We offer a four-day, three-night wilderness camping trip for boys ages 12-16. This trip uses a format we have used with youth for over 9 years. We set up a camp together in the mountains outside Boulder, Colorado, teach basic wilderness camping and safety skills, practice respect for each other and the land, and introduce important elements of rites of passage. We offer a half-day solo to the boys in the spirit of our ancestral rites of passage. A ceremonial context and supportive respect for each boy surround the solo. We also have fun, play games, learn tracking and other wilderness skills, eat well, and tell fantastic stories around the fire.

Coming of age -- making the transition from childhood to adulthood -- is confusing and difficult, and keeping the adult heart and soul alive and well is a life-long practice. Our ancestors recognized it as one of the most critical times in a person's life and as a crucial step for the entire community, and they marked the coming of age time with rites of passage. Most of these rites of passage used wild nature as the crucible and essential support for coming of age.

The purpose of this trip is to prepare young men for their own rites of passage as well as offering a time for connecting with the wild world of adolescent boys-- within each boy, in the group, and in the wilderness setting. This trip will help develop some of the capacities needed for a rite of passage, introduce some of the practices central to rites of passage (such as ceremony, time alone in nature, and listening to each others' stories), and awaken the innate framework -- the archetypal imprint we each carry -- for how to navigate life transitions.

The wilderness affords an ideal opportunity for adolescent boys to learn and grow. The lessons it teaches are natural and uncontrived -- cold, sun, rain, stars, silence, elk, finch, challenge, comfort, and fascination. This trip will teach the boys some of the ways of the wild -- both internal and external -- giving their own wildness a chance to emerge in a healthy and spacious environment.

The guides bring together rich professional backgrounds in wilderness rites of passage and vision fasts, youth work, wilderness therapy, soul-based men's growth and healing work, ritual and ceremony, group process, psychotherapy, healthy adolescent emotional development, natural history, environmental education, the arts, and teaching.

 

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Locations : We will drive and walk to a wilderness campsite on private land surrounded by national forest between Lyons and Estes Park, Colorado. It is beautiful and secluded land offering a profound sense of wildness and homecoming. Details on where to gather will be sent upon registration.

Cost: to be determined. Please contact us. A deposit of $100 will hold a place. Cost includes nutritious food. A limited scholarship fund is available. If you would like to support this important work, please contribute to this fund. Your contribution is tax-deductible through the Men's Leadership Alliance. If you need scholarship support, please contact us.

Logistical details and information to help the boys prepare for this trip, including an equipment list, will be sent upon registration. Space is limited.