Mountain Trekkers (all boys)
ages 11-14
I learned how to be strong, patient, and to have fun while hiking! – camper
Nothing is virtual about this camp, it is a hands-on adventure, real-life reset, and a prime opportunity to evaluate outlooks and priorities for the middle-school aged camper.
This program will introduce our all-male Mountain Trekkers to a combination of backpacking, beginning rock climbing, and caving. The group will start and end in the dorms at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center. You will take a multi-night backpacking trip in the Seneca Creek Backcountry. Along the way, you’ll spend time honing our craft and trying new things; from survival skills to natural art, solo hikes and group activities, with opportunities to wade in headwater streams and relax along the way.
We’ll orienteer to the highest point in the state using a map and compass, backpack out to the high falls of Seneca Creek, venture underground into a primitive cave, and travel to a nearby rock outcropping where we will meet a climbing guide for an introduction to top rope climbing and rappelling. We’ll finish off the week with an opportunity to collaborate with the all-girls group on a shared stewardship project.
Our single-gender camps for middle-school aged kids are designed not to exclude others but to enhance connections with their peers at a point in their lives when gender-awareness is increasing, increasingly distracting, and potentially harmful. This camp helps to strengthen their connection to their peers and deepen their understanding of why these relationships are an important aspect of their lives.
This camp builds a safe and supportive environment around your child through group-strengthening activities, evening assessments and affirmations, and increasing their understanding of the wild world around them. Within this support structure each child is able to grow more comfortable within the woods, the group and their own self. A camper will often find the confidence to spend a night in the cave or to climb higher than he thought he could.
Campers will participate in stewardship projects earning an average of 15 hours of service hours per week-long session.
I learned that it is okay to get out of your comfort zone. – camper