A Day on the Lake. A Week Worth Remembering.
Youth Blast: Boat Adventure is built for teens who want a week that starts with community and ends with a story they will tell for years. The signature day is a full trip to Raystown Lake, where campers go tubing behind a motorboat, swim off the beach, and share devotions on the water. Everything about the week builds toward that day and then back from it.
Before and after Raystown, campers live the full Youth Blast experience. A high ropes course challenge. An overnight camp-out under the stars. A service project. Morning devotions, worship, and late-night cabin conversations that only happen when you have been on the water with the same crew all day. It is the kind of week that forms the friendships teens carry into the rest of the summer.
Lake Day. Ropes Day. Camp-Out Night.
A signature off-site adventure, two on-site highlights, and four days of full Youth Blast community.
Raystown Lake Day
The full-day off-site trip. Tubing behind a motorboat, swimming at the beach, and devotions on the water. It is the day the rest of the week points to.
High Ropes Challenge
Harness up and take on the Gretna Glen high ropes course. Trained staff, real elements, and a challenge built for teens who want more than a team-building exercise.
Overnight Under the Stars
One night, the cabin packs out of the bunkroom and sleeps under open sky. Campfire, stars, and the kind of late-night conversation that only happens outside.
Worship and Service
A service project during the week that puts faith into motion. Morning devotions and worship built for teens who want honest conversation, not performance.
Raystown Lake is the Signature
Raystown is one of Pennsylvania's most beautiful lakes, and the Boat Adventure day is what puts the Youth Blast week on the summer calendar for teens who come back every year.
Tubing behind a motorboat is the headline. Swimming off the beach, lunch on the water, and devotions with the whole group on the shore are the frame around it. Campers arrive already knowing each other from the first part of the week, so by the time the boats hit the water, the energy is already locked in.
Built for the Teen Who Wants a Real Adventure
Youth Blast is a flagship Gretna Glen program because teens who attend tell us what they needed was a week that treated them as capable. Not a program that ran on the same rhythm as the 8 year olds. Something with real stakes, real water, and real responsibility for each other.
The Boat Adventure version leans into the water and leadership side of that. Campers learn how to take care of each other in and around the lake. They earn the Raystown day by building the community that gets the most out of it. And the service project at the end reminds everyone that Youth Blast is about what the week points toward, not just what happens during it.
WHERE YOU'LL STAY
Campers stay in cabins on Gretna Glen's main campus. Cabins feature bunk beds, a changing area, and a modern shower house built in 2018. Youth Blast is a mainsite program. Meals are in the Dining Hall, and the cabin crew becomes the boat crew for Raystown.
WHAT PARENTS SHOULD KNOW
Drop-off is Sunday, 3-4 PM. Pick-up is Friday, 5-6 PM. The Raystown day is fully supervised by trained Gretna Glen staff and certified watercraft operators.
Gretna Glen is ACA-accredited, meeting over 300 health, safety, and quality standards. Hike and ropes leaders are trained in wilderness first aid, and staff are certified in Ministry Safe and UMC Risk Management. No prior boating experience required.
Off-Site Transportation
Gretna Glen staff transport campers to and from Raystown Lake. All transportation is included in the program cost.
WHO THIS PROGRAM IS FOR
- Teens 13 to 17 who want a real off-site adventure as part of their week
- Returning Gretna Glen campers ready to graduate into the Youth Blast experience
- Teens who light up on the water and love group outdoor challenges
- Youth group members looking for a week that builds real community