How do wilderness therapy programs in North Carolina help troubled teens. What are the benefits of wilderness camps for emotional and behavioral issues. Which wilderness therapy options are available in North Carolina. What regulations govern wilderness camps in the state.
Understanding Wilderness Therapy Programs in North Carolina
Wilderness therapy programs offer a unique approach to helping troubled teenagers overcome emotional, mental health, and behavioral challenges. These programs combine the therapeutic benefits of nature with structured interventions to promote personal growth and healing. For parents in North Carolina seeking help for their struggling teens, wilderness camps can provide an effective alternative to traditional treatment options.
What is Wilderness Therapy?
Wilderness therapy, also known as outdoor behavioral healthcare, is a form of experiential education and mental health treatment that takes place in natural settings. These programs typically involve:
- Outdoor adventure activities
- Group and individual therapy sessions
- Skill-building exercises
- Reflection and personal growth opportunities
By removing teens from their familiar environments and potential negative influences, wilderness therapy creates a space for introspection and change.
Benefits of Wilderness Therapy for Troubled Teens
Wilderness therapy programs offer numerous benefits for adolescents struggling with various issues. These programs can help address:
- Substance abuse and addiction
- Depression and anxiety
- Behavioral problems
- Low self-esteem
- Academic difficulties
- Family conflicts
The immersive nature of these programs allows teens to develop coping skills, improve communication, and build resilience in a supportive environment.
How Does Wilderness Therapy Promote Change?
Wilderness therapy promotes change through several key mechanisms:
- Removal from negative influences and distractions
- Emphasis on natural consequences and personal responsibility
- Development of outdoor and survival skills
- Therapeutic interventions in a non-traditional setting
- Peer support and group dynamics
These elements combine to create a transformative experience that can lead to lasting behavioral and emotional changes.
Wilderness Therapy Programs Available in North Carolina
North Carolina offers several reputable wilderness therapy programs for troubled teens. Some of the notable options include:
SUWS of the Carolinas
SUWS of the Carolinas is a co-ed wilderness therapy program serving adolescents ages 10-17. The program focuses on building self-esteem, developing coping skills, and improving family relationships. SUWS utilizes a combination of outdoor adventures, therapeutic interventions, and academic support to help teens overcome their challenges.
Trails Carolina
Trails Carolina is another co-ed wilderness program for young people ages 10-17. This program emphasizes a holistic approach to healing, incorporating elements of traditional therapy, adventure-based experiences, and academic support. Trails Carolina aims to help teens develop self-awareness, emotional regulation, and improved communication skills.
Four Circles Outdoor Recovery
While not specifically for teenagers, Four Circles Outdoor Recovery offers wilderness therapy for young adults ages 18-28. This program specializes in treating substance abuse and co-occurring mental health disorders. Four Circles combines evidence-based clinical interventions with outdoor experiences to promote recovery and personal growth.
Legal Regulations for Wilderness Therapy Programs in North Carolina
To ensure the safety and well-being of participants, wilderness therapy programs in North Carolina are subject to strict regulations. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services oversees these programs and enforces various standards:
Staff Requirements and Background Checks
All staff members working in wilderness camps must undergo criminal background checks. This requirement helps ensure that qualified and trustworthy individuals are responsible for the care and supervision of troubled teens.
Health and Safety Inspections
According to state regulations (15A NCAC 18A .3600), health inspectors must conduct unannounced visits to wilderness camp sites to evaluate compliance with health code standards. These inspections help maintain a safe and hygienic environment for participants.
Water Supply and Sanitation
Wilderness camps must comply with specific regulations regarding water supply and sanitation. The water supplies must meet the standards outlined in 15A NCAC 18A.1700. Additionally, camps must provide adequate toilet and handwashing facilities, with a ratio of one facility per 20 people (15A NCAC 18A .3615).
Primitive Camping Standards
Even in primitive camping conditions, wilderness therapy programs must maintain certain sanitation standards. These include regulations for food temperature, drinking water, cleaning, and sleeping arrangements (15A NCAC 18A .3619). These standards ensure that participants’ basic needs are met, even in challenging outdoor environments.
Choosing the Right Wilderness Therapy Program in North Carolina
Selecting the appropriate wilderness therapy program for your troubled teen is a crucial decision. Parents should consider several factors when evaluating their options:
Program Philosophy and Approach
Different wilderness therapy programs may emphasize various therapeutic modalities and approaches. It’s essential to choose a program whose philosophy aligns with your family’s values and your teen’s specific needs.
Staff Qualifications and Expertise
Investigate the qualifications and experience of the program’s staff members. Look for programs that employ licensed therapists, experienced outdoor educators, and medical professionals to ensure comprehensive care for your teen.
Safety Measures and Accreditation
Prioritize programs that adhere to strict safety standards and hold relevant accreditations. This may include certifications from organizations such as the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) or the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council (OBHC).
Family Involvement and Aftercare
Consider programs that incorporate family therapy and provide comprehensive aftercare support. These elements can help ensure that the progress made during the wilderness therapy experience translates to long-term success at home.
The Role of Help Your Teen Now in Finding Wilderness Therapy Programs
For parents feeling overwhelmed by the process of finding the right wilderness therapy program, Help Your Teen Now offers valuable assistance. This parent support group provides unbiased information and resources to help families make informed decisions about their troubled teens’ treatment options.
How Does Help Your Teen Now Assist Parents?
Help Your Teen Now offers several services to support parents in their search for appropriate wilderness therapy programs:
- Comprehensive information on various teen help programs
- Testimonials from families who have experienced different programs
- Program histories and evaluations
- Personalized assistance in finding suitable options
By providing these resources, Help Your Teen Now empowers parents to make well-informed decisions about their child’s treatment journey.
The Impact of Wilderness Therapy on Troubled Teens
Wilderness therapy programs can have a profound and lasting impact on troubled teens. Through their experiences in these programs, participants often experience significant personal growth and positive changes in various areas of their lives.
Improved Self-Esteem and Confidence
By mastering outdoor skills and overcoming challenges in the wilderness, teens often develop a stronger sense of self-worth and confidence in their abilities. This newfound self-assurance can translate into other areas of their lives, including academics and social relationships.
Enhanced Emotional Regulation
Wilderness therapy programs provide opportunities for teens to develop better emotional awareness and regulation skills. Through structured activities and therapeutic interventions, participants learn to identify and manage their emotions more effectively.
Strengthened Family Relationships
Many wilderness therapy programs incorporate family therapy components, helping to improve communication and resolve conflicts within the family system. This focus on family dynamics can lead to more harmonious relationships and a smoother transition back home.
Increased Resilience and Coping Skills
The challenges presented in wilderness settings help teens develop resilience and adaptive coping strategies. These skills prove invaluable as they navigate future life challenges and stressors.
Preparing for Wilderness Therapy: Tips for Parents and Teens
Embarking on a wilderness therapy journey can be both exciting and daunting for teens and their families. Proper preparation can help ensure a smooth transition and maximize the benefits of the program.
Open Communication
Engage in honest conversations with your teen about the reasons for choosing wilderness therapy and what they can expect from the experience. Address any concerns or fears they may have, and emphasize the potential for growth and positive change.
Physical Preparation
Wilderness therapy programs often involve physical challenges. Encourage your teen to engage in regular exercise and outdoor activities in the weeks leading up to the program to build stamina and familiarize themselves with outdoor environments.
Emotional Readiness
Help your teen prepare emotionally for the experience by discussing the potential challenges and rewards of wilderness therapy. Encourage them to approach the program with an open mind and a willingness to engage in the process of self-discovery and growth.
Packing Appropriately
Work closely with the chosen program to ensure your teen has all the necessary gear and clothing for their wilderness experience. Many programs provide detailed packing lists to guide families through this process.
By thoroughly researching and carefully selecting a wilderness therapy program in North Carolina, parents can provide their troubled teens with a transformative opportunity for growth and healing. These programs offer a unique blend of therapeutic interventions and outdoor experiences that can help adolescents overcome challenges and develop the skills necessary for long-term success. With the support of organizations like Help Your Teen Now, families can navigate the process of finding the right program and embark on a journey towards positive change and renewed hope.
Wilderness Therapy Programs In North Carolina
Who doesn’t want to help their troubled teenager with their emotional, mental health or behavior problems? While North Carolina parents may want to take action right away, sometimes they are just overwhelmed with what to do, exactly. Choose a therapeutic boarding school on the West Coast? Attend military school in another state? Find a wilderness therapy programs in North Carolina? There are many options, and it would take a long time to research them all. Fortunately, Help Your Teen Now is where parents of troubled teenage boys and girls can turn.
For additional details on how Help Your Teen Now can assist you in locating top quality wilderness therapy programs in North Carolina, please try calling 1-800-901-7374.
Why Does Help Your Teen Now Aid Parents Looking For Wilderness Therapy Programs in North Carolina?
When parents don’t know where to turn for help regarding their troubled teenager, they can make the mistake of waiting too long to take any action.
The longer the wait, the more trouble, pain, and danger that teenager will endure. Help Your Teen Now is designed for parents who need assistance right away in finding a wilderness program in North Carolina that will be just right for their child. As a parent help group that is focused on aiding families in need, Help Your Teen Now wants to arm North Carolina parents with information.
Our founder understands what it is like to be a parent of a troubled teen. She had been searching for an unbiased resource group to provide unbiased information on schools, camps, programs and centers for teens but couldn’t find one. Not long after, she created her own and Help Your Teen Now was born. Today, we have assisted hundreds of worried North Carolina parents with how to find the best programs for their teenagers. It’s never too late to contact us and get the help you need in researching wilderness therapy camps in North Carolina.
Wilderness Programs in North Carolina
| School Name | Category | Ages |
|---|---|---|
SUWS of the Carolinas | Co-ed | 10-17 |
Trails Carolina | co-ed | 10-17 |
Four Circles Outdoor Recovery | co-ed | 18-28 |
Laws and Regulations for Wilderness Therapy Programs in North Carolina
Managed by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, wilderness therapy camps in North Carolina are under strict regulations to keep teens safe and healthy.
As with most states, criminal background checks are required for all staff members at wilderness camps. According to 15A NCAC 18A .3600, health inspectors must do an unannounced visit to the site to evaluate it for health code standards. In addition, all water supplies must comply with 15A NCAC 18A.1700.
Elsewhere in the state regulations, it requires campers to have clean linens and clothes, plus it is mandatory to have toilet and handwashing facilities at 1 per 20 people (15A NCAC 18A .3615). There must also be hot and cold water at a resident camp. According to 15A NCAC 18A .3619, even primitive camping conditions must maintain sanitation standards for food temperature, drinking water, cleaning and sleeping.
http://ehs.ncpublichealth.com/docs/rules/294306-16-3600.pdf
Finding Wilderness Therapy Programs in North Carolina With Help Your Teen Now
It’s difficult to imagine sending your teenager to live out in the wilderness, and indeed, not all therapy programs hold to the same high standards.
Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable allowing your teen to participate in a wilderness therapy program in North Carolina that you had thoroughly researched? If you want to gain peace of mind and learn everything you can about wilderness programs, you need the extensive resources we offer.
We’ve collected information on hundreds of teen help programs across the country, from therapeutic boarding schools to military schools to wilderness therapy programs. There are also testimonials from families who have been through each program, as well as school histories, evaluations and more. Help Your Teen Now is full of people who will work with you to get the information you need to enroll your teen son or daughter in a wilderness therapy program in North Carolina that focuses on healing and health.
To receive more information on Help Your Teen Now, please call us at 1-800-901-7374. We would be overjoyed to work with you on finding a resident treatment program for your teen.
Outward Bound Intercept Program for Struggling Teens
The Outward Bound Intercept Program offers year-round wilderness programs for young people struggling with destructive behaviors.
These expeditions take students out of their everyday routines and into unfamiliar territory. While stepping outside their comfort zones participants learn important skills for success such as, leadership and communication skills that further instill confidence and self-reliance. Together these components focus on: teamwork, communication, leadership skills, and helping teens practice making positive decisions, finding new strength/self-esteem and working to find new directions and to create a path to a brighter future.
FIND A COURSE
Who Are These Programs For?
These specialized courses are designed to help troubled teens ages 12-20 wanting to transition their lives in more meaningful and positive directions. It is designed to help with:
- Chronically poor school performance
- Anger management issues
- Defiance
- Low motivation
- Risky behaviors such as experimenting with drugs or alcohol, or sneaking out.
This program is NOT for teens/young adults with:
- A history of violent behavior
- Recent suicide attempts
- Serious eating disorders
- Chemical dependencies
- Chronic juvenile offenses.
What can we expect from these courses?
Components:
- Wilderness Expedition: During this portion of the course students will tackle personal and mental challenges such as rock climbing or paddling. These experiences will help teach students important skills for working with others and managing emotions. Coupled with challenging learning experiences that teach self-reliance and perseverance, is a service project in the community that teaches students compassion and how to care for others and the environment around them. With a 1:4 average student to instructor ratio, instructors work individually with students to make solid self-assessments and set achievable goals. Students will also complete a solo for a period of time in which they will be able to rest and reflect on their upcoming transition home.
Students will also complete a solo for a period of time in which they will be able to rest and reflect on their upcoming transition home.
- Parent-Student Seminar: Together, parents and students will participate in a 2-3 day intensive seminar that focuses on transitioning newly acquired skills from the program back into everyday life. With an instructor, families will each create a new agreement to guide life once they are back at home. Parents ARE required to be present at this seminar.
Voluntary Commitment
Outward Bound does not expect students to be highly motivated to embark on a Struggling Youth/Young Adult Wilderness Program. We are not, however, an incarceration program or boot camp. We require that all students agree to participate and follow our rules. Outward Bound works hard to encourage full participation from all individuals, so while we make every attempt to keep motivation high, if students are not willing to complete the program or are determined to leave course, we will not keep them against their will.
Wilderness Way Girls Camp | Help for Troubled Girls
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Wilderness Way Girls Camp | Help for Troubled Girls | United States
“He turns a wilderness into pools of
water, And dry land into watersprings.”
