1000 Weeks of Summer
Flash! Attend the 1000Weeks Movers and Shakers Meeting on March 3rd
All adult and youth leaders of 1000Weeks expeditions should attend this day of planning. It will be held at the Cave, 925B NW 49th Street in Ballard. The time will be 9:00 AM (come a little early for continental breakfast) until 2:30 PM. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP with the director so we have a lunch count. Topics: Anatomy of An Expedition: Technical, Management, Interpersonal, Health and Safety. Working with Youth; Planning Your Expedition; The Paperwork. We'll make it fun. Really.
1000Weeks is Innovative and Exciting
1000 Weeks of Summer is an exciting new initiative of Cascade Leadership Challenge. We are creating the network of adults and organizations needed to provide a week-long summer outdoor experience to 1,000 greater Seattle-area teenagers. We are building on the solid base of volunteers, youth leaders and partners that we have created over our last four years of Cascade Challenge adventures.
2012 will be our first 1000Weeks summer. Sofar we have about 16 weeklong Expeditions in the works. Each expedition is led by Movers–adult volunteers who serve as expedition leaders–and Shakers–additional adults and experienced youth leaders who ensure the success of the expedition. Expedition crew members will be teenagers from all over, kids who might never otherwise have a chance to raft a river, hike along the ocean, climb a mountain or simply sleep out in the wild under the stars.
Where We Go
Over the last four years Cascade Challenge has been traveling throughout Washington and Oregon, finding the most exciting locations for adventure and exploration. the 1000Weeks Expeditions draw from our extensive list of wonderful destinations, including:
- Whitewater rafting on the Methow, Wenatchee, Deschutes, Tieton and Lower Salmon Rivers.
- Climbing our stratovolcano mountains, including Mt. Baker, Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.
- Rock climbing, hiking and camping in our National Forests, National Parks, State Parks, and BLM properties–all part of the wonderful public lands that we teach our youth to love and care for.
- Kayaking, sailing and scuba diving in the cold, wild waters of Puget Sound.
Paying For Our Trips and Expeditions
All of our trips operate on a cost-sharing basis and we are not a commercial, money-making outfit. We use qualified volunteer trip leaders, which helps us keep costs down and serve more kids. Most of our expeditions are six days, so typically you can multiply the below figures by six.
We estimate that the average bare-bones trip cost is about $25/person/day. This just covers the cost of food eaten, gas burned to get around, and access fees to various facilities and programs. We ask the participant, the family or a sponsoring organization to pay this amount. This is enough to run a trip, but not enough to keep the organization going between trips or buy and maintain our equipment.
So, we ask families or sponsors to consider paying an additional $25/person/day to help us pay for insurance, rent for the Cave, equipment, vehicles and such so we can keep our program running.
We know that this is still way-cheap as these kinds of programs go, so we also ask of people who are willing to kick in another $25/person/day so we can extend scholarships to kids who would otherwise never have a chance to experience these kinds of adventures.
Who Leads These Trips?
1000Weeks and Cascade Challenge trips and expeditions are led by highly experienced volunteer outdoors people. Our leaders are trained in first aid, Leave No Trace travel, working with teenagers, and the specific activities of the trip. Safety is our number-one job. We carefully research or scout the location of the trip before we take youth out. Not only are our trips well planned and well led, we also use high quality equipment that is safe and dependable. And when conditions aren't right, we turn around. As we say, the mountain will always be there to climb another day.
How to Get Involved
1000Weeks is designed to grow. If you have a group of teenagers that needs to get out and see the world, send us an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll talk about how to get you and your kids involved. Here's what you need to think about to get involved:
- Your youth should be between 14-20 years old; same gender or coed groups are welcome. Typically we want 10-12 youth on each expedition.
- You should plan to send at least one adult 21 years old or older on the trip, someone who knows your kids.
- Your leader will need to participate in our 1000Weeks leadership training and planning activities, which are flexible and will be useful to you beyond the trip itself.
- You will need to provide the first level of fees for each participant, and work with 1000Weeks to raise the next level of fees, as described above.
