GO Trek 2026
GO Trek is a one-week basecamp experience designed to spark a love of the outdoors in 9-11 year olds. Trekkers spend seven days at Cottonwood Gulch Basecamp exploring forests, stream beds, mesas, and open fields, learning outdoor basics, making new friends, and discovering what it feels like to be genuinely at home outside. No experience necessary. Just a kid who's curious, a little adventurous, and ready to see what's out there.
GO Trek 2026
Age Range: 9–11 year olds
Min Group Size: 6 / Max 18
Gender: All genders
Instructors: 2–4
7 days on trek
Cost: Pick Your Price/Sliding scale Tuition Model
$200–$2,000 (depending on your family's financial situation)
2026 Dates:
Session 1: June 21–27 SPOTS AVAILABLE
Session 2: July 13–19 SPOTS AVAILABLE
Session 3: July 19–25 SPOTS AVAILABLE
Focus: Learning, playing, and exploring outdoors
2026 GO Trek Itinerary
Settling In - The week begins with arrivals, introductions, and the first look at a place that will feel like home by the end of the week. Trekkers move into open-air cabins, learn the rhythms of Basecamp life, and start getting to know the people they'll be adventuring with all week.
Exploring Basecamp - Most of the week is spent getting to know Cottonwood Gulch Basecamp — its trails, its animals, its hidden corners, and its people. Trekkers attend Cottonwoods programming with Gulch specialists, choosing from activities like ecology walks, visual arts, forestry, poetry, fort-building, and more. Every day brings something new to try and someone new to try it with.
Day Trips & Adventures - GO Trek ventures out on several day trips to nearby natural areas — El Malpais, El Morro, Bluewater Lake, and other spots within easy reach of Basecamp. These short excursions introduce trekkers to the wider landscape of western New Mexico and offer a first taste of what it feels like to explore somewhere new.
Skills & Confidence - Woven through the week are the basics of outdoor living — packing a daypack, Leave No Trace principles, sun safety, hydration, and how to set up a tent. Nothing overwhelming. Just the building blocks of a lifetime outdoors, introduced at exactly the right pace.
The Last Night - The week closes with a milestone: trekkers spend their final night camping in a tent under the New Mexico sky.
Praise for Cottonwood Gulch Summer Treks
What Makes GO Trek Different?
Curiosity + Confidence + Community + The Great Outdoors. Not one. All. GO Trek doesn't separate outdoor skills from self-discovery, or new experiences from new friendships. In seven days, everything connects: the trail you explore becomes the landscape you understand; the activity you try becomes the skill you're proud of; the cabin you sleep in becomes the community you belong to. This is where the love of the outdoors begins.
- A Fully Supported First Adventure: GO Trek is designed for kids who have never spent time away from home in the outdoors. Every activity is age-appropriate, every challenge is scaffolded, and every trekker is supported by experienced Gulch staff every step of the way.
- Follow Your Curiosity: Trekkers choose from a wide range of Basecamp activities every day (ecology walks, visual arts, forestry, fort-building, survival skills, and more) guided by their own interests in a community that celebrates trying new things.
A Place That Feels Like Home: Cottonwood Gulch Basecamp has been welcoming young people into the outdoors for 100 years. Its forests, mesas, stream beds, and open fields are ready to be explored. And our staff, specialists, and older trekkers are there to make every 9-11 year old feel capable, welcome, and genuinely at home outside. For many GO trekkers, this week is the beginning of a relationship with the Gulch that lasts for years.
- The Last Night Under the Stars: The week closes with trekkers spending their first night in a tent under the New Mexico sky.
- A Gateway to More: GO Trek is the first step in the Gulch's full progression of trek experiences. Many of our oldest, most experienced trekkers started right here, and came back every summer to go a little further.
GO Trek gives kids a week outside, and a reason to keep going back.
GO Trek 2026 Pricing Structure
- Your chosen price (formerly known as tuition cost) does not influence acceptance into our programs. Trekkers are accepted into all programs based solely on their application and ability to participate fully in the Trek.
- Pricing range is $200–$2,000 (depending on your family's financial situation)
- No discount or scholarship applicable.
For Prairie Trek, Turquoise Trail Trek, and Mountain Desert Trek there is the option of a trekker to apply to be a Cook’s Assistant or Quarter Master (CA and QM). Click here to apply.