Psalm 107:35
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What is Camp?
Wilderness Way Girls’ Camp is a therapeutic camping program nestled in the woods near Fair Play, South Carolina. Camp ministers to girls ages 10 to 16 who are struggling in relationships and life choices and want help. Through outdoor living, problem solving, and working together with her group, a camper will learn basic life skills to help her make responsible choices. Through scheduled home visits she applies these developing skills and attitudes to the home setting and relationships. THIS IS NOT A SUMMER CAMP.
What is ‘Therapeutic Camping’?
The therapeutic camping program was founded by Dr.
Campbell Loughmiller (also known as ‘Chief Lock’) back in the late 1940s. In using the program, he discovered the success that is possible when applied to youth who are having trouble at home and/or school. Since then, many boys and girls have gone through this specific program and with a willing spirit, have been able to make positive life changes.
In simple terms, this camp program is “friendship therapy” at work in a small group setting. Groups of up to ten campers and two counselors learn the values of living and working together toward common goals. Here girls caught in a cycle of failure have the opportunity to experience positive values in action.
Volunteer Opportunities
Are you interested in helping Camp make a difference in the lives of girls? Each of our staff has their own unique way of contributing to the success that our campers have chosen to work towards. Right now, we have a few staff positions that we are looking to fill as soon as possible.
Please visit our ‘Volunteer’ page to learn more about our available position(s)!
‘Turkey in the Hole’ Thanksgiving Celebration!
Each year, Camp enjoys hosting our community over the time of Thanksgiving to share in a time of fellowship and feasting. Click below to see more photos from this year’s ‘Turkey in the Hole’ experience!
When Wilderness Boot Camps Take Tough Love Too Far
It’s dusk in the high desert of Utah. The heat of the day is starting to abate, and the cooling air smells of sage. There’s nothing but rough terrain for miles—the closest town, a tiny hamlet called Enterprise, is about an hour and a half away by car.
A group of teenagers huddle together by a tarp shelter. They are members of the latest crop of students at Redcliff Ascent, a wilderness program for troubled youth. They talk animatedly, exuding a kind of brittle bravado—all except for one of them, a heavy-set, red-faced girl who cries under the tarp with her knees pressed to her chin.
“I just want to go home!” she wails. “Please, I just want to go home!”
The boys and the other girl in the group don’t seem to notice her distress. Instead, they exchange tales of how they came to be in this camp—leagues away from their familiar world of running water, soft beds and Playstation 4s. Two adults stand close by with watchful eyes.
“They woke me up at 4 a.m.,” one of the boys says. “My parents came in and told me, ‘We love you,’ and then left me alone with these goons … after that, I just tried to act nice, but I was really pissed. I didn’t cry or anything, but my bat wasn’t in my room, so I couldn’t do anything about it.”
“I tried to run, and they arrested me,” another girl says. “I was listening in on my mom’s conversation over the phone, and I heard that these people were coming to get me. I ran, so they put cuffs on me and put me in the car. I was crying my eyes out. I almost had a panic attack. This place is hell … I didn’t do that many bad things that I should get sent away to a place like this.
”
Eventually, she’s led to a pickup truck, where she sits in the backseat. She’s being moved to another group, an all-female one, and she’s not happy about it.
“I hate women,” she mutters. “All my friends are guys.”
After a while, she heaves a sigh.
“I mean, I know I need help,” she says. “I’m fucked up in the head. Maybe I do need to be here, but I don’t want to be.”
There are dozens of institutions similar to Redcliff across America, and they promise therapeutic treatment for teenagers who are engaging in drug use or other behavior frowned upon by their families or schools. Parents often hire transport agencies, which are charged with delivering the teens to their programs, forcibly or otherwise. This industry, which has only reached mainstream popularity in the last couple of decades, is still controversial. Its proponents maintain that this type of isolation, away from the temptations and perils of society, can benefit youth who are straying down the path of addiction and dysfunction.
They present a multitude of success stories and insist this type of therapy can be life-changing.
Programs differ in intensity and duration, although typically, they involve activities such as hiking and learning wilderness skills. At Redcliff, staff teaches students how to make fire using only materials gathered from the wild, a seemingly simple task that actually takes weeks to master. Most teens admitted to wilderness programs are there for a few months, although some stay as long as two years.
But critics of other wilderness programs point out the lack of regulation for these businesses, citing abuse allegations as well as deaths that have taken place at such programs. No one, not even the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which compiled a report in 2007 on the dangers of wilderness and other teen facilities, knows the exact number of fatalities at adolescent therapeutic programs, although the highest unconfirmed count is 86 deaths since 2000. Many states don’t require background checks for staff, and there have been multiple investigations into sexual abuse and arrests for sexual assault at teen residential and wilderness programs in recent years.
As recently as six months ago, police began investigating allegations that a counselor at Second Nature Blue Ridge, a wilderness program in Georgia, forced a 14-year-old into a sexual encounter. That investigation is ongoing.
Redcliff itself has been embroiled in several legal battles over alleged abuse. One lawsuit began in April, when a girl and her mother filed complaints against Redcliff, including unlawful search and seizure and involuntary servitude. The case is still pending.
“Our attorney has filed to have this lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that it is frivolous,” says Steve Schultz, Redcliff’s media representative. “There is a lot of sensationalistic language and allegations … there is also a lot of information that is minimized or conveniently left out.”
“When something happens to them, people tend to dismiss it as, ‘Well, they’re bad teens.’”
Another court case took place in 2004, when a student, Jared Oscarson, complained of severe stomach pains. The lawsuit alleges that staff ignored him, and he was made to hike five miles in spite of his complaints, until he fell down and had to be taken to the hospital for appendicitis.
“The student complained about a stomach ache,” says Schulz. “This is not unusual behavior for students and can be everything from not properly cooking their food to malingering and manipulation. It did take some time to evaluate the seriousness of his pain. We … decided to take him to Cedar City to the doctor. The doctor diagnosed appendicitis and recommended he have surgery immediately. The family lived in Las Vegas and refused to have surgery in Cedar City. The boy was transported by ambulance to Vegas and on the way his appendix burst in the ambulance.”
The Oscarson case was eventually dismissed on the grounds that “the parties … have fully compromised and settled their difference,” according to court documents.
Some politicians have taken their concerns regarding unregulated adolescent therapeutic programs to Congress. In May 2013, Congressman George Miller, a Democrat from California, reintroduced legislation that aimed to better protect adolescents in such facilities from abuse and provide easily accessible information for parents on the safety records of the programs.
The bill has repeatedly failed in the House.
“What we’re trying to do is set minimum standards that would then be instituted at the state level,” Miller says. “For example, they would not be able to deny children things like water, food, clothing, shelter and medical care. We would like to have professional staff who are trained in the care of these children and have experience, and that’s often not the case.”
Others have pointed out strong ties between politicians and the adolescent treatment industry. Just before the 2012 presidential election, Salon published an in-depth investigative piece detailing Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s connections to CRC Health Group, which owns Aspen Education, a large umbrella organization that encompasses several wilderness programs.
Still others complain that these ties go much deeper at the local and state level.
Nicki Bush, a child psychologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, works with the Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic, and Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment (ASTART), an organization of medical professionals, family members and former residents of such programs.
She says ASTART often encounters obstacles because of strong local ties.
“What we see is that these places are almost always in remote areas or near small towns, and they create a situation where everyone in the region is a big proponent of the facility,” Bush says. “They provide a lot of jobs and stimulate the local economy, and that creates a sense of pride that they’re helping the youth of America. So there’s social capital to having one of these in your area. Moreover, because the youth that are put there are predominantly at risk for something—either they have some peer problems or behavior problems or social problems, etcetera—when something happens to them, people tend to dismiss it as, ‘Well, they’re bad teens.’”
Bush is concerned that the lack of regulation is creating an environment where untrained staff is often given free rein with an extremely vulnerable population.
“[These programs] call themselves wilderness therapy or come up with their own categories so that they can avoid the criteria that would apply to, for example, a mental health treatment facility,” she says.
“Then because they’re not regulated, no one is really ensuring that their staff has adequate training, and in many cases we’ve seen, the staff are by no means qualified to provide the type of care that is being advertised and certainly not the type of care that these facilities require.”
According to Redcliff’s clinical director, Eric Fawson, their staff is more than adequately trained in wilderness therapy and isn’t allowed into the field before undergoing an extensive orientation program, although there aren’t any educational requirements for them to work at Redcliff.
“Wilderness staff are very passionate about what they do,” he says. “You have to be … a lot of our staff is educated. They have Bachelor’s degrees in all kinds of different fields … but as far as education, there isn’t an expectation.”
In Utah, which has many such programs, there is a regulatory body within the Division of Administrative Rules that oversees wilderness programs, with an extensive code of rules.
And some of these businesses, including Redcliff, have formed an organization, the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP), which has its own guidelines and requirements for membership, although they aren’t as specific as the Utah regulations.
“When I did get to visit, he told me, ‘Dad, if there was a pile of dog crap over there and they told me to eat it, I would.’”
Despite the fact that some medical professionals view wilderness therapy as a kind of unreliable fringe treatment, Fawson says that’s because they associate these programs with the widely discredited “boot camp” mentality that was so pervasive at the therapy’s inception. He maintains that wilderness therapeutic methods have evolved greatly since they were first conceived.
“We’re actually in the process of trying to be one of the first programs to set standards for wilderness therapy as well,” Fawson says. “The research we have indicates that wilderness therapy is extremely impactful. I think that the larger psychological community doesn’t understand it because it’s so far outside the box.
”
Fawson says Redcliff’s approach ranges from disrupting unhealthy family dynamics to teaching teenagers responsibility and independence.
“Wilderness therapy is all experiential and metaphoric as well,” he explains. “The hard part to conceptualize … is the actual sand and the dirt and the sagebrush and the tarps, and digging a pit, and what all that means in the process. That’s not therapist-driven. That’s driven by the wilderness … the other thing that Redcliff is built on is that mundane part. I mean, we embrace that, to let them go ahead and fight and sit in the dirt for a while and see what that’s like … but we’re also a very clinically sophisticated program, with therapists that regularly see the kids.”
And many former students of Utah programs do report successful treatment with wilderness therapy. At a Redcliff Ascent outpost, a destination coveted by students for its outhouse (they usually dig latrines while camping), Richard, a lanky, tanned 15-year-old from the U.
K. who prefers his real name not be used, sits with his parents and two counselors around an unused fire pit. There’s no fire because the weather in the region has become too hot and dry, and a ban has been instituted to prevent forest fires. This means that making fire manually, one of the linchpins of Redcliff’s therapy, is not allowed, so instead, students use their equipment to make coals, which are quickly blown out. Richard is done with making coals for the moment, though. He just graduated from Redcliff after an 85-day stay, and his parents seem overjoyed to see him.
“I think we got to the point where things were going to end badly unless we did something,” his mother says when asked why they placed Richard in the program.
“Things got so tough, we were running out of options,” his father says.
“We were on two or three 999 calls a week—that’s the equivalent of 911 in England.”
“I was acting out, being disrespectful,” Richard adds. “I’ve always had a short temper, then I started smoking weed and doing drugs all the time, and it got worse.
”
Richard says the first few weeks at Redcliff were extremely difficult for him.
In 2006, a boy escaped from Tierra Blanca in shackles and called 911, only to be returned to the ranch by local police.
“It was harder than I thought it would be,” he says. “I was in the red suit for a while, and I tried to run. I was being argumentative towards staff; I refused to eat and drink. I wanted to leave.”
Students are made to wear red suits if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others, and according to Redcliff standards, Richard definitely fit the bill when he first arrived.
“We got an amazing letter from Richard in the beginning,” his mother adds. “It was three pages long and beautifully written. Longest thing I’ve ever seen him write, and it basically said ‘Get me the hell out of here.’ I was just like, ‘Oh my God. What have we done?’ But we knew that if we brought him back, nothing was going to change.”
“In the last six hours, we’ve noticed a huge change,” his father says with pride.
“You have?” Richard asks.
“Christ, yes.”
“Just the way he looks!” his mother says. “His eyes are just completely different. Before he came here, they had changed color and sunk in. He was gone. Now his eyes have gone back to what they used to be like. When he came walking out of the woods, I couldn’t believe it. His eyes were this bright, amazing, shining blue that just smacks you—like they used to be, before all the trouble.”
Richard’s father pulls out a tablet, displaying a photo of Richard the day he was admitted to Redcliff. In the picture, he’s squinting, his face bloated and spotted with acne.
“Compare that person to the boy you see now,” his father says.
Asked if they’re worried about bringing Richard back home, to a place of familiar stresses and temptations, his father sobers for a moment.
“Richard has changed enormously in the three months he’s been here, but the world and our environment has stayed the way it always was,” he says.
“I wouldn’t go back to that,” Richard interjects. “I’ve caused so many people, and myself, pain. It would be dumb to do that again. I figured out that I would get more out of the program if I worked with the staff rather than against them. Something just clicked. I was taught different values I needed to learn. They were slowly being brought into my life.”
“Bruce had a heart of gold,” Carla Moffat says, crying. “He knew no stranger as a child. He would have done anything for anybody … but when he was older, he would come home rolling on X, bring pot into the house … it got to the point where I voluntarily put him into the juvenile probation program here. It was in this program that the counselor and I started looking at alternative placement … I didn’t feel like I had a choice. I was scared the next time he ran away, I wouldn’t get him back.”
In October 2011, Moffat decided to place her son, Bruce Staeger, at Tierra Blanca Ranch, a wilderness program in New Mexico. Owned by a man named Scott Chandler, Tierra Blanca made local headlines in 2013, when Bruce’s death from a car accident while at the ranch brought attention to allegations of abuse stretching back years.
Steve Cowen, a San Diego lawyer whose son attended Tierra Blanca, compiled a comprehensive report of every recent alleged incident of abuse he could find. Cowen says he started looking into the ranch after seeing the way it had affected the behavior of his son, who had previously been enrolled in one of its programs.
