We know from our years of experience that Deer Hill is a special opportunity for young people, but sometimes we have difficulty describing what “Deer Hill is”. So, we asked our staff and alumni to sum it up for us. This is the final list we came up with.

Deer Hill provides outdoor adventures and community service opportunities for young people. Find out about our summer programs, custom group trips, and our Foundation, or read our blog, by clicking on the links above. You can learn more about Deer Hill by using the links in the right sidebar.

For over 25 years, we have been providing exciting adventure summer camp programs for teenagers, combining wilderness adventure with the opportunity to work with native peoples on service projects that honor their traditional lifeways, or on conservation projects that preserve the beauty of the American West.

Ever cruised through an aspen grove on your bike at 10,000 feet?

This program packs a ton of action into 15 days, Deer Hill style: inflatable kayak the Dolores River in Utah, mountain bike and rock climb in southwest Colorado, and spend time working and learning with Navajo elders on a sheep ranch in the mountains of Arizona.

A Deer Hill expedition is not a camp, or a tour; it’s a journey. We design 15 to 28-day summer programs for teenagers completing grades 7-12. Each expedition combines awe-inspiring wilderness adventures with opportunities to connect with native cultures in a meaningful way, or work on projects that preserve the pristine beauty of the West. At Deer Hill, you are not chaperoned by your leaders. You steer the rafts, read the maps, belay your climbing partner. And with 25 years of backcountry guiding experience, you can trust us to teach you to do things right. Expand your horizons, learn new skills, make close friends, get inspired, touch a world that is different from your own. These are the ingredients of a journey to remember.