Teen Wilderness Programs

Twin Eagles Seasonal Teen Rendezvous, our teen weekend wilderness programs, were created to offer awesome experiences to teens throughout the Inland Northwest and beyond to sink deep roots to the earth through wilderness skills while soaring high through full-on group adventures. These programs were designed to keep the deep nature connection mentoring experience alive throughout the school year. Teens learn leadership by working together as well as applying their sensitivities through ancient earth-based skills and crafts. Twin Eagles nature-based mentors guide teens through these experiences, developing significant creative problem solving skills while they revel in being fully alive.

Our teen wilderness programs are powerful opportunities for teens to encounter the wild around them as we journey to destinations throughout the Inland Northwest. As well, teens have a chance to touch their own inner wildness by giving unique voice to their inner selves amongst a community of peers and mentors. This will all take place within the powerful and safe context of a "cultural basket" of teachings that will provide grounding and balance while peaking their senses and learning. Thus, we echo the blueprint of natural learning shared by our ancestors through millennia.

Get ready to have the time of your life! These weekends are a blend of wilderness immersion, nature-based leadership development, and soulful group unity building. They are an opportunity to renew connection to the earth through skills and adventure amidst the companionship of peers during each season. All of our weekend teen wilderness programs allow teens to experience a depth of mentoring difficult to find elsewhere.

Each weekend focuses on different activities and qualities of learning based on the season and location as well as the teen's passions and experience. As mentors, we're skilled at meeting diverse experience levels within a group and are committed to keeping each participant highly engaged.

Skills

There are a variety of skills and practices we'll engage in throughout each weekend. Some possibilities include:

• Wilderness Survival Skills like fire making, building & sleeping in primitive shelters, harvesting wild water, and hunting & trapping tools
• Beautiful and functional Earth-based Crafts like baskets, pottery, rawhide containers, cordage making, moccasin making, and flintknapping
• Wildlife Tracking and The Language of the Birds
• Medicinal and Edible Wild Plants including Identification, Harvesting, Preserving, Preparing, Eating and Applying
• Aidless Navigation, Lostproofing and Mapping
• Ecology and Knowledge of Place including local mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, plants and trees.
• Sensory Awareness Development
• Bushcraft Skills like advanced shelters, knots & lashing, snowshoe making, working with knives & axes
• Primitive Cooking like stone ovens, steam pits, and pemmican making
• Knife & Sheath Making
• Wooden Bow Making & Archery
• The Way of The Scout including natural camouflage, stalking, and stealth games
• Desert Walkabouts
• Winter Snow Cave Expeditions

Cultural Mentoring Approaches

• Renewing Connections amongst teens throughout our bio-region
• Enlivened, Inspiring Storytelling
• Songs that Celebrate and Build Community
• Awesome Games and Unity Building Activities
• Inner Teachings of each Season
• Wilderness Ethics and Principles
• Inspiring Conversation and Dialogue sharing ideas and creativity with others
• Trade Blankets

The Deeper Journey

• An Awakened sense of Connection
• Helping teens Discover their Gifts and Passions
• Allowing time and space for teens to experience self-sufficiency and creative problem solving both individually and in group situations
• Leadership, Community Building and Peacemaking
• Nature as an opening to Passion and Purpose

Where?

Our weekend teen wilderness programs are held at locations throughout the Inland Northwest, each matched to the unique activities of the given weekend. Through Twin Eagles Seasonal Teen Rendezvous programs, we travel from the pristine mountains of north Idaho to the arid deserts of eastern Washington. From the shores of Lake Pend Oreille to deep cedar forests, teens have the opportunity to experience the breadth and depth of our bioregion.

How Many?

We are committed to a high mentor to student ratio of at least one-to-six to ensure a high quality program. We enroll students ages 13 - 18. Maximum program enrollment is 18 students. There are ample opportunities for teens to work one-on-one with mentors.

When?

Our weekend teen wilderness programs run from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. Specific times can vary, so be sure to check details below for accurate details.

