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Twin Eagles Wilderness School
eNewsletter - August 2026
Late Summer Greetings from Twin Eagles Wilderness School! Here in North Idaho, we are standing at that familiar threshold between summer and autumn. Thistle seeds are beginning to drift on the breeze, rose hips are turning red, blackberries are ripe, and the antlers of white-tailed bucks are now mostly full size and still covered in velvet. In the mountains, the elk rut is just beginning to stir, and before long the bugling of bull elk will once again carry through the cool morning air. The days are noticeably shortening now, mornings are beginning to cool, and families throughout our region are turning toward the rhythm of a new school year. This late summer has also brought tremendous challenges to many in the greater Spokane community through wildfires, and our hearts remain with the families and communities who have been impacted.
Here at Twin Eagles, we are making that seasonal turn as well. After a full season of summer camps filled with adventure, learning, connection, and plenty of unexpected adaptation along the way, we are now looking ahead to our autumn youth programs, especially our Spokane Monthly Youth Program, as well as the seasons beyond. We also have a look back at another memorable summer with the Twin Eagles community. Take a look!
Here is what we have in store for you in this month's eNewsletter:
- Monthly Youth Program in Spokane - Autumn 2026 - Spring 2027
- Homeschool Youth Nature Program - Autumn, Winter & Spring Blocks 2026-27
- Father-Son Wilderness Programs 2026-2027
- Summer Camps 2026 Retrospective
Twin Eagles Monthly Youth Program
For kids ages 6 - 13 · Spokane, WA
One consecutive Sat and Sun at a time · Two in the fall and two in the spring
We are excited to once again bring deep nature connection and traditional ecological knowledge to the Spokane community throughout the school year! Kids have a rare opportunity to slow down to nature’s pace and experience themselves as part of a community of passionate nature-based learners through activities such as animal tracking, natural shelter building, wild edible and medicinal plants, songs, storytelling, sensory awareness, group challenges, native crafts, local ecology, and much, much more.
The program meets for one consecutive Saturday and Sunday at a time, twice in the fall and twice in the spring, for a total of eight day-long sessions over the course of the school year. This unique format gives kids the opportunity to return to the same community again and again, deepening their outdoor skills, confidence, friendships, and connection with the natural world across the seasons.
Click here to learn more about Twin Eagles Monthly Youth Program and see this year’s dates!
Homeschool Youth Nature Program
Twin Eagles Community School
Weekly on Fridays in Sandpoint, Idaho
9:00 am - 3:00 pm · For kids ages 6 - 13
Autumn, Winter & Spring Seasonal Blocks
Twin Eagles Community School is the program that started it all for Twin Eagles Wilderness School, and this year we are entering our remarkable 22nd year of gathering homeschool youth on the land. For more than two decades, kids have come here to slow down, build real relationships with the natural world, and explore deep nature connection and the wilderness arts through nature-based mentoring.
Students step into the timeless roles of the naturalist, tracker, wanderer, herbalist, ecologist, survivalist, and scout, while being guided by mentors who train deeply not only in wilderness skills, but in the art of mentoring children through nature. Over the years, we have continued to refine a program culture built around curiosity, adventure, awareness, belonging, and a deep knowledge of place. Twenty-two years later, Twin Eagles Community School remains at the heart of what we do.
Click here to learn more about Twin Eagles Community School!
Father Son Wilderness Programs 2026-2027
For fathers and their 9 - 13 year old sons
Spring 2027 Session, May 27 - 31 (Memorial Day Weekend) - Now Open
Autumn 2026 Session, Sept 10 - 14 - Space remaining for one more family
Medicine Circle Eco-Retreat - Priest River, Idaho
There are only so many years when your son is this age, and so many of those years can pass in the rush of school, work, sports, screens, and everyday life. Our Father Son Wilderness Program creates five days to step outside of all of that and give your relationship something increasingly rare: real, uninterrupted time together. Since our first Father Son Wilderness Program in 2015, we have continued to refine and deepen this experience year after year, and our May 2027 gathering will mark the 15th time we have offered the program. Over more than a decade, it has become one of the signature experiences we offer at Twin Eagles, drawing fathers and sons from near and far who are looking for something deeper than an ordinary outdoor adventure.
Together, fathers and sons learn ancestral wilderness skills, track wild animals, build and sleep in natural shelters, explore traditional hunting and gathering techniques, and meet challenges that ask for courage, patience, teamwork, and trust. Along the way, the distractions fall away and there is room to simply be together, because it is often through that shared time, challenge, adventure, and presence that the bond between father and son deepens most naturally. Within a small circle of other fathers and sons, and supported by experienced mentors, families have the opportunity to strengthen their connection, create powerful shared memories, and come away knowing one another in a deeper way. Registration is now open for our May 27 - 31, 2027 Memorial Day Weekend program, and we also have space remaining for one more family in our September 2026 session.
