Father & Son Rite of Passage 2025

Two people posing in front of unique red rock formations under a clear blue sky.

Colorado: Boys Rite of Passage Expedition

Before leading others, we chose to walk this path ourselves.

Colorado was a father and son expedition - a pioneering journey designed to test, refine, and experience firsthand the kind of Rite of Passage journey we hoped to lead one day for other young men and their fathers.

For six days, my son and I stepped away from comfort, noise, distraction, and routine...and into the mountains of Colorado.

I had conversations planned for each day around what I consider to be the four pillars of an honorable man:

Community
Identity
Spirituality
Grit

Some lessons came through long windshield time and honest conversations.

Others through silence in the mountains.

Some through physical exhaustion on the trail.

Others through laughter, singing, breathtaking views, reflections besides rivers, forests and open skies.

A boy in pajamas writing in a notebook while sitting on a bed.

Community

One of the greatest challenges facing young men today is isolation.

This experience created intentional time for connection through shared experience.

On the first night, my son opened 20 handwritten letters from men in his life that are ready to support him through his journey.

Person writing in a notebook outdoors with mountains in the background.

Identity

Every young man eventually begins asking himself questions that shape the course of his life:

Who am I?

What do I believe about myself?

Am I enough?

Modern culture offers endless noise around identity, achievement, image, and status.

But the mountains have a way of stripping those things away.

Out there, there was no performance. No audience. No masks. Only honesty.

This journey created space for deeper conversations to surface naturally between father and son.

White and gold Buddhist stupa with mountain backdrop and purple flowers.

Spirituality

Spirituality was not approached through pressure or labels. it was explored through silence, gratitude, wonder, journaling, and recognizing how small we are beneath towering mountains and endless skies.

There were moments in nature where something deeper was felt and heard if we were still enough to listen to it.

Boy flexing muscles on a rocky hill with mountains in the background.

Grit

Growth rarely happens inside of comfort.

The hikes, the altitude, fatigue, uncertainty and physical demands of the journey became part of the curriculum itself.

Not to prove toughness. To develop resilience.

To learn that discomfort is not something to fear. It is often the gateway to confidence, maturity and growth.

As we climbed, we talked about what discomfort feels like when it's in our heads and in our hearts, not just our bodies. Sometimes it's in hard conversations. Sometimes it's in grief. Sometimes it's in regrets.

Grit is a mans ability to be in his discomfort.