Great to hear you’re interested in a Trip Leader position at Tanglewood... Let me tell you a little about Tanglewood, and about leading trips here.

Tanglewood is an environmental education center located halfway up the coast of Maine.  We run educational programs all year, but summer is our big busy season.  We have about 100 kids here at a time for summer camp, usually one-week sessions.  At the same time, we run out-of-camp trips.  There will be 8 trips in all next summer, run one after the other.  There are 4 trip leaders so that two at a time can lead a trip while the other two leaders work back at camp, running food drops, answering any emergency trip requests, and doing some teaching and a single overnight trip near camp.  This way, each team of trip leaders gets a week on the trail, then a week in camp, and back and forth all summer long. 

Our trips are not high adventure, but do require that each leader has strong canoeing skills, is in very good physical condition, and has some experience working with kids ages 10-14.  Some past leaders have met challenges leading trips for 10 and 11 year-olds, while others work at ease with that age group.  The most unique thing about our trips, in my opinion, is that they are educational trips, not just team and character building.  We teach concepts of basic ecology and natural history while out on the trail or on the water.  This also can be a challenge as sometimes, in bad weather or with a really diverse group of kids, just getting to point B from point A is enough of a mental and physical workout!

Summer 2008 will include a few trips on our local Ducktrap River watershed, as well as a trip or two on the ocean, and a trip on the Appalachian Trail, covering some higher altitudes a few hours north of here.

A lot of planning goes into leading these trips.  We do not have a big base camp staff that prepares all the food and itinerary!  The team of four trip leaders works together to support each other and to plan and carry out a very fun, special experience for the kids that have chosen to participate in these excursions.

There will also be four other leaders to lead our Leadership Programs (two for Leadership I and two for Leadership II).  These programs are designed for teenagers, and both of them involve trip leading and in-camp leadership instruction.  Someone who has experience working with teenagers and really ENJOYS working with adolescents is ideal to lead these programs. The in-camp component makes up the majority of each Leadership session.  Participants learn leadership styles, communication skills, and group building, as well as more detailed environmental education and ethics.  The trip portion of these programs involves traversing a watershed (LI is usually the Ducktrap River watershed, about a 4 day trip, and LII is usually the St. George River watershed, an 8 day trip), learning about the watershed, its history, resources and how to preserve it.  While these trips involve hiking, camping and canoeing in some beautiful spots, they can't really be defined as "wilderness" trips.  Both L trips traverse some sections that are even residential.  The idea is for the participants to learn about the watershed as a whole, its natural beauty and its areas that are impacted by humans.  Also, they get to see how the structure of the watershed changes, for example, as the LII campers travel from Frye Mountain, beyond Appleton Ridge, and down river past head tide, and out into the ocean.

Hopefully this has helped to give you a good idea of what these roles are like.  Don’t forget, being a trip leader or Leadership Program leader requires a lot of humor and energy!  The kids will have more fun if they know you are having fun too.

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