For Parents

What are Trips and Expeditions?

Trips and Expeditions are new offerings through Rising Appalachia geared towards making use of the natural wealth and the opportunities it affords us in Appalachia. Geared towards building the hard skills necessary to take on adventure recreation, trips and expeditions expose participants to local parks, rivers, and wilderness areas under the supervision and instruction of qualified guides.

Who Leads Trips?

Trip leaders vary by the trip offered, but every trip will be run with 2 staff who hold applicable qualifications such as Wilderness First Responder, Swift Water Rescue, Lifeguard, and other certifications and experience as they apply to the trip at hand. We hire professional guides with years of experience to ensure that your child is in competent hands at all times.

What gets taught on trips?

With an emphasis on providing skills that participants can take home with them, our first priority on trips is providing the knowledge necessary for safe participation in the activities offered. Whether that means self rescue in the case of a canoe capsizing, or how to write a time control plan that includes evacuation options in case of inclement weather, or even basic first aid it is our first priority to ensure that participants are capable of understanding the risks inherent in adventure activities and how to safely navigate them. We will also cover hard skills such as wilderness navigation, back country cooking, and proper technique for environmentally conscious camping and travel. Our trips are designed so that participants leave with a solid foundation to build on for bringing outdoor recreation into their everyday lives. We also give participants time in the day to reflect and work on practicing their social skills with lessons on expedition behavior, understanding their environmental impacts, and how to be in touch with nature through understanding their relationship with plants, wildlife, and the land itself.