Lasting Adventures summer camp? Or other week of backpacking?
Hi - I'm looking for a week-long backpacking summer camp for my high schooler. A group called "Lasting Adventures" has the right schedule and great locations (Yosemite, Lassen, or Olympic national parks). Has anyone had experience with them? How was it for your child? I'm hesitant to ship him off with an organization that I know nothing about! Or do you know of another week-long backpacking summer camp that you'd recommend?
Thanks!
Laura
Dec 12, 2019
Parent Replies
Hi Laura,
Our child spent many summers with Camp Chrysalis, including both backpacking sessions offered (One is 12 days in the Sierras, the other is 8 days in Sequoia). As a parent I can't speak highly enough of Chrysalis. Co-founder Lee Tempkin is a science teacher during the year, so the campers learn a lot about the biology and botany of their environments, in addition to the camping and backpacking skills they gain. Lee trusts the campers, and they, in turn, respect and listen to him. They learn tons, have adventures, and come home shockingly dirty (put a sheet down in your car when you go to reclaim your kid at the end of the session!) Chrysalis is also very fairly priced - I just checked, and it is the same per day as Lasting Adventures - and offers financial assistance to those in need. If you look at the website you'll also see that they have very little staff turnover; my daughter is a college senior and there are staff that were with Chrysalis when my kid was a nine year old camper in 2007. www.campchrysalis.com
Hi-I recommend W.I.L.D. Wilderness Immersion Leadership Development which is led out of Berkeley by two amazing coaches/mentors for young men. Here is the website: http://www.backtoearth.org/mission. My son did this program last summer between his sophomore and junior year of high school. It is a ten-day backcountry trip with a lot of focus on the experience of young men moving from adolescence to adulthood. It was spiritual and rigorous. My son loved it and grew a lot from the experience.
I don’t know anything about Lasting Adventures, but as another option, I am a big fan of Camp Chrysalis, which is run out of Berkeley. They have a 1-week backpacking trip I have two kids who have done different Camp Chrysalis sessions for 7 years, and each has been great.
My teenage son has been on Lasting Adventures trips in Yosemite both of the past two summers. He elected to do a one week trip each time. For him, it was a great introduction to backpacking-- more enjoyable than doing it with his parents. He really enjoyed the trip leaders (young people just out of college), and the sense of accomplishment both in miles covered and peaks summited. Both times he went with a friend from school. The first trip he knew two other kids as well, but that was a coincidence. I don't think he'll do it again, but that's not a reflection of the program, it's about where my son's interests lie.