Montana Adventure Camp 
| DATES: | July 19 – Aug. 1, 2012 | |
| DURATION: | 2 weeks (14 days) | |
| LOCATION: | SW Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Yellowstone Park | |
| AGES: | Boys age 12-14 | |
| TUITION: | $2,260 | |
| ARR/DEP: | Bozeman, Montana (USA) | |
REGISTER NOW > Registration Form (pdf)
Hello and thank you for choosing UWS Adventures for boys! We know that you have many choices when it comes to overnight adventure summer camps for your kids. We appreciate your interest in our unique programs and look forward to speaking with you!
Under Western Skies, is a wilderness adventure camp for teen boys based in Montana.
Our 2 week overnight Montana adventure camp for teen boys age 12-14 is packed with mountain adventure sports and outdoor wilderness living skills and leadership development opportunities. We roll backpacking, white water rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, horse packing and fly fishing into one action packed two week wilderness trip!
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival & Introductions
Arriving at Gallatin Field Airport in Bozeman (BZN), Montana, your Under Western Skies (UWS) camp guides will greet you and introduce you to the rest of your group for general camp introductions before hopping in the van for a drive to our first campsite. At the campsite, we'll continue getting to know each other, learn how to set up our tents along the river, and enjoy the first of many delicious and fresh camp gourmet meals before our first evening of tent camping with new friends.
Day 2: Rafting & Fly Fishing
During our daily morning group we will talk about the “PFD” or “Plan For the Day” and participate in organized group stretching and breathing exercises. After morning group, we’ll enjoy a hearty breakfast and get right to the adventuring. We will meet our guides at Montana Whitewater Rafting for a day of fly-fishing and whitewater rafting on the clear mountain fed Gallatin River. Fishing license and equipment will be provided. We will stay along the river again tonight and have our first evening meeting where we foster community growth and talk about the day, the things we like and the things that we could work to change as a team. We like to call this part of the evening meeting “Plus Delta”. We find that this nightly community building goes far to making lifetime best friends and improving the groups bonding overall. After Plus Delta, the camper who was chosen to be the Leader of the Day (LOD) will complete the daily journal entry and choose tomorrow’s LOD before we turn in for a peaceful night under western skies.
Day 3: Rock Climbing & Campfire
The boys will greet the day early to get a jump on the days activities. After morning group and another gourmet breakfast we high tail it over to meet our guides at Montana Alpine Guides. After our guides give us an orientation to our new equipment and how to safely use it, we rope up for a challenging and fun day of rock climbing. Mid day brings lunchtime snacks and another round of cheering our new friends up the rock face! In the afternoon we will load up in our van and head to our next campsite hosted by Centennial Outfitters. A stomach filling dinner and evening meeting carries us into the night and prepares us for the next adventure.
Day 4: Western Horseback Trail Riding & Horse Pack Trip
Get ready for the real wilderness to start! This morning after breakfast and group meeting we will meet our horse packing guide Mel for an introduction to our four legged friends. We will assist Mel in packing our very own horse pack string to haul our gear deep into the wilderness to our next campsite. The rest of the day will be spent atop your new steed taking in the sites, sounds, and smells of our journey into the wilds.
Day 5-8: Wilderness Backpacking & Outdoor Skills
This morning our backpacking trip begins! After morning meeting and a hearty wilderness breakfast we bid farewell to Mel and the horses to shoulder our packs and head off into the mountains on foot. The pace will be easy as we adjust to the weights of our packs and put some miles behind us. As a group we will decide just how far and how fast we go. Everyone will get a chance to lead over the course of our 5-day backpacking trip. While we are traveling through the wilds we will practice a few primitive and fun wilderness skills. The boys will see what it takes to build a fire using a bow drill friction device. Boys will also have an opportunity to construct and perhaps sleep in their own primitive wilderness shelter making sure to disassemble them and replace the materials afterwards keeping with our Leave No Trace (LNT) principles.
Day 9: Swimming, Showers, Laundry & Re-Supply
Our backpacking trip comes to an end this morning. After breakfast and morning group we shoulder our packs for the short walk back out to the van and the valley below. After loading up we drive to our next campsite just outside of the tiny little mountain town of Macks Inn, ID. We will spend the afternoon grabbing showers and doing some laundry maybe even taking a dip in the clear cool swimming holes of the Snake River. Dinner in camp and evening meeting ends our incredible day.
Day 10: Canoeing
Today we get to re-live the adventures of Lewis and Clark and see what its like to paddle our own canoe through this massive wilderness. After breakfast and morning meeting, we head over to Macks Inn to pick up our canoes. We will drive up river a ways to the put in and enjoy our easy paddle back to town. Make sure to look for native cutthroat trout darting through the water under your boat. This is also a great river for wildlife viewing of the four-legged kind: moose are commonly seen along this river. Tonight we’ll eat supper by the light of a fire, have our evening meeting and off to bed.
Day 11: Mountain Biking & Rodeo
Rise and shine! Breakfast, morning meeting and camp breakdown. By this time the boys will be “old hands” at camp duties. Working as a team we see first hand the benefits of doing things together. After we have packed up and loaded our gear we will hop in the van to drive to our next spectacular campsite located just outside of West Yellowstone, MT. We will be fitted to our mountain bikes and ride out into the vast and beautiful trails and primitive roads just outside of town. Later on in the evening we will take in a real “local” rodeo and cheer on the bull riders, bronc busters and calf ropers. Dinner under the stars, evening meeting and bedtime.
Day 12: Yellowstone National Park
This morning we head into the one and only Yellowstone Park. The “crown jewel” of the national parks and home of the largest self sustaining natural ecosystem in the U.S. outside of Alaska! We will watch the famous Old Faithful geyser go off and keep a tally of all the different animals we see in just one day! That night we camp right on the incredible Yellowstone Lake that was actually created by the collapse of a massive volcano millions of years ago! Another incredible dinner and meeting and weather permits “cowboy camping” (sleeping out under the stars).
Day 13: Yellowstone National Park & Hot Spring Soaking
Lots to do today! Up bright and early to get in a full tour of the park. We will bust out the binoculars to see what kind of wildlife we can see and keep our fingers crossed for a wolf or grizzly bear! We will finish up our tour by taking the short hike to check out the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Get ready this is probably the biggest waterfall you have ever seen! We will head out of the park and to Chico Hot Springs resort in the vast paradise valley. After a few hours of soaking in this natural hot springs, we will have a pizza party and meet up with Andrew Heath, Director of UWS Adventures. We will have our final evening meeting. Exchange contact info and get ready for our travels the next day.
Day 14: Departures.
Today we travel home from Bozeman's Gallatin Field Airport (BZN). Say goodbye to our new friends. Check out our pictures and think about all of the adventures and great times we had Under Western Skies.
PLEASE NOTE: This is a sample itinerary. We reserve the right to cancel or alter any aspect of our program, including program itinerary, trip dates, activities or location, as a result of unforeseen circumstances, including weather, environment, or health hazards. To the best of our ability, substitutions of activities will be comparable to, or better than the original activity.
REGISTER NOW
