Canoe trip Summer 2013

Lazy canoe trip

Come to Sarah Lawrence College this Week for Wilderness Ventures Leadership Info

If you want to learn a little more about being a leader this summer and make memories outdoors, there is a really great opportunity this week.

Past leaders are going to be at Sarah Lawrence College in New York to talk about their experiences. They’ve done exciting mountain climbing instruction, surfing lessons, rafting trips and all kinds of things that let them have fun in the wilderness and be a role model to younger students.

It will be all day on Wednesday, November 6 starting at 11:00 am. If you have time, it is very worth while and would look great on a resume. Not only that, it feels great to teach someone a new skill and watch a young guy or gal learn to raft, climb or make a campfire for the first time.

Instructors will be available all day to talk to potential leaders who have experience with outdoor travel and wilderness skills they would like to use this summer and beyond.

Unsure about if you have the qualifications? Ask the leaders how to boost your eligibility and start gathering a few references. It is a pretty tough to get a spot, so if you can meet someone face-to-face then there will be a better chance that you can make an impression.

If you will be in the area, get more info here and stop by to say hello and talk about some summer plans.

New Trip Summer 2014: Big Sky for the Win

Wilderness Ventures has a brand new trip coming up and the details are pretty exciting.

Future adventurers can choose to take a 13 day trip through Big Sky country for an opportunity to see some beautiful wilderness.

If you’ve never been to Glacier National Park, it is not something to be missed if you are a camping junkie. Teens will learn how to paddleboard on Whitefish Lake, zipline through Montana and over the Yellowstone River and strap on a backpack and head through the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness.

This level 5 trip gets better with a rafting expedition on the Flathead River and a ride down the Old Milwaukee Railroad. We bet they will be sure to make plenty of wishes through the tunnels.

There is still plenty of time to sign up and teens may even get a really nice discount!

Summer 2014 is the Time for Southern Europe

The cities of art, love and some of the best wilderness can seem like a dream for some people to visit. Backpacking through the Swiss Alps is something that most people read in romantic novels or from an adventure story from long ago.

Not so this past summer when a small group of adventurers took a trip from Geneva to Paris and explored everything in between.

A hike through the Pyrenees is the perfect beginning to seeing what the big fuss is about when people talk about how great Europe is. A little bit of Spanish practice doesn’t hurt either while roaming the countryside.

The slower French way of life was very refreshing once the group got to Chamonix which really made it feel like summer. The first look at France was more scenic, with views of Mount Blanc and the look of gorgeous valleys and wilderness areas for about 10 days.

The teens then got to watch the Eiffel Tower light up and do the more tourist-oriented sites. But it didn’t lessen the experience because they got to sleep under the stars days before and take in all the beauty that nature had to offer.

This and more is coming this next summer, maybe with some fun extras thrown in along the way.

Grand Teton: Make a Snow Angel with Wilderness Ventures

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously! Go from the top of a snow covered mountain covered in powder then down to clear running water for some fishing. That’s the great thing about the Grand Tetons and Grand Teton National Park.

One of our fearless leaders decided to jump into the snow during this past summer’s tour of Yellowstone National Park. The adventurers got a real kick out of the idea and a couple made snow angels afterwards.

After that chilly experience, the teens were warmed to the idea of seeing Old Faithful and learning about the area.

One of the best parts was the sunny kayaking session in the park with everyone else and waving our honorary U.S. flag to show a bit of spirit for the beautiful national park.

This was coupled with leadership lessons and survival skills really made the trip feel more important than most. Trust exercises and real-life survival skills were just part of the experience that helped teach teens that they actually have more control over their lives than they believed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the chilly trek and fantastic 13,771 foot climb to the summit where the adventurers proudly displayed the U.S. flag and the Wilderness Ventures banner to signify the great thing they just accomplished.

The leadership portion included group leaders motivating those who may have gotten tired or felt like giving up. They really needed to band together when the cold and the height got too much for some people.

Grand Teton basically had everything, which is why it’s been a staple for the last four decades.

Bond with Siblings on Trips from Wilderness Ventures

Trips with brothers and sisters can seem like a huge drag. A poke from the back seat to the back of the head or an annoying sing-a-long are probably a few of the peeves that brothers and sisters have when they imagine long rides  or plane rides while on vacation.

