Dear Editor:

For a 12th season, the Tahoe Rim Trail Association offered teens ages 12-17 the chance to experience four days and three nights in the backcountry. These epic 2019 backpacking adventures, offered through the TRTA’s Youth Backcountry Camps (YBCC) program, took 99 teens into the endlessly beautiful wilderness on the Tahoe Rim Trail surrounding Lake Tahoe.

Teens learned about Tahoe ecosystems, made new friends, acquired the basics of backpacking, connected to nature, and enhanced their leadership and team-building skills by overcoming challenges on the trail. For these teens, most of whom had never gone camping before, let alone backpacking; this summer held a one-of-a-kind experience only the backcountry can provide.

The TRTA would like to thank our community, without whom this season’s success would not be possible. YBCC trips were guided in partnership with the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Nevada and South Lake Tahoe, Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada, SOS Outreach, Live Violence Free, and the Nevada Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Grant funding was graciously provided by Nevada’s Recreational Trails Program, Lana Vento Charitable Trust, Reno Rodeo Foundation, Vail Resort’s Epic Promise, John Ben Snow Foundation, Nancy Eccles and Homer M. Hayward Family Foundation, and the Tahoe League for Charities. This funding, along with funds from TRTA donors, enabled the Association to provide all of the necessary gear, food, and instruction for a safe and successful backcountry trip at no cost for a majority of participants, a hallmark of the program.

The TRTA strives to ensure that wild experiences are accessible for everyone and we are privileged to work in a community supportive of that work. Thank you to everyone who has helped make this program a success in 2019.

We look forward to digging into our 2020 program to ensure that any child that wants to experience the backcountry has the opportunity.

Lindsey Schultz,

Outdoor Programs Director for TRTA