Adventures in Camping
Teens Get the Opportunity to Test Their Limits

By Karen Haywood Queen

Aaaaah. Summer camp. Climbing glaciers, hiking up volcanoes, biking hundreds of miles, kayaking, backpacking and camping. Wait. Whatever happened to paddling a canoe on a calm lake, dining halls and cabins with bunk beds?

Listen up campers, especially if you’re in high school. Your mom’s and dad’s camps are still there, drawing more campers than ever. But a new breed of camps has emerged over the last 10 to 20 years that offer adventure and travel geared especially toward older teen-agers. “Children of an older age are looking at camp and saying, `Oh, that’s not for little kids anymore,’ People are going to camp later in their youth than ever before,” says Jeff Solomon, executive director of the National Camp Association. “Historically, people went to camp through the ages of 15. Now youths ages 16, 17, 18 or even older are going. Those teen-agers are attracted to cutting-edge type activities, which would typically be the adventure camps.”

Over the last 20 years, the popularity of adventure camps has grown. Solomon’s not sure which came first - the increase in older teens going to camp or the growth of adventure camps. But, he says, “A niche has been established. Supply is constantly outgrowing the demand.”

Katy Gerloff, of Virginia Beach, Va., is always happy to tell about her trip with America’s Adventure Venture Europe (AAVE), one of the oldest adventure camp programs in the country. Katy was a part of the Boot, Saddle, Paddle trip - which included a hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, a horseback riding trip, white water rafting and backpacking.

“There were a few times on my trip when I was fearful, but I eventually overcame it,” she says. “Whitewater rafting on the Colorado River was somewhat scary because the rapids were bigger than anything I had ever seen!” she says. “I almost fell out five times. But it was a great adrenaline rush and so much fun.”

Katy enjoyed waterfalls with turquoise, clear water and exploring caves behind the falls. The hardest part was some of the hiking - 18 miles down the Grand Canyon. Riding a horse up a huge mountain was scary, but worth it. “When we got to the top it was such an amazing view,” she says. “We got to
gallop on top of this mountain on a field. We raced for hours.”

On the trip, she met other teens from France, Norway and Hawaii. Adventure camp is not for everyone - one boy had to be taken from the Grand Canyon by helicopter because he was so sick. “He was just a weak and non-energetic guy. To tell you the truth, he really just didn’t have the willpower to go through with the trip.”

As for Katy, the trip has changed her. “The trip changed my outlook on God and his world that he created so much more. I realized how glorious and magnificent He is by seeing the mountains and waterfalls and the canyon. I almost feel like a Romantic now that I look back on it, for I feel like I
was seeing the true beauty, found only in nature.”

The excitement and change don’t come cheap. Count on several thousand dollars, not including airfare. But regular sleep away camps aren’t cheap either. Remember, if your teen were home, you’d have to feed him for those three weeks. AAVE offers scholarships for less fortunate teen-agers.

Some wilderness programs are actually less expensive than regular camps, Solomon says. It depends on how involved the camp is and how exotic the locale. In addition to the activities above, programs might include hiking, wilderness backpacking, scuba diving, underwater photography, service programs, combined foreign language/adventure courses and rock climbing.

AAVE, one of the first adventure camps in the country, was founded in 1976 with 13 teen camps, two leaders and one trip. Back then, “there was very little of this type of thing in existence,” says founder Abbott Wallis. “Adventure travel was not a phrase that would mean anything to anyone then.”

Wallis, a former high school teacher, founded the program after serving as a counselor on a teen tour. “I thought it was an absolute waste of time,” he says. “It was a great group of kids. But nothing was expected of the teen-agers. Nothing was returned to the places we went to. It could have
been grandma on the trip as easily as a group of teen-agers. I set out to offer a program specifically for teen-agers, a challenge level, a sense of accomplishment, including feeling good about yourself and just understanding yourself.”

Adventure camps are a good getaway from the busyness of 21st century life.

“A lot of our kids are very highly scheduled,” Wallis says. “They have 10 activities in one day. They go from ballet to clarinet to computer science. Every second of their day is filled. Every 45 minutes the bell rings at school for another class. At home they have Game Boys, Nintendo.”

At camp, change comes a lot slower. There are no electronics. You’re with the same people all the time. Life has a more natural pace, he says. “It’s incredibly exhilarating.”

But while he says there’s no social pressure - the kids can’t hide either.

“If you’re a jerk on AAVE, people are going to call you on that. You’re going to have to work on that yourself. You’re not going to be able to go home and play Nintendo against yourself,” he says.

Every participant gets his or her day to be the leader, to wake everyone up, to oversee meals and to conduct the meetings. “It’s a big experience in responsibility, leadership and freedom,” Wallis says.

Of course safety comes to mind when thinking of some of these activities. But actually these camps have a lower rate of injuries than general camps, Solomon says. “Adventure programs seem to be the safest of all programs,” he says. “When safety is an obvious issue, they put that much more emphasis on the staff they hire, the precautions they take. They tend to be more extreme in their efforts than general camps where a child playing basketball may fall and twist an ankle.”

AAVE hasn’t had a major accident or injury since 1976, its brochure says. And even though locations sometimes are remote, the company’s offices in Colorado and Belgium are reachable by phone and email 24 hours a day. Trips include weekly email stops for friends and family.

Resources
AAVE: 1-800-222-3595
www.aave.com

National Camp Association:
1-800-966-CAMP (2267)
www.summercamp.org

American Camp Association
1-800-428-CAMP
www.ACAcamps.org

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