Your application is due April 15, 2025. You will need to create a CampInTouch account in order to submit your application. Once your application has been received and reviewed, your parent/guardian will receive an “Account Reset” email from Camp Chewonki. The link in this email will take you directly to your CampMinder account and bypass all steps for setting up an account and paywalls. You will not need to enter any financial information. The only section within your account that you are likely to need is the “Forms & Documents” tab — this is where you will access all required forms. You and your parent or guardian will need to fill out all the required paperwork in this section; required paperwork is bolded. All forms must be completed before April 15th.

Required paperwork for this summer experience includes:

• Health History

• Participant Behavior Agreement

• Physician Exam

On an as-needed basis, you may also need to download and complete the following forms:

• Asthma Action Plan

• Food Allergy Action Plan

• Non-food Allergy Action Plan

• Psychotropic Medication Plan

• Self-Administered Emergency Medication

There are no required orientations or workshops prior to attending this Summer Experience. Just make sure to attend your Goodbye Group to receive your equipment and travel itinerary, and to meet the other Summer Searchers who will be traveling with the same program!

Hike part of the Appalachian Trail and paddle the length of the Allagash River, to where it connects to the St. John River near the Canadian border. You’ll get to backpack, conquer rapids, build campsites, learn knots, wood processing, and cooking over a fire, explore an old tramway, and enjoy the beauty of the North Maine Woods!

Departure Information: 

Arrive at Magnolia Bakery, Moynihan Train Hall, Penn Station by 6:00am on August 3rd. Summer Search staff will meet students and ensure they board safely but will not travel with them. Students will be taking a charter bus booked by Summer Search to the Chewonki campus. The bus will have wifi and bathrooms and can make stops for food/breaks along the way, but students should eat breakfast before and pack lunch and snacks for the journey. Chewonki staff will meet them once they’ve arrived at basecamp, and students will begin their excursion the following day. 

Return Information: 

Students will depart from Chewonki basecamp at 10:00am on August 16th. The charter bus drive home should take between 8-9 hours. Chewonki will provide students with a pack lunch. Once students arrive at NY Penn, students will be able to go home on their own, or they may be picked up by a parent/guardian. Students should coordinate pick-up time/location with parents and guardians individually – Summer Search staff will not be meeting students on their return. 

This is a camping trip — you will be sleeping in tents and you will not have access to a bathroom. Don’t worry! Summer Search will provide any equipment you’ll need (including biodegradable soap) and the program staff will teach you how to feel at home in the outdoors.

These trips will be NYC Summer Searchers only. It’s a great opportunity for you to meet and get to know other students in our program!

You will not be able to use your phones or any electronic device that connects to the internet once you arrive at Basecamp with program leaders. However, limited communication with family/friends back home is available.

Parents and Guardians are always able and welcome to call Summer Search if necessary — leaders always have working cell phones and service, and we can reach out on your behalf in case of emergency.

The best way to communicate with somebody on a Chewonki trip is to write them a letter. Most trips have an opportunity to receive and send mail during a resupply. Please limit mail to letters, no packages. If there is urgent communication that needs to be shared with participants, it can be communicated through the Chewonki office and they can get the message to the trip leaders.

In case of emergency, please use our 24/7 hotline - Summer on Call. Learn more about this service here.

No spending money is necessary for this program, but you may keep cash or credit cards on you if you’d like — you may want to buy snacks along the way!

Click here to view the Chewonki x Summer Search packing list. A guide to the equipment we provide can be found on our FAQs + Resources page, along with other helpful links and info — check it out!