Youth Programming

Discover the Transformation Benefits of Outdoor Adventure for Your School, College, Team, or Youth Program

Our team of outdoor educators and wilderness guides collaborate with you to create an adventure that aligns perfectly with your philosophy and meets your students unique goals and needs.

Outdoor Play and Learning Are Essential for Healthy Development

Provides essential technology detox in a screen-free environment

Fosters resilience, builds confidence, and teaches problem solving

Decreases stress and anxiety and improves mental health

Applies to all learning styles

Forms closer community bonds

Encourages an appreciation of nature and the environment

Our experiences last from a half day to multiple days, on foot or water, and are designed so that they may be accessed by all.

Some of our most popular itineraries include:

- Senior Trips (8th grade and 12th grade)
- Spring Break Trips
- Youth Leadership Academies
- Outdoor Survival Skills for Teens ("How to escape a zombie apocalypse")
- Trips aligned with NYS instructional standards: science, New York state history, indigenous/Black history, and more
- Psychology of Survival: covering topics such as how to make good decisions under pressure, managing stress, using resources effectively, assessing risk and more, all taught in a fun and engaging way
- Outdoor Adventure Curriculum: classroom instruction progressing to an overnight backpacking trip

Brooklyn Heights Montessori

New Canaan Country School

Berkley Carroll School

Charter High School for Law and Justice

Bard College

Eden Village Camp

Our founder, Dave DiCerbo, (WSJ, Today Show, Backpacker Magazine) draws on his decades of experience as an educator and outdoor professional to inform and direct our youth programming.

Our guides are experts in youth programming, wilderness ethics, stewardship and inclusion. From diverse backgrounds with varied specialties and approaches, they specialize in creating a risk-managed and welcoming environment for all.

We customize each adventure to the needs, goals, and values of your school or program, working with an extensive network of local partners.

"Besides being extremely experienced and professional outdoor guides, Dave and his crew from Destination Backcountry understand and connect with kids in authentic and meaningful ways. Each day we were with them, the guides, through both word and deed, helped our kids understand the importance of both independence and pushing yourself beyond your limits and interdependence and the importance of being a fully integrated member of a group."

Karl Palmgren

HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL, NEW CANAAN COUNTRY SCHOOL