Wilderness Ventures says au contraire on the thought that siblings will ruin a stellar vacation. Going out into nature with a familiar friend at your side is actually a benefit, not an annoyance.

Who wouldn’t want someone to share the memory of diving in Fiji, hiking to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, or lazing it over in Jackson Hole with a fishing line in the water? Brothers and sisters forget all that bickering once they get a look at the sunrise or once one lifts the other over a tough hill. Plus, it lets parents get a little bit of peace and quiet knowing that their children are bonding and getting some quality experiences.

Or if they really don’t want to be together or one is a little too young, brothers and sisters can still take separate trips and use those experiences to get along better or maybe plan a trip together some other time.

Plus, if siblings sign up for a Wilderness Ventures, one of them gets a special discount 10 percent discount.

If you have any sibling trip memories, leave them in the comments below!

Full Wilderness Ventures Experience Lasts Past Pictures

http://vimeo.com/wildernessventures/wildernessventuresexperience

Flashes of activities are only a snapshot of what adventurers experience when they travel. A disc toss in one shot can lead to a game of chase right after the picture was taken, and then suddenly they are in front of a sparkling waterfall for another beautiful photo.

Wilderness Ventures takes so many pictures because there is so much to capture. But not even the video above can really get across what Wilderness Ventures means to students.

This past summer has put out dozens of future leaders back into school and into the world with a bit more perspective. They have picked up languages, tested their endurance, climbed mountains and learned how to survive outside of their comfort zone.

Those things are part of the Wilderness Ventures experience. It affects everyone differently, but it is never a waste.

Get Ready for Fun Changes for Summer 2014 with Wilderness Ventures

So with the sign up coming in January, Wilderness Ventures has been scheduling some great new changes to the trips that are coming up for this next summer

The next catalog is coming soon and there will be  several trips that have some exciting tweaks and twists that will mix up the routine that has been going for a while. There is a bucket list of trips that will stay with the program for the 2014 season.

National Parks are staying for good of course. Trips to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and others have been a staple and always good trips for novice and expert outdoorsy people. We may see the trails and hiking routes switched up but the fun will remain in some of North America’s best natural spaces.

Spain is not to be missed and the next summer’s trip will be rich with culture and natural beauty. Students get to work on Spanish skills and use them in an area where they are immersed in the language. Bull fights, great food and outdoor sports are just a few of the things that will get crossed off the list and never forgotten.

Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands are beyond beautiful locations that are being worked on this year. There is no shortage of diverse wildlife or friendly communities to visit, so even if the locations are slightly different than last year, they will not be any less quality. This summer will be a chance to explore territories that many have never seen nor will see in their lifetime.

These are just  a sample of trips that will get a bit of a face lift in order to let other students get a unique experience. Enrollment starts pretty soon, and there are special discounts for signing up before Nov 1.

See you all for the next adventure!

Wilderness Ventures Urges Travelers to Unplug and Connect with Others

If you look in any of Wilderness Ventures’ photos, you will not see one person sending a text or holding up a tablet. The only thing the students are plugged into is nature and the tasks ahead.

People are currently dreaming of going unplugged on their next vacations. This is no problem with the trips that teens took this summer. It’s always fascinating how quickly the tech-buried teens will stop trying to make status updates when they can stare at the face of a mountain or take in a real sunset.

This way, travelers can get lost in real conversations or face a full day of hiking or kayaking without worrying about what is on television or how long until they have to reply to a friend’s instant message.

It’s actually pretty simple when you have the time. Put those phones in a safe place, power down those laptops and see how good it feels to not have to worry about the next 140 characters.

Yosemite National Park Celebrated its 123rd Birthday Publicly

Yosemite National Park got a special birthday gift from the internet the other day with a special logo on Google to celebrate its 123rd birthday, which is pretty spectacular. This means that people are noticing and recognizing what nature really means to the public.

Yosemite and other parks are so precious and great gifts from conservationists and preservationists from days gone by. The millions of acres that we have kept for education, exercise and recreation.

They are places that families continue to go each year and have very special places in people’s hearts. With all of the overly-trammeled land, it is so nice to have a place that people can go to see true nature.

So happy to Yosemite and to all the other national parks like Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and all the other wild areas that bring us joy.