Year after year, backpacking is the most highly rated activity at Adventure Treks for many reasons, including shared challenge, lack of electronic distractions, and what we call “shared humanity.” There’s magic in overcoming obstacles, and it’s even more powerful when challenges are shared with friends. Without electronics, people able to focus on what’s in front of them, and what’s important: themselves, their friends, and creating long-lasting memories. Students are able to step into different leadership roles, and backpacking highlights commonalities and interests that form strong, unbreakable friendship bonds. Backpacking offers opportunities for both type I fun (seeing beautiful views, having deep trail conversations, jumping into swimming holes) and type II fun (steep inclines, inclement weather, forgetting something and having to problem-solve)—both of which create rewarding, meaningful experiences.

Students will hike through the Goat Rocks Wilderness (spectacular alpine terrain surrounded by wildflowers and snow-capped volcanoes), North Cascades National Park (known for glaciers, gigantic Fraser firs, and emerald lakes), and the Olympic Peninsula (wild beaches filled with wildlife and sea stacks) on several extended backpacking trips, honing such skills as:

• Expedition management and safety
• Orienteering, map-reading, and navigation skills
• Leave No Trace principles
• Camp set-up and take-down
• Building temporary shelters
• Fire-building
• Backcountry cooking

Not only is it important for outdoor enthusiasts to have a basic understanding of wilderness medicine, but the wilderness first responder course is also the standard minimum medical certification for outdoor leaders like guides, search and rescue professionals, and educators. (Adventure Treks alumni often go on to become instructor interns after having gained this certification.) It’s also an extremely beneficial course for anyone who takes extended backcountry trips and wants to pursue emergency medical training. Over 72–80 hours of classroom learning and hands-on scenarios, students will cover topics like:

• Patient assessment systems
• Risk management
• Vital signs
• Anaphylaxis, allergies, and airway management
• Heat- and cold-related injuries
• Spinal and traumatic brain injuries
• Wounds and soft tissue injuries
• Trauma and shock
• Burns and blisters
• Bites, stings, and wildlife safety
• Splinting and patient packaging
• Dislocations
• And much, much more

Students will become fluent in paddling basics, drills, and river safety for three weeks in the Turrialba region of Costa Rica. We’ll focus on canoeing skills to prep for a multi-day expedition to the Caribbean coast. Then, we’ll hop in whitewater kayaks on the Rio Pejibaye before transitioning to rafting on the Rio Pacuare.

Plus, two of our days will be spent on a swift water rescue course, which is designed for anyone who loves to recreate in moving water or who wants to become an outdoor professional! This course is designed for people with little to no rescue experience; students will learn the fundamentals of survival in moving water, plus gain knowledge in hydrology and river classification; swimming and self-rescue; and boat handling and anchor systems.

Skills covered in the canoeing syllabus:

• Essential canoeing strokes (forward and backward, J, C, pry, sweep, draw, cross draw, etc.)
• Ferrying, eddying, and bracing
• Loading and unloading canoes
• Basic rescue techniques
• River packing, camping, and portaging techniques

Skills covered in the kayaking syllabus:

• Common strokes, rolling, and bracing
• Reading whitewater and picking a line
• Surfing waves
• T-rescues and wet exits
• Safely swimming in whitewater

Strap on your helmet for some of the country’s best singletrack trails. Learn the ins and outs of mountain biking with the 9,068-foot Mt. Bachelor in the background.

Skills covered in the syllabus include:

• Proper body positioning for climbing and descending
• How to read the trail and pick a line
• Balance and pedal strokes
• Braking and shifting
• Trail etiquette and basic repairs

You’ll quickly realize why Smith Rock attracts climbers from all over the world as you test your grit on the welded volcanic tuff that comprises the impressive spires in the park. Over several days, try your hand at varying levels of both single-pitch and multi-pitch routes.

• Advanced knot-tying
• Belaying & rappelling
• Anchor-building
• Movement techniques
• Self-rescue