Interested in our Father Son Wilderness Program? Learn more and sign up here.
Summer Camps 2026 - A Summer of Deep Connection
Another incredible summer of Twin Eagles Wilderness Adventure Camps has come to a close. Across Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene, Priest River, Spokane, and Bozeman, along with our overnight youth and teen camps, kids and teens spent their summer getting dirty, taking healthy risks, learning ancient wilderness skills, making new friends, and discovering just how much comes alive when we slow down and meet the natural world on its own terms.
There are more moments from this summer than we could ever capture here, but a few stories stand out. During our day camps, kids stalked turtles through lily pads, watched bald eagles fishing over the lake, learned flint-and-steel fire making, built shelters, played wild games, and followed their curiosity wherever the land led them. One group spent morning after morning getting to know a red squirrel so intimately that they began noticing its gait, tail movements, alarm behavior, and exactly how it opened Douglas fir cones to reach the seeds inside. During another Sandpoint day camp, a group of kids carefully followed the behavior of a mother dark-eyed junco until one of the children discovered her hidden nest, where three tiny nestlings lifted their enormous open mouths toward us, waiting to be fed. It was one of those precious moments when attention, curiosity, and stillness suddenly open a doorway into another world.
At our overnight camps, kids and teens went even deeper into wilderness skills, adventure, community, and connection, including learning bow drill and hand drill fire making. And at Teen Camp, thirteen young people stepped into the wilderness for a 24-hour survival solo, spending a full day and night alone on the land. For some, those hours opened into deeply personal encounters with the wild that went far beyond practicing survival skills, touching places of connection, meaning, family, and mystery that are difficult to put into words. Those are the moments that remind us what can happen when a young person becomes quiet enough to truly listen, and the living world begins to answer.
And through all of those skills and adventures, something deeper kept happening. We watched kids move from hesitation toward courage, from distraction toward stillness, and from simply being outside toward feeling that they actually belong in the natural world. During a culminating game of Scout Flag at one of our Sandpoint camps, kids who had initially been nervous about moving quietly through the forest eventually found themselves traveling alone, stealthily and confidently through the landscape. Again and again this summer, we watched nature become a place where kids discovered something new not only about plants, animals, tracking, and survival, but about themselves.
Sometimes the kids say it best:
"Since I’ve been here, I’ve been facing my fears and I’ve been stronger than I ever thought I could be."
- Kiki
"Stillness earns you trust with Mother Nature. If I’m still, I can trust myself."
- Nelson
"Nature taught me peace."
- Selah
The final weeks of our summer season also brought extraordinary challenges as wildfires and smoke impacted the greater Spokane area. We had to adapt quickly, make difficult decisions, and keep the safety of children, families, and staff at the center throughout. We remain deeply aware that for many families in the Spokane community, these fires were far more than a disruption to summer plans, and our hearts continue to be with everyone who was affected.
Even with those challenges, we finish this summer feeling incredibly grateful. Grateful for the kids who showed up with curiosity and courage. Grateful for the parents who trusted us with their children. And especially grateful for the remarkable staff and mentors who poured so much heart, knowledge, playfulness, and care into these programs.
The words of parents this summer have meant a great deal to us:
"Our experience at Twin Eagles has been out-of-the-park PHENOMENAL... The design of Twin Eagles meets children on the deepest levels and allows them to connect with and care for the natural world authentically and completely. This is the medicine the world needs."
- Natalie Britton
"Every time my daughter returns home, she comes back changed, more grounded, more connected, and more in tune with herself and the world around her... The growth I have seen in my daughter after these experiences has been profound."
- Sevanna Alvarez
"My son has attended multiple week-long day camps with Twin Eagles over the past 5 years. Unfailingly, he returns home with bright eyes, enthusiastic stories, and an ever deepening love, respect, and appreciation for the natural world."
- Larisa Noonan
Twenty-one years into this journey of Twin Eagles, summers like this continue to remind us why we do this work. We believe kids need wild places, meaningful challenges, skilled mentors, strong community, and experiences that help them remember that they are part of the living Earth. Watching that happen again and again this summer has filled our hearts.
Thank you to every child, teen, parent, staff member, volunteer, and family who helped make Summer 2026 what it was.
Late Summer Blessings,
Twin Eagles Wilderness School
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