ABOUT MAD RIVER PATH ADVENTURES
Mad River Path Adventures is for kids and teens, whose idea of fun includes sleeping in a tent, waking up to a bird song, and gathering water from a stream. We will glide down the river in a canoe, experience the exhilaration of reaching the top of the mountain, try new challenges, and have fun in a group of like-minded kids and caring, skilled, adult mentors. If you are excited about living without screens, sharing your thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment, eating healthy simple food around the fire, and living in and with nature, you will have a blast! Each program will have 10 students and two leaders.
Your adventure guides
Mad River Path Adventures is directed and led by MRP Director Misha Golfman (he/him). Misha is a wilderness guide and educator with 40 years of experience leading and mentoring generations of youth on expeditions. He is a founder of Kroka and was a guide for Outward Bound and Mahoosuc Guide Service. Together with his partner Lynne, they raised four (now adult) children on extended wilderness journeys. Misha is a wilderness first responder, white water canoe, and swift water rescue instructor.
Onome moved to Vermont last fall and is an AmeriCorps member serving with Friends of the Mad River. Her love for the outdoors started as a child, spending days on end on the beach with family, and from running, hiking, and skiing with friends as an adult. She is certified in Wilderness First Aid and has worked with kids in different capacities: serving as a summer camp counselor and starting a conservation club at her secondary school. She enjoys finding interesting ways to deliver ecology curriculum and planning and leading outdoor trips. She's excited to explore the Mad River watershed with other adventure-seekers this summer!
Anna Mairose (She/They) grew up in Ohio and fell in love with New England on a school wilderness trip. After graduating from school, Anna paddled the Colorado river and biked across the Arizona desert on Kroka Expeditions’ Southwest Semester. Before becoming a student of Audio/Video Production at Cincinnati Technical College, they worked as a substitute teacher at the Cincinnati Waldorf School. Anna’s dream is to be a Filmmaker and Documentarian.They are Wilderness First Aid Certified and love herbal remedies. Anna have always loved the wilderness and guiding for Mad River Path is the culmination of all the things they love!
teaching philosophy
We believe that young people thrive when trusted with real-life responsibilities for themselves and each other. We have high, yet attainable expectations and hold each other accountable. Students enjoy the responsibilities of navigating, cooking, setting camp, splitting firewood, and the freedom to explore the natural world around them. They choose to take healthy risks while developing sound judgment and common sense. We strive for relationships rooted in trust and we put community first. We believe that taking healthy risks is essential to achieving the full human potential and encourage students to try new things while being mindful of individual differences. We ensure that students are supported, yet never pressured. We help students develop a relationship with nature by finding clean water, gathering wild edibles, cooking on the fire, bathing in the streams, and having opportunities for stillness and observation. We accept the gifts of nature and reciprocate with gratitude going beyond “Leave no Trace”. Our practices are rooted in the Scandinavian philosophy of Friluftsliv (free living in nature). We believe that the risk of overprotecting children is much greater than the risk of allowing children to grow experiencing the challenges inherent in outdoor work, play, and adventure sports. If your idea of parenting is having your child return from a week away full of wild stories, sun-tanned and wind-burned, scratched by tree branches, with a pile of dirty clothes, then you’ve found the right camp!
food
We work together to prepare simple and delicious fire-cooked meals made from scratch with wholesome local and organic ingredients. We eat a full breakfast and dinner, complemented by a trail lunch and energy-supporting snacks throughout the day. We value our shared meals, as times to nourish our bodies and celebrate the gifts of food and companionship amongst the group.
safety
The safety of our programs is rooted in sound backcountry risk management practices. Taking risks is essential for developing common sense, sound judgment, and self-confidence. The feeling of accomplishment, when overcoming the adversities inherent in experiencing nature is profoundly important to our sense of well-being. Learning the difference between reckless behavior and well-calculated risk is an important life skill. Our job, as guides is not to eliminate the risk but to manage it so that our students are safe, while at the same time growing through overcoming the challenges. The risk management includes properly fitted safety equipment such as a life jacket, protocols, such as properly extinguishing the fire, practices, such as always having a partner, while navigating with a map and compass and lessons, such as learning to identify the leading risk factors and daily brief and de-brief of activities. Our teaching philosophy of having high expectations of our students, while trusting them with real-life responsibilities in an environment rooted in trust, further creates the atmosphere of accountability and sound risk management. Backcountry emergencies are rare because of well-thought-out itineraries, careful preparation, and the many years of experience we have working with groups in remote settings. When things do go wrong, we are well-prepared to respond. Misha is a Wilderness First Responder with decades of experience in handling backcountry emergencies. Each program carries an extensive emergency and preventative First Aid Kit, place-appropriate emergency communications equipment, and an evacuation plan.