated together (“face” fabric and inner waterproof-breathable membrane), but they have an additional durable layer laminated on the inside of the jacket. This “fabric-membrane-fabric” sandwich creates a highly durable, 3-layer shell that feels like a single piece of fabric. This is often the most expensive option because of the extra material and higher quality fabric; it also has a more advanced look and design.

Suggested rain jackets
  • 2-layer hard shell: Marmot PreCip Jacket (men’s and women’s)
  • 2.5-layer hard shell: Outdoor Research Apollo Jacket (men’s and women’s)
  • 2-layer hard shell with GoreTex (my personal favorite and in my opinion the absolute best jacket for the money): Marmot Minimalist Jacket (men’s and women’s)
  • 3-layer hard shell without GoreTex: Patagonia Torrentshell (men’s and women’s)
  • Other recommended brands: REI Co-op, Columbia, Mountain Hardwear, The North Face

Our rain gear takeaways

So, we just threw a lot of technical terms out there. What does it all come down to? For an AT trip, pick a waterproof-breathable hard shell that keeps you warm and dry. Rain jackets must have a hood and should fit comfortably over fleece and baselayers. Just like the jacket, the rain pants need to be a waterproof-breathable shell that fit over your hiking, fleece, or baselayer bottoms. You might consider full side-zippers to get in and out of them more easily.

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Adventure Treks’ Path: The Last 25 Years

We had a wonderful 25th anniversary celebration for Adventure Treks in October and spent the weekend with many of the “old hands” who helped steer Adventure Treks through the 1990s and early aughts. The reunion solidified our impression of the power of friendships made in the AT community. Even though people came together who hadn’t seen each other in years, we picked up right where we left off. (Above is the quick video we made for our 25th anniversary.)

We’re often surprised that what started with one trip in the Pacific Northwest in the early 90s has blossomed into being a leader in outdoor teen summer adventures and has served almost 20,000 students from all 50 states and more than 25 countries. Our success is due in part to so many capable people who shared great ideas and systems, making Adventure Treks the sum of the best practices from many folks. Had only one director controlled all the ideas, we would only be half the program we are today.

Over time, we have learned that about 450–475 students with 70–75 summer instructors is our optimal program size and ensures the highest quality and most consistent adventures. In the past, when we have grown larger, we felt we were beginning to lose a little of the special sense of community that makes us truly unique among outdoor programs. To this end, we have capped our size at Adventure Treks so it can always be a special program with a uniquely personal touch and a strong sense of community.

When you have this special a culture and you know it’s something people want to be part of, you must look for ways to transfer this philosophy to other aspects of the outdoor world in order to positively impact more teenagers. We also realize that as phenomenal and life-changing as AT is, it’s more rugged and challenging than some people desire. We know it’s not for everyone. Over the years, we have met many teenagers who love the AT community and philosophy but simply aren’t outdoor people. Our goal has been to create options in different frameworks for these wonderful students.

Our first area of expansion in the 1990s was educational programs for schools. Every fall at our base in the mountains of western North Carolina, we work with schools from as far away as Ohio and Florida, operating outdoor education and science programs at Camp Pinnacle and in the woods of Pisgah National Forest. In fall 2018, we welcomed more than 900 students and 14 schools over 10 weeks. In addition to becoming the best week of “school” ever, these programs create a tremendous opportunity to train our younger instructors to become even more effective in our summer programs.

In 2011, we were able to open our own traditional summer camp, Camp Pinnacle in Flat Rock, NC. Camp had gone bankrupt in 2010 after falling into disrepair, but we were able to adapt the AT philosophy and program to a more typical summer camp environment. We are also able to provide learning and growing opportunities as counselors for many recent Adventure Treks graduates who want to continue growing outdoors and retain the friendships they made at AT, this time as Pinnacle counselors.

In fall 2018, we formed a relationship with the Alzar School, a semester leadership school for 10th and 11th graders with campuses in Idaho and Chile. So many of our current Adventure Treks students have expressed the desire to attend a school that resembles AT (a one-week fall program simply can’t compare). Families had shared with us their positive experiences with the Alzar School, and so we reached out to founders and directors Sean and Kristin Bierle and created a mutually beneficial program for students who want more of the outdoor activities and community they’ve come to expect during the summer.

Our ultimate goal is to offer parents age-appropriate opportunities for all of their kids where they can experience a close community, engage with caring role models, step out of their comfort zones, make lifelong friendships, and grow in ways they never could at home or through organized sports. Instead of running one giant company, we run several small programs with separate and equally passionate and committed staff. This allows us to maintain a personal connection with our families and instructors and focus on running quality experiences. We are delighted to offer a variety of opportunities for growth for ages 7–18 and to have more employment opportunities for students in undergraduate and graduate programs. We like to say, “Give us your kid at age 8, and every summer until they are 28, we will give them an incredible and different adventurous experience on their personal frontier.”

The first 25 years have been great, and we are looking forward to the next 25. And now we are excited that our students and instructors who came of age in the 1990s with us are now sending their children to our programs, completing the circle!

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