Family Experiences
EXPERIENCES
With our family experiences, you can introduce your family to a wilderness experience or build on existing skills together
Bring your family into a meaningful wilderness experience where everyone has a role to play. From our family to your family, we want to share our wilderness lifestyle with you with our family experiences. Over thirty-five years, we have seen the transformations of families who have joined us for all kinds of wilderness experiences.
Families learn together through shared responsibilities: caring for horses, helping with meals, building a fire, participating in camp or ranch routines, learning outdoor skills, spending time in nature, and building confidence through practical experience.
This is an invitation to step away from passive entertainment and into a more connected way of living. Children and adults are encouraged to contribute at an age-appropriate level, take ownership of personal belongings and routines, and discover the satisfaction of being useful in a real community and making a meaningful contribution to conservation.
You will be supported by our team, but the best outcomes come when every family member arrives ready to participate with patience, curiosity, and a positive attitude.
Our wilderness experiences that are best suited to families are:
Campsite:
Get back to basics and experience a nature connection, enjoying the break from wifi and cell service. Get involved in our community as much as you want. Guided horse back trail rides and hikes give you the opportunity to explore the area, learning about bear safety, wild edibles, plants and wildlife. Experience responsibility and empowerment by participating with ranch chores such as feeding the chickens and collecting their eggs, tending the garden or moving sprinklers to irrigate the horse pastures, or with add on activities such as archery, fishing or gold panning. Find out more on our accommodation website, BRV Accommodation:
Ranch log cabin:
Our ranch-based log cabins give you all the same opportunities to get involved in ranch life as our campsite, but with a greater degree of comfort. Our private three-bedroom log cabin is perfect for a larger family, older children or if grandparents are coming too. Our one bedroom cabin is great for a family with one or two young children. Here, you are close to all our ranch activities, but with the space to enjoy some private time as a family too. Find out more on our accommodation website, BRV Accommodation:
Back country cabin:
For families with more back country experience, our mountain cabins give you the opportunity to experience a deeper connection to nature, practise skills such as fire making and test your self-sufficiency and navigation skills in a remote area. Our cabins sleep 6-8 people so are perfect for the whole family to stay. Find out more on our accommodation website, BRV Accommodation:
Ranch-based wildlife tracking and conservation experience:
Our ranch-based horse or hiking experiences are a great way to introduce your family to all the skills needed in the back country, while returning to the ranch house each night. Your kids learn new skills such as horse saddling and care, develop self-sufficiency by identifying and harvesting wild edibles, contribute to conservation by filling in wildlife sightings forms, become more conscious and aware of self and environment and feel empowered by overcoming nature’s challenges. All of this while in a natural, wilderness environment that allows you to focus on your time as a family. Our ranch-based experience is generally suitable for kids aged 7 and older, but we can tailor trips for younger children too.
Hut-based wildlife tracking and conservation pack experience:
Take your wilderness skills to the next level with our horse pack experiences, either horseback riding or hiking. Suitable for kids 7 and up, these trips are a great way to immerse your family in nature and strengthen your bonds as a family as you share successes and overcome challenges together. On these experiences we see kids naturally taking on responsibilities such as getting the horses’ oats each morning and evening or packing water from the creek. We see their confidence develop as they ride or hike to the top of the mountains or learn how to saddle their horse. We see parents trusting their kids with tasks they wouldn’t at home, such as building the campfire or working with horses.
Self-sufficiency skills training:
Taking our self-sufficiency skills training as a family is a great way to learn new skills and connect with each other as you share challenges and successes. Learn to take care of yourself in the back country, such as fire starting and wild edible identification and become more independent when you return home such as by learning leather work and repairs, carpentry, gardening and canning. Depending on the age of the kids, we can organize a private, custom self-sufficiency skills training, or you might be able to join one of our regular programs with other students.
All of our experiences and training programs can be customized to your family’s interests (age restrictions may apply), so let us know your interest and we can tailor our wilderness experiences to your family’s skills, interest and goals for growth. Opportunities vary by time of year, so make sure to let us know your availability when enquiring about family experiences.
Contact us today to start planning your family’s next wilderness adventure.