The Application Process
All 2021 expeditions are listed below - separated by age. If you’d like to participate, please:
Identify the expedition(s) you are most interested in.
Submit an application (links below) as soon as possible - expeditions fill quickly.
GOALS will connect with your references. Our team will thoroughly review their feedback and your application - to determine if there is space on an expedition we feel you are ready for, will have a positive impact on, and will receive the most personal benefit from.
If there is space on an expedition we feel is a great fit for you, you’ll receive an acceptance email. This email will include:
- a link to register and submit the deposit that holds your spot.
- information about financial aid & fundraising opportunities through GOALS.
- dates, times, and locations of upcoming GOALS parent / participant information nights.If the expedition that suits you best is full, we’ll place you on a wait list and cross fingers that a spot might open up.
Expeditions for
everyone.
GOALS is proud to offer wilderness growth experiences beginning in 4th grade (around age 9) and extending through college - in some cases even serving adults on specialty expeditions.
Most of our expeditions explore rivers in Colorado, Utah, Oregon, and Idaho - but every season we also guide our most adventurous high school and college students to places where they can connect with other cultures in Chile, Peru, and Nepal.
Elementary School Expeditions
GOALS is excited to offer our youngest explorers (completing grades 4 and 5) their choice of two expeditions through Ruby and Horsethief Canyons on the Colorado River. Both expeditions are in mid- to late-July, a perfect time to be in Ruby when the river water is warm, and the desert air is hot.
2021 Elementary School Expedition Summary:
July 12 - 15. Ruby & Horsethief Canyons of the Colorado River - CO/UT
July 26 - 29. Ruby & Horsethief Canyons of the Colorado River - CO/UT
Middle School Expeditions
Middle school students have the widest menu of 2021 options - with 9 expeditions offered on four exceptional stretches of river.
2021 Middle School Desolation Canyon Expeditions.
Our early middle school expedition season will begin in Utah’s famous Desolation Canyon of the Green River. GOALS is offering 4 different “Deso” expeditions from late May through mid June. We’re excited to offer one of them as a youth rowing school, giving kids the opportunity to captain their own boat (with a few friends and a licensed guide aboard) through much of Desolation Canyon. This expedition is offered to kids with previous GOALS experience who are currently completing 8th and 9th grade.
We’ll wrap up our In mid-June, we’ll wrap up our early desert season and head for the green waters and old growth coastal forests that surround the Wild and Scenic Rogue River in western Oregon. Our next two middle school expeditions will both be on the Rogue, and the second will be an extended 8-day art-focused expedition. This expedition will be open to anyone interested in strengthening their connection to nature through art. It will extend one day longer than our standard Rogue expeditions - offering a chance for afternoon guided art lessons by Michelle Allain, a beloved GOALS leader who has guided kids through art-focused programs in Utah previously, and can’t wait to experience the Rogue!
The end of our 2021 summer river season for middle school students includes a late-July expedition through the short but action-packed Westwater Canyon, and an inspiring journey through Lodore Canyon that backs right up to the start of a new school year. Then, just because summer is over doesn’t mean the GOALS expedition season has to be! In 2021, GOALS hopes to gather a group of kids whose school year begins late, or to partner with a school(s) who recognizes the value in kicking off their new year by creating connections on the river! We’ll conclude the middle school expedition season with a post-Labor Day run through Utah’s Westwater Canyon.
2021 Middle School Expedition Summary:
May 29 - June 4. Desolation Canyon of the Green River - UT
June 2 - 8. Desolation Canyon of the Green River - UT
June 5 - 11. Desolation Canyon of the Green River - UT
June 12 - 18. Desolation Canyon of the Green River - UT
June 27 - July 3. The Wild & Scenic Rogue River - OR
July 15 - July 22. The Wild & Scenic Rogue River - OR (Specialty expeditions: art-focused 8-day)
July 27 - 30. Westwater Canyon of the Colorado River - CO/UT
August 15 - 20. Lodore Canyon of the Green River - CO/UT
September 7-10. Westwater Canyon of the Colorado River - CO/UT
High School Expeditions
High school students get 6 opportunities to explore new rivers in 2021, with expeditions planned throughout Oregon, Idaho, Colorado and Utah.
The high school GOALS expedition season will begin in mid-June with a 7-day Rogue River expedition. Just as soon as the gear has dried out from the Rogue, we’ll move toward Idaho and the Main Salmon River, with a stars-and-stripes expedition planned for the week of July 4th.
After some good time in the northwest, we’ll begin our “high school desert season”, with a pair of Cataract Canyon expeditions, exploring the Colorado River as it cuts directly through the heart of Canyonlands National Park on two expeditions in mid- and late-July.
Finally, hoping to squeeze as much fun, growth, and connection out of the summer as possible, we’ll wrap up the summer high school expedition season with a 4-day Westwater Canyon expedition right before it’s back to school at the end of August - and return one month later for the high school kids who recognize that the fun doesn’t have to end when a new school year begins.
2021 High School Expedition Summary:
June 20 - 26. The Wild and Scenic Rogue River - OR
June 29 - July 6. The Main Salmon River - ID
July 11 - 18. Cararact Canyon of the Colorado River - UT
July 25 - August 1. Cararact Canyon of the Colorado River - UT
August 15 - 18. Westwater Canyon of the Colorado River - UT
September 15 - 18. Westwater Canyon of the Colorado River - UT
International Expeditions
For many kids who have experienced the growth and connections that domestic GOALS river expeditions create, an international expedition after high school provides them the chance to more closely examine just where that inner compass is leading them before jumping right into a course of post-secondary studies they aren’t passionate about.
GOALS has spent years researching, designing, and implementing international expeditions that are immersive, intentional, authentic and educational.
Although the current pandemic is cancelling what has become our annual spring international expedition to Patagonia, GOALS is in the process of building what will likely be our most exciting, educational, and eye-opening expedition yet - nearly a month in the fall of 2021 exploring Peru. GOALS students and leaders will study the culture and history that surrounds the Sacred Valley, experience a bucket list trek into several ancient ruins of the Inca (including Macchu Pichu), then travel north to the Rio Maranon - the largest tributary of the Amazon. There, we will learn about and contribute to the amazing work that our friends and proud partners are doing to create conservation areas, identify/catalog archaeological sites and endemic species, and empower the local villages - all in an effort to save the Maranon from destruction at the hands of large hydro power dams.
To learn more about Peru 2021, please email the GOALS office.
For the visual people
If you need to see the whole schedule of expedition launches in more of a traditional calendar format, here they are. The three columns, from left to right, contain elementary, middle, and high school expeditions from May through September of 2021.