“I got this creepy apology letter from my son about two months after he was in the program,” says Cowen. “It didn’t sound like him … then I didn’t hear from him for a while. So, I contacted this Chandler guy and said, ‘I’d like to visit him.’ I was told, ‘No, you can’t visit,’ so I just started asking questions like, “Are they licensed by the state? Who oversees it?’”
“I tried to get my son out, but I couldn’t do it because my ex-wife wouldn’t agree. When I did get to visit, he told me, ‘Dad, if there was a pile of dog crap over there and they told me to eat it, I would.’ So lots of red flags were going up.”
After learning of his quest, many former ranch residents contacted Cowen with stories of violence and psychological torture.
Other incidents came to light—in 2006, a boy escaped from Tierra Blanca in shackles and called 911, only to be returned to the ranch by local police. Eventually, Cowen’s report was sent to New Mexico authorities, which set into motion an investigation that culminated in an attempt by the Children, Youth, and Families Department, in conjunction with state police, to rescue nine boys from the ranch. In response, Tierra Blanca filed a lawsuit against CYFD, which was settled in February with the stipulation that the state would be given “limited oversight” of the ranch. Since Tierra Blanca is officially designated a wilderness program, it’s not subject to CYFD licensure. Despite an inquiry into what CYFD called “significant evidence” of psychological and physical abuse, no criminal charges were ultimately filed against Chandler, and Tierra Blanca Ranch remains open for business. CYFD did not return emails or calls for comment.
In the months before Bruce’s death, former students say, he was subjected to sustained, long-term starvation and abuse, triggered by his alleged theft of Scott Chandler’s billfold, which had contained money and credit cards.
Gunner Hatton, one of the boys who attended Tierra Blanca at the same time as Bruce, says that for three months after the billfold was stolen, Chandler punished all the boys with hours of brutal physical labor and drastically cut their food rations. According to Gunner, Chandler did this to encourage them to take their anger out on Bruce, a method other students claim was often used at Tierra Blanca. Multiple boys who also attended the ranch have corroborated Gunner’s story, according to Cowen.
“We would get up at five in the morning and run for an hour and a half, then go work, and throughout the day we’d do like two to three more hour-and-a-half running sessions and then we’d go back to work,” says Gunner. “We were all just getting super pissed off because the running was getting worse and worse. Circuits became unbearable … then we had to pick up tires and run with those. We were just beyond tired. And then he put us on white beans and rice. Then Scott takes Bruce out of running and attaches him to either a chair or a tree and makes him watch us run … and he puts him in shackles for the rest of the day.
We’re just all super thin at this point.”
After experiencing weeks of this treatment, Gunner says, the boys finally snapped.
“I’m ashamed of it, but I’d lost who I am when I did that,” he says. “I will forever be sorry that I did to Bruce what I did. But all of us just started beating him. Just beating him with our fists, beating him with sticks and clubs, socks with a rock in it … so for the first couple of weeks after that started, we just—we’d beat the shit out of him like five or six times day.”
Bruce wasn’t the only boy who received this kind of treatment at Tierra Blanca, according to Gunner and other boys on the ranch at the time.
“I would wake up and realize where I was, and that nobody—not a single person—was going to come help me.”
“I saw a 300-pound staff member just beat the tar out of this kid,” says Marc Fleming, another former Tierra Blanca student. “That was scary.”
Describing the same incident, Gunner recounts how Morgan, the boy who had been misbehaving, was made to squat against a wall for hours, and severely beaten by a staff member named Harold when he kept falling down.
“At that point, it was physically impossible for him to keep it up,” says Gunner. “Harold gets this little thing called a Kubaton off his keychain. It’s made out of titanium but long, probably eight inches long by two centimeters in diameter. Every time Morgan is not sitting flat on the post, he starts hitting him on the head with it. This kid is getting beaten over the head with the baton for like an hour and a half. So we wake up in the morning and Morgan’s head is about twice the size as it was the day before. His eyes are swollen completely shut. He just looked like an alien. He couldn’t even walk without someone helping him.”
Another former Tierra Blanca student says he’s suffered permanent physiological damage as a result of his treatment at the program. Terryk Carlsen was 12 when he was admitted to the ranch. He still remembers exactly how long he was there—two years, two months, two weeks, and three days. Carlsen says he started having epileptic seizures while he was at Tierra Blanca, and instead of taking him to seek medical help, staff at the ranch insisted he was faking.
“Every time I’d have a seizure, they’d punish me for it,” he says. “I woke up one day outside in the dirt with a terrible headache, and I asked one of the other students, ‘Why am I in the dirt? Why am I hurting so bad?’ And he said that I’d had a seizure, and one of the staff members told me to stop faking or he was going to kick me in the head. I was having a seizure, and I wasn’t coherent, so he came and kicked me in the head. I was still having a seizure, so he decided to throw me off the porch. They would also punish me by giving me up-down exercises, and circuits, which means an hour of straight running and other exercises. They wouldn’t let me sleep, either, because I snore, and they gave my roommate permission to dump a pitcher of water on me every time I snored.”
Carlsen now suffers from chronic epilepsy and is considered officially disabled, something he says wouldn’t have happened if he had been treated when he first started exhibiting symptoms.
“My condition has worsened to the point where I have them all the time,” he says.
“I’m not allowed to drive or have a normal job. I couldn’t join the military like I had wanted to. In fact, I can’t do about 80 percent of the things I want to do, because it’s too much of a liability. If I had been taken to a doctor, or fed better food and not worked like a slave, things would be different.”
Scott Chandler has not responded to three emails and three phone calls asking for comment over the course of several months.
Neglect and abuse at wilderness programs have sometimes proven to be fatal. Cynthia Harvey, who is now a board member at ASART, lost her daughter Erica in 2002 when she was sent to the Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Program, which was closed in 2012. Harvey says Erica died because she was denied water and shelter from the heat of the Nevada desert.
“After she went down, the counselors didn’t touch her or try to help her. They observed her for something like an hour.”
“After we got the autopsy results … we finally understood that she had been exhibiting signs of hyperthermia for many hours before she died, and they ignored her or told her she was being defiant,” says Harvey.
“There was this cascading series of incompetence about her death. After she went down, the counselors didn’t touch her or try to help her. They observed her for something like an hour when they finally realized she was basically in her death throes, after which they tried to perform CPR … the only reason we got this information is because we sued. It was probably two to three years before we had a clear understanding of the actual sequence of events. They came out through depositions.”
Although there was an investigation, no criminal charges were ultimately filed against the program, just as in the Tierra Blanca case.
“From what I understand … this information has gone all the way up to the governor of New Mexico, to the State Police,” says Carla Moffat, Bruce’s mother. “There was a special investigative unit formed—and they continue to say there isn’t enough information to do anything about it.”
New Mexico State Police denied requests for comment.
The Bobcats, an all-female group of students at Redcliff Ascent, sit under a tarp at their campsite to escape the heat.
They’re grubby-faced and streaked with dirt, but the mood is light-hearted. Some of the girls are working on their fire-making equipment, while one of them practices making a coal with her bow and spindle. She’s overjoyed when she manages to produce a single glowing ember.
“That’s my fourth fire,” she says. “Now I get honey.”
The students earn honey, as well as spices and other food, after meeting fire-making quotas. Fires also allow them to move up in the phases of Redcliff’s therapy, which is how they progress towards graduation.
“Most days, we hike,” says Maddy, one of the girls. All of them preferred not to use their last names to protect their privacy. “We wake up, do the breakfast process, which involves cleaning our hands faces and feet; then we cook breakfast on our little stoves. Then once that’s done, we pack up all of our stuff and do our camp chores, and make it look like nobody’s ever been here. Then we put our packs on our backs and hike, anywhere from three to 15 miles … and at first, we don’t even have the real packs.
You have to earn those, so when you first get here, you have a tarp, and you put all your stuff in it and roll it up into a ball that has straps, and that’s what we carry.”
“I remember the first time I tried, I was crying, like, ‘I’m never going to be able to do this.’ But now I can.”
“Doesn’t matter if we’re sick,” one of the other girls says. “If we’re puking, if we have diarrhea, we still hike.”
Brandi Heiner, a Redcliff counselor, rolls her eyes. “It’s not that dramatic. If you guys are really sick, we send you on a med run.”
Later, Nicole, a new addition to the Bobcats, talks quietly in a clearing a few feet away from the campsite. Her hair is fashioned into two long braids, and she’s wearing a red jumpsuit with the sleeves rolled up to reveal dozens of horizontal scars on her arms.
“I’m in a red suit because I overreacted,” she says. “I told them I was going to hang myself with a pack cord. I didn’t really mean it; I just wanted them to send me to the hospital, because I’d rather be anywhere but here … but I’m really disappointed that I did this to myself.
I put myself here. No one else did. My mom did it because she cared. I’m not saying it’s a bad place here, but it’s not a place you want to be.”
After the sun sinks over the mountains, three of the girls who have been at Redcliff longer sit cross-legged in a circle. Asked what brought them there, they all flash sheepish smiles.
“I started smoking weed a long time ago, when I was 14, and it kind of just progressed into other things,” one says. “I hung around kids who were doing heroin, and I tried it once myself. All my friends were doing meth and smack, and they weren’t good people to be around. I wasn’t going to school, and I just didn’t have any direction in my life.”
The two others have similar stories, and they say despite their initial dislike of the program, Redcliff has taught them how to live more meaningful, responsible lives.
“I never really focused on life … now I’m noticing the little things that I do in the present,” says Penny, another senior Bobcat.
“It just makes me think how much time I wasted on the outs.”
The third girl, who has striking red hair and light blue eyes, jumps in.
“It was so hard being away from my parents, being in the middle of nowhere and realizing I had to face my problems full on,” she says. “But everything here is a metaphor for life. Like, learning how to build a fire, or hiking, which is a big stress. You go into bowing thinking, no way can I make a fire with a stick and a rock. It’s so hard the first time, but you learn how. I remember the first time I tried, I was crying, like, ‘I’m never going to be able to do this.’ But now I can.”
Their experience stands in stark contrast to Marc Fleming’s stay at Tierra Blanca. Even over the phone, the pain in his voice is palpable.
“My only escape from the program was when I would sleep, because then I would dream that I wasn’t there,” he says. “I actually created a world where the program was the nightmare and my dreams were my real life. I would tell myself this is all just a bad dream and eventually it’s going to be over and I’ll never have to experience it again.
”
He pauses for a moment. “Then I would wake up and realize where I was, and that nobody—not a single person—was going to come help me. I was completely alone.”
ADHD Summer Camps | ADHD Boarding School
We hope to see you there!
Join SOAR at the 2021 Virtual International Conference on ADHD!
Big John will be presenting “The Power of No Power” Friday, November 5th, at 5:00 pm EDT.
Your best memories probably don’t start with “There I was, at the computer”. While your child won’t remember yet another day spent in front of the computer, they will always remember the hike that led to a breathtaking view of the valley below or the thundering waterfall that led to a family photo. The outdoors offers a place you can learn to overcome your fears, test your limits, and learn experientially. Nature builds resilience, and adventures can be the basis for extraordinary discussions relating lessons learned outside to deal with practical challenges in our normal lives.
This workshop will examine wonderful opportunities to get outside as individuals and as a family and ways to maximize the benefits of those experiences. Join live this Friday!
See SOAR in Outside Magazine
ADHD Camp, Boarding School, and GAP Year Program
SOAR is an accredited ADHD Outdoor Adventure Summer Camp, Boarding School, and GAP Year Program. We serve youth and young adults with ADHD and other Learning Disabilities in North Carolina, Wyoming, Florida, and internationally! Our outdoor adventure based programs provide academic instruction, experiential education, and life skills development for youth and young adults ages 8-24.
Created in 1977 by an adult with learning disabilities, SOAR provides fun and successful outdoor experiences so that participants may gain greater awareness of their own strengths and improve self-esteem and confidence.
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1. Change in Attitude Toward School Your child may begin to say they are “bored” with school, which can often be a coping mechanism for …
Western NC Summer Camp Guide! | Pilot Cove
A Guide to Western North Carolina’s Summer Camps
Western North Carolina is famous for its breathtaking beauty and wide range of interesting things to do. Tourists from all over the world, not to mention the growing number of people who call these mountains home, love this area for the outdoor adventures, fine dining and craft brews, and artistic and cultural hubs.
And the best part is, WNC offers excitement for all ages, including hundreds of summer camps! There are many camps close to Pilot Cove in Transylvania County, Henderson County, Buncombe County, Haywood County, and beyond.
Whether you’re looking for an overnight co-ed adventure camp, an artsy all-girl day camp, or even a camp for special-needs adults, Western North Carolina has a perfect fit for everyone – and every budget. Here’s an up-close look at some of the camps that are offered within just a short drive of Pilot Cove!
Science & Astronomy Summer Camps at PARI
Explore the universe and beyond with the Learning Center at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute! These one-of-a-kind experiences are offered at our historic, 200-acre campus in the Pisgah Forest and offer campers a truly otherworldly adventure. More info on these great summer camp experiences can be found here.
Camp Highlander
Camp Highlander is a co-ed residential camp in Mills River, NC. Their sessions run through June and July, with special family sessions taking place in May and September. Activities include stage performances, soccer, horseback riding, arts, and more.
Their focus is on helping kids (aged 5+) develop life skills in a safe, supportive, fun environment.
Camp Pisgah
Is a ladies-only camp your preference for your daughter? Camp Pisgah offers a variety of day and overnight camps just for girls. Their sessions run through June and July, and young girls from first through twelfth grade. There are leadership-focused sessions, as well as opportunities for archery, rock climbing, ceramics, and even a slumber party with sharks! Camp Pisgah is held in Brevard, NC.
Camp Carolina
Looking for an all-boys camp instead? Camp Carolina could be the place. Established in 1924, Camp Carolina is a place where boys of all ages come together to explore the outdoors, gain confidence, and engage in community-building activities. The camp is located in Brevard and provides a wide range of activities for their campers.
