Mountain Quest

Three Week Coming of Age for Young Women

Ages 12 - 14 | July 10th - 30th, 2025 | Return to Youth Programs

“My experience here has changed me for the better. It has strengthened my inner self, made me extremely grateful, and let me learn more about myself. My best experience on this trip was hiking, and having many interesting conversations with my fellow teammates. We had a wonderful experience with our guides, caring, loving and hardworking women, who have taught me so much. They helped me construct my Intent Statement, which is: I am a joyful spirit, who is capable, accepting and serves all. This was a memorable experience and will for always be remembered.” - Ronja, Age 13

This journey of self-discovery builds confidence and clarity for emerging young women.

The Coming of Age Journey is a unique opportunity to celebrate and honor the changes of this time in a girl's life. Like thousands of women before her, she will be welcomed into the larger community with a fuller understanding of the creative and visionary power inherent in her gifts as a woman.

Developed over fifty years of work with hundreds of individuals, this program helps young women enter adolescence with strength and self-confidence. Girls speak their truth and believe in their worth based on talents, skills and interests rather than on appearance, popularity or sexual appeal. Participants are physically, emotionally and spiritually stretched as they set out on a multi-day backpacking trip and 24-hour solo vigil. The journey gives young women an extraordinary opportunity to challenge themselves as they move beyond self-imposed limitations, take on greater responsibility, and work cooperatively with others.

Set in the forests, mountains, and waterways of Western Washington, this program is designed to empower participants to recognize and walk in the truth of their own spirit. Laughter, sweat, creativity, reflection, and new friendships all come together for those who are willing to discover more about themselves and their unique contributions to the world.

Family Participation

The initiate’s family plays an important role in The Coming of Age Journey. On the first day of the trip, parents and guardians send their child off, then spend time exploring the changes that are occurring in their daughter and in their family. At the conclusion of this 3-week adventure, parents and guardians take part in a process of incorporation. During this day-long event, parents and young people alike will have the opportunity to see one another with new eyes. Together in this way, they breathe new life into existing relationships, and explore the possibilities of what it means to be a family in the 21st century, with a new family member who is no longer a girl, but a young woman.

This journey welcomes all who identify as female, trans girls, and non-binary youth, knowing this journey is an initiation through the female lens. Please check out our welcome statement on gender identity here. Not sure which trip is right for your youth? Contact Us and we’ll help figure it out.

PROGRAM DETAILS

Ages 12 - 14

July 10th - 30th, 2025

Olympic National Park
Starts and Ends in Bothell, WA

$3495.00; Deposit $600.00
Financial Aid is currently available

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Questions? Check out our FAQ page or send us a message!

Experienced guides support and mentor young girls on the path to womanhood.

After an 8-10 day backpacking trip, participants arrive at the Washington Coast and prepare for a 24-hour solo vigil.

trip description

Week 1-2 | Coming of Age participants, their families, and our staff participate in a send-off ceremony at the Journeys basecamp. This ceremony is followed, for participants, by intentional community building activities, camp skills training, and launching a 8- to 10-day backpacking trip during which wilderness, leadership and teamwork skills will be taught and practiced.

Week 2 | After their mountain journey, Participants will head for the Coast to prepare for their 24-hour solo vigil by the ocean. During this segment participants will be involved in expressive art projects, journaling and ceremony. After the 24-hour solo vigil is completed participants will hike back to the vehicles and transfer to a local retreat center. There, participants will celebrate their incredible Journey and the beginning of Young Adulthood. The group will participate in Womanhood Ceremonies. This section of the trip is focused on relaxation, art, conversations around becoming young women and celebration.

Week 3 | Participants begin their return to “the world” that they left behind, ultimately arriving back at basecamp to celebrate their incredible journey and the beginning of young adulthood. The young women and mentors will participate in council with group and individually, and prepare for the Parent Incorporation Day. The final day of the trip will be spent with participants and families creating a family covenant to reflect the privileges and responsibilities of the young woman.

