Wilderness adventure programs for girls, ages 10-18
Northern Rockies; Pacific Northwest; New England; Europe
Established in 1997
Alpengirl is an overnight summer adventure camp for girls ages 11–17, offering 1- and 2-week outdoor adventure trips in the Pacific Northwest, Northern Rocky Mountains, New England, and Europe. Our all-girls teen camps combine outdoor exploration, adventure activities, leadership development, confidence-building, and meaningful connection.
Each trip is a multi-adventure experience where campers explore incredible destinations ...read moreand try activities such as backpacking, horseback riding, llama packing, whitewater rafting, sea kayaking, rock climbing, surfing, and more. Small groups create a supportive, family-like environment where girls can challenge themselves, learn new skills, and build friendships.
Led by experienced and inspiring female Alpenguides, campers develop outdoor and leadership skills while practicing teamwork, resilience, independence, and environmental stewardship. Alpengirl is designed for adventurous, nature-loving girls who want to explore new places, try new activities, meet new friends, and discover what they are capable of.
Through hands-on experiences in the outdoors, campers return home with greater confidence, practical outdoor skills, lasting friendships, and meaningful memories that stay with them long after their summer adventure ends.
Residential coed summer camp
Durango, Colorado
Established in 1969
Colvig Silver Camps sits on 600 acres surrounded by the beautiful San Juan Mountains near Durango, CO. As a small family-owned program, CSC offers a very personalized experience for campers age 7-17 by providing them the opportunity to choose from a broad range of activities on a daily basis. This combined with a large number of caring and dedicated role models allows each camper to create their summer and their place within our summer community ...read moreas well as develop key skills that lie at the core of our mission: self-esteem, trust, leadership, responsibility, communication, and teamwork.
Our unique program combines creative and diverse in camp activities with 3-5 day wilderness expeditions, a system designed to broaden our campers' experience with the natural world, provide them with real challenge that they can overcome, and through that challenge and experience, gain a better understanding of themselves and those around them. Above all, campers and staff members should expect a summer of fun and adventure.
Activities include: alpine and desert backpacking, canoeing, rafting horseback riding, archery, riflery, rock climbing, arts-and-crafts, campfires, songs-and-skits, non-competitive sports, and more!
Residential Coed Summer Camp
Estes Park, Colorado
Established in 1921
Cheley Colorado Camps is an overnight, western summer camp for campers ages 9-17 in Estes Park, Colorado. Campers come from across the United States and around the world and spend 4 weeks at camp. Activities include horseback riding, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, sports, outcamping, crafts, riflery, archery, and more. We focus on community, resiliency, and independence.
Staff must be available for the full summer, which ...read moreincludes 10 days of staff training, two 4-week terms, and then a one week specialty camp.
Counselors live with campers and teach in a specific activity area. Support Staff work in an specific area such as directors, assistant directors, barn crew, transportation crew, office, stores, media team, childcare, and medical team, and live in Support Staff housing (not with campers).
Room and board is provided for all positions and staff members are expected to live on site. Uniform shirts are provided for days when parents are at camp (3-4 times per term). All staff have one day off and one night off each week.
Wilderness Adventure Program, ages 5-17
Denver, CO
Established in 1953
Set on 400 acres of forests, wildflowers, and trail systems, JCC Ranch Camp offers a summer adventure where campers can be fully immersed in the beauty of the Colorado outdoors. A premiere coed residential camp for ages 5-17, Ranch Camp offers activities from ziplining to horseback riding, mountain biking to art classes, and so much more. Campers will live, eat, sleep, and play in our updated facilities that are designed to encourage a connection ...read morewith the natural world, as well as build community (kehillah). In addition to our on-site program, we offer an extensive backpacking program for campers in grades 8-11. Whether a single overnight trip or a 25-day trip, we believe in growth through adventure. Ideally located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, JCC Ranch Camp is a place that inspires campers, staff, and families to strengthen their Jewish identity and develop life-long friendships.
Wilderness adventure programs for girls, ages 10-18
Northern Rockies; Pacific Northwest; New England; Europe
Established in 1997
Alpengirl is an overnight summer adventure camp for girls ages 11–17, offering 1- and 2-week outdoor adventure trips in the Pacific Northwest, Northern Rocky Mountains, New England, and Europe. Our all-girls teen camps combine outdoor exploration, adventure activities, leadership development, confidence-building, and meaningful connection.
Each trip is a multi-adventure experience where campers explore incredible destinations ...read moreand try activities such as backpacking, horseback riding, llama packing, whitewater rafting, sea kayaking, rock climbing, surfing, and more. Small groups create a supportive, family-like environment where girls can challenge themselves, learn new skills, and build friendships.
Led by experienced and inspiring female Alpenguides, campers develop outdoor and leadership skills while practicing teamwork, resilience, independence, and environmental stewardship. Alpengirl is designed for adventurous, nature-loving girls who want to explore new places, try new activities, meet new friends, and discover what they are capable of.
Through hands-on experiences in the outdoors, campers return home with greater confidence, practical outdoor skills, lasting friendships, and meaningful memories that stay with them long after their summer adventure ends.
