Ridge Runners
Adventure. Skills. Leadership. The Outdoors.
Saturdays | 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
Ages 8–12 and 13+
Ridge Runners is an outdoor youth program designed to get young people outside, moving, learning, and building real-world skills.
Based at OARS' 50-acre outdoor site in Cuba, NY, Ridge Runners gives youth the opportunity to explore trails, meadows, and wooded areas while developing practical outdoor skills, confidence, leadership, and a deeper understanding of the natural world.
This isn't a program where kids sit inside and listen to someone talk about the outdoors.
They learn by doing.
What Will Ridge Runners Do?
Depending on the season and program session, Ridge Runners may include:
🌲 Hiking & Trailcraft
Learn how to travel safely outdoors, prepare a daypack, read trail conditions, navigate terrain, and become responsible trail users.
🧭 Navigation & Orienteering
Learn compass skills, map reading, route planning, orienteering, and eventually create and use maps of the landscape.
🔥 Campcraft & Outdoor Skills
Build practical skills related to shelter, fire safety, outdoor cooking, knots, gear, and responsible camping.
🔎 Nature & Naturalist Skills
Explore the plants, animals, geology, soils, weather, and ecological systems that make up the OARS landscape.
🛠️ Outdoor Problem-Solving
Youth will be challenged to think critically, work together, solve problems, and make decisions in real outdoor situations.
🌎 Stewardship
Learn what it means to care for trails, habitats, wildlife, and the places we all share.
🏕️ Adventure & Exploration
Sometimes the best lesson is simply getting outside, exploring somewhere new, and figuring things out along the way.
Two Age Groups. Growing Skills.
Ridge Runners is organized into two age groups:
Ridge Runners | Ages 8–12
Younger participants build a strong foundation in outdoor skills through hands-on activities, exploration, games, challenges, and guided adventures.
The emphasis is on confidence, curiosity, teamwork, safety, and learning foundational outdoor skills.
Ridge Runners | Ages 13+
Older youth take their skills further through more challenging navigation, outdoor problem-solving, leadership, stewardship, and increasingly independent field experiences.
Participants may also have opportunities to take on youth leadership responsibilities, helping younger Ridge Runners and developing communication, decision-making, and mentoring skills.
More Than an Outdoor Program
Ridge Runners intentionally connects outdoor experiences with science, mathematics, environmental stewardship, and leadership.
A compass becomes a lesson in geometry and spatial reasoning.
A trail becomes an opportunity to study ecosystems, erosion, geology, and landforms.
Building a shelter becomes an exercise in engineering and problem-solving.
Reading the landscape becomes a lesson in ecology and observation.
The goal is to help young people see that learning doesn't stop when you leave the classroom.
Saturdays at OARS
Every Saturday | 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
Ridge Runners meets outdoors at OARS and operates as a seasonal program, with activities changing throughout the spring, summer, and fall.
Participants should come prepared for active outdoor learning in changing weather and terrain.
Specific activities may vary based on weather, seasonal conditions, group needs, and current OARS programming.
Who Is Ridge Runners For?
Ridge Runners is for young people who:
Love being outside
Want to learn practical outdoor skills
Enjoy exploring and asking questions
Want to become more confident outdoors
Like building, making, navigating, and solving problems
Want to learn about nature
Enjoy working as part of a team
Are ready for adventure
No prior outdoor experience is required.
Come curious. We'll build the skills together.
Come Run the Ridge.
Ridge Runners is about more than learning how to hike, navigate, build, or camp.
It's about giving young people the confidence to figure things out, work together, take responsibility, and become capable stewards of the places they explore.
Saturdays • 10 AM–1 PM • Ages 8–12 & 13+
Get outside. Learn something. Build a skill. Find your trail.