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advanced adventures

Expand Your Horizons

Learn to lead in new ways in our Advanced Adventure summer course. Students begin their journey together with a local overnight retreat focused on team building and prepare for their 14-16 day adventure back to Wyoming! This longer experience will grow your outdoor skills while introducing new challenges in hiking, camping, backpacking, and rock climbing. We’ll travel to remote wilderness, tour Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, and climb in Wind River. Other activities include a cave tour in Idaho, volunteer trail work in Montana, wildlife viewing, and endangered species education, with daily reflections and journaling about environmental topics. 

Ideal for students who completed our New Explorers experience, but also open to new students entering their 8th- 10th grade year.

To attend the Advanced Adventure program, students must have either completed our Emerging Explorers course or be entering at least 9th grade and apply as a new student. 

We know not every student is the same. Exceptions may apply, just ask!

Some of the students who attend the advanced course did not go to Wyoming the summer before. So returning and new students can meet, we get everyone together before heading to the mountains. Students meet the staff, participate in team building activities, and help plan portions of the upcoming trip!

The location of the overnight retreat may change each year but is always near Omaha with transportation provided from a central location in the city.

Attendance is strongly encouraged for returning campers and required for new students.

Once you’ve seen the mountains in Wyoming, it’s pretty clear why we travel across Nebraska every summer. This advanced course takes students farther into Wyoming, with activities in Idaho and Montana! 

This 14 day experience strengthens what students already know about the outdoors. Together they’ll prepare for a 12 mile backpacking overnight, work with the Yellowstone Youth Conservation Corps to maintain trails in the National Park, learn its history and become Junior Rangers in Grand Teton National Park, and rock climb in the Wind River Mountain Range. 

While all the hikes and experiences of the Advanced Adventure course are achievable for beginners, students should be prepared to push themselves physically and mentally during the two weeks. 

Since most of our students attend different Junior High and High Schools, we love getting them back together after our trip to share stories, look at pictures, and remember all they accomplished as a group. 

Reunion activities may vary each year. 

The Advanced Adventure is not the end of Go Beyond. We invite students who completed this course to apply to become a Natural Leader and our Junior Counselor Leadership program, or just to continue to attend any of our local day lessons or overnight actives. 

Program Outcomes

Personal Development

Personal Development

Develop a concept of Mindfulness, an awareness of social skills, healthy lifestyle and relationships, an awareness of inclusiveness, and a sense of self.

Community Engagement

Community Development

Students work as a group to travel, accomplish goals, prepare meals, and learn to value others opinions and needs in these situations. They also bring outdoor lessons back to their homes and schools to share information with others.

Environmental Awareness

Environmental Awareness

Students learn how to be environmental stewards and how their actions can impact their surroundings. They actively learn conservation practices, Leave No Trace ethics, our human impact, the interactive balance of ecosystems, and human interactions and effects related to the environment.

Challenge Seeking

Challenge Seeking

Students Go Beyond what they think they can accomplish and overcome fears associated with many challenging situations.

2020 Summer Dates

More Info

2020 Summer Dates

More Info

Activities and Lessons

Rock Climbing

Spend a day in Sinks Canyon State Park climbing in the Wind River mountains. There are multiple routes for beginners with options to increase difficulty, and even an optional repel! Students less interested in climbing are still encouraged to try and then given the option to learn to belay and support their peers.

Hiking

Advanced Adventures include a lot of hikes. Each offer a different challenge and reward; some lead to waterfalls, hidden lakes, and even a natural waterslide made from rock that students can slide down. Hiking develops perseverance while also viewing wildlife. We've seen deer, elk, fox, bears, moose, eagles, hawks, and a variety of small critters.

Campfire Cooking

Help prepare and cook your meals while camping over a fire! We'll make pasta, soup, ramen, and of always s'mores!

White Water

Work together as a group to raft down the Snake River with class 3 and 4 white water rapids.

Backpack

The ultimate overnight adventure, we hike 6 miles with all our gear on our backs and spend the night on the beach of a hidden mountain lake.

Minnetonka Cave

We take a day trip to Idaho for an underground cave tour and experience pure darkness.

Yellowstone

Visit the first National Park and gaze at it's colorful geothermal hot springs, and of course witness the eruption Old Faithful!

Grand Teton

Another amazing National Park. Here we'l learning about the park history and conservation by earning our Junior Ranger badge and even take a boat tour for a very special remote breakfast in the park.

Volunteering

We give back to the National Parks by helping the Yellowstone Youth Conservation Corps with a day of service.

Star Gazing

No screens allowed at camp, but we have plenty of stars and sky to gaze at. See the Milky Way, plants, and constellations almost every night!

Journaling

We do a lot of physical activities at camp, but we set aside time each day to talk about how those accomplishments make us feel! Students all are given journals to dive deeper in their thoughts or document everything we do!

“My favorite part of camp was getting to bond with the fellas.”

– ADAM 2015

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