By Date

Update: The Spring 2012 Vision Quest is full.  If you want to be put on a waiting list for this program, send an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to Rites of Passage requesting this.  There is still room on most of our other upcoming programs, check our schedule for dates.

This nine-day program will be held in the beautiful and wild Owlshead Mountains, at the south end of Death Valley National Park. This is one of our favourite places, with stunning canyons, signs of ancient peoples, and the presence of diverse desert wildlife, including the rare Death Valley iguana. This is a walk-in base camp of one fairly easy mile.

The group will gather at a campground on Saturday, March 17 at 10 a.m. in the town of Tecopa, CA, about a 2 hour drive from Las Vegas, where there are healing hot springs.  After one night there, the program will move to the Owlshead Mountains base camp.  After the solo, there will be one last night in Tecopa before the program ends by noon on Sunday, March 25.

Program Staff:

Linda Sartor holds a Ph.D. in Integral Studies and an M.S. in environmental education, and is a faculty member at St. Mary's College. She has led Vision Quest programs for 15 years, having trained with Rites of Passage and the School of Lost Borders. With a passion for collaboration, Linda works toward facilitating groups with the intention that each individual member brings forth his/her own contribution in service of the group's purpose as well as having the group support its individuals in their unique purposes.

Doug Paxton, MBA, Ph.D. is a learner, educator, writer, and artist who is passionate about how we learn from our own experience and connect to the people and places around us. He currently teaches in the area of Values, Leadership and Sustainable Organizational Change at Saint Mary's College of California. Having completed the Rites of Passage Guide Training Program, Doug brings his long experience with teaching and facilitation in support of people who wish to discover their inner gifts on the Vision Quest.

Tuition: $400 (vs. our normal tuition of $1,245), includes food (except 2-3 restaurant meals), follow-up individual and group contacts.

We have together decided to offer this program based on the idea of a "Gift Economy." We wish to use this program to practice giving and receiving from the heart, with no set obligation. With this approach, reciprocity is a key element. We will charge only $400 upfront, just to cover our basic costs. At the end of the program, we'll invite members of the quest group to consider their ability to pay, value received, and willingness to support our work in the world, and to offer a reciprocal gift for what has been received. This will be an opportunity to give without any coercion or expectation.