Colorado Rockies Intro to Backpacking for Elementary School
Join a group of young explorers for an introductory wilderness experience that builds comfort and confidence with backcountry living skills while developing strong, fun, and inclusive teams.
Over five days, you will learn a variety of real backcountry skills such as backcountry cooking, map and compass use, Leave No Trace, group initiatives, and sleeping in tents or handmade shelters. We’ll learn about the natural environment, including the mountain, forest, and water ecosystems, and make lifelong friends.
In addition to learning about plants and animals and how to survive alongside them in the wilderness, you'll experience fun low-ropes activities and other on-the-ground challenges. Practice your Leave No Trace camping skills and become an ambassador to help protect natural areas for the next generation (that’s you!).
This course is great for learning skills for future wilderness adventure, like a big family trek or a longer Outward Bound expedition. Plus, you’ll have great stories to share when you go back to school in the fall.
Leaving the Comforts of Home
For some younger students, Outward Bound is the first time away from home, which may bring up feelings of homesickness. Thus, each student group is comprised of a maximum of 12 students and is accompanied by an experienced staff team to ensure the care, supervision, and guidance for each student. We design our courses to set students up for success no matter how much experience they have with wilderness travel and independence.
CCK2-011 and CCK2-013 are male identified-only courses. CCK2-012 and CCK2-014 are female identified-only courses.
UPCOMING COURSES
| COURSE # | DATES | DAYS | AGE | COST | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCK2-011 | 7.13.20 - 7.17.20 | 5 | 10 - 11 | $1,495 | APPLY NOW |
| CCK2-012 | 7.20.20 - 7.24.20 | 5 | 10 - 11 | $1,495 | APPLY NOW |
| CCK2-013 | 7.27.20 - 7.31.20 | 5 | 10 - 11 | $1,495 | APPLY NOW |
| CCK2-014 | 8.3.20 - 8.7.20 | 5 | 10 - 11 | $1,495 | APPLY NOW |
Hiking
This course includes lessons in basic travel and camping techniques. Students will carry small backpacks from campsite to campsite as their heavier equipment is shuttled by our staff. This allows students to learn fundamental backpacking skills while keeping the level of physical challenge appropriate. Along the way, students learn Leave No Trace techniques, map and compass navigation and camp craft as they get a feel for the human and natural history of the area. The simplicity of hiking gives students the opportunity to be active and to focus both internally on their own thoughts and self-reliance, as well as externally to connect deeply with others as they talk, sing, play games and spend time together without distraction.
Service
Service is an integral part of every Outward Bound course. Elementary school courses introduce the idea of service to others through a chore rotation. Students will also do an age appropriate service project with a community partner. This might include picking up trash at a picnic area or helping to feed trout at a fish hatchery.
Getting Started
If you are ready to enroll on a course click the enroll button next to the course you wish to select or you can enroll over the phone by speaking with one of our Admissions Advisors (toll-free) at 866-467-7651.
To secure your spot on a course you must submit an enrollment form and $500 deposit that is applied toward the total cost of the course and includes a $150 non-refundable enrollment processing fee.
