Avid4 Adventure

My daughter, age 6, has attended these day camps every summer in Boulder for the last three years. The ones she attends have a day each of hiking, biking, canoeing, kayaking, and rock wall climbing (her fave). Avid4 is amazing through and through – wonderful staff (both for their expertise and their love of children), great administration and website making for a quick and painless registration process, and the camp is a great experience. We’ve tried numerous day camps and this is the only one my daughter wants to do again and again. As day camps go, this one is a bit pricey, but worth every penny. When my daughter is a bit older we’ll definitely try the overnight camps.
Here is some copy provided by Avid4: «Avid4 Adventure camps teach pre-​K — 7^th graders of all levels to climb, paddle, bike, hike and thrive in the outdoors.
With help from their time-​tested curriculum and insanely experienced* instructors, Avid4 Adventure gives campers solid skills and character-​shaping confidence, launching them into a lifetime of empowering adventure.
Camp locations in Colorado: Bailey, Boulder, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Denver Washington Park and Denver Stapleton (NEW in 2015!), in California: Mill Valley, Berkeley, Palo Alto, and the South Bay (town TBA).
Learn more and sign up at
[
call 800−977−9873]
* Seriously. Avid4 Adventure instructors are outdoors experts and talented teachers with impeccable credentials – all 21 and up and certified in (at minimum) Wilderness First Aid and CPR.»

My son has done both day and overnight camps and we thought they were awesome! Camps teach a variety of recreational outdoor sports. Great confidence building activities in a safe and supportive environment. I like that the Avid counselors are more knowledgeable and mature than at other camps my children have attended.

Avid runs great outdoor camps. My kids (12 & 10) have done Multisport and Kayaking, which my son just loved. Great confidence builders, nice campers and guides.

I sent my 8 year old son (who learned to ride his bike just a week before) to a one week multi sport camp. He described this camp as ‘EPIC’. I would describe it as the best well rounded summer camp available. This camp offered a perfect blend of physical activity, fun n’ games and some fun mind benders. This camp had the best camp counselors who engaged all the children. During this week I found my son to be happier, excited, confident and proud of his accomplishment. Not to mention the fact bed time was so easy and usually a bit earlier which we loved as parents. He would wake up early and get ready as he didn’t want to miss a thing. We will sign up for the two week camp next year!

My 8-​year old son attended the 2-​week multi-​sport camp in August in Boulder and loved it! Avid camps are really the best around and I should know because my son has done many different Boulder camps. Avid is worth the higher price and we’ll be doing it again next year!

My kids both had a great experience!

My son, who was 6 at the time, loved the Avid camp for his age group. He did the one that includes a day each of biking, hiking, rock climbing, canoeing and kayaking and really had a blast. It probably helped a lot that he did it with a friend he already knew, but we would still highly recommend this camp for any youngster, even one who isn’t physically adventurous… they work with kids of all ability levels. Cool camp counselors, too. So nice that there’s a well-​organized camp in the area with activities for a variety of age groups and big emphasis on having big, active fun outside!

My 11-​year-​old son participated in the Valmont Bike Park camp this past summer. He was initially irritated that it was an all-​day camp but after the first day he couldn’t wait to go back. The instructors are great — so talented on their bikes but also great with the kids. I like that they really highlight and enforce safety while still encouraging the kids to push themselves toward better bike skills. My son now wants to take everyone he knows to the bike park. We are extremely happy with Avid 4 Adventure and will definitely sign him up for future camps.

I have twin 8 year olds (boy and a girl), who have participated in Avid4 camps since they were 6. They have participated in the multi-​sport camps, mountain biking skills camps and the kayak skills camp.
We have had experience with a number of camps throughout the years, and Avid4 is always the «must do» recommendation from my kids when we start planning summer activities. Our experience from registration to pre-​camp communication to camp week have all been exceptional, and are reflective of the professionalism of Avid’s staff. Each year, my kids have had the benefit of learning and growing under new mentor’s (Camp counselors), and I have been impressed with the caliber of the staff and their sheer enjoyment and passion for the camp activity they are teaching. My impression has been that Avid must have a great recruitment and camp instructor training; each and every coach we have been able to help my kids improve in the activity of the week, while instilling in them understanding about skills, safety and importance of protecting the environment through leave no trace principles.
The only regret I have about our Avid4 experience is that they don’t offer similar camps for adults!

