A true wilderness, leadership, and service quest

Grades 10-12 (ages 16-18) | June 28 – July 22 | 25 days | 40 Service Hours | $4495

Optional 2-day Wilderness First Aid course (arrive June 26: $295)

For 25 years, we have been providing advanced leadership training in the most rugged areas of our backyard. For Wilderness Leadership we bring all this experience to bear to create a true wilderness quest, led by our most experienced leaders, for young adults who want to take their skills, and their summer, to the next level.

Take a hands-on certification in Wilderness First Aid

Rappel down into pristine Gravel Canyon

See the world from a different point of view while working with the Hopi

Talk leadership with Deer Hill’s respected founder

Find your own voice while leading your group across the largest wilderness in Colorado

2-day Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course (optional)

A Wilderness First Aid course may not be as exciting as climbing a 14,000-foot peak, or rappelling into a slot canyon, but it’s an important part of independence and leadership in the backcountry. This is a hands-on, practical program taught by instructors from the Wilderness Medicine Institute.

Backpacking and technical canyoneering in Gravel Canyon, Utah

After program orientation at Deer Hill Basecamp, we head out to the White Canyon area of southern Utah, where Gravel Canyon cuts a 15-mile channel through the slickrock plateau. This is no groomed trail through a national park. Instead, using all the necessary safety gear, we’ll descend into the cool depths to negotiate a labyrinthine canyon network, scrambling over boulders, rappeling over pour-offs, and wading across pools. This is an incredible landscape to lay the groundwork for a powerful adventure in leadership.

Service in the Hopi Nation, Arizona

When we emerge from Gravel canyon, we’ll meet a resupply team from Basecamp for fresh food and service tools, then head down to Second Mesa in Arizona, where a Hopi family welcomes you into their home. Work side by side with Hopi youth to build a “piki house” bread oven, tend the spring fed community gardens, whitewash the walls of a village plaza in preparation for their annual Kachina Dance, then attend the ceremony as special guests. When work is done, watch the skilful hands of a Hopi artist decorate a pot or gourd rattle, then create your own art piece to take home and treasure. Learn firsthand how the Hopi proudly maintain their traditions, while embracing modern life.

Trek across the Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado

We’ll stop off at Basecamp to gear up and relax for a day, fuel up on huge home-cooked meals, and meet with Doug Capelin, founder and owner of Deer Hill, before setting out to traverse one of the most rugged parts of the immense Weminuche Wilderness. Wonder at vast alpine bowls and meadows of wildflowers. Hone your mountaineering and map and compass skills, carry out a solo exercise, take on the demands of off-trail travel and leadership scenarios. Test yourself against the technical summits of Arrow Peak, Storm King or Leviathan. Just as important as completing these challenges is the way your group works together to meet them, and the lessons you learn about yourself in the process.

Wilderness Leadership is an induction into Deer Hill’s culture of leadership. We are proud that many graduates of this program go on to become Deer Hill leaders in the future.

“I did not walk into this program expecting to be so well instructed in leadership skills and was blown away by everything I’ve learned. I now can navigate and orient myself with a map and the landscape, lead a group over talus off-trail, and identify plants, animals, tie knots, set up a tarp, start a fire, know what to do in a lightning storm, and so much more. I also loved taking the WFA course and getting that information and certification, as it was extremely beneficial in the backcountry.” Aviva, Lexington, MA

“The canyons and the service and the mountains each brought new experiences and meaning, yet the mountains provided an environment in which all my lessons and experiences came together. The hikes in the mountains opened my eyes to my own strengths both physically and as a leader, and provided a new appreciation for these activities, journeys and the wilderness. The times in which the instructors recognized my strengths were reassuring and motivating. But also, when the instructors let us learn without assistance was more memorable because it pushed me out of my comfort zone into a place where they knew I would succeed despite the obstacles. This is why a leadership course is the most meaningful of all the courses.” Isabelle, Montclair, NJ