Camp Illahee
Since 1921, Camp Illahee has given girls the opportunity to explore their interests, seek new adventures and forge friendships and memories that last a lifetime.
In the Cherokee language, Illahee means “heavenly world.” This expresses the very best of what campers, counselors and staff create in our remarkable community every summer.
Camp Muddy Sneakers
Camp Muddy Sneakers is a co-ed day camp for children aged 4 to 14. This Brevard-based camp uses outdoor adventure and experiential learning to provide kids with everything from science education to an introduction to mountain sports, not to mention crafts and games. Sessions run from June into August. Camp Muddy Sneakers was awarded a Best of the Blue Ridge 2019 award.
Keystone Camp
Since 1916, Keystone Camp has encouraged girls to become strong individuals. Teaching life-long skills and values in a fun and nurturing environment is the hallmark of the Keystone summer camp experience. Nestled in the mountains of North Carolina is a place for girls (only!) — where friendships, fun, and adventure wait around every bend. In this place the only thing you have to be is yourself.
Eagle’s Nest Camp
Located in Pisgah Forest, Eagle’s Nest Camp is a co-ed overnight camp for kids from kindergarten all the way through eleventh grade. They focus on self-expression, skill building, and personal growth. They provide a supportive, compassionate environment that their campers often consider a second home, returning year after year. Sessions run from June into August, and activities include everything from outdoor sports to cooking classes and arts and crafts.
Camp High Rocks
Camp High Rocks is a traditional boys’ Summer Camp in the North Carolina Mountains. We create a purposeful atmosphere based on four key pillars: community, adventure, leadership, and independence that is geared to a camper’s needs and interests. Aided by a well-trained staff we seek to teach and to inspire lasting skills and values.
Green River Preserve
Green River Preserve offers one-, two-, and three-week residence options from June into August for second through ninth graders.
The camp is located in Cedar Mountain, NC, and is open to both boys and girls. From yoga and theater to pottery, music, mountain biking, fly fishing, and more — there’s an activity for everyone at Green River Preserve. The camp focuses on making meaningful connections and deepening campers’ passion and respect for their peers and the environment.
Rockbrook Camp For Girls
Rockbrook is a sleepaway summer camp for girls located in the “heart of a wooded mountain” in Brevard, North Carolina. Founded in 1921, our summer camp continues to provide an exciting and enriching, fun and formative, camp experience for girls and teens ages 6 – 16. Each summer Rockbrook provides a unique overnight camp program of recreation, adventure, creativity and fun. From horseback riding, whitewater rafting, pottery, and swimming to camp fires and exploring a chilly stream, each day at camp is filled with new experiences and great opportunities to develop lasting friendships.
Gwynn Valley Camp
Situated on 400 acres in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in Brevard, NC, Gwynn Valley Camp has been a summer camp for boys and girls since 1935.
We offer a farm, wilderness, and traditional program where we foster community building, lifelong friendships, and a connection with the land. Our founder, Mary Gwynn created a camp based on the values of simplicity, acceptance, a non-competitive program, and an appreciation of the natural world. These core values continue to be embraced at Gwynn Valley today.
Camp Kahdalea for Girls and Camp Chosatonga for Boys
Camp Kahdalea for Girls & Camp Chosatonga for Boys are two separate North Carolina camps about a mile apart in location but very close in fellowship. In the Blue Ridge Mountains, these camps have wonderful in-camp programs as well as great mountain adventure programs. We are known for our unusually wonderful staff who believe in goodness and make it work in this culture
Camp Pinnacle
Established in 1928, Camp Pinnacle takes much of the magic that makes Adventure Treks special and translates it into a more traditional summer camp experience for girls and boys ages 7–15.
We’re all about helping children discover the outdoors, be part of a close community, and spread their wings away from home. We carefully orchestrate Camp Pinnacle so every single camper, regardless of age, gets exciting, significant outdoor experiences. And to make preparation easier for parents, camp tuition is all-inclusive; all trips and activities, even outdoor equipment, is included.
The Wilds
The Wilds offers a wide variety of camps, from traditional children’s camps to full-family camps, college retreats, and even camps for adults. All of their camps are packed with activities, from hiking and swimming to the rifle range to table tennis, and they’re also centered on Biblical teachings. The Wilds is located in Brevard, NC.
Camp Joy
Located in Flat Rock, NC, Camp Joy is an event specially designed by Christian Education Ministries for adults with mental handicaps. Camp Joy is hosted at the Bonclarken Conference Center, and provides their campers (and their friends) with opportunities for Bible study, worship, and recreational activities.
The five-day sessions run through June and July.
Talisman Summer Camps
Talisman Programs provides everything you expect of a traditional summer camp – but it also focuses on specialized programming for young people (ages 6 to 22) with autism spectrum disorders and learning disabilities such as ADHD. Their programs provide fun, exciting opportunities for their campers, while helping build confidence and social skills among ASD youth. They are passionate about and dedicated to their mission. You can find them in Zirconia, NC.
Camp Mondamin
Camp Mondamin is a highly regarded summer camp for boys located on Lake Summit in Henderson County NC.
Blue Star Camps
Founded by the Popkin family in 1948 with a vision of creating a vibrant and inclusive Jewish camp community where campers could learn about their shared history and identity, Blue Star Camps always has been a“camp with purpose.” Family owned and led since its founding, Blue Star continues to nurture the vision of our camp’s founders, instill the values of kindness, inclusion, social justice and environmental stewardship, and empower children and young adults to contribute positively to the world around them.
Camp Bonclarken
Camp Bonclarken is the conference center of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church. The ARP Church is a conservative evangelical Christian denomination that has been faithfully preaching the Gospel for over 200 years. Our roots are traced to the Reformation, particularly the work of John Calvin and John Knox. Located in Flat Rock NC in Henderson County.
Camp Glen Arden
Tucked away in the mountains of North Carolina, Camp Glen Arden began as a private sleepover camp for girls nearly 70 years ago and has been positively influencing the growth and maturity of young women since then. Our camp focuses on developing well-rounded, wholesome individuals who, removed from the distractions of technology and social media, encourage one another in learning new life skills and developing lifelong friendships. Glen Arden’s sessions serve girls from 1st through 11th grades and are available in two, three, and four week options.
Camp Green Cove
Located in the Mountains of Western North Carolina for 74 years, Camp Green Cove emphasizes outdoor activities such as horseback riding, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, mountain biking, and rock climbing.
We believe in fun, adventure, safety, and great instruction. Our program is non-competitive, which encourages experimentation, and non-regimented, which fosters self-direction. Our strengths lie in the quality of our staff and the depth of our program. We value diversity, attracting campers from all 50 states and several other countries.
Camp Greystone
Nestled in the blue ridge mountains, Camp Greystone allows girls to grow in a safe and uplifting environment. Located in Henderson County NC.
Camp Judea
Established in 1961, Camp Judaea is a small, Jewish, Israel-centered summer camp community for boys and girls ages 7-15 located in Hendersonville, NC. At Camp Judaea, we offer a wide variety of really fun activities in a loving family atmosphere. This allows campers to grow and even transform themselves every summer they return.
Camp Kanuga
Since 1931, Camp Kanuga campers have been forming lifelong friendships, experiencing new adventures and exploring their faith in our welcoming Christian community.
Camp Kanuga is a co-ed summer camp affiliated with The Episcopal Church and located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. We are accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA) the industry leader in setting standards for camp program quality and youth development education. We are committed to promoting growth and fun in a safe, nurturing environment. All of our programs are designed to build independence and self-confidence in youth while teaching the importance of respect toward each other and the world around them.
Camp Pinewood
Established by Marty and Tina Levine in 1967, Camp Pinewood has provided thousands of children with fun-filled summers and lifetime memories. From the beginning, it was Marty and Tina’s vision to provide a safe and wholesome environment where children can grow and develop self-reliance, learn new skills and form lasting friendships.
Camp Tekoa
Camp Tekoa has two separate seasons for use: the summer camp season and our retreat season.
Summer camp primarily runs from the end of May until the middle of August each year. Our Retreat season runs from the middle of August until summer camp begins in May. Tekoa offers four main programs during the summer camp season. These programs are designed for many different population groups, including age, gender, ability, and camper interests. Our four types of summer camp programs are: Day Camps, Overnight (TKO) Camps, Adventure Camps, Special Needs Camps.
Camp Ton-A-Wandah
Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, Camp Ton-A-Wandah is a summer camp for girls established in 1933. Our summer camp provides an unspoiled summer retreat for girls ages 5-16. Our mission is to create a community that fosters friendship and sisterhood. This community is created to help develop young ladies to become women of substance who are leaders throughout the world!
Camp Wayfarer
Tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, near Asheville, Camp Wayfarer is a sleep away camp for boys and girls ages 6-16.
More than just a traditional coed summer camp, Wayfarer is a close-knit family consisting of campers, counselors, alumni and parents. Together our Wayfarer family is building a wonderful home away from home.
Falling Creek Camp
Since 1969, Falling Creek Camp families have recognized the value of the camp experience and the critical role it plays in their sons’ development as confident gentlemen who have a bright outlook on the future. Falling Creek’s mission is to provide a setting, a program, and dedicated leadership to allow our boys a maximum opportunity for personal growth and fun as they develop an understanding of their relationship with nature, their fellow man, and God.
Not convinced that any of those are right for you? Not to worry! There are plenty more to choose from. Check out the links below to find out more details on who can attend these day camps and overnight camps, what their schedules and rates are, and what kind of activities their campers can look forward to!
WNC Day Camps
Adventure Center of Asheville
Appalachian Institute for Creative Learning
Artemis Archery Asheville
Asheville Art Museum
Asheville Community Theater
Asheville Buncombe Youth Soccer Association (ABYSA)
Asheville Christian Academy
Asheville Creative Arts
Asheville Creative Arts Preschool
Asheville Farmstead School
Asheville Jewish Community Center
Asheville Museum of Science
Asheville Music School
Asheville Parks and Recreation
Asheville Performing Arts Academy
Asheville Racquet Club
Asheville School App Development Camp
Asheville School of Film
Ballet Conservatory of Asheville
Bears Wrestling Club
Black Mountain Center for the Arts
Bricks 4 Kidz LEGO Engineering Camps
British Soccer Camp
Budo Mountain Nature Adventures
Camp Cedar Cliffs
Camp Folkmoot
Camp Invention
Camp Rockmont
Carolina Day School
Center Stage Dance Studio
Christ School Revolution Lacrosse Camp
Climbmax Climbing Center
Crossfire
Earth Path Education
Elevate Life and Art
Eliada
Emmanuel Lutheran School
Evergreen Community Charter School
Fired Up! Creative Lounge
Fun Learning About God (FLAG) Camp
Franny’s Farm
Girls Rock Asheville
Growing Wild Forest School
Gwynn Valley Camp
Hahn’s Gymnastics
Hanger Hall
Hickory Nut Gap Farm
High Vista
Holston Presbytery Camp
Kids Garden
Koko Bike Park at Adventure Center of Asheville
Lakeview Putt-Putt
LEAF Arts & Parks Camp
The Little Gym
Lutheridge
M’s School of Arts
Mars Hill University of Music Camp
Mars Hill University Dance Camp
Molly Angel’s Art Camps
Montreat Conference Center “Clubs” Summer Day Camp
Mountain Roots
Music Academy of Asheville/Rock Academy
N.
C. Arboretum Discovery Camp
N.C. Stage Company
N.C. State Pre-College Programs
Odyssey Ceramic Arts
Osega Gymnastics
Playball
Rainbow Community School
RiverLink French Broad RiverCamp
Rock Academy
Roots + Wings School of Art and Design
Run Wild!
Transylvania Community Arts Council
Ultimate Frisbee Camp
UNC Asheville Piano Camp
UNC Asheville Summer Jazz and Contemporary Music Intensive
Warren Wilson College Soccer Camps
WNC Down Syndrome Alliance Buddy Camp
WNC Nature Center
Xplore USA
YMCA of Western North Carolina
Zaniac Learning
WNC Overnight Camps
Adventure Treks
Appalachian Christian Camp
App Development Camp at Asheville School
Appalachian Institute for Creative Learning
Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center Earth Camp
Camp Cedar Cliff
Camp Celo
Camp Chatuga
Camp Cheerio
Camp Chosatonga
Camp Fire Georgia
Camp Grier
Camp Harrison
Camp Henry
Camp High Rocks
Camp Illahee
Camp Kahdalea
Camp Lutherock
Camp Pinnacle
Camp Thunderbird
Camp Woodmont
Cheerio Adventures
Christmount
Clemson Summer Scholars
Clemson University’s Youth Learning Institute
Climbmax Climbing Center
COMPASS Programs at Montreat College
Crossfire
Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont
Gwynn Valley Camp
Holston Presbytery Camp
Keystone Camp
Land of the Sky Wilderness School
Lutheridge
Mars Hill University Dance Camp
Mars Hill Summer Music Camp
North Carolina Outward Bound
N.
C. Trout Unlimited
Project P.R.O.M.I.S.E. Health Careers Summer Camp
Quaker Lake Camp
Ridge Haven
Rockbrook Camp for Girls
South Mountain Christian Camp
Western Carolina University
Xplore USA
YMCA Camp Greenville
YMCA Camp Watia
Teen Wilderness Camps – Outdoor Therapy Options
When you set out to find a teen wilderness program for your troubled child, the first step is to put together a list of the best wilderness programs that are available that specialize in offering this the kind of help your son or daughter needs. To help you with that goal, below are some of the best teen wilderness programs available with some insight into the kinds of programs they offer.
Turning Winds
Turning Winds Academic Institute ranks as one of the top outdoor programs for offering a wilderness camp experience to your child. The young men and woman who come to the Turning Winds wilderness camp come from all over the country.
