Lost Creek Wilderness

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Best Spring Hikes near Denver

It’s spring in the Front Range! The grass is green, the birds are singing, there’s snow in the mountains…wait, there’s still snow in the mountains?!? If you’re craving some warm sunshine before the high country has melted out, check out these trails close to home for some of the best spring hikes near Denver. The… Read more »

STRIVE Prep Federal Explore Outside

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STRIVE Prep – Federal Students Find Wonder at White Ranch

Fire is both destructive and a source of regeneration. The students of STRIVE Prep – Federal took this lesson of the duality of fire to everything they accomplished over the two weeks of their Explore Outside program. They broke down barriers and generated new and incredible skills! The students came together to overcome challenges, spend… Read more »

STRIVE Sunnyside Explore Outside

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Sunnyside Students Explore Outside

Beginning my first season as a Cottonwood Instructor, I was thrilled to hit the ground running with one of our Explore Outside programs! On June 1st, our two-week program with STRIVE Prep – Sunnyside 8th graders began. During our time together, we covered all kinds of content that got us exploring the natural world. We… Read more »

#ExploreOutside Session 2

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CASA students #ExploreOutside from home!

Cottonwood Institute has always promoted a life of learning, loving, and living nature. This means disconnecting from our ever-connected devices and reconnecting to the natural world through all of our senses. We encourage our students to observe animal behaviors, to listen to whispers of the wind through the trees, to feel the texture of the… Read more »

Explore Outside Tarp Shelter

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Students #ExploreOutside with Online CI Programs!

New in the summer of 2020: Cottonwood Institute’s #ExploreOutside online program! That’s right—a program that puts two instructors and a group of students in a Zoom conference to do the exact opposite of what 99% of people are doing on Zoom these days—think about nature and get outdoors! The first session of this new program,… Read more »