These goals are approached uniquely, however, by broadening the forum in which the challenges occur. The wilderness, of course, is the most apparent backdrop. Kids grow in confidence when they realize that they can, in fact, be self-supporting on a primitive backpacking trip. Group meetings held four evenings a week under the guidance and participation of the trip leaders are the other half. Everyone is encouraged to identify and express their feelings and hear the concerns of others.
Longacre kids learn to speak from the heart and to listen with respect.
The benefits are as significant. Kids gain confidence in the power of their own feelings, in their ability to communicate, and in the process that bonds individuals into a large comfortable group. Each expedition takes advantage of the unique aspects of the environments that are visited and offers a different mix of activities. In British Columbia, participants snowboard in the remote backcountry of Garibaldi Provincial Park, sea kayak in the Straits of Georgia, and rock climb in the shadow of 1,800-foot walls at Squamish. In Washington, participants are transported via the famous Washington State Ferry System to bike on four islands with distinctly different ecologies in the San Juan archipelago, backpack in the alpine meadows of North Cascades National Park, climb Mount St. Helens, and snow mountaineer on Mount Baker.