This 7-day journey is an opportunity for those seeking a fresh challenge in a unique wilderness environment and an intense team setting. In the mountains, students learn to camp and travel simply, relying on each other and what they can carry on their backs. In a phased teaching progression, instructors will introduce beginning, intermediate and advanced skills in mountain navigation, woods craftsmanship, weather observation, risk management, and campsite selection. Regular group discussions allow for reflection on each day’s progress, and ensure that leadership and responsibilities are shared so that every crew member is integral to planning the next day. Through living and working closely together, students learn far more than wilderness travel skills. The habits learned and strengthened through this backpacking expedition will serve students for life, and for whatever challenge is next.
Thanks to the generous financial support of the New York Life Foundation, we are able to offer a scholarship to every Outward Bound for Grieving Teens student. On this course you will expedition through the bold granite mountains of western Maine and northern New Hampshire. You will depart the base camp on the first or second day of the course and not return until the end. You will carry what you need for as much as a week in your backpack and you will hike or climb nearly every day. You do not need to have previous backpacking or camping experience. We will teach you everything you need to know to travel comfortably, including how to pack a backpack, set up a wilderness campsite, rock climb, and navigate using a map and compass.
Arriving physically fit will enhance your experience and ability to do well on the course and ultimately allow you to take full advantage of the expedition.
The mountains of western Maine and northern New Hampshire comprise the northern end of the Appalachian mountain range. Within this region, the White Mountain National Forest, the Appalachian Trail, the Carter-Mahoosuc Range, the Hundred-Mile Wilderness, the Grafton Loop Trail, Bigelow Preserve, and the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness all offer classic backpacking terrain. These spruce-fir and hardwood forests are home to hundreds of species of birds as well as moose, deer, and black bear. Rushing waterfalls, clear twisting streams, and spectacular views from rocky summits reward backpackers ready for adventure.
The essential goal of any Outward Bound course is for the students to learn autonomy. Our expedition curriculum supports this happening in a progressive way.
During the first third of a course (a phase called “training expedition”), the instructors are very present in the group. They teach outdoor skills, the technical aspects of the activities and guide the students as they form a team.
In the middle third of the course (what we call the “main expedition”), the instructors take a step back so students may step forward. Students begin to teach what they’ve already learned to each other, and experiment with applying basic skills to bigger challenges. The instructors continue to coach and support as the students practice leadership roles. When the group meets a particular situation, environment or activity they haven’t learned about before, the instructors jump back in and teach. Each time this happens, the group reaches competency more quickly.
By the last third of the course (the “final expedition”), students are the stars of the show. They are applying what they know, leading each other, setting goals, and solving problems collaboratively. The instructors are close by and ready to step back in to prevent a safety issue from occurring but will let students find their own resiliency when they make mistakes, and ensure they feel the full spotlight of success when they meet their goals.
On your HIOBS program, you will learn four important Outward Bound Core Values:
Some of the most important lessons you take home are learning about yourself and your community while acquiring backcountry skills and having an adventure. As you will be traveling through wild places on your expedition, you’ll also learn to protect and appreciate the unique, unspoiled environments through which you travel.
By combining personal growth methodologies of Outward Bound with a simple support model that honors the griever, we deliver an intense, profound healing experience relevant to the lives of teenagers coping with the death of a loved one. For some students, Outward Bound is their first time away from home; others are veteran travelers.
While students need to be physically fit and motivated to learn and work together, no previous travel or outdoor experience is necessary—all wilderness and leadership skills are taught from the beginning, taking into account the teenagers’ shorter attention spans and need to really engage with a skill to understand it. Through thoughtful curriculum, time to explore, and gently facilitated conversations, these courses are designed to show grieving teens that there is so much more in them than they know.