My 6 yo boy attended the camp in Golden this past summer. This was one of a suite of camps we attended during the summer.
From my son’s perspective, it was his favorite camp. From my dad perspective, it was my favorite camp.
Favorite things:
Instructors: Instructors were «different» in that each possessed a self-​confidence and poise that seemed lacking in other camps. Instructors were college age kids with significant outdoor experience. Clearly their hiring process is more complex than any-​warm-​body-​will-​do. Every instructor would be a favorite babysitter. I am amazed at the consistent high-​quality folks they wrangled to work for them.
Management: Every action was well coordinated. They worked together as a seamless team. When an instructor would be pulled into dealing with the needs of an individual camper, another instructor would drift in and takeover the group. It was so smooth.
Activities: The camp selected local activities to minimize drive time. The level of these activities was appropriate for a 6 yo boy. My son loved showing us the bike route they took and the hike they went on. These have become some of our favorite places.
Development: My son’s self-​confidence soared over the week. Now when we go on family outings, he runs point and I run sweep. He is aware of objective hazards and brainstorms ways to mitigate them. We discuss them as a group and he leads the discussion. I am so proud!
Communication: Holy smokes! What can I say. They know how to use modern media to bring the camp to the parents. A photographer followed the kids around during the week. They posted these pictures on the their website. WOW!!! It was wonderful to see him in action. Even better than being there because I know I wasn’t influencing him in any way. So genuine. This was MY favorite part!
Down-​sides:
Cost: Kind of pricy relative to other camps. Worth it, but had to dig deep.
Duration: The survey camp my son attended was really intended to be a standalone introduction to multiple sports. It really isn’t intended to be a multiple-​week activity. Go for a week or two then do something else. Might be different for the older kids.
Makes other camps seem weak.
Random thoughts:
Troll houses in tree crooks — cool spider webs — yoga — shade trees — lots of running — giant lego ball
Summary:
WOW WOW WOW!!! This is first rate all the way. If you can afford it, do it!

There are so many options for summer camps in Boulder County, and Avid 4 Adventure is by far the best gear outfitted and excellent staff as counselors.
This operation in well run, with emails and phone calls well ahead of time packed with information on what to bring, and what to expect. The website is full of updated information such as locations of various activities, pictures of each of the children, etc…
The counselors are very responsible young people. At the beginning of each day my children and I were greeted, and told what to expect, at the end of the day I received a small recap of everything as it went on, including any challenges either with the activity or other kids and how it was resolved.
The counselors shared more than the love of the sport or activity, they had circle time to share principles such as leave no trace, and also good behavior and team building among the kids. My children did a couple weeks of the multi sport camp, which included, biking, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and rock climbing.
The kids are grouped co-​ed by ages. I realize that it may be challenging to try to sort out kids by skill level, and the following statement is not meant to brag, but my kids were a bit more skilled than others their age, and moving them up an age group was not possible for various valid reasons.
–The other camps were at full capacity
–It is impossible to know ahead of time how skilled the children are until the day of the activity
–It gives skilled children a chance to experience leadership and be helpful in guiding others by becoming «helpers»
Later I learned that if you choose a specific activity for the entire week, then it might be easier to group them by skill level.
Regardless, the kids loved the camp, and I have got to start saving $$ now to do a longer camp next summer, they absolutely look forward to coming back to Avid 4
It is totally worth every $ of it.

As a working mother of two kids, I’ve had plenty of experience with summer day camps. We tried Avid4Adventure this year and my son loved it. This is a well-​organized operation. We received lots of information about what to bring and what to expect before camp started. The exact place to drop off our child was well marked. Counselors shook our hand, introduced themselves, and told us a little bit about how each day went for our child. We could go online to get pictures of our kid having fun at camp each day — good pictures — Counselors clearly made an effort to get a good picture of each kid. Based on his descriptions, I felt that my child was safer rock climbing with Avid4 than he is on the playground at school. Well worth the money — we will be repeat customers. Thank you!