Twin Eagles Seasonal Teen Rendezvous - 2023-2024 Dates & Locations

Autumn 2023 Teen Rendezvous - Fri Sep 22 - Sun Sep 24

Theme: Moses Lake Sand Dunes Wilderness Expedition

Moses Lake Sand Dunes, Moses Lake, Washington

5:30 pm Friday - 4:00 pm Sunday

Imagine joining together with other nature loving teens to explore the incredibly diversity where sand dunes meet a plethora of ponds and lakes, while tracking mule deer, bobcat, coyote, badger, skunk, weasel, porcupine, kangaroo rat, hawks, owls, quail, and dove. Moses Lake Sand Dunes comprise thousands of acres which many consider a "Naturalist's Playground". We'll join together for activities like:

• Exploring the Ecology of Moses Lake Sand Dunes
• Wildlife Tracking & Trailing
• Modern and Primitive Navigation & Lostproofing
• Mapping
• Bird Language
• Mystery Elements and Adventures
• Ecological Tracking
• Renewing Connections amongst teens throughout our bio-region
• Stories and Songs that celebrate and inspire
• Super Fun Spring Games
• Inner Teachings of the Autumn Season

Winter 2024 Teen Rendezvous - Fri Jan 26 - Sun Jan 28

Theme: Carving Knife & Sheath Making

Location: Wood View, Sandpoint, Idaho

Friday 6:00 pm Pacific - Sunday 5:00 pm Pacific

Join us this weekend to make your own beautiful and functional carving knife and accompanying leather sheath. Knives are an everyday tool especially important here at Twin Eagles Wilderness School, and there is nothing quite like having your own hand made sheath knife on your belt. You'll learn the basics of working with wood, metal and leather alongside other teens as we join together for activities like:

• Designing a Carving Knife
• Crafting a Wooden Handle
• Steel Blade Selection
• Mounting Blade to Handle
• Knife Finishing
• Sheath Design
• Sheath Construction
• Sheath Finishing
• Renewing Connections amongst teens throughout our bio-region
• Stories and Songs that celebrate and inspire
• Super Fun Nature Games
• Inner Teachings of the Winter Season

Spring 2024 Teen Rendezvous - Dates: DBA

Theme: TBA

Location: TBA

5:00 pm Friday - 5:00 pm Sunday

How Much?

Each weekend costs $345, which includes lodging (typically camping) and some meals. Scholarships are available.

A 50% deposit (25% is non-refundable) per individual per program is due upon registration. The remaining balance is due two weeks before the program start date.

Mentor-In-Training Program

We are also offering teens who have been to Twin Eagles programs before the chance to learn to become nature based mentors through our Mentor-in-Training (MIT) program. Please see the Mentor-in-Training web page for more information.

To Register

Registration is currently open for Twin Eagles Seasonal Teen Rendezvous 2023-2024.

Complete the online registration process and pay by credit card by clicking the "Sign Up Now" button below.

Scholarships are available for our teen programs - click here for more information.

Twin Eagles Seasonal Teen Rendezvous 2023-2024
Teen Wilderness Programs

Questions? Contact us here.

Nature Based Mentoring

At our teen wilderness programs, our mentoring philosophy is grounded in the fact that human beings are multi-faceted and that personal growth and discovery is revealed gradually. For this reason we are committed to long-term mentoring relationships with whole families that support each student to unfold their natural gifts and potential over time.

Our teen wilderness programs provide opportunities for teenagers to deeply immerse their senses in the landscapes of nature and give them adventure challenges that are fun, test their strengths and intimately connect them to the land and themselves. By taking this journey, teens learn to be comfortable and confident outdoors, and a solid foundation of a love for our Earth is laid.

We inspire teens to grow as life long learners by nurturing their natural curiosity for the world around them. We help them form these curiosities into a cohesive and intense passion for learning. Thus, children grow into themselves holistically and are set forth on a path to discover their own unique gifts that they will one day share with the world.

Ultimately, they learn to ask questions for themselves and seek answers in their world; the simple truth that all things are teachers is revealed.

Why is this important?

We recognize that today's teens will be the true leaders of our future. We believe that through engaging the imagination and senses, nurturing their love for the earth, helping them develop their own unique gifts, being committed to passion-based learning and long-term mentoring, and helping them develop the fiber for adapting to natural challenge and change with resiliency, we hope to foster a larger community of naturalists, life-long learners and caretakers of our earth for the future generations. We invite you to come be a part of this exciting endeavor!