Adventure Treks: California Challenge Program Overview & Recommendation

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Choice Camps Recommendation of Adventure Treks: California Challenge

For more than a decade, Adventure Treks has been taking students on exciting wilderness adventures to some of the most scenic places in North America. Adventure Treks inspires students to develop a lifetime love of the wilderness and outdoors, and with it a corresponding conservation ethic. Adventure Treks’ small group experience allows students to join a powerful inclusive community, form friendships with outstanding role models, develop leadership skills, improve self-confidence, thrive without electronics, slow down, and gain a wider perspective on life.

Adventure Treks has an exceptional safety record that has earned the organization a variety of awards and commendations. With a focus on people and quality, Adventure Treks forms long-term relationships with students, their families, instructors, staff, and outfitters. For students looking to meet new friends, learn leadership, gain confidence, and challenge themselves through exciting outdoor adventure and wilderness activities, Adventure Treks may be the perfect choice.

Trip Description

The California Challenge is the adventure of a lifetime! Climbing Mt Shasta with ice axe and crampons should be the coolest thing you have ever done! This is a classic Adventure Treks trip, a favorite among both students and instructors alike. For 25 days, you'll paddle, hike, and climb in the amazing Northern California scenery…all while you develop lifelong friendships with other students and instructors.

Staff Overview

Each Adventure Treks experience is staffed by at least 6 instructors for 24 students. Adventure Treks’ mature and certified instructors are incredible role models; their average age is 27, all hold college or advanced degrees, and many are teachers or professional outdoor educators the rest of the year. All instructors attend 8-14 days of specific Adventure Treks pre-course training. In early summer, the senior staff converges for additional training.

Over 70% of Adventure Treks instructors return every summer, several for their fifth, sixth, or seventh season. Returning instructors know the wilderness areas that they visit and have the skills necessary to run safe activities.

Setting & Accommodations

During the Adventure Treks program, most nights are spent sleeping in tents. Students camp with two other participants of the same sex in a four-person tent. Some nights are spent sleeping out under the stars. Adventure Treks provides all tents and tarps.

If you have to shower every day, Adventure Treks is probably not the program for you. Students can expect three to four showers on their trip. Participants will get to swim frequently, and experienced staff members will instruct students on how to maintain personal hygiene in a wilderness context.

Safety Standards

Adventure Treks received the 2008 "Safety First" award from Markel Insurance for excellence in safety education. All instructors are medically certified as an EMT, Wilderness EMT, or Wilderness First Responder. The organization has worked with over 8,000 students in the last 30 years without any hospital stays or serious injuries. Students are taught to develop "expedition behavior" from certified and experienced instructors.