We’ve got 16 fantastic itineraries on tap for 2015 – more trips than we’ve ever had. We’ll be running trips across twelve (!!) time zones this coming summer as we add two new trips . Please check out 2015’s Trips at a Glance page for details. Here’s info on our two newest offerings and updates we’ve made to four of our classic programs.
Maine Coast College Essay (MCCE) – We ran a hugely successful MCCE pilot program last summer and we’re very excited to open it up to the whole Apogee family in 2015. Over the course of one week, students will spend more than 20 hours honing their college admissions essays. Like all of our programs, MCCE will have two fantastic Apogee leaders who will facilitate the week’s activities. Unique to MCCE, however, will be our partnership with professional writing instructors and the unbelievable resources of the Bowdoin College Admissions Department. The itinerary is structured to include individual writing time, peer review workshops, and significant faculty involvement. We will also, of course, explore Maine’s beautiful outdoors – hike local trails, swim and sea-kayak, perform community service, and close each day with the Apogee & Perigee Circle that defines each Apogee day all over the world.
Hawaii Service Adventure (HSA) – Year after year, post-trip evaluations come back with “please, please, please run a trip in Hawaii!!” Well, I’m delighted to say that we finally heard you. We are very excited to announce our biking and community service hybrid trip. Over the course of HSA’s twenty days, students will ride a full loop around the Big Island, camp under swaying palms in tropical settings, and perform between 20-25 hours of community service working on three substantive projects, surf on Hawaii’s world-famous waves, and generally enjoy Hawaii’s aloha culture.
Our website folks are building full pages for both of these trips, but you’ll see critical details on our Trips-at-a-Glance page for the time being. We do have a lot more information to share about both trips – so please call us or send an email anytime for more information.
Other Trip Updates: We make changes large and small to existing itineraries every year in response to feedback from Apogee students, parents and leaders.
Cape Cod & the Islands (CI): For years, students have been saying that they love this trip, but wish it was a bit longer. Wish no more, friends! Our CI trip was just promoted from 11 to 13 days. It’s still a perfect introductory bike trip for students between the ages of 12 and 14, but they’ll now have another day to explore Martha’s Vineyard as well as a day to more fully enjoy the ride up to Provincetown and camp in the famous dunes at the tip of the Cape.
Maine’s Downeast Explorer (DEX): We’ve flip-flopped the Challenge Level of our DEX and CMC trips in recognition of the fact that a lot of our East Coast families wanted another moderate hiking trip over here in Maine. DEX will be going from 15 days to 13 in 2015. The trip is a smidge easier now, and we’ve tightened up the logistics. We’ll still be sea-kayaking, exploring Acadia National Park, and summiting Mount Katahdin, but we’ve cut a night in the backcountry and dropped a transit day from our kayaking location to Acadia.
California Mountains & Coast (CMC): At the same time we’ve made DEX a bit easier, we’ve upped the ante by just a little bit on our CMC trip. For the last few summers, our groups have come back raving about their time in Yosemite – so we’ve given 2015’s groups a lot more. They’ll be in Yosemite’s front-country for an additional day and will also spend another night in Yosemite’s backcountry. CMC will still be a moderate-level hiking trip, but it will now be more natural for DEX alumni to follow up the next summer with CMC before tackling our more advanced hiking itineraries.
Europe Coast to Coast (ECC): While we designed ECC to be challenging, we didn’t want the first week or so to be quite as tough as it has proved to be over the last two summers. To that end, we’ve added an earlier day off of the bikes (in stunning Bruges, Belgium, no less), and re-routed so that we’re able to drop the total number of kilometers by about 350 km, bringing the average daily mileage down by almost 10 km/day. We’ve also added another day off in Merano, Italy and added more time in Paris (we’ll now be staying overnight in a hostel in the middle of Paris). In addition to reducing the daily mileage, these changes are going to allow for more cultural exploration of the many amazing towns we go through along the way.
Please call us at 207.725.7025 or write us at directors@apogeeadventures anytime for more information about these trips or any of our other trips. And be sure to take advantage of our Early Bird Special – discounting every 2015 application received by November 16 by $250!