Turning Wind has a long history of success and a roster of literally hundreds of kids that these innovative wilderness camps have helped in the last ten years. Not only will your son or daughter have an outstanding and memorable wilderness camp experience at Turning Winds, they will come away with life lessons and skills that will give them a new start on life when they come home from their time at Turning Winds Wilderness Camp. You can find out more about Turning Winds at http://www.turningwinds.com/
SUWS of the Carolinas
One of the things young people remember about a teen wilderness program is the beauty of nature all around them. SUWS of the Carolinas located in the woods of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. This highly respected is a therapeutic wilderness program blends conventional therapeutic methods with the fun and challenge of an outdoor adventure. The kids that graduate from SUWS of the Carolinas find that they come out of the program much improved individuals but they never knew they were “in therapy” because they were having such a great time.
The SUWS of the Carolinas employs top notch licensed masters or doctoral level therapists who are passionate about working with struggling youth. These skilled and caring professionals are on site at all times to oversee student development and assist the youth in progressing toward their individualized treatment goals.
The Aspen Achievement Academy
The Aspen Achievement Academy is a highly innovative approach to outdoor therapy. By combining a licenses treatment program with a legitimate academic program plus a strong therapy program all integrated with a proven wilderness adventure setting, The Aspen Achievement Academy is an option for you to consider for your troubled teenager.
The Aspen Achievement Academy does more than just guide youth to recovery of their lost youth. This well designed program serves as a “rite of passage” designed to assist adolescents in making the transition to responsible young adulthood. Each stage of the wilderness program at The Aspen Achievement Academy is an evolution of the student’s emotional growth.
The program your son or daughter will go through will serve as a prototype for healthy emotional life outside of the wilderness camp environment and a very real encounter with the world that will help your child mature and get past those emotional pits that youth so commonly fall into.
| Name | Location | District | Oblast, Territory | Resume |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agape Environmental Education Center | Fookie Varina | Wake Up | Triangle | |
| Airlie Gardens | Wilmington | New Hanover | East | 67 acres, formal gardens with environmental education programs for youth and adults |
| National Wildlife Refuge on the Alligator River | Manteo | Dare | Eastern | Visitor Center with exhibits about the refuge ecosystem, conservation, educational programs |
| Annie Louise Wilkerson Reserve | Raleigh | Wake up | Treugo flax | website, 156 acres, run by the city |
| Nature Conservation Bald Head Island | Bald Head Island | Brunswick | Eastern | Family Adventure Programs, Summer Camps, Nature Tours, Turtle Riding |
| Balsam Mountain Sanctuary | Silva | Jackson | Website, operated by Balsam Mountain Trust, approximately 4400 acres, nature center includes live animals, general public must have a confirmed reservation to visit | |
| Bass Lake Park | Holly Springs | Awake | Triangle | Website, the park includes a 100 acre fishing lake, a nature center with exhibits of local animals run by the city. |
| Betsy-Jeff Penn 4th Education Center | Reidsville | Rockingham | Web site, nearly 200 acres, research-based educational programs for schools and groups, Summer Camp | |
| Blue J Point County Park | Raleigh | Wake | Triangle | website, 236 acres, County-run |
| Blue Planet Water Environment Center | Huntersville | Mecklenburg | Charlotte | Web site, hands-on education center about water and wastewater waters operated by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities |
| Carolina Beach State Park | Carolina Beach | New Hanover | East | 761 acres featuring carnivorous plants in the park. |
| Carolina Raptor Center | Charlotte | Mecklenburg | Charlotte | Website, Predator Rehabilitation Center with exhibits |
| Centennial Campus Wildlife Education Center | Raleigh | Wake Up | Internet Triangle The site, headquarters of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, includes wetland exhibits and overview, exhibits about North Carolina wildlife conservation./wilderness-camping-on-diablo-lake-north-cascades-479741521-58e39ca75f9b58ef7ead2ce7.jpg) | |
| Clark Park Nature Center | Fayetteville | Cumberland | East | Web Site, 72 acres, City Administration |
| Clemmons Educational State Forest | Clayton | Johnston | East | Woodland Exhibition Center Farms with interactive exhibits on the ecology of forests, soil, water, wildlife, and the state’s cultural history. |
| Cool Springs Environmental Education Center | New Bern | Craven | Website, 1700 acres of woodland along the River Neuss, Forestry and Forestry Programs, managed by Weyerhaeuser, requires entry | |
| Crowder District Park | Apex | Apex | Triangle | Web Site, 33 Acres, County Managed |
| Dan Nicholas Park | Salisbury | Rowan | Charlotte | County Managed Web Site, Wildlife Park, Nature Center , carousel, water park, small farm with animals, other family attractions |
| Discovery Place Nature | Charlotte | Mecklenburg | Charlotte | Interactive exhibitions of nature and displays of live animals Piedmont region adjacent to 98 acres of Liberty Park, managed by Place discoveries |
| Foothills Equestrian Center | Try | Regiment | West | Internet site, 384 acres |
Frank Sharpe Jr. Wildlife Education Center | Greensboro | Guildford | Piedmont Triad | |
| Goose Creek State Park | Washington | Beaufort | East | 1327 acres including Environmental Education and Visitor Center with exhibits, Wet Lab |
| Grandpa Mountain | Linville | Avery | West | 2456 Acres, Part Reserve and Part State Park, Museum of Nature, Naturalist Programs |
| Hanging Rock State Park | Danbury | Stokes | Piedmont Triad | |
| Highlands Nature Center | Highlands | Macon | West | Online site, open seasonally, exhibits on Southern Appalachian biodiversity. Highlands Biological Foundation |
| Howell Woods | Four Oaks | Johnston | East | Website, 2800-acre Environmental Education Center, operated by Johnston Community College |
| Kaleideum North | Winston-Salem | Forsyth | 15-acre Science Museum and Ecological Park | |
| Lake Kerr State Recreation Area | Henderson | Vance | Triangle | 50,000 acre artificial lake, Satterwhite Point Visitor Center includes an exhibition hall, programs, as well as the Center for Environmental Education V. Kerr Scott. |
| Latta Plantation Nature Center and Reserve | Huntersville | Mecklenburg | Charlotte | Website, 1351 acres, County-managed |
| Lee Park Nature Center | Sanford | Lee | East | Website , 177 acres, County-managed |
| McDowell Nature Center and Preserve | Charlotte | Mecklenburg | Charlotte | Internet site, 1107 acres, County-managed |
| Coastal Carolina Museum | Ocean Isle Beach | Oriental | Natural History Museum with dioramas and exhibits on the natural, environmental and cultural history of the Carolina Coastal region. | |
| Museum of Life and Science | Durham | Durham | Triangle | 84 acres, Museum of Natural History and Science with insectarium and live animals, 6 acres of wetlands with boardwalk and live native animals, farm, iron road and more |
| Neuseway Nature Center and Planetarium | Kinston | Lenoir | East | 55 acres including a sensory reservoir, live local animals, the Lenoir Memorial Hospital Health and Science Museum, planetarium and campgrounds. |
| North Carolina Arboretum | Asheville | Buncombe | West | 434 acres, arboretum and botanical garden, 10 miles hiking and biking trails, youth and adult programs |
| North Carolina Estuarium | Washington | East | Web site operated by the Partnership for Sound, North Carolina estuary ecology, especially the Pumlico River, Tar River and Pumlico Sound | |
| Oak Island Nature Center | Oak Island | Brunswick | East | Information, City-operated, seasonal |
| Onslow County Environmental Education Center and Sneads Ferry Branch Library | Sneads Ferry | Onslow | East | Web site displaying county ecology, geography, flora and fauna at Branch Library |
| Outside Bank Wildlife Education Center | Corolla | Currituck | East | Website operated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, located in Currituck Heritage Park, Natural and Cultural History of Northeast North Carolina , with an aquarium and a gallery of waterfowl lures. |
| Piedmont Ecological Center | High Point | Guildford | Piedmont Triad | Website, 376 acres, operates the city, 11 miles of trails |
| Piedmont Wildlife Center | Durham | Durham | Located in 82 acres of Lee Farm. | |
| Pisgah Wildlife Education Center | Pisgah Forest | Transylvania | Western | Web site, located in Pisgah National Forest, operated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Trout Factory Features |
| Prairie Eco Station Ridge | Raleigh] | Wake | Triangle | 45 acres operated by North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences |
| Reedy Creek Nature Center and Preserve | Charlotte | Mecklenburg | Charlotte | 737 acres county, over 10 miles of trails, with live local animals, showroom, classroom. |
| Stevens Nature Center at Hamlock Bluffs | Carey | Awake | Triangle | 140 acres, operates the city |
| Sturgeon City | Jacksonville | Onslow | East | Internet – wetlands around the former sewage treatment plant, environmental and scientific programs |
| Sylvan Heights Bird Park | Scotland Neck | Halifax | website, The 18-acre park has aviaries with birds from all over the plant, gardens , training of waterfowl, conservation of wildlife and wetlands. | |
| Time for Science | Grifton | Pitt | East | Web site, Nature and Science Center located within 200 acres of Bray Hollow Conservation Area |
| Walnut Creek Wetland Center | Raleigh | Wake up | Triangle | Website, 59 acres, managed by the city |
| Walter B. Jones, Sr. Sound Center | Colombia | Tyrrell | Eastern | Natural History National Wildlife Refuge Pokoshin Lakes |
| Walter L.Stasavich | Greenville | Pitt | East | 324-acre city-operated website River Park North |
| West North Carolina Nature Center | Asheville | Buncombe | West | 40-acre City Zoological Park with animals and plants native to the South Appalachian region. |
| Weymouth Woods Sandhills Conservation Area | Southern Pines | Moore | Sandhills | 898 Acres State Park and Preserve with Natural History Museum and Environmental Education Programs |
William B. Amsted | Raleigh | Wake | Triangle | 5439 acres, visitor center exhibits, educational programs |
| White Deer Park and Nature Center | Garner | Wake | Triangle | website, 96 acres, in run by the Township |
★ 6 of North Carolina’s Most Beautiful Parks to Camp This Fall ★
Whether your camping includes a sun lounger, hot dogs and good music, or fishing, hiking and riding bicycles, the state parks of North Carolina are ideal for camping.Ranging from the waters of the coast, through the Piedmont region, and stretching to the mountains in the west, North Carolina’s parks offer a range of beauty, activity, and relaxation that is difficult to match.
Lake Norman State Park, Trautman
Lake Norman State Park at Trautman
Lake Norman State Park, Trautman
Located about half an hour north of Charlotte, Lake Norman State Park offers the tranquility and beauty of a rural paradise, while while being close to basic amenities.
Situated around Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in the state, the park has 33 camping sites with tent areas, picnic tables and grills, group campgrounds, a public building with kitchen and toilet facilities, a bath complex, and 125 Beach Front Courtyard ideal for swimming and fishing. There are also ample opportunities to stop and fish throughout the park’s 30.5 miles, which are also very popular with mountain bikers. For those looking to get out on the water, a free boat is available in the southern part of the park, as well as rentals of kayaks, canoes, pedal boats and rowing boards.
Stone Mountain Park, Roaring Gap
Stone Mountain Park Roaring Gap
Stone Mountain State Park in Roaring Gap has a whopping 90 camping sites, some of which are equipped with utility gear for campers on the RV. There are also places for groups and hiking for those who are more into “roughing”. During your stay in the park, you can choose from a variety of activities, including fishing 20 miles from trout, picnics, horseback riding and hiking through the park’s 18 miles of trails.
But one thing not to be missed during your visit is the massive granite dome overlooking the park. If you are into rock climbing, you can even climb the giant 600-foot permissioned granite granite face and enjoy the view of Hutchinson’s Manor, mid-19th. century farm, which has been completely restored.
Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury
Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury
Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury
1,300 feet above the countryside below.In addition to 73 camping sites and 5 primitive camping sites, the park also boasts a variety of picnic spots, a 12-acre lake for swimming and fishing, rowing and canoeing on the Dan River, and over 20 miles of hiking trails and 8.4 miles. mountain bike trails. Climbers can also find climbing opportunities with permission.
Carolina Beach State Park, Carolina Beach
Carolina Beach Carolina Beach State Park
Carolina Beach State Park, Carolina Beach
If the cabin is bigger than your speed, don’t worry.
There are five state parks North Carolina that offer cab rental, including Carolina Beach State Park located near Wilmington. Named Regional State Park of the Year in 2015, the park boasts beautiful coastal views, as well as 83 secluded, tree-covered camping sites that include a picnic table and grill, with RV connections and wheelchair accessible spaces. The camper cabins include two bedrooms that can accommodate up to six people, as well as electricity, heating and air conditioning, a picnic table, a grill and a fire ring.Although the cabins do not have a bathroom, there are toilets nearby. You will also find many opportunities for fishing, swimming or boating from the marina, which has two public ramps and a shop. But the coolest thing you’ll find here is
… Real Live Venus Flytraps. So watch your hikes!
Crowders Mountain State Park, Kings Mountain
Crowders Mountain State Park in Kings Mountain
Crowders Mountain State Park, Kings Mountain
Located in Kings Mountain, Crowders Mountain State Park offers not only beautiful secluded camping sites, but and spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and eleven hiking trails that range in difficulty from leisurely to strenuous.
Family and group outdoor activities with grills, picnic tables and tent sheds. If you want to light a dacha fire, rent a wood locker for as little as $ 5. There is also a 9-acre lake for fishing or canoeing.
New River State Park, Laurel Springs
New River State Park, Laurel Springs
New River State Park, Laurel Springs
If you’re looking for primitive camping off the beaten path, New River State Park in Laurel Springs is worth a visit.Named for the National Wild and Scenic River that flows through it, the park offers three separate access areas, each with a primitive campground where campers park a short distance and then canoe or stroll to reach the campgrounds. The campgrounds on Wagoner Road and US 221 hotspots have a bathroom with shower, while the Allegany County hotspot has a toilet pit and a drinking water pump. For extreme wildlife enthusiasts, Riverbend also has four canoe-only campsites with no toilets or drinking water.
where to go and how to plan
Each national park in the United States is like a separate mini-planet with its own landscapes, laws of nature and interesting places. Chose the most scenic American parks to help you find the landscapes of your dreams!
Read in which national park in America to look for instagram canyons, where are the most beautiful lakes, what to take with you and how to protect food from bears.
