Summer Coastal Adventure Camps for Teenagers

We are offer exciting, rewarding outdoor coastal adventure education for youth ages 12-18. Kiwanda Kites Adventures combine one or more outdoor activities--like hiking, wall climbing, backpacking, kayaking, surfing, hang gliding, horse-back riding--all in one spectacular destination. Group size on our programs ranges from 6 to 10 and all of our trips have at least two instructors at all times.

Kiwanda Kites hang gliding camp is a great way to introduce your teenagers to science, nature and skill development in a vigorous way. There is nothing like a prospect of a five foot drop to focus the heart, mind and body! But, do not worry. That is what wings, good saddles and great training and instruction are for. Hang gliding, horse back riding, kayaking, fishing, surfing, is great fun but it does require good training, discipline, persistence, determination, effort and study. These are qualities that determine success in life, not inherent talent. This small camp (6 participants) leverages personal attention with these virtues to empower participants. The camp provides immediate rewards but asks for some effort to achieve greater rewards. This makes it one of the most memorable experiences imaginable. Your kid will study aerodynamics, weather, biology, psychology, oceanography and physical skills to immediately apply the topics studied. In fact, when you see all the empowering fun your kids are having, you will proabably want to take the weekend getaway yourself.

Kiwanda Kites Teen Coastal Adventures participants learn valuable wilderness skills and develop essential life skills at the same time. This unique combination fosters an appreciation for the environment, develops self-esteem, instills a spirit of adventure, and promotes teamwork, friendship, and a sense of community through memorable and meaningful coastal wilderness experiences. Benefits to Youth who participate in outdoor adventures benefit in countless ways as they step into new environments. These outdoor adventure experiences provide youth with the opportunity to develop:

• Leadership skills
• Self-confidence and self-respect
• Trust
• A sense of responsibility for self, others, the community, and the environment
• Critical thinking skills
• Teamwork experience
• Decision-making skills

Pacific City, Oregon on the Northern Oregon Coast [map] is famous for sand, wind and waves nestled in great Pacific Northwest Rain Forest. Located in south Tillamook County, Pacific City is less than a two-hour drive from Portland, and even closer to Salem. If you prefer, as the crow flies, we have a small state owned airport in the heart of Pacific City which we use for training flights and to shuttle between the inland ranch and corvallis airport.

Philomath, Oregon in shadow of Marys Peak. The City of Philomath is located mid-Willamette Valley with a population of 4610. Established at the base of Mary’s Peak, the tallest peak in the Coast Range, Philomath is just West of Corvallis and Oregon State University and a short 45 minute drive from the Oregon Coast. This unique location offers very diverse opportunities including horse ranch lodging, hiking and mountain biking on Marys Peak, environmental faculty expertise from Oregon State University, fishing on the Alsea River, horse back riding on wild mountain trails

Horse Back Riding

The riding portion of our camp offers two hours of riding lessons a day. This enables our students to experience success in graduated steps, promoting their esteem and confidence. The program uses AAHS - American Association for Horsemanship Safety standards to introduce participants to horse behavior, proper handling, and cooperative trail riding.

Learning how to hang glide is an equally physical, intellectual and emotional activity. It requires exceptional discipline but is also amazingly exhilarating. Learning to balance these opposing psychological forces is main lesson in learning to fly. Yes, self control! Of course, basic lessons are only five feet above the ground, but that is enough altitude to develop significant motor skills and confidence. However a major reward of hang gliding is learning all about how wind and weather works. Flying provides the platform for learning natural science and how to assess the affects of weather on flying. It opens up a whole new awareness of the world in terms wind, clouds, sun, and seasons - aspects which we feel passively reactive but in this case we can do something about! Lessons build on the introductory lesson material above using United States Hang Gliding Association competency standards. Ground school is integrated into the lesson before and after dune and hill and training using a textbooks, video review, electronic and analog simulators. This portion of the camp occurs every day for four to five hours.

Learning how to handle a kayak is more than just balancing, turning, and getting upright again. Kayaking brings one closer to the water, where one can experience all sorts natural phenomnea. Deeper understanding of the interactions in the coastal natural world through directly observing the winds and tides effects is not only important to safety but it bring a deeper appreciation of the animals, plants, and birds that depend on these changes. Like the other outdoor camp activities, noting the day to day changes, all the while exercising a basic skill, is what makes kayaking so popular. The kayaking portion of the camp lasts 3 hours on three days.

Surfers are passionate about their sport for a reason. It connects us to power of the oceans and ourselves. Surfing is about THE WAVE. The shape of the wave, riding the wave, dancing with the wave, feeling the wave and being part of the energy of the wave. The rest of surfing stuff it is ancillary. Sometimes you might get lucky and see a smiling seal surfing just inside the face of the wave next to you! Or you will be out there waiting for a wave just talking to the sea gulls or cormorants.

To surf you have to feel at home in the water. You have to feel part of what is going on around you; the natural peace, sounds, movement of the water, the hypnotic sparkles of sunlight on the sea, And you have to be AS ONE with the sea, you have to flow with all of it. So, the physics of waves, where the come from, where they are going, how they literally shape the coastal environment is all part of the value of surfing. No matter how great and wonderful you think you are you are not going fight it and win.

Thus, to surf, like to hang glide, horse back ride, kayak is to learn enjoy the moment, exhibit authentic confidence and exercise personal responsibility.

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