How to Go
Who is a candidate? We will consider any group in need of our guide service, logistical planning experience, financial support and/or training and instruction. Priority is given to groups with disadvantaged young people. Families, parent/child units, couples, and ministerial staff are also favored.
The primary purpose of these trips is educational.  For younger backpackers, we try to establish a link between class room curriculum and real world applications, and to expand some horizons in career path opportunities. We particularly look for chances to demonstrate history, science and edited American English applications. For older backpackers, the focus is on group dynamics. This educational process also clearly includes personal dynamics. A forced introspection, priority reordering, spiritual awareness and enhanced Nature appreciation generally occur on one of our trips. What we study.
The trips are also a lot of fun, and grand adventure.
 Job well done:  ten year old Clint
How to apply…Â
Contact us by email and take it from there, or contact the Middle Fork representative known to you. You may write to us at this address.
What to expect…Â
Frankly, it is difficult to get on a trip with us, but several people do make it every year. We have a lot of folks who would like to go. Backpacking enjoys a short season. We screen hard. The fact is, most people don’t really match up to a trip like this. It is our challenge to find the right ones. Almost all of the packers we end up taking have a very worthwhile experience. We will probably have some email exchanges, and let you know pretty quickly if your candidate might be in the selection pool for the year. An ever changing committee then picks the most worthy applicants, based on our annual goals and criteria. We almost always have the trips set by February.
It will help your chances if we believe you really want to go, and can make a comittment to the process.
Fine Print… Â
Yes, there are all manner of forms, releases, caveats, disclaimers, and general efforts to synchronize communication. (We used to guide for a bunch of lawyers!) We will get into that fully when your application makes it into processing. Obviously, we will both be comfortable with all this before we hit the trailhead.