We’ve picked 15 of America’s most beautiful parks, but the list is far from exhaustive: get inspired to explore amazing nature!
Most Beautiful National Parks in the USA:
Arches | Bryce Canyon | Badlands | Hawaiian Volcanic National Park | Grand Canyon | Grand Teton | Great Smoky Mountains | Denali | Death Valley | Joshua Three | Zion | Yellowstone | Yosemite | Rocky Mountain | Sequoia |
Yosemite, CA
People travel to Yosemite to marvel at the diversity of landscapes: the park has granite rocks and waterfalls, meadows and glaciers.You will see the highest waterfall in the United States and the world’s largest granite monolith – El Capitan, admire the cliffs of the Yosemite Valley, visit the groves of giant sequoias, admire the Tuolomne meadows and Dan’s meadows, and photograph the doubled beauty in the reflection of the mirror Lake Mirror.
How to get to Yosemite Park
The closest major city to Yosemite is San Francisco.
Getting to the national park by car is convenient from Sacramento, Reno, San Diego, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
You can move around the national park by your own transport or shuttle bus.
Buses run from various states to the Yosemite Valley and to other parts of the park during the summer season.
Detailed instructions on how to get to Yosemite from different cities and depending on the season are available on the park’s official website.
When is the best time to go to Yosemite
You can go to Yosemite at any time of the year, but in summer there are most people. The most popular season to visit Yosemite is from April to October.
Different routes and attractions of the park are available at different times of the year. For example, the chance to see why the Horse Tail Falls are called “fiery” falls only on sunny days in mid and late February.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 35 for entry by car and $ 30 for entry on a motorcycle, payment is valid for 7 days. The indicated price is the cost of visiting the park from a vehicle, not from a person.
When entering the park on foot, by bicycle, by horse or by bus with a capacity of more than 15 people, the ticket costs $ 20 per person, payment is valid for 7 days, admission for children under 15 is free.
Where to stay in Yosemite
At a campsite, hotel or lodge. In some areas, you can spend the night with a tent in any place you like, but before going on such a hike, carefully read the rules. You cannot spend the night in a car in Yosemite.
Things to Know Before You Travel
Yosemite has different attractions and even roads and walking trails depending on the season. To plan your trip, check the website in advance to see what will be open during your visit.
Yosemite Park is home to bears who are eager to feed on tourists. If you are not ready to share, always store food in special boxes that are available in parking lots within the park.
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What to pack when visiting US National Parks
The list of things to do in the American National Park depends a lot on your plans: you can sleep in a hotel with white sheets, or you can live in a tent in the middle of the wild.
In any case, clothes for the cold night and daytime heat, a light shirt with sun sleeves, a waterproof jacket and a good camera will come in handy.
If you are planning a camping romance, take a tent, sleeping bag, flashlight and portable tiles.
Yellowstone, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho
The geysers and geyser field are most impressive in Yellowstone. In the park, you should definitely look at the high-altitude volcanic Lake Yellowstone, photograph the graphic silhouettes of dead trees on the thermal springs and admire the local Grand Canyon – not exactly the same, but also very picturesque!
How to get to Yellowstone
Buses from Bozeman run all year round, from Idaho only in summer.
The closest airports to Yellowstone are Yellowstone Regional Airport and Jackson Hole in Wyoming, Bozeman Yellowstone and Billings Logan in Montana and Idaho Falls in Idaho.
You can move around the park by your own car or commercial shuttle, there is no public transport.
When is the best time to go to the park
The park is open all year round, and most people visit Yellowstone in the summer. If you want to avoid the crowds, do not travel between late June and early August.Check in advance the list of available places and roads by season to find the best time to visit.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 35 per car, $ 30 from a motorcycle, $ 20 per person when entering the park on foot, by bike or horse. The payment is valid for 7 days from the moment of entering the park.
Where to stay
You can spend the night in Yellowstone in a hotel or camping, there are equipped places for tents.
Things to know before you travel
There are nine lodges in the park, but only two are open in winter.At any time of the year, it is worth booking seats in advance.
Bears and bison live in the park: be careful not to approach them for a selfie: this is unethical and simply dangerous.
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Please note that only access to the park is included in the park ticket. Accommodation in campsites and lodges, shopping in shops and meals in a cafe are paid separately. If the park makes a discount or spends free days, this also applies only to the entrance to the park: you will have to pay for a place in the campsite.
Grand Canyon, Arizona
The Grand Canyon needs no special introduction: people travel to this national park to see His Majesty the Grand Canyon, a natural wonder of the world. As you admire the dizzying panoramas of one of the deepest canyons in the world, go on a hike or horseback ride and try rafting.
How to get to the Grand Canyon
The closest airports to the Grand Canyon are located in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Flagstaff.
From Las Vegas and other cities in the United States, there are flights to the Grand Canyon Airport, 11 km from the national park. Buses run from Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon can be reached by train from Williams.
Free shuttle buses run through the park.
When is the best time to go to the Grand Canyon
The park is open all year round, but you can only admire the canyon from the north side in summer. In 2020, access will be opened there on May 15.
According to park statistics, only 10% of visitors reach the northern edge of the canyon, so you can catch all popular angles on the southern side.
Most visitors to the park are in summer, spring and autumn. The park’s management advises in any case to reserve campsites in advance.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 35 per car, $ 30 per motorcycle, $ 20 per person when entering by bike, shuttle bus or walking. Children under 15 years old are admitted free of charge.
In 2020 April 18, August 25, September 26 and November 11, the entrance to the Grand Canyon is free for everyone.
Where to stay
In hotels, lodges and campgrounds in the national park.
Train to the Grand Canyon and other impressive rail travel locations
Joshua Tree, CA
In Joshua Tree, even the location of the park is mesmerizing: it is located at the meeting point of two deserts, Mojave and Colorado. It is not surprising that the landscapes here are surreal – what are the only grandiose rock complexes and amazing succulent trees “Joshua” worth!
How to get to Joshua Three
The closest major cities to Joshua Three are Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix.The nearest airport is Palm Springs.
From Los Angeles, Joshua Tree can be reached by bus, buses to the park also go from the town of Tuentynine Palms.
You can move around the park on foot and by car.
When is the best time to go to Joshua Tree
The park is open all year round, with most people from October to May. If you are driving during popular times, if possible, do not schedule a visit to the park on the weekend to avoid the crowds.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 30 for a car, $ 25 for a motorcycle, $ 15 for a pedestrian or cyclist.The ticket is valid for 7 days.
Where to stay in Joshua Tree
Campgrounds in Joshua Tree or lodges near the park.
If you choose not to camp overnight, you will still need to check in and set up camp in the permitted areas. Campfires are not allowed outside the designated areas in the park: take a supply of water and ready-made food or camping tiles with you.
Things to know before you travel
There is no mobile network coverage in the park.There are no cafes and shops on the territory of Joshua Three, when exploring the park, always carry a good supply of drinking water with you, and in the heat, do not forget about sunscreen, glasses and a cap.
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Rocky Mountain, Colorado
Rocky Mountain is a scenic trekking paradise. In the park, they take pictures and conquer the Rocky Mountains, relax on alpine meadows and catch postcard reflections in the cleanest lakes in the lens.
How to get to Rocky Mountain Park
The nearest airport to the National Park is in Denver. There is no public transport in Rocky Mountain, you can only get there by your own car.
Shuttle buses run through Rocky Mountain Park.
When is the best time to go to Rocky Mountain
The park is open all year round.
It is cold in Rocky Mountain from December to March, with many routes and activities unavailable.
In April and May the weather is unpredictable, some trails are still blocked due to snow.
The best weather conditions and the most open trekking routes await tourists from late May to mid-October.
How much does it cost to visit
One-day visit: $ 25 per car, $ 25 per motorcycle, $ 15 per pedestrian.
Ticket for 7 days: $ 35 per car, $ 30 per motorcycle, $ 20 per pedestrian.
Where to stay in Rocky Mountain
Camping or overnight camping.
Things to know before you travel
Campfires are only permitted in designated areas.The purpose of the park is to protect nature, so some trails and sections of Rocky Mountain may be inaccessible to the public, and animals can only be observed from a safe distance.
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Sequoia, CA
They go to Sequoia to see giant trees of the Cypress family and to get acquainted with “General Sherman” – the largest sequoia in the world in terms of volume and mass. It is also great to admire the panorama from Mount Moro here and explore the Crystal Cave.There will be enough impressions, if not for a book, then for a dozen posts on Instagram for sure.
How to get to Sequoia Park
In summer, there is a shuttle bus from the cities of Visalia and Three Rivers to the Sequoia National Park, the ticket costs $ 20 per person in both directions and includes an entrance fee to the park.
Free shuttles run in the park during summer and winter vacations; in winter, their movement depends on the weather.
When is the best time to go to the park
The park is open all year round, but shuttle buses operate in summer, so it is easier to get to Sequoia and it is more convenient to move around the territory.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 35 for a car, $ 30 for a motorcycle, $ 20 for a pedestrian. The ticket is valid for 7 days.
In 2020, admission to Sequoia Park is free on the following days: April 18, May 2, August 25, September 26, November 11 and December 13. This applies only to the entrance to the park, camping reservations and other services remain paid.
Where to stay in Sequoia
In lodges and campgrounds in the park.
What is important to know before traveling
All information is conveniently available in the mobile application of Sequoia Park.
There are bears in the park, so always follow the rules for storing food while in the park, campsites have special sealed boxes for supplies.
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Death Valley, California and Nevada
The place with the eerie name Death Valley is America’s driest natural park. The extreme climate gives rise to amazing landscapes: here and Badwater, a ground point 86 m below sea level, and sand fish, and contrasting mountain peaks in the background.Meet sunrises and sunsets with an alien view, explore ghost towns and don’t forget to drink plenty of water!
How to get to Death Valley Park
Public transport does not go to Death Valley, you can get to the park by your own car.
When is the best time to go to Death Valley
The park is open all year round.
To see wild flowers, come between late March and early June, but note that the flowering time depends on the amount of rainfall and is different every year.In spring, the park has the most visitors.
Clear warm weather in Death Valley in autumn, from late October. It is cool in winter, but the valley is especially picturesque, framed by snowy peaks.
In the summer, starting from May, it is very hot in Death Valley, it is recommended to travel only by air-conditioned car, hiking is possible only in the early morning in the mountains.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 30 from a car, $ 25 from a motorcycle, $ 15 from a pedestrian, the ticket is valid for 7 days.
Where to stay
In campsites and lodges in the park.With a special permit, you can set up camp yourself in the designated areas.
Things to Know Before You Travel
If you are exploring Death Valley in the summer, always keep a large supply of water in your car and drink enough throughout the day, especially when you are physically active.
Illegal marijuana farms have been found in remote parts of the park. If you notice such a field, in no case take a photo or video, immediately return to the car and report what you saw to the park administration from a safe place.
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Hawaii Volcanic National Park, Hawaii
Take pictures of amazing landscapes, hike the landscapes of the Mauna Loa megavolcano, see ancient petroglyphs, look into a volcanic crater and lava cave. This is not an excerpt from an adventure novel, but an ordinary weekend in the Hawaiian Volcanic Park.
How to get to Hawaii Volcanic Park
Hawaiian Volcanic Park is located on the island of Hawaii, or Big Island, one of the eight main Hawaiian islands.
It is convenient to get to the park by car, which can be rented right at the airport. You can also take a bus to the park.
There is no rental vehicle in the park itself.
When is the best time to go
The weather in Hawaii Park does not depend on the season, but on the altitude at which you are. The higher to the peak of the volcano, the colder and more humid the climate, and the lower, the warmer and drier. However, there is wind and rain both at the bottom and at the top: the weather in Hawaii is unpredictable, it is worth taking clothes for all occasions.
The park is open to the public all year round, sometimes access to parts of Hawaii National Park is limited due to volcanic activity.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 30 for a car, $ 25 for a motorcycle, $ 15 for a cyclist or pedestrian. The ticket is valid for 7 days.
Where to stay
In lodges and campsites in the park.
Things to Know Before You Go
If you are going on a hike in Hawaii National Park, take the time to prepare and review the list of essentials.Please note that campfires and smoking are not permitted on the route.
If driving, be sure to study the road: many routes do not have cafes, shops or gas stations.
Hawaiian geese live in the park not : watch the road so as not to accidentally hit the bird, and do not feed them so that they themselves do not rush to the cars in search of food.
Volcanic exhaust is hazardous to health. Watch out for warning signs; special care should be taken by pregnant women, children and people with heart and respiratory diseases.
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Badlands, South Dakota
The trademark of the Badlands is the largest protected prairie in the United States and the circular hills of badlands , sharply sharpened by erosion, which gave the name to the park. To observe the prairie life, it is enough to drive through the park by car using one route, but there are also hiking trails in the Badlands. Remains of ancient extinct animals such as saber-toothed tigers have been found in the park, and today some of the archaeological finds can be seen in the Badlands.
Getting to the Badlands
The best way to get to the Badlands is from Rapid City: you can rent a car or taxi.
When is the best time to go to Badlands
The park is open all year round.
The Badlands weather is capricious: it is very cold in winter, dry in summer, hot and often thunderstorms. It is windy at any time of the year, the weather changes unpredictably.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 30 for a car, $ 25 for a motorcycle, $ 15 for a pedestrian or cyclist.Free admission for children under 16. The ticket is valid for 7 days.
Free days to visit Badlands Park in 2020: April 18, August 25, September 26, November 11.
Where to stay in the Badlands
Lodges and campgrounds in the park.
What is important to know before your trip
Even if you are an archaeologist at heart, you cannot take any finds from the territory of the reserve – rely on impressions and photographs.
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Zion, Utah
Red & Bronze Zion Canyon, picturesque Kolob Canyon and numerous trekking trails are ideal backdrops for hiking, filming and just a weekend in stunning natural surroundings.
How to get to Zion
Free seasonal shuttle buses to the park run from the town of Springdale, a detailed schedule on the park’s website.
