Gap Year Programs
for adventurous spirits

Build life skills. Be true to yourself.
Satisfy your thirst for community.
Take a transformative gap year!

Gap Year Opportunities to Discover Yourself

An outdoor gap year program adventure, four smiling teens are backpacking with mountains in the background.

EXPLORE WITH A
TIGHT KNIT COMMUNITY

Here you have the chance to be seen and accepted for who you are.  You might feel like you're coming home or feel a sense of closeness we all crave. Share challenging & crazy adventures that create unparalleled friendships.

A young woman learning from a farmer outdoors in a garden.

FIND
PURPOSE

You don’t want to sign up for an ordinary Gap Year program; you want to co-create adventures.  Rules? How about choices and opportunities? Here you can be what matters.

Six teenagers participating in a wilderness gap year have fun posing for a group photo.

FEEL INSPIRED
& PLAYFUL

Join us if you want to feel inspired; if you embrace homespun and informal fun; wilderness adventure; if you're intrigued by dumpster diving, skinny dipping and being real. Be ready to laugh hard and feel high on life.

A teenager spreads her arms, celebrating on top of a mountain.

MAXIMIZE YOUR
FREEDOM

Here you'll find your voice will be respected and heard. We believe that choice matters. You'll find a place where part of freedom is having the courage to take ownership of what you choose.

Upcoming Gap Year Programs

FALL 2023

Grow greens, climb mountains, create community, travel off the beaten path:

Join us for the fall semester

Take a semester to challenge yourself and grow in ways you never thought possible. Explore the Colorado wilderness and local rural community living. The program finishes with an immersive group road trip to Mexico. You will emerge from the program with skills and self-knowledge that are strong assets to a college education or whatever life-path you choose to take.

From: Aug 23 To: Nov 15, 2023

Two spaces available.  Apply now!

Learn about the fall gap year program

Spring 2024

Travel the world with a group of off-the-beaten path travelers and ask big questions:

Join the spring semester

For 14 weeks you will explore themes of community and freedom in three unique locations--India, the desert SW, and Colorado. You will dig into the skills that make life meaningful and exciting as you discover new cultures and build self-knowledge. You will emerge from the program with a greater understanding of the world and the and skills to build community wherever you go. 

From: Feb 15 To: May 23, 2024

Applications Open

Explore an amazing spring gap year opportunity


What past participants say about our gap year programs

Two young women talking about their gap year experience with mountains in the background.
A young man hiking in the wilderness with mountains in the background.
A woman outdoors wearing a yellow fleece jacket smiling with red rock canyon in the background.
MORE TESTIMONIALS

HERO KLIMEK-BROOKS

Seattle, WA

My gap year at the High Desert Center was easily one of the most transformative, rich, and important experiences I’ve ever had. That year spent in the red canyons and tall mountains and juniper forests and small farms of Southwest Colorado brought me more growth, learning, joy and challenge than I ever imagined. Creating a strong, intentional community with the other participants and staff was a challenging and incredibly rewarding experience.

young man in a green chair outside
MORE TESTIMONIALS

TOWNER SCHUNK

Atlanta, GA

I joined the program unsure of who I was or what I wanted in life, and found a community that not only accepted me, but celebrated me for everything that I am. From day one, everyone wanted to tear down their walls and be as authentically themselves as possible.  I grew emotionally, physically, and mentally.  I truly believe anybody could gain something profound from coming to the HDC.

High Desert Center is recognized as a top rated Gap Year Program across the web.

"GoAbroad’s Top Rated Organizations of 2021"

High Desert Center Ranks #1 for Top Gap Year Providers for Fun

High Desert Center Ranks #1 for Top Gap Year Providers for Support 

Dev Carey, Director of the The High Desert Center and Gap Year Program leader.

Meet Dev Carey, co-director of the High Desert Center and all Gap Year opportunities.

Dev thrives on adventure, outdoors, and connection with others.  He’s had “normal” jobs like working for Sterling College, with inner city youth as a VISTA Volunteer, as a counselor at Not Back to School Camp, and as a river guide. He has a Ph.D. in ecology and still now and then writes plant and animal guides with local youth.

While working on his dissertation, he became an advocate for students and families who were looking for ways to learn outside of the classroom. That advocacy turned into the The Vision Program, a charter program of the Colorado Delta County Public School system. The program supports over 600 elementary, middle and high school students to design their own home and community based educations.

He loves building and living in funky sustainable houses, sharing land and meals with community, "adopted" teenagers and his family: Seraya, Huckleberry, and Marian.

His main work and passion is creating off-the-beaten path adventures with teenagers.