Teens' Camping Tour of the West Inc was born from the dream of C. Peter Cole to take teenagers to see the wonders of the West and use the adventure of travel to guide young people down the path of self-discovery. TCTW took its first trips West in 1967 in VW Busses. From the success of that summer, and years of labors of love by Peter Cole, Doug Gill, and current director Sassy Smyth, TCTW has expanded to the age of mini-busses, customized trailers and an informative websites. TCTW has accepted participants from all over the world, but finds its main draw from Virginia and the Carolinas.
In 2013 TCTW inducted its third director, Sassy Smyth. Through the years TCTW has molded its program to embody six significant principles: love yourself, love others, appreciate nature, realize that you have been given unique gifts, recognize that it is your responsibility to use those gifts to make your corner of the world a better place, all while giving praises to our maker. It is these six principles that we hope all participants will come to embrace and practice throughout their lives.
Our goal is leadership and spiritual development for teenagers with the notion that raising up spiritually strong leaders is part of building a better world. TCTW with over 4,000 past participants has proudly been engaged in this mission for 47 years.
While things seem pretty stable right now, so much regarding the pandemic is still fluid. TCTW will follow ALL recommended guidelines. This could include mask wearing and social distancing when in public, following group size limitations for gatherings and picnicking, park/trail/beach closures, etc. At this point in time, it is impossible for me to tell you exactly what these policies will be in June and July. While I hope things will be "normal", it is our plan and commitment to follow the guidance of public health officials throughout the summer to protect ourselves and the communities through which we travel.
Our adherence to these guidelines and policies affects the relationships TCTW has with campgrounds, parks and the National Park Service in the future. It is my hope to continue to return to and be welcome in all the places we travel, and part of ensuring those relationships is doing what is asked of us.
I want us all to be in agreement and on the same page that we will follow the guidelines and help ensure a great summer not only for us, but the communities we travel through this summer as well.
If selected to travel with us this summer, you will receive detailed guidance on what this will look like closer to the trip and hopefully the update this year will be very minimal!
Vaccines: One of the biggest hurdles TCTW faces in regards to Covid and running a successful trip is what happens if someone on the trip has a close exposure, exhibits symptoms and/or tests positive for Covid. The nature of our trip and how we travel simply cannot accommodate quarantining (Quarantining would involve a parent flying to meet their child so that they can be quarantined while the trip travels on). Isolating one participant or even a whole van and continuing to travel would be next to impossible. An exposure could be trip ending for all of us. One solution to help reduce the likelohood of that occuring is being vaccinated and boosted. Even a small reduction in risk of infection is a meaningful reduction for a trip such as this where we have a compounded risk as we have so many individuals traveling with us. From a logistical standpoint, if there is a surge that causes the National Park Service to return to more strict Covid policies, we have the most flexibility when the group is vaccinated. As such, vaccination will be required for participants in 2023.
I understand the choice to vaccinate is a personal one, but with the way our tour is structured, this is the best option to help us have a successful trip. Each participant will have to provide proof of full vaccination in order to travel with us this summer.
All of the staff this summer will be vaccinated and boosted in order to give us the best chance at running an uninterrupted 23 day trip.