The TVRC Program
Teton Valley Ranch Camp is a 30-day overnight summer camp for both Boys and Girls ages 11 - 16 located in Dubois, Wyoming just outside of Jackson Hole.
Adventure Groups
At TVRC, Campers are divided into five Adventure Groups based on age and experience: Yearlings, Rough Riders, Top Hands, Wranglers, and Trailblazers. Each summer builds on the previous summer’s experience and each year campers have new opportunities to challenge themsevles and learn new skills.
Cabins are organized by Adventure Group, so campers are living with peers of a similar age. Two to four cabins comprise one Adventure Group and each Cabin is led by two co-counselors. Typically, campers start as Yearlings (11 years old) or Rough Riders (12-14 years old) and progress through the adventure groups with many campers completing the full five-summer program.
A Typical Day on the Ranch
8:30am: Breakfast
9:30am: Cabin Clean-up
10:15am Morning Activities
12:30pm: Lunch
1:30pm: Rest Hour
2:30pm: Guzzles!
3:00pm: Afternoon Activities
5:15pm: Free Time
6:30pm: Dinner
8:15pm: Campfire
9:00pm: Cabin Circle
10:00pm: Lights Out
In Camp Activities
Campers get to choose their own adventure while on the Ranch. Every day there are 2 activity periods and our campers have the full power of choice in the activities they pursue. Some kids will gravitate towards a particular focus for their entire time at camp, while others mix it up making a different actvity selection every morning and afternoon.
Backcountry Trips
Every camper at Teton Valley Ranch Camp will have the opportunity to travel into the wilderness on both a backpacking trip and a horse-pack trip.
Learn More about our Backcountry Trips Program
What better way to experience the grandeur of the great outdoors than packing up your backpack and heading out into the wilderness with your friends and role models?
Imagine hiking alongside your cabinmates through a pine forest with the sweet smell of wildflowers lingering the air. The clouds hang low in the morning and the crisp air covers your legs with goosebumps. The trail opens up to a meadow painted with purple lupine, yellow balsam-root, and fiery red Indian paintbrush. You’ll walk along winding trails and trek through meadows filled with wildflowers. You’ll summit grand peaks, glissade down snow fields, traverse ridges, and cross flowing rivers. All the while learning backcountry skills, wilderness safety, personal responsibility, and leadership. You’ll create memories for a lifetime, and friendships that last just as long!
There are many areas of the Bridger-Teton National Forest that are only accessible by foot or horseback. At TVRC our campers have the chance to explore these areas on horseback during their Pack Trips.
Campers enjoy rides for miles through forest and meadows, across rivers, and along ridges to their backcountry campsite where they will live for the next several days. While at the packtrip campsite their days are filled with hikes and rides to explore the surrounding wilderness area. Years of tradition have led campers to pristine lakes and hidden waterfalls, amazing hikes and breathtaking vistas. After a long day, it’s back to the campsite for a game of kick the can or cards before dinner. Cooks prepare delicious meals over an open fire and the night ends with stories, songs, and s’mores around the campfire.
Sound judgment is the most important quality we look for in our backcountry trips staff. Throughout a summer at TVRC, Trip Leaders face numerous decisions that directly impact the health, safety and experience of our campers. A good decision-making foundation, bolstered by specific skills and practices learned in our rigorous pre-season trip leader training program, helps our trips staff provide safe, fun and fulfilling backcountry experiences for our campers.
TVRC Trip Leaders must have, at a minimum, a Wilderness First Aid certification for backcountry medical scenarios. For any trips taking place in Grand Teton National Park, TVRC Trip Leaders must have a Wilderness First Responder certification and be at least 21 years of age. All TVRC Trip Leaders arrive at camp a week prior to the start of staff training for a rigorous trip leader training course to master the skills necessary to execute a safe backcountry trip at a high standard. The vast majority of our Trip Leaders have completed outdoor leadership programs with organizations such as NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), Outward Bound, Moondance, their college/university, etc. Regardless of their background or personal experiences, our Trip Leaders hold the wellbeing and growth of our campers paramount on every TVRC trip.
For more information about our Trip Leaders, or to express interest in applying to be a TVRC Trip Leader, please contact Marshall Cherry at mcherry@tvrcamp.org.
Our access to this American national treasure is unparalleled, and makes TVRC a gateway to extraordinary adventures! The GYE includes Grand Teton National Park and the entire Teton, Gros Ventre, Wind River, and Absaroka Mountain Ranges. It also includes the Shoshone, Bridger-Teton, and Caribou-Targhee National Forests. This land encompases one of the last intact ecosystems in the world. Our campers will see native wildlife foraging on the plains and trotting through tree-lined mountain sides on their many adventures in the wilderness.
Our permits allow us to take backpacking and horse pack trips into some of the most rugged and striking landscapes in the lower 48 states. Many of the trips we take have been routes for TVRC dating back to the 1940’s. Some of our campers are now the third and fourth generations to summit the same peaks, and walk the same trails here in the GYE. This is an extraordinary privilege that we are very proud to hold, and deeply grateful to provide for our Campers.