Rendezvous 2024 a Raging Success

If you notice a field of tents camped out around North Routt County’s Fetcher Barn over the weekend of July 13-14, don’t go reporting another Rainbow Festival. Rocky Mountain Youth Corps once again hosted its annual Rendezvous campout for crew members, celebrating the mid-point of the 2024 summer season. In all, the event drew over a hundred crew members and staff to the banks of Steamboat Lake on Fetcher Ranch for a weekend of camaraderie, storytelling, games, campfires, music, and more, celebrating all things RMYC.

Held every year since 2008, the Rendezvous is for RMYC’s Conservation Corps program and is designed as a mid-season meet-up for trail crew members who have been out working hard in the field on everything from trail-building and fence work to wildfire-mitigation efforts. “It’s not just about catching up; it’s about celebrating the heart and soul we pour into our work,” says RMYC’s Lauren VandenHurk. “While reuniting with everyone is super fun, it isn’t just a chance to swap stories and share laughs—it reminds us why what we do matters. It’s a nod to the trails we’ve restored, the connections we’ve made, and the communities we’ve enriched through our collective efforts.”

This year’s Rendezvous included several new events as well, including the chance to fill out forms for a new field-testing partnership RMYC has enacted with outdoor gear-maker partner Big Agnes, providing its R&D team with valuable performance evaluations, as well as a special guest band appearance highlighted by RMYC’s founder and former CEO Gretchen Van de Carr. The three-day event celebrated all things RMYC, which is coming off its 30th anniversary while continuing its tradition of engaging young people in the outdoors while linking community, education, and environment through service. It gave its crews a welcome reprieve from their work on everything from community cleanups and tree planting projects to GIS programming, historic structure preservation, hydrology and archaeology projects, beetle kill removal, and more.
While it might have looked like a Rainbow Gathering—and rainbows have indeed graced most of the Rendezvous events—this one simply showcased everything and everyone that makes RMYC so special. And no matter that this year’s took place in the same heat that has descended upon the rest of the state, showing the same resilience and adaptability as they do on the trails, the crews cannonballed into Steamboat Lake to cool off.

“It was just a great chance to recharge, reminisce, and reaffirm our commitment to the work we all love,” says VandenHurk. “It’s a super fun get-together for everyone.”