Parking lots in Zion are usually overcrowded in the morning. Park officials recommend that you park in Springdale (or spend the night there and leave your car at your hotel) and take a free shuttle to Zion itself.
You can move around the park by shuttle or your bike. In the season when shuttles do not run, they allow moving by personal or rented car.
When is the best time to go Zion
The park is open all year round, with most people from February to the end of November.
The most popular holidays to visit are the last Monday in May, Easter week, the first Monday in September and 4 days of the October weekend in Utah. Better to plan your visit to Zion for a different time.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 35 for a car, $ 30 for a motorcycle, $ 20 for a pedestrian or cyclist. Children under 15 years old are admitted free of charge.The ticket is valid for 7 days.
Where to stay
In campsites in the park.
Things to Know Before You Go
To avoid the crowds during high season, explore Kolob Canyon and the eastern part of the park: less popular than Zion Canyon, but also very beautiful.
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Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina and Tennessee
In the Great Smoky Mountains, any boardwalk turns into an epic hike as you walk the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous walking trail in the world! Along the way, admire the views from Mount Klingmans Dom, breathe in the forest air, find the most beautiful waterfalls, explore historic buildings and watch elk and black bears.
How to get to the Great Smoky Mountains
The most convenient way to get to the Great Smoky Mountains is by car.
There is no public transport to the national park, but there are private routes from Knoxville and Asheville. From June to October there is a trolleybus service from Gotlinburg.
You can move around the park on your bike, but only along the roads provided for transport.
When is the best time to go to the Great Smoky Mountains
The park is open all year round, some roads may be closed due to weather conditions.
Most people in the park are from June 15 to August 15 and in October, especially on weekends. To avoid crowds, plan your trip for a different time: in September, for example, it is still warm, but there are fewer people.
How much does it cost to visit
Visit the Great Smoky Mountains free of charge.
Where to stay
There are many campsites in the park and only one lodge that can only be reached on foot.
Things to Know Before You Travel
Most travelers follow the Cades Cove Ring Road and the Newfound Gap Route.To avoid queuing for photos, explore Abrams Creek, Greenbrier Cove and other less popular spots in the park.
In the Great Smoky Mountains, it is forbidden to approach the bear closer than 50 meters. Learn the rules of conduct when encountering bears before heading to the park.
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Bryce Canyon, Utah
Bryce Canyon beckons to the park: a gigantic natural amphitheater with amazing geological formations hoodoo .These spiky formations are found on all continents, but it is in Bryce Canyon that they are most concentrated – it looks amazing! It is also worth going on a hike here and admiring the endless starry sky at night; the park even has special astronomical programs for visitors.
How to get to Bryce Canyon Park
The nearest major airports are Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. You can get to the park only by your own car; public transport does not go to Bryce Canyon.
It is convenient to travel around the park by free shuttle buses.
When is the best time to go
The park is open all year round.
It is cold in Bryce Canyon from October to May, with temperatures dropping below freezing at night. The coldest period is from December to February, during this period it often snows. There are storms in March and April, snowfalls can make it difficult to move, because some of the roads will be closed.
Most visitors in the park are from March to early October.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 35 for a car, $ 30 for a motorcycle, $ 20 for a pedestrian, children under 15 years old are free of charge. The ticket is valid for 7 days.
Where to stay
In a campsite, lodge (in summer) or a hotel in the park.
Things to Know Before You Travel
Bryce Canyon Park is home to bears. To protect yourself, store all your food in special sealed boxes, which can be rented for free at the information center.
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Arches, Utah
People travel to Arches to see the grandiose sandstone arches, including the famous Graceful Arch. It’s hard to believe that these quaint palaces in the desert were built by nature, and not by some world famous architect.
How to get to Arches
Public transport does not go to the park, you can get to Arches by car. The city closest to the park is Moab.
When is the best time to go to Arches
The park is open all year round. Most people are between March and October.
Particularly busy during the holidays: Easter week, the last Monday in May, the first Monday in September and the long weekend in Utah in mid-October.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 30 for a car, $ 25 for a motorcycle, $ 15 for a pedestrian or cyclist. Admission is free for children and adolescents up to 15 years old.
Where to stay
In a campsite in the park.
Things to know before you travel
If you are visiting the park during the high season from March to October, it is recommended to arrive before 8 am or after 3 pm to find a parking space and avoid the crowds.
Most of the services, from shops and cafes to gas stations, are located in the town of Moab outside the park.
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Denali, Alaska
Denali offers true Alaskan wilderness experiences.If you have always been inspired by films about daring explorers, this park is for you: conquer the highest point of North America, Mount Denali, admire picturesque rivers and glacial lakes, watch elk, deer and grizzly bears, and make your own movie about adventure and beauty of nature.
How to get to Denali
There is a railway through Denali, and you can get to the park by train. The most convenient way to arrive is by car, and in the summer there are private bus routes from Anchorage and Fairbanks.
You can only move around Denali by park buses: even if you arrived by your own car, you can only drive 25 km through the park, and then you will have to change to a bus, bicycle or walk.
When is the best time to go to Denali
It is better to go to Denali during the summer season from May 20 to mid-September. This is the time when there are most people, but in spring, winter and autumn, the weather in Alaska is unpredictable and park routes may be closed.
If you are traveling in low season, allow more time for travel in case of unexpected weather.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 15 per person. Children and adolescents under 15 years old admission is free. The ticket is valid for 7 days, buses and campsites are paid separately.
Where to stay
There are no hotels or lodges in Denali in one of the campsites in the park.
Things to know before you travel
There is only one road in the park, a trip along which will give a complete picture of the beauty of Denali. There are hiking trails, but almost all of them are laid near the main road: most of Denali’s territory remains wild.
There are different buses in Denali, paid, free and even with a guide, and the routes are built in such a way that during the bus trip you will see all the most interesting.
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Grand Teton, Wyoming
Elk, bears and bison can be seen in their natural habitat at Grand Teton. True, there are no guarantees here: animals move freely around the park, and meeting with them depends on your attentiveness, the chosen route and luck.But even if you just try rafting on the Snake River and go on a mountain hike along the Teton Ridge, you will get vivid impressions the size of a herd of bison.
When to go Grand Teton
The park is open all year round, but some routes and services are unavailable in winter.
Most visitors to the park are from May to September, peak times are July and August.
How much does it cost to visit
$ 35 for a car, $ 30 for a motorcycle, $ 20 for a pedestrian or cyclist.Free admission for visitors under 16 years old. The Grand Teton ticket is valid for 7 days.
Where to stay
In lodges and campsites in the park.
Important Things to Know Before You Go
Park Management recommends against walking on solitary mountain or off-trail tracks.
All food should be stored in specially sealed anti-bear boxes.
You can take a special anti-bear spray with you to the park in case of animal aggression.
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What is bushcraft?
Art is immortal. Especially is immortal art of survival. Alexander Sukhomlin
Bushcraft – from the Dutch “bosch” (forest) and the English “craft” (skill, skill, art) – the art of living in the forest, in a broader sense – generally in nature.
The term was originally applied to survival in the bush, later spread to other English-speaking countries and expanded to include survival in any wild environment.
The word was popular in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Came into widespread use thanks to the television broadcasts Ray Mears , dedicated to the art of survival in the wild.
We began to use this term not so long ago and discussions about its exact meaning are still going on.
Literally “Bushcraft” translates as “Forestry” or “Skill”. The very phrase was introduced into circulation by a Canadian instructor in forest tourism and survival in extreme natural conditions Morse Kokhansky . Since this interesting person was already very popular on his continent in the 80s, this term was first picked up by North American tourists, nature lovers, and then spread all over the world.
It should be noted that the concept of bushcraft is not an occupation or some kind of lifestyle, it is precisely teaching, skills that can be useful both for those who only go to the forest for a day, and for those who constantly live in the wild. nature (professional hunters, geologists, forestry workers, etc.)NS.). Of course, these skills themselves did not appear all of a sudden, it is just that almost every nation has and has its own. What is it?
Yes, simple – the ability to live in the forest, in the wild with a minimum of tools and amenities. Making a fire with improvised means, building a dwelling, using what you can take with you to the thicket of the forest, mining and cooking, identifying plants, the ability to make new tools at hand using existing ones (for example, a bow saw, a brace, a mallet, can be done on place of the camp using the available app.parts). All this was and is in the memory of every nation on Earth. It’s just that people like Morse collect and systematize this knowledge. But Morse was not the first to speak and write about forest living skills as a science or a system.
There were others, one of the first, if not the very first, who wrote a book about bushcraft , was the American trapper Horace Kefarth – a traveler and writer. Wildlife practitioner. He spent a lot of time in the Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina, USA.
Horace was educated as a librarian, and from 1890 to 1903 he was director of the library in St. Louis, Missouri. During this period, he became interested in the study of wildlife, often went outside the city to the forest, to hunt. A passion for life in the forest led Horace to write articles on this topic, to develop hiking trails and excursions. He soon began to feel discomfort from city life. And when this condition led, according to Kefart himself, to nervous exhaustion, he decides to leave one of the largest cities in the country and move to the western part of North Carolina.There, among mountains and dense forests, Horace Kefarth and his family led a simple life. They studied crafts and skills, healing methods and cooking of local peoples. Kefarth has written many articles and books on the topic of living in harmony with wildlife.
All his books enjoyed great popularity even during the lifetime of the author. And they are still classic manuals on the topic b uskrafta or forest skills. In 1906, Kefarth’s book , The Book of Camping and Woodcraft; A Guidebook for Those Who Travel in the Wilderness .This book has been reprinted many times and to this day is a textbook for various kinds of “young naturalists”.
He also wrote books about the Indian peoples of the area in which he lived. In 1910, the book “Camp Cookery” was published. In 1913, he published Our Southern Highlanders (Our Southern Highlanders). This book, like all of Kefarth’s activities, prompted the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.Unfortunately, Kefarth himself did not live to see this, tk. On April 2, 1931, he got into a car accident.
In the fashion of the time, one of the mountains in this national park, which is one of the most visited in the United States, was named after him. Horace Kefarth is still very popular in the States and is considered the founding father of the Bushcraft movement.
The most beautiful cities in America | Smapse
We are used to seeing the classics of American life in movies and television series.All of them, for the most part, talk about life in the suburbs with awesome views, driveways, small white front gardens and friendly neighbors with moderately intolerable children.
In our selection – just such settlements!
Portland, Maine
The Victorian houses and the cliffs along the coastline are all equally calm and serene. The main attraction is the lighthouse, from which a magnificent view of the sea waves opens up.
For an overnight stay, it is best to use the services of the Press Hotel – it is located in the building of the local newspaper, now closed. In addition, we strongly advise you to pay tribute to the local cuisine, it is not for nothing that unconventional ratings like to write that Maine is the capital of restaurants.
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
A city at a crossroads: here the borders of two Virginias and Maryland converge, and the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers merge together. Around the city, there is a national park with elements of history.Almost everything here refers to the prehistory of the American Civil War (one of the previous events was the attack on the weapons storage of abolitionist John Brown in 1859). In addition, local ghosts enjoy a certain popularity and fame. Skeptics and wildlife fans may be advised to hike the Appalachian Trail.
Asheville, North Carolina
This is a great place to eat: there are as many as three restaurants where the famous chef Katie Button works. After a bite to eat, head to the North Carolina Arboretum or one of the nicest colonial-style estates in the area.It can be interesting to inspect the old building of a private university, in addition, the Blue Ridge lies nearby.
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Popular summer destination. Walking between the wood-paneled houses or cycling along the coastal road from the lighthouse to the lighthouse, you can enjoy the sunsets, sunrises and the fresh breeze from the sea. The sickle island is small, but diverse – there was a place for sand dunes and salt marshes, rocky cliffs.In short, a photographer’s paradise.
Lake Placid (New York)
Year-round resort located near the Adirondack Mountains on the shores of a crystal clear lake. 2500 people live here. Ideal for hiking and skiing – it was not for nothing that two Winter Olympics, 1932 and 1980, took place here.
Woodstock, Vermont
This city at the foot of the Green Mountains is the heart of New England tradition. Fans of antiques and rental housing are welcome here: you can stay in a house from the middle of the 18th century, while most of the city’s buildings are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and Objects of the United States.
St. Augustine, Florida
Founded in 1565, this town is the oldest European settlement in the United States. A magnificent example of Spanish architecture with a colonial flair, as well as later English buildings.
Played an important role in the campaign for civil rights in the 60s – from here on the Freedom Trail you can follow Martin Luther King to Washington, but before leaving, see the castle of St. Mark, dating back to the 17th century.
Big Sur (California)
Sandwiched among the rocks on the western coast of the continent. There are few residents, but there are two excellent hotels of 5 * and 4 * categories. The names of Kerouac, Hunter Thompson and Henry Miller are firmly associated with this place. If the program is tied to minimalism, we advise you to at least take a ride around the town along Highway 1.
Annapolis (Maryland)
The magical town with brick architecture on the Chesapeake was founded in the 17th century, played a large role in the events of the American Civil War in 1861-1865 – the local port served as a transshipment of equipment, as well as a stronghold for the blockade south by the ships of the Union fleet.
Then the settlement decayed and turned into a fishing village, which remained until the 30s, when the naval academy built here was expanded. The campus is open to inspection and is an architectural monument in the Bezar style.
Sedona (Arizona)
Nestled among the red monoliths of Sedona, tourists and guidebook owners know as the most star city in America. In addition, there is a magnificent view of the mountains.
Bozeman (Montana)
Bozeman is the capital of the region called Flower Valley, which is one and a half kilometers above sea level.To the north of the town is Bridger Range, and to the west is the Tobacco Route Mountains. In this settlement the film “Where the river flows” was filmed.
Newport, Rhode Island
Is the epitome of the wealth and abundance of New England with its yachts and richly dressed businessmen and retirees strolling the streets. The unhurried flow of local life is interrupted once a year in the summer by a series of music festivals.
Friday Harbor (Washington)
A picturesque village in northwest Washington DC, from here you can take a boat trip to the uninhabited islands.Once local residents were fed by the sea, now they are tourists. The most attractive of this place is the whale migration routes and the bay, which is very convenient for kayaking.