Residential camp with separate sessions for boys and girls, ages 7-16
Florissant, Colorado
Established in 1948
Our non-competitive, adventure based individualized program emphasizes personal growth and connecting with nature in the high peaks of Colorado. We own over 6000 acres in the Rocky Mountains and have an outstanding staff and facility. We offer month-long terms for fourth through tenth grades as well as fifteen-day terms for second through fourth grades. Activities include: Backpacking, horseback riding, mountain climbing, natural sciences, water ...read moreactivities, arts & crafts, and much more. Sanborn Western Camps includes Big Spring Ranch for boys and High Trails Ranch for girls ages 7 to 16.
Residential coed summer camp, ages 7-17
Julian, Southern California
Established in 1921
Are you ready for positive, life-changing experiences in the outdoors? Look no further than YMCA Overnight Camps of San Diego. With three unique overnight camps across the San Diego region. combine the fun your children want with the growth experiences they need.
Set in the mountains of Julian, CA, YMCA Camp Marston is the oldest summer camp in San Diego County. For over 100 years Camp Marston has been a San Diego favorite for thousands ...read moreof children and families. Camp Marston offers you adventure, fun, friendships, and great staff – all on a spectacular 236-acre site – with activities including archery, swimming, climbing, crafts, canoeing, and more. We also offer a 4 day backpacking excursion on Catalina Island for our more adventurous campers. You'll find something for everyone!
Our camps add laughter, leadership, and lifelong memories to a host of activities. We teach kids how to make friends and provide positive staff role models to help them be successful at camp and connect with others while focusing on the YMCA's core values.
Girls Camp with Residential and Day Camp Session, ages 10-17
Boulder, CO
Established in 1998
This Summer we’re offering 3 different courses:
1. Discover Outdoors, in Jamestown Colorado, Monday June 15 – Friday June 19, 2026. This course is for girls and gender expansive youth entering grades 5-6 in Fall 2026
2. Adventure Backpack, in Golden Gate Canyon State Park (CO), Monday July 13 through Friday July 17 2026. This course is for girls and non-binary youth entering grades 7-9 in Fall 2026.
3. ...read moreHigh Peaks Backpack & Climb, in the Snowy Range and Veduwoo (WY), Monday July 27 – Saturday August, 1, 2026. This course is for high school girls and non-binary youth entering grades 10-12 in Fall 2026.
Courses are led by professional and experienced outdoor and rock climbing instructors with extensive experience in youth outdoor education. Each guide is a certified Wilderness First Responder and is fully trained in Women’s Wilderness curriculum and risk management protocols, ensuring a safe, enriching, and enjoyable experience for every participant.
Residential coed summer camp, ages 6-17
Glennville, California
Established in 1934
Since 1934, Jameson Ranch Camp has been a place where children come to find out who they are. Tucked into the Southern Sierra Nevada near Glennville, California, JRC is a family-owned, screen-free overnight camp on a working cattle ranch. Three generations of the Jameson family have built it, beginning with Roderick and Catherine, continuing with Ross and Debby, and led today by Director Erica Jameson, who grew up on the property. Campers ages ...read more6 to 16 come for two-week sessions of unhurried, purposeful living: collecting eggs, pitching hay to calves, gathering wood for the outdoor oven that bakes the evening's bread, and swimming in a lake built by hand. There's no camp store and no color-war formula. What JRC has instead is something rarer: a community built from scratch each summer by the people who choose to be there.
Every day at JRC belongs to the campers. Three times a day, morning, afternoon, and after dinner, they pick from 10 to 12 activities. The list includes horseback riding, rock climbing, archery, mountain biking, mountain boarding, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, riflery, drama, arts and crafts, the pool, and the famous rope swing. There's also "Trenting," a JRC tradition of activities made up purely for fun, nonsense, and whimsy. If four campers want to do something, staff will do their best to make it happen, so children learn to speak up for what they love and rally their friends around it. Every camper also has a daily ranch job, like garden crew, barn chores, feeding the pigs, or tending the fire with staff. Older campers join Work Crew, fixing fences and building structures the same way generations of campers have before them. At JRC, kids don't just do activities. They help run the place, and they can see what their work makes possible.
Everything at JRC rests on five pillars: unconditional love, celebration of the individual, working through fear, simplicity, and creativity. Children here are taken seriously and held to real standards. Every honest attempt gets celebrated, whether it ends in triumph or in tears. Without screens or social pressure, campers get a world that lives entirely in the present: an open sky, a bunk, new friends, and adults who truly enjoy their company. Each night ends at Evening Rose Arbor, where the whole camp stands arm in arm singing "Welcome to My Morning." Campers go home having lived the camp's mission: "To make the world a better place, one summer at a time." They bring home something they couldn't have found anywhere else, a stronger sense of who they are and what they can do.
Residential boys' summer camp
Ely, Minnesota
Established in 1951
Camp Voyageur, owned and operated by the Erdmann family since 1951, is a small private camp for boys 9-17 located next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota.
We have a traditional in camp program but our specialty is canoeing trips. We lead 3-16 day wilderness trips canoeing in the Boundary Waters and Canada's Quetico Provincial Park. In addition we also lead hiking along the North Shore of Lake Superior ...read moreand on Isle Royale National Park and we lead sea kayaking in the Apostle Island National Lake Shore. Our in camp program of land and water sports includes: waterskiing, soccer, basketball, volleyball, ultimate Frisbee, archery, rock climbing, sailing, arts/crafts, and much more. 1 well trained counselor to 4 campers.
