About
Brave Trails offers leadership training and leadership workshops along with backpacking, meet-up groups, and online activities for LGBTQ+ youth. The program includes accredited summer camps, backpacking trips, family camps, mental health services, meet-up groups, and year-round leadership programming. Activities also include a queer-focused backpacking trip exploring the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Brave Spaces, which are year-round in-person and virtual meet-ups for LGBTQ+ youth.
• Ages: 12–18 years old
• Schedule: Seven-day LGBTQ+ backpacking program; 7 weeks of overnight leadership camp made up of four 9-day sessions and one 5-day session
Since 2014, Brave Trails has focused on LGBTQ+ youth leadership and states that all programs focus on helping LGBTQ+ youth find their people, their place, and their passion. Camp Brave Trails is described as a leadership-focused, overnight summer camp for LGBTQ+ youth, and Brave Trails Family Camp weekends are offered, including two LGBTQ family camps where 141 campers had a camp experience with other families. The organization reports that it offers accredited summer camps and that Brave Trails Family Camp is a space where LGBTQ families can build community, enjoy camp activities in nature, and make family memories.
Brave Trails describes itself as a year-round community offering family camps, activities, and LGBTQ+ affirming mental health services, including 950+ hours of queer-affirming mental health services to youth in California. High adventure trips are described as giving LGBTQ+ youth ages 14–19 the opportunity to learn how to backpack and build community in a supported environment, and one such trip took 10 campers and 4 staff on a backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Brave Trails also runs Brave Spaces meet-ups for LGBTQ+ youth ages 12–17, both in person and online.
The organization reports that it proudly offers at least $125,000 in financial assistance funds every year and that it was able to award $200,000 in financial assistance to campers in need. In one year, Brave Trails provided 7 weeks of overnight leadership camp with four 9-day sessions in California and New York and one 5-day session in Georgia, and hosted its first session in the southeast in Atlanta, Georgia, welcoming 67 campers and 31 staff. It also hosted two LGBTQ family camps in Los Angeles and Georgia, and continued construction of a “forever home” property that is described as the first-ever summer camp and community space solely dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth.
Brave Trails reports that it has served 2,220 LGBTQ youth over the past 10 summers, with campers from 50 different states and 19 different countries. In one season, the program served over 388 campers from 39 states and 9 countries, hired 50 paid staff and 90 volunteers, and refers to this group as a “unicorn team” serving as role models to the LGBTQ+ youth in the program. The organization states that it awards $125,000 or more in financial aid annually and uses the phrase “Empowering LGBTQ+ Leaders Since 2015.” One camper described their experience by saying, “What most people call camp, I call home.”
Last updated July 1, 2026.
• Ages: 12–18 years old
• Schedule: Seven-day LGBTQ+ backpacking program; 7 weeks of overnight leadership camp made up of four 9-day sessions and one 5-day session
Since 2014, Brave Trails has focused on LGBTQ+ youth leadership and states that all programs focus on helping LGBTQ+ youth find their people, their place, and their passion. Camp Brave Trails is described as a leadership-focused, overnight summer camp for LGBTQ+ youth, and Brave Trails Family Camp weekends are offered, including two LGBTQ family camps where 141 campers had a camp experience with other families. The organization reports that it offers accredited summer camps and that Brave Trails Family Camp is a space where LGBTQ families can build community, enjoy camp activities in nature, and make family memories.
Brave Trails describes itself as a year-round community offering family camps, activities, and LGBTQ+ affirming mental health services, including 950+ hours of queer-affirming mental health services to youth in California. High adventure trips are described as giving LGBTQ+ youth ages 14–19 the opportunity to learn how to backpack and build community in a supported environment, and one such trip took 10 campers and 4 staff on a backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Brave Trails also runs Brave Spaces meet-ups for LGBTQ+ youth ages 12–17, both in person and online.
The organization reports that it proudly offers at least $125,000 in financial assistance funds every year and that it was able to award $200,000 in financial assistance to campers in need. In one year, Brave Trails provided 7 weeks of overnight leadership camp with four 9-day sessions in California and New York and one 5-day session in Georgia, and hosted its first session in the southeast in Atlanta, Georgia, welcoming 67 campers and 31 staff. It also hosted two LGBTQ family camps in Los Angeles and Georgia, and continued construction of a “forever home” property that is described as the first-ever summer camp and community space solely dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth.
Brave Trails reports that it has served 2,220 LGBTQ youth over the past 10 summers, with campers from 50 different states and 19 different countries. In one season, the program served over 388 campers from 39 states and 9 countries, hired 50 paid staff and 90 volunteers, and refers to this group as a “unicorn team” serving as role models to the LGBTQ+ youth in the program. The organization states that it awards $125,000 or more in financial aid annually and uses the phrase “Empowering LGBTQ+ Leaders Since 2015.” One camper described their experience by saying, “What most people call camp, I call home.”
Last updated July 1, 2026.
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