Skills Introduced

Program Outcomes

Improved self-confidence
Group communication and problem solving skills
Understanding and taking responsibility
Ability to listen to intuition
Creative self-expression
Leadership and teamwork skills
Improved physical strength and personal resolve
Knowledge of natural history of Northwest terrain
Low-impact camping techniques
Understanding of a healthy and appropriate path to adulthood
Completion of a transformative rite of passage

Mountain Quest Staff

Our guide teams for 2025 will be announced ASAP. We typically have guide teams assembled by Spring. You can learn about last year’s guides below and learn more about the rest of our guide teams from prior years on our Staff & Board Page

Guides for Mountain Quest for Young Women 2024

Patricia Bowe

Program Coordinator

Bowe is a silly, heart centered, and ceremonial guide who has outdoor behavioral health experience from horticultural therapy on the Big Island of Hawaii to more traditional wilderness therapy based programs in Colorado and southern Utah. Bowe grew up low income in urban Boston and has fond memories of exploring the hills and marshlands just south of the city as a reprieve from the stress and pace of their neighborhood. While they never lost the peace and wonder they first found in the woods, and have always communed with nature to seek their own answers, they did not truly hike until their 20s, or learn to put a backpack on until they began training to be a wilderness therapy guide, themself! In other words, Bowe’s first love is supporting people toward their own wholeness, separate from the cycles they have been born into. They have since committed to learning outdoor guiding skills because of their deep belief that the wilderness is integral to healing in today’s world. After studying counseling and working a variety of mental health, social work and community service oriented jobs, Bowe has come to find that no practitioner or program can be as patient, non judgmental, non reactive, or as good a mirror as the wild world is for humans seeking healing. They also believe, from their own experience, in the value of loving and concrete challenge to empower young people to take ownership over their lives. Across the programs they have worked prior, Bowe has been drawn to holding adolescent and young adult clients in ceremony because they believe that marking transition allows young people to step into their next phase of life with clarified intention and values. Bowe is excited to bring their holistic, gentle, and care centered style of guiding to Rite of Passage Journeys and delve deeper into soul focused work. Outside of work, you can find Bowe exploring the backcountry of where we they end up and making watercolor paintings and writing poems about the same. Bowe dreams of someday bringing nature based rite of passage healing to low income parents and families.

Chloe Stanage

Program Guide

Lead by the legacy woven into her name, Chloe Ku'ulei (sweetgrass who holds the circle) is a container for many. Stemming from the nature infused cultures of the Hawaiian, Haida and Celtic Peoples, and flowing from the vibrant colours of the Roma, Corsican, and Italian legacies of her ancestors, Chloe carries not only enormous colour in her story, but song, dance, play, and creating of all things that come from the hands. She is a sailor, writer, ceramist, and student of the land, pouring herself into learning from those who have come before her, and considering the ways in which her devotion shapes space for those who are to follow. Her journey, which has by and large been influenced by continuous openness to Mystery and release, has informed her that commitment to rebirth means commitment to surrender, trust, and Love. A licensed mental health counsellor specializing in somatic therapy, internal family systems therapy, and existential / schema- focused narrative therapy, she is passionate about grief-work, understanding the intersections of the individual and collective soul, and journeys with her clients as they move through the intimacies of making more space for themselves in the world. Having spent her last years invested in working exclusively with young people as a therapist and teacher, she believes deeply in the power of connection and witness, and is honoured to join the Rite of Passage community. Chloe's practical experience within the embrace of nature includes: canoe guiding with Indigenous communities along the North-West coast of Vancouver Island, circumnavigation by sailboat Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, and the Interior British Columbia coast, as well as much personal time spent rock climbing, cycling, and backpacking Alaska, southern British Columbia and Vancouver Island. Time spent outside of nature includes activities such as: gardening, singing, beekeeping, and all things herbally oriented. A pilgrim in her own right, she has walked the Camino De Santiago in Spain, the Sh'víl Yeshú in Israel, and has lived with the Monastic community of Taize, in France. The opportunity to guide a pilgrimage of threshold crossing for young women is a dream of her heart she is so grateful to be part of.