Santa Barbara (California)
California classic with ocean and Sant Ynez mountain views. Colonial buildings set a degree of historical interest, and people indifferent to the past will love the center of world surfing and the abundance of instructors and rental centers (coupled with steep waves).
Sitka (Alaska)
One of the most picturesque settlements in Alaska.If it weren’t for the snow and Christmas trees that grow by the water, it could be confused with the Wild West town from classic westerns.
Taos (New Mexico)
The desert city is considered one of the oldest in the country, is included in the UNESCO lists and is associated with the Pueblo tribe. Currently, it blooms and smells – throughout the 20th century, people of art strove here in search of inspiration.
Paia (Hawaii)
The village center with tattoo parlor and gift shops shouldn’t be fooled: this place in northern Maui is a hermit’s paradise.But very comfortable and friendly.
Telluride (Colorado)
This place is now extremely popular: the resort looks like a Hollywood blockbuster set, it is full of hotels and catering establishments.
Traverse City (Michigan)
To enjoy the tranquility and goodness of the lake, this is the place to be. The town was named after the seaport in the southern part of Grand Traverse Bay. Especially popular in summer. The best cherry varieties in the country are grown here, and a cherry festival is held in July.
Camden, Maine
The views are so fabulous and popular that the 1957 film Peyton Place was filmed here. Lives at the expense of travelers, but in general it is very pleasant here at any time of the year.
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Delia Owens “Where the crayfish sing” – a detective, family drama and brilliant story about the power of nature
“Shells are the best at keeping secrets”
Delia Owens. Where the Crayfish Sing
Delia Owens is an American writer and zoologist.She is a co-founder of the Owens Foundation for the Conservation of the Wild. Delia was born in 1949 and from early childhood fell in love with the forest and animals – her mother taught Delia not to be afraid of living creatures, to live in peace with nature, and she called the dense oak groves a place where “crayfish sing”.
Delia Owens
Each summer, the Delia family spent in North Carolina, where there are deep swamps with picturesque shores, lots of vegetation and unusual places. After school, Delia entered the University of Georgia, where she studied zoology.There she also met her future husband, research assistant Mark Owens. How many unusual adventures they went through together!
In 1974, the couple went to the Kalahari Desert, located in Botswana. There they began to study the lions, which came very close to the scientists’ tents. Lions and hyenas became a detailed subject of study of the couple and they later published the book “The Cry of the Kalahari”, which became a bestseller. Popular science books were also published: “Secrets of the Savannah”, “The Eye of the Elephant”, etc.
Research work in the Kalahari lasted for several years, and then the couple moved to Zambia. In the Northern Lagoon Valley, they studied elephants and carried out important social work – they developed a program to help local residents in difficult life situations. It was important for the spouses to keep the endangered species of elephants from destruction. To do this, it was necessary to create an alternative for local hunters – to find other jobs for them, to stop poaching. Delia also set up a shelter for unattended elephants in her camp and raised many of the babies.Today in Zambia there is still a wildlife conservation project launched by the Owens couple long ago. For her work, Delia has been honored with the Golden Ark Award from the Royal Family of the Netherlands and received an Honorary Award from the University of California.
Working in Africa has been going on for over twenty years, and the Owens family did not want to leave, but tragedy struck. In the valley where their camp was, a poacher who hunted elephants was killed. The Owens’ environmental work to protect animals irritated the ivory traders.Mark Owens and their son were accused of the crime, and although no evidence was found against them, the family had to leave Africa. They returned to the United States, and Delia settled in beautiful green Idaho, home to many animals and wetlands. On her return from Africa, Delia, behind whom there were many scientific articles, wanted to write a work of fiction about nature and man. This is how the book “Where the crayfish sing” appeared.
Delia received extensive research experience on the importance of female groups in social mammals – lions, elephants, hyenas.This is reflected in the novel, which shows a portrait of a young woman who has lived most of her life away from her social group. It is difficult to say whether this is an autobiography, but many moments from the life of Delia herself and her mother, of course, have been transferred into the book itself.
Where the Crayfish Sing
is both a detective story, a family drama and a brilliant story about the power of nature. Delia talks about the life of “Swamp Girl” Kia Clarke. She lives in the quiet town of Barkley Cove on the North Carolina coast.In 1952, little Kia, who was only six years old, witnessed a terrible picture – her mother, with a suitcase in her hands, left the house forever, leaving her children and her alcoholic spouse. Mom never returned, five children also could not get along with their father – the elders scattered in all directions, and the youngest Kia and brother Jody were left alone. Soon my brother left too. Living with her father was unbearable, and Kia began to live in a swamp next to her house. Wildlife seemed better and calmer than human society.
So, since childhood, Kia got used to wandering through the swamps, and believed that her best friends were birds, fish and animals.She thoroughly studied nature, learned to live in harmony with it and realized that in the world of animals, too, everything is like in humans. And that there is no need to judge actions from the point of view of good and evil, because in fact the world operates according to other laws.
“All means are good, if only the thread of life is not interrupted. Kia understood that this was not the dark side of nature, just clever ways to survive at any cost. And if we are talking about people, then they have even more opportunities. ”
But Kia was trying to understand why mom left them? And can mothers in the animal kingdom do the same?
“She knew that the red speck on the beak of seagulls was not for beauty.Chicks poke their beaks into the spot, an adult gull opens its beak and regurgitates food. If you paint over the stain, the parents will stop feeding the chicks and they will starve to death. Even in nature, the bond between children and parents is broken more easily than we think. ”
“Kia took a closer look at the other fireflies. Females received what they needed – first the male, then the food – just by changing the signal. Kia understood: there is nothing to judge them for. Good and evil have nothing to do with it, just life goes on as usual, and some of the players are eliminated.Biology knows neither good nor evil, it has its own coordinate system. ”
Incredible, but it took a whole 17 years! During this time, Kia matured and realized that nature is “the most reliable support in the world, the only thing worth holding on to.” But suddenly a need for love woke up in the girl, and she happily plunged into a new world – human relationships. After all, Kia is so tired of being alone!
“The wave pushes her, licks her feet, washes her back, flows under her head, and her hair rushes in ink streams in the water.Kia rushes to meet the wave carrying shell fragments, and the ocean embraces her, presses her to her mighty chest. Not alone”.
Unfortunately, love does not always bring happiness and peace, but it is worth experiencing.
“You must understand that love is not always happy. But even unhappy love connects us with people, and this is the main thing that we have in life, – ties. ”
The girl’s life changes dramatically and she has to get out of her isolation when, on October 30, 1969, the body of a man – a local Don Juan Chez Andrews – is found in a swamp.Kia had already encountered Chaz as a child, and realized that he was a dangerous person. Police and local residents seriously suspect her, but could Kia have committed this crime? A rogue girl who has lived her entire life in the swamps will go through a judicial investigation to prove her innocence.
Delia Owens’ novel “Where the crayfish sing” is a sensitive and tender story about the growing up of a young girl, about loneliness and the secrets of nature, about the need to love and be loved.
Happy reading!
Marina Reznik
15 best lakes in North Carolina / Travel Guides
North Carolina is packed with wonderful lakes to visit! From the stunning Appalachian Mountains in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east, this list has something for everyone.Fishing and jet skiing are popular activities in North Carolina, so be sure to bring your summer skis and fishing rod with you!
Let’s take a look at the best lakes in North Carolina:
1. Lake Norman
Source: lakenormannchomesforsale
Norman Lake
Norman Lake is the largest man-made body of water in the state. This is an angler’s dream lake with boat access points and abundant fishing. It also boasts two yacht clubs where you can store your boat on.
Despite the fact that the lake was created in 1964, it has attracted many species over the years and allows you to watch birds and observe animals from the water. Be sure to watch out for something rustling in the bushes along the water’s edge!
Just a short drive north of Charlotte, this is a great place to spend a day or a weekend if you are visiting!
North Carolina is overflowing with wonderful lakes to visit! From the stunning Appalachian Mountains in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east, this list has something for everyone.Fishing and jet skiing are popular activities in North Carolina, so be sure to bring your summer skis and fishing rod with you!
Let’s take a look at the best lakes in North Carolina:
1. Lake Norman
Source: lakenormannchomesforsale
Norman Lake
Norman Lake is the largest man-made body of water in the state. This is an angler’s dream lake with boat access points and abundant fishing. It also boasts two yacht clubs for storing your boat.
Despite the fact that the lake was created in 1964, it has attracted many species over the years and allows you to watch birds and observe animals from the water. Be sure to watch out for something rustling in the bushes along the water’s edge!
Just a short drive north of Charlotte, this is a great place to spend a day or a weekend if you are visiting!
2. Jordan Lake
Source: jjraiaphoto.wordpress
Jordan Lake
Lake Jordan is conveniently located west and south of Raleigh and Durham, respectively.This large reservoir covers an area of 13,940 acres and provides a host of activities. There are more than 1000 campgrounds along the lake, ranging from primitive campgrounds to full-fledged roads. There are also seven beaches along the coast, nestled between 17 miles of hiking trails.
Animals are also abundant along the water, as the lake’s ecological system has exploded in recent years. You can also visit the visitor center showroom to learn a little more about the wildlife surrounding the lake.!
3. Lake James
Source: prlog
Lake James
While Lake James offers jet skiing, fishing and camping, it is perhaps best known for appearing in several blockbuster films. It was used as a substitute for Lake George in New York State for The Last of the Mohicans, starring Daniel Day-Lewis. It was also featured in The Hunt for Red October in the closing scenes of that film.
The lake itself offers many recreational activities and is located in the mountains of western North Carolina.The hiking trails that surround the lake offer breathtaking views of the Appalachian Mountains.
4. High Rock Lake
Source: casuallakeliving
High Rock Lake
With a reputation as one of the best fishing lakes in North Carolina, High Rock Lake has hosted many Bassmaster Classic fishing derbies. It is mostly known for its abundance of bass.
There are several ramps along the water’s edge, both public and private. There are no restrictions on the size of outboard motors, and the use of personal water transport is allowed on the lake.There are also several private campgrounds along the water so you can pitch your tent in between lake fishing trips!
5. Lake Glenville
Source: VRBO
Lake Glenville
Lake Glenville is a short drive from Silva in western North Carolina. It makes the list today because of its location on the top of the tallest lakes east of the Mississippi River in the United States.
This is a relatively small lake compared to the others on the list, however it still offers great fishing and boat access with several short hiking trails along the water’s edge….
6. Badin Lake
Source: Wikipedia
Badin Lake
Badin Lake may be small, but it has stunning views. Watching the sunset over this lake is a pastime that visitors shouldn’t miss. Various types of recreation can be enjoyed on and around the lake. Golf, hiking, camping and hunting can be found in the area. Fishing and boating are also popular water sports. In the lake, you can find large size bass, bass, bass, catfish, spotted bass, white bass and striped bass.Although there are no trout in the lake, don’t be disappointed if you don’t catch any of them!
7. Lake Wylie
Source: carefree boats
Lake Wylie
Located in North and South Carolina, Lake Wylie crosses the border and offers 325 miles of coastline. There are two public boat access points and several communities that surround the lake and offer activities for visitors to enjoy.
There are several places for boat rentals, including pontoon boats on and around the lake.Fishing is quality as times are good here!
8. Lake Nantalahala
Source: Franklin Chamber
Lake Nantalahala
Located in the Nantalahala National Forest, swimming, boating and skiing are all popular activities on the lake. Nantahala is located on the smaller side of the lakes, although it is artificial. Originally designed to provide wartime electricity, it was completed in 1942. Since the lake was created by man and is surrounded by mountains, the bottom of the lake becomes very deep very quickly.Many different types of fish can be found here, including panface.
The Nantalahala River, located just below the river, is known for its exciting rafting and kayaking. When the water comes out of the dam, the river is considered included and provides very good water conditions.
9. Lake Mattamukeet
Source: dicksonimages.photoshelter
Lake Mattamukeet
Lake Mattamukeet is the largest natural lake in North Carolina and is relatively shallow, averaging two to three feet across the lake.The lack of depth is due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. On the other hand, its proximity to the ocean also creates excellent conditions for bird watching. The area is known for its numerous winter populations of northern pintail, green-headed teal, Canadian geese and tundra swans.
Lake Mattamusket is located in the Mattamusket National Reserve near Greenville and the Outer Shores.
10. Lake Fontana
Source: Interest
Lake Fontana
located between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Nantahala National Forest, Fontana Lake.With tons of bays, coves and islands created by ancient mountain peaks piercing calm surface waters, there is a ton to explore by boat on this lake.
The lake is also surrounded by trails from both the Great Smoky Mountain and the Nantahal National Forest. Some trails can only be reached by boat when the water is high. Except for a multi-day hike, this is the only place to access the most remote areas of the Smoky Mountains National Park. On clear days, the observation tower at the Clingmans Dome offers stunning views of the entire lake from nearly a mile high.
11. Belews Lake
Source: Wikipedia
Belews Lake
Belews Lake is located north of Greensboro and Winston Salem. Boating, fishing and water skiing are all popular activities on the lake. Large surface area allows quality water skiing!
There are two marinas on the lake that offer places to eat as well as boat rental, sales and service. There are also many camping sites along the water’s edge, so be sure to bring your tent with you so you can watch the sunset over the stunning water!
12.Lake Lure
Source: Townoflakelure
Lake Lure
Another popular blockbuster location, Lake Lure is perhaps best known for the popular Dirty Dancing movie starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray. It also hosted Breed Alone, Firestarter, My Comrades Americans, and The Last of the Mohicans.
With a myriad of lodges, hotels, resorts and campgrounds along the lakeside, there is sure to be some accommodation to suit your needs.There are many quaint towns and activities along the lake shore for people of all ages. Ziplining, horse riding, fishing, trails, beaches and even a toy museum!
13. Heiko Lake
Source: onlyinyourstate
Hyco Lake
With 65 campsites along the lakeside, this is a great place to spend the night.
