Develop outdoor skills. Enhance your leadership and communication abilities. Strive to increase your knowledge of the environment – all while learning wilderness travel techniques in a variety of stunning environments. The ultimate goal of our Gap Year expeditions is to help you develop the confidence, knowledge, and integrity essential for effective leadership. Whether you are learning how to safely tie in on belay, deciding as a group how to navigate through new terrain, or setting up a minimum-impact campsite for the evening, you’ll be honing and practicing skills for life.  

• Build skills, form connections: Amidst rugged natural landscapes, learn to lead and to follow; to give and receive feedback; and to trust in your own capabilities as you expand your technical and personal knowledge base. Find connections with your crewmates based on support and respect (and fun too!), and in the thick of challenges, discover there is more in you than you know.
• Value strengths and strengthen values: Uncover your unique character strengths, exercise your independence as you gain life experience and learn how to let compassion in to everyday life by pushing your own limits and supporting your crew as you tackle obstacles together, big and small.
• Demonstrate mastery: As you gain confidence in new skills and a better understanding of the natural world around you, take on more decision-making responsibilities. Work together to achieve team goals, solve problems and succeed both as independent individuals and as a group.
• What you’ll learn: Examine your personal values and discover more about your true self. Hone your technical abilities as you become a master at ropes courses or swiftwater rescue techniques and Wilderness First Aid. Numerous certificates are available depending on the course, and up to 18 credit hours can be earned along the way.
  

Exploring new environments and building new connections will put your tenacity to the test. You’ll return with broader understanding of the natural world around you, deeper appreciation for small kindnesses and greater confidence in yourself and others that will serve you well long after you return.

Outward Bound is accredited with the American Gap Association and is the longest running program in this elite group dedicated to providing safe, meaningful and high-caliber educational experiences to students.

While canoeing, each day is spent practicing paddle strokes and learning to read the water – all while taking in the beauty of the canyon. Students learn the skills they need to move safely and efficiently down the river. As there are only two or three students in a canoe, everyone gets ample opportunities to be the captain of their own boat. Flat water sections offer students time to swim, relax and enjoy the view. Time in a canoe is ideal for getting to know each other, laughing and singing your way downriver.

In places, the canyon rims rise hundreds of feet above the river, enclosing participants in a remote world of silence, delicate ecosystems and unbelievable beauty. Most courses get the opportunity to take day hikes away from the river. These hikes provide stunning views and often the chance to see archaeological sites, petroglyphs, pictographs and remarkable geological formations.

On this course, students have the opportunity to gain a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) certification which is considered a standard for many jobs in the Outdoor Industry. The course teaches the fundamentals of giving basic medical care in backcountry environments.

In order for profound learning to take place, there must be time to reflect on the experience. Solo is that opportunity, and can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours or more, depending on course length and type, as well as the competency and preparedness of the student group. Weather and time permitting, the Solo experience provides an important break from the rigors of the expedition and gives students the opportunity to reflect on their Outward Bound experience. Many students use this reflection time to make decisions about their future, journal and enjoy the beauty of their surroundings unencumbered by the constant external stimulation of modern life. With all the food, skills and supplies they need, students are given a secluded spot to reflect alone and are monitored by staff throughout. Students find that Solo provokes profound and powerful learning in a short period of time and often becomes one of the most memorable parts of an Outward Bound experience.

Our expeditions help students grow into the best version of themselves. We use challenge in the outdoors to allow students to discover their strengths and build authentic connections with their peers. Compassion for oneself and others is foundational to our educational approach. As students realize that they are stronger than they know, they develop confidence and resilience that will last a lifetime. Social and emotional learning outcomes include:

• Belonging – students form deep connections founded upon respect, inclusion, and compassion
• Reflection – students learn self-awareness and practice empathy towards others
• Physical Engagement – students develop awareness and confidence in their bodies
• Courage – students develop the confidence to speak up for themselves and persevere through challenges

Rocky Mountains, Colorado

The Colorado Rockies is one of the most famous and iconic sections of the Rocky Mountains. Colorado is home to the greatest concentration of high peaks in the lower 48 states, with hundreds of mountains standing over 13,000 and 14,000 feet tall. The region is characterized by dense pine forests and rocky alpine ecosystems. Students will enjoy clear blue glacial lakes, fields of wildflowers, waterfalls, and striking rock formations. Most courses will also get the opportunity to attempt to summit a mountain peak. If they are observant, students can spot wildlife like elk, mountain goats, moose, marmots, pikas and eagles. These regions are within the ancestral lands of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Cheyenne, Arapaho, Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux), Eastern Shoshone, Jicarilla Apache, and Pueblos nations.

Canyon Country, Utah

The most spectacular aspects of the Utah landscape are the hidden treasures found within its vast canyon networks, formed by millennia of wind and water. The canyons are composed of a spell-binding labyrinth of towering walls, arches, and slot canyons just waiting to be explored. On course, these vibrant formations are a geological playground for scrambling and teamwork. Canyoneering courses venture into narrower, deeper chasms sometimes as narrow as two feet wide with walls rising several hundred feet on each side. The desert ecosystem is characterized by aromatic plants like sagebrush and juniper and birds soaring high above canyon walls. The days can be hot in the summertime, but it always cools down in the evenings. Robbers Roost, Canyonlands, and the San Rafael Swell are in the ancestral lands of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Pueblos, Southern Paiute, Diné, and Hopi nations.

The Green River

The Green River is one of the largest and grandest rivers in the Southwest. It is famous for its world-renowned whitewater rapids and towering red rock canyon walls. Whitewater river sections may give students the opportunity to navigate Class 2 or 3 rapids while slow water sections provide time for swimming and relaxing. Throughout the canyon, there are spectacular cultural wonders including ancient dwellings and pictographs. As crews descend deeper into the canyons, they will get to observe a variety of unique geologic formations and layers of pink, red, and orange rock. Sagebrush, cottonwood, juniper, and willow trees pepper the shores. Beaches provide an opportunity to stop for lunch or set up camp along sandy shores. Many of our longer rafting courses will travel through Canyonlands National Park, reaching the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. This section of the Green River is theancestral lands of the Ute Nation.