Overnight Backpacking Trips are Ascend Wilderness Experience’s flagship program. This all-inclusive experience provides gear, food, fellowship, knowledgeable and trained wilderness guides. Everything necessary for a safe and inspiring wilderness adventure at no cost! Ascend offers a variety of youth trips for ages 6-18, as well as all-ages trips for friends and families to hike together.

Choose from:

3-day Backpacking Trips (Ages 9-14)

Ascend’s 3-day overnight wilderness experience for youth is designed for the novice backpacker. This trip is intended to expose youth to the rewards of hoisting all your gear onto your back and finding solace in the backcountry. Hikers will be grouped into age-appropriate groups of 9-11 and 12-14. No cell phones allowed! (Ages 9-14, rated Introductory-Moderate)

• Ages 9-11 – These 3-day introductory backpacking trips are designed for youth who are just dipping their toes into independent outdoor adventures. Hiking distances are age appropriate and destinations may include the following: East Boulder Lake, Stoddard Lake or Boulder Lakes in the Trinity Alps Wilderness.
• Ages 10-13 – The 10–13-year-old group will spend a full 5 days immersed in the backcountry of the Trinity Alps. The location of this trip is currently TBD, but is sure to have options for amazing vistas, alpine lakes, solitude, and communing as a group and in wilderness.
• Leadership and Mentor Training Trip – Ages 12-14 This trip is often designed for the 12–14-year-old age group that has attended an Ascend trip before and/or shows aptitude and desire to take a leadership role in a wilderness setting. These trips tend to hike deeper into wilderness, provide even more inspirational hiking excursions, and focus on empowering activities in which the participants learn orienteering skills and take on more responsibilities under the tutelage of trained Wilderness Guides. The youth who participate in these trips have the opportunity to apply as a Junior Guide and assist the adult wilderness guides during younger aged trips, or to apply to be on Ascend’s Teen Stewardship Youth Crew. During this backpacking trip, youth will spend an afternoon participating in stewardship tasks in addition to supplemental leadership activities facilitated by Ascend Wilderness Guides for this specific trip. These opportunities are excellent stepping stones for youth considering a career in outdoor work, or simply wanting to experience nature in a deeper way.

Due to group size limitations in the Trinity Alps, availability is limited per trip. Please be sure to communicate with staff and commit to your trip. It is extremely difficult to fill last minute cancellations. We also offer all-ages trips for families that prefer to hike together.