“Those three weeks in the wild Maine woods with 11 amazing people left me with some of the best memories of all my years at camp.”
John Nicholson, MWA 2018
Each summer, a group of full session 15 year old boys are selected from the Birch Rock community to take part in the Maine Wilderness Adventure Program. MWA is a three-week endurance challenge that puts a boy’s confidence to the test. The program, which runs during the second session of camp, asks boys to backpack through the most difficult and remote sections of the Appalachian Trail, canoe class III rapids in Maine’s most secluded waterways, scale cliffs in Acadia National Park, raft down class V rapids in the Penobscot River and paddle board in Mount Desert Island’s largest lake. This trip requires boys to push themselves outside of their comfort zone, test their limits, and work together as a team. During these three weeks Birch Rock campers live out of their backpacks, carrying all their own food, sleeping in tents, lean-tos and hammocks along the way.
MWA has been a rite of passage for many of Birch Rock’s most prominent leaders. This trip is the most challenging adventure offered at Birch Rock, and it has become something campers look forward to year after year.
*To register for MWA, you must register for Full Session. Please select Full Season when you apply and let us know through email ([email protected]) that you are interested in MWA. Thank you.