Young Adults Nature Based Rite of Passage
Jun 6th, 2025 - Jun 17th, 2025 | Inyo Mountains - Big Pine, California | Nick LaHaise, Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach
This Rite of Passage is a ceremonial and utterly real opportunity to define yourself and be thoroughly welcomed into adulthood for exactly who you are.
You are our next generation of world leaders and stewards, our next generation of teachers and care-givers, of artists and scientists, of land tenders and culture curators. You will inherit a planet in immense and immediate need for your unique brilliance.
How are you being supported, right now, to explore your authenticity, to discover your purpose, to cultivate your gifts, to realize your belonging, to be prepared to inherit your future and to be recognized as an adult?
Between Adolescence and Adulthood there is a vast territory of initiatory and transformative life experiences. From leaving home and pursuing education or work, to brain development and cultivation of your identity, to exploration of sexuality and the journey of belonging to a land and a community. This phase of being human is ripe for the development of true Self. However, in our modern society, support for the cultivation and recognition of authentic selves are rare. More often prioritized are the right “fits and filters”, the trending brand, the achievement of standardized expectations, the acceptance into a college or career…
It is your human right to be supported in cultivating self-trust, in exploring and understanding your identities, in developing your gifts and discovering how your personal purpose can serve your communities, in receiving a thorough welcome into your innate belonging in society and the natural world as an adult.
Intentional Rites of Passages, create opportunities to do just that.
The Young Adult Nature Based Rite of Passage is a ceremony of inquiry, insight, and initiation. It will be a space to explore vital aspects of yourself, to ask critical questions, to test the edges of your knowledge and gather wisdom. To be witnessed in your vulnerability and your courage and create profound relationships with yourself, others, and the natural world.
You will be supported, recognized, and empowered by whole hearted and initiated adults. Together we will lean into the edges of growth, learning along the way about the emergent unfolding realm we call adulthood. We invite you to immerse your whole being into contact with the natural world. Bring your concerns, your challenges, your grief and your prayers, your rage and your fear…as well as the dreams only you can dream.
Our future depends on the next generation of initiated adults. People who are rooted in their deepest truths, who are enlivened by their passions and griefs, who are ready to contribute their gifts and purposes to the world.
This program is for individuals 18 to 28 years old of all identities. Who bring their courageous intentions of stepping across the threshold into adulthood.
For more detailed information about what the program entails, please refer to this Rite of Passage Orientation and Overview letter written by your guide Grae. If you are a parent, guardian, mentor, teacher or advocate for a person 18 -28 years old who you are considering recommending and would like to learn more about the importance of Rites of Passage for young adults, please refer to this Letter to the Allies of Young Adults also written by Grae.
If you are considering attending this program, or recommending this program to a young adult in your community, and you have any questions we highly recommend reaching out and having a conversation with Gretchen “Grae” Gerlach via [email protected]
“The Coming of Age vision fast with School of Lost Borders changed my life. It is a hard time to be a young person—nothing feels certain and finding one’s roots and place on Earth can sometimes seem impossible… Through support from the incredible guides, teachings from the desert, and my time in solitude, I was shown that I have the capacity for finding deep belonging and groundedness in the natural world, in my community, and within myself. “- Alder Young Adult Rite of Passage 2024
“My own ceremony on the mountain is still the source of strength, inspiration and prayer that allows me to take the whole world-its shadow and its light- into my heart, and decide from there what is mine to do.” -Justine Epstein Age24
“We young people need invitations in our own lives to understand how these times are really initiating us as humanity to be more awake, aware, caring, and responsible for ourselves, our people and the Earth.” -Justine Epstein Age24
Submit Waitlist form
This program is full; however, you may add your name to the Waitlist by clicking the Waitlist button below.
Submit enrollment form
Please fill out and submit the enrollment form and then pay the program deposit below. Before you pay the deposit, please read deposit section below, all deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. After your enrollment form is complete, please submit all health and liability forms.
Pay program deposit
Deposits: This deposit signifies your commitment to the program and is deducted from the tuition balance. All deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. They cover the work of the specific course you signed up for, including all communication involved as well as the fee that guides pay to the school administration for the course accounting.
Additional Deposit: Some programs require a second deposit to help us affirm commitments. Last minute cancellations make it hard to fill openings and incur a loss of income to the School and the guides.
Tuition Balance: Balance of tuition can be paid before or upon arrival. Simply deduct any deposits made from the amount you’ve chosen on the sliding scale.
Additional course details & Materials
Please plan to arrive by the afternoon of June 5th. We will complete our time late afternoon or early evening of June 17th. Additional information will be provided upon enrollment. ADDITIONAL FEES: Camping Fee $50 per individual will be collected at the time of the program. We will give a packing list and more preparation details by email.
You will be responsible for bringing your own food and equipment, though we can provide some gear if needed. We ask everyone to come prepared to live self-sufficiently. You will need to bring shelter and clothing suitable for a full range of inclement weather.
All participants must submit the required health questionnaire and liability form.
If you have questions about the enrollment process contact us at [email protected] or call 760-938-3333.
Coming of Age in the Wilderness, A Handbook for Youth by Steven Foster & Meredith Little (included in tuition). Although not required, the video Lost Borders: Coming of Age in the Wilderness by Kim Shelton, skillfully portrays the powerful dimensions of this experience. All publications are available through Lost Borders Press.
We will gather in the eastern mountains of Payahuunadü (also known as the Inyo Mountains outside of Big Pine, California). These are the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Nüümü and Newe people.
To learn more about our commitment to regenerative relationships please visit Cultural Relations.
