High Trails Outdoor Education Center
High Trails is a residential outdoor education experience available to public and private schools, focusing on students in 4th-6th grades. School groups attend for 3, 4, or 5 day periods, during which students are constantly engaged in learning, exploration, and fun.
Classes and other activities are held outdoors, in various locations centered on our main campus. HTOEC is part of the Colorado Outdoor Education Center, which owns over 6000 acres of land in the beautiful Ponderosa forests west of Pikes Peak. Our property is bordered by the Pike National Forest and the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, providing over 50 square miles of mostly uninhabited wild lands. The unique natural environment of this pristine landscape lends the setting for students at High Trails.
During their time here, students participate in different Discovery Groups, with imaginative, creative curriculum focusing on increasing our curiosity, excitement for learning, and overall Sense of the Earth. In addition, students live together, sharing dining hall duties, cabin cleanup, and group projects to achieve a Sense of Community. Responsibility, leadership, new skills, self-reliance, wholesome fun, new friends, and love of simple enjoyment are the outcomes of an increased Sense of Self. All contribute to this valuable learning experience and help students achieve a greater Sense of Wonder about the highly interconnected and interdependent world in which we live.
"It is important to value who you are, what you can contribute to others, and what you can do to make the Earth a better place."
Sandy Sanborn
