What are some good summer leadership programs?

Summer adventure experience for 11 year old daughter.

• Our 11 year old daughter had nice introductions to rock climbing and camping last summer and would like a more intense experience in similar areas next summer. We are looking for a summer program that teaches outdoor skills (e.g., rock climbing, white watering, orienteering), is girls only, and does not attract/permit blow dryers, makeup, or annoying teenage girl attitudes. We've reviewed the web sites for Outward Bound, National Outdoors Leadership School, American Mountain Guides Association, and the American Camping Association. The only outdoor-oriented programs not focused on troubled teens seem to be Girl Scout programs. However, we suspect that those programs may not be very demanding with respect to either skill development or physical challenges. There seems to be class of summer experiences known as "travel" camps. These look interesting in concept, but we did not see any that permit kids as young as ours. We're prepared to send our daughter pretty much anywhere if we are convinced that she'll be safe, have fun, and will come away with a deeper appreciation and respect for the outdoors generally and some skill particularly. We're quite familiar with the "generalist" camps (i.e., camps that offer 20 or 30 different activities--from archery to soccer to crafts to swimming to drama) and are not interested in that kind of experience. Can you recommend a few programs worth investigating further?

• Answer:

  Hello Atlasshrugged, Thank you for you question. My search returned the following results for adventure type camps for girls: Alpengirl “Adventurous summer camps for teenage girls Alpengirl is the ONLY summer camp for teen adventure committed 100% to girls! Our cutting-edge summer camp program is designed for motivated girls interested in adventure sports perfectly blended with fitness and wilderness. Two and three-week teen camps in Montana, Washington, and Alaska” Alpengirl Website http://www.alpengirl.com/adventures.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Camp Green Cove “Camp Green Cove is a traditional, but unique summer program for girls age 6 to 17. Located in the Mountains of Western North Carolina, we emphasize outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, mountain biking, rock climbing, and horseback riding. We believe in fun, adventure, safety, and great instruction.” Camp Green Cove, established 1945. P.O. Box 38, Tuxedo, NC 28784. Toll Free: 1(800)688-5789. Fax: 1(828)696-8895. E-mail: [email protected] Camp Green Cove http://www.greencove.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hawk Circle Wilderness Summer Camp “Wilderness adventure program operating expeditions in the United States focusing on authentic Native American Wilderness Skills in a personal growth, safe setting; coed & separate gender camps. Activities include: tracking, survival, firemaking, shelters, awareness games, hiking, plants and trees, campfires, cooking, storytelling.” Address: P.O. Box 506, Cherry Valley, NY 13320; Phone: 607) 264-3396 E-mail: [email protected] Camp starts June 23 and goes until August 17, 2002. Sessions are one or two weeks long, for ages 10 to 17. Hawk Circle Wilderness Website http://www.hawkcircle.com/aboutus.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Adventure Teen Travel Adventure Teen Travel Teen Camping, wilderness travel and adventure vacations to destinations in the Rocky Mountains, Atlantic and Pacific coasts, France and Europe. Summit Centre, 202-56 Lincoln Park, Canmore, Alberta, Canada T1W 1N8 ; Phone: (877) 990-TEEN E-mail:[email protected] “Adventure Teen Travel is a wilderness adventure program. Teen adventure vacations to destinations in the Rocky Mountains, Atlantic and Pacific coasts, France and Europe. Activities such as hiking, heli-hiking, rock climbing, horseback riding, canoeing, sea kayaking and white water rafting. Outdoor co-educational & girls only programs that are suitable for participants of all levels. See wildlife such as moose, elk and bighorn sheep in their natural setting of the Canadian Rockies.” Adventure Teen Travel http://www.adventureteentravel.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Turtle Island Preserve Turtle Island Preserve is a 1,000 acre nature preserve and educational facility in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains near Boone, NC. Inspirational forests, clear streams and diverse flora and fauna are the setting for REAL experiences. 1443 Lonnie Carlton Road, Triplett, NC 28618 Phone- 828.265.2267 E-mail:[email protected] Turtle Island Preserve is a non-traditional summer residence camp with separate sessions for boys and girls and founded by Eustace Conway, celebrated outdoorsman. Accommodations include tipi and Adirondack shelters. They have a 4:1 camper-staff ratio. Turtle Island Preserve http://www.turtleislandpreserve.com/index2.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- Girls Wilderness Rock Climbing - Advanced Rock Climbing This eleven-day adventure in Leavenworth, Washington, is for girls who have completed the Girls Rock Program or completed the Girls Wilderness Beginning Rock Climbing course. Girls Wilderness Rock Climbing http://www.passagesnw.org/climb.html Girls Wilderness Backpacking and Hiking Programs http://www.passagesnw.org/pack.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional information that may interest you: ******************************************** Choose your adventure at Adventure Pursuits. http://www.apadventures.com/intro_to_adventures.html ******************************************** If you want adventure hiking, camping, rock climbing, wilderness skills and canoeing in South Africa, Teen African Adventure Camp is ideal. Although this camp is coed and for older teens, I wanted to include it as an alternative for the future. Teen African Adventure Camp http://teenafrika.topcities.com/index.html ******************************************** Trails Wilderness Schools offers 15 a wide variety of programs. Although they don’t mention having all girl groups, it’s worth a call to find out.The programs they offer include Alaska adventures, Alps Adventure, rock-climbing and white-water rafting just to name a few. http://www.trailsws.com/programs.html Summer (June-Aug) Trails Wilderness School Teton Valley Ranch Box 123 Jackson Hole-Kelly, WY 83011 Phone: (307) 733-0124 Fax: (307) 733-5441 Trails Wilderness Schools http://www.trailsws.com/programs.html ******************************************** Whitewater Summer Camps and Camp RAFT Although it’s coed this is what they say “Students and staff camp in their own tents (tent rentals available), with the young women and women guides camped together in their own circle, and, not far away, the young men and male guides camped in their own circle.” http://www.whitewatervoyages.com/schools/summercamps.html ******************************************** Search Criteria: adventure camps outdoor skills camps rock climbing camp for girls white watering “girls camp” orienteering camp adventure rock climbing white watering girls camp wilderness programs +camp adventure programs Eco-adventure camp wilderness adventure camps for girls I hope you find this helpful and if there is anything that I've written that needs clarification, please ask before you rate this answer. Best Regards, Bobbie7-ga