{"id":291,"date":"2016-05-03T13:07:35","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T13:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ayf.com\/?p=68"},"modified":"2016-05-03T13:07:35","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T13:07:35","slug":"trailblazers-leading-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/trailblazers-leading-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Trailblazers Leading the Way"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hey everyone, its Chris Farrar here with a special guest posting! I work at Miniwanca as the Four Trails Program Coordinator. It\u2019s so much fun to work with our trip leaders and campers during the summer and I thought I\u2019d share a few highlights about some of our trips so that you may join in on the excitement. You\u2019ll see me pop up here every week or two approaching summer to share about our different trips.<\/p>\n<p>This week I\u2019d love to share a bit with you about our Trailblazer program\u00a0(8th grade, 3 weeks). Our Trailblazers have the unique opportunity to experience life at Miniwanca as well as on-trail all in the same session. During the first and last week of a three week session, Trailblazer (TBZ) campers live an act as a regular Junior (Girls) or Challenger (Boys) cabin. From archery to arts and crafts, rest hour to the ropes course, TBZ campers do it all when they are with us here on the dunes of Miniwanca.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/14-Trailblazer-girls-smile-during-backpacking-trip.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-740 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/14-Trailblazer-girls-smile-during-backpacking-trip-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Trailblazer girls smile during backpacking trip\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/14-Trailblazer-girls-smile-during-backpacking-trip-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/14-Trailblazer-girls-smile-during-backpacking-trip-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/14-Trailblazer-girls-smile-during-backpacking-trip-100x133.jpg 100w, https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/14-Trailblazer-girls-smile-during-backpacking-trip.jpg 816w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 225px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 225\/300;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The real highlight of a Trailblazer summer comes in the middle week of the session. TBZ campers take off down the trail to\u00a0get practice and hone the skills that they learned in their 7th grade summer as a Forester. What trail you ask? Miniwanca has the fortune of being just 45 minutes from the North Country Trail. The NCT travels across the northern reaches of the United states from North Dakota to New York and our TBZ ladies and gents hike about 20 miles of the trail. Campers pack all they\u2019ll need into our backpacks and are dropped off at a trail-head for a 3-day\/2-night excursion in the Manistee National Forest.<\/p>\n<p>After resting for a night back at camp, our Trailblazer then hop into canoes for their next adventure! Earlier in the session they will have learned basic and more advanced canoeing skills (strokes, rescues, etc) and will put them into practice on an overnight canoe trip on the beautiful White River. The trip group will put in near Hesperia, MI and paddle a day and a half before being picked up just north of Whitehall, MI.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/15-Boys-camper-aims-arrow-at-archery.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-767 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/15-Boys-camper-aims-arrow-at-archery-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Camper aims arrow at archery\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/15-Boys-camper-aims-arrow-at-archery-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/15-Boys-camper-aims-arrow-at-archery-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/15-Boys-camper-aims-arrow-at-archery-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/15-Boys-camper-aims-arrow-at-archery-100x67.jpg 100w, https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/15-Boys-camper-aims-arrow-at-archery-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/15-Boys-camper-aims-arrow-at-archery.jpg 1460w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is always a pleasure to work with the Trailblazer groups and share my love of the outdoors and camping with our newest Four Trails Campers. The energy, curiosity and enthusiasm brought to the experience by the TBZ campers is inspiring to say the least and I look forward to seeing them this summer. I heard great things from Melvin about them as Foresters last year and I expect even more greatness!<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s our Trailblazer program at a glance. The program is open to all campers heading into 8th grade in the fall and, as is the case with all of our trips, no previous camping experience is required. If you\u2019d like more information about our trips or have questions about a trip that you are taking this summer, please don\u2019t hesitate to\u00a0contact us or <a href=\"http:\/\/ayf.com\/camps\/miniwanca\/\">take a look at our programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hey everyone, its Chris Farrar here with a special guest posting! I work at Miniwanca as the Four Trails Program Coordinator. It\u2019s so much fun to work with our trip leaders and campers during the summer and I thought I\u2019d share a few highlights about some of our trips so that you may join in on the excitement. You\u2019ll see &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/trailblazers-leading-the-way\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":1031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miniwanca"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trailblazers Leading the Way - American Youth Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/trailblazers-leading-the-way\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trailblazers Leading the Way - American Youth Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hey everyone, its Chris Farrar here with a special guest posting! I work at Miniwanca as the Four Trails Program Coordinator. It\u2019s so much fun to work with our trip leaders and campers during the summer and I thought I\u2019d share a few highlights about some of our trips so that you may join in on the excitement. You\u2019ll see ... 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