I want to plan a father-son adventure trip for my 15-year-old son and myself.

Requirements are:
Must be financially feasible - say $2,000 total cost or less - preferably a lot less.
Easily travel requirements - probably needs to be east of the Rockies and within the U.S.
Needs to be a little risky or dangerous - this is a manhood initiation adventure
Needs to be something fun for a teenage boy.
Should require some physical exertion and difficulty

Any ideas? My best idea so far was a skydiving adventure in a cool location - but I found out you can't go skydiving until you are at least 18years of age.

I think he might like a big whitewater rafting trip. But I need something a little tougher than a 2-hour guided float down a tourist stream.

I’ve never done it but I thought a canoe/camping/portage/ fishing trip through voyaguers national park in Minnesota would a great trip for something like this. My son is 7 but I have similar plans for when he is old enough to go on a trip like this. I’ll be following to find ideas.

I'll bet there are some good spelunking adventures back east.

What's he into?
Have done weeklong camping/ hiking/ fishing trips and trapping trips, and beach trips with my kids.

All grown and we are actually trying to figure out a trip we'd all enjoy.

Maybe Durango -Silverton steam train, with couple day ATV rental.
Squeeze in Battlefield Vegas machine gun rental and supercar track day.

LOL, guess I'm looking for ideas too!

Do you hike / camp / backpack?

Take him turkey hunting public land in Kansas. If I show up at the same time I can guarantee severe thunderstorms and tornadoes! Nothing gets the knuckles white while driving when trying to outrun one of those. For added adventure bet money he can’t run out and slap one of the bulls you’ll see laying down in a field. Even better, rent one of those abandoned homes in the middle of nowhere and listen to all the sounds it makes at night. I can promise he’ll leave there with a bunch of “don’t tell your mom” stories and wore out as well!!

^^^^ This, or in the Quetico in Canada. If you do not have a canoe or camping gear it would be a great reason to buy as you could get a lot more use from it in the future.
There are also many outfitters there you could rent from.

Zim

Great ideas

Take him scuba diving somewhere.

As a teen, a friend and I used to spend a lot of weekends canoe camping. You can go to places where there isn't anyone else. It's a comfortable way to camp because you can carry a lot of gear and food in a canoe. Just because you can get so far away from everyone else, you'll see nature that other "outdoorsmen" never see. You'll have to overcome problems that come up without anyone around to help you figure it out - wilderness is always an unexpected adventure. We had lots of locations where we, unexpectedly, had to portage canoe and camping gear. You really can get to the wilderness miles from another person.

We would pick a river and park vehicles at each end of our trip, sometimes 20+ miles apart and spend a few days slowly exploring the river. Some of the best memories of my teenage years.

x2

Awesome

Boundary waters canoe trip.

Too bad you limit yourself to the US.
There are hundreds of small,medium sized and large rivers that flow into James Bay through the NE Ontario and NW Quebec wilderness that are great canoe trips-all fur trade routes of the HBC.
The Missinaibi to Moose Factory is a good one.You can paddle it all the way from just north of Lake superior or do a half trip from Mattice on the trans Canada hwy cutting of a couple hundred miles.The Abitibi is another.If you do the Abitibi to Moose Factory you have to portage across to the Onakawanna at Otter rapids to avoid the 9 mile and 13 mile rapids north of Otter rapids-but the bonus is the Onakawanna is one of the best brook trout fisherys in the world.
Whichever River you take,they all drain into the Moose River eventually.You can pack your gear and canoes on the train at Moosonee when you get there and can ride back to Cochrane.

X3...^^^^

Some of the Florida springs are spectacular.

As are the Keys.

My best years were times I spent with my Dad doing stuff together.

Always a good time.

x2

We've already done some multi-day canoe camping trips on the rivers. I'm not sure that has enough risk/danger for us. The first river trip I took him on when he was seven, I was pretty scared because the normally flat river was flooded and really flowing - fast and some small white water and waves. I was scared I would lose my son but he was in bow busting waves, getting wet, having the ride of his life and loving every minute of it. You should have seen the look of satisfaction and achievement on his face when we finished that trip! Sadly, he's not much into paddling any more. It's too much like work. Same thing for hiking/backpacking. We've done a lot of it, including some trips that have been physically challenging. But he mostly sees this as something his Dad drags him along and makes him do. I'm trying to find something that will give him a thrill.

He's into guitars and is an exceptionally good player for only being 14. I really enjoy hearing him play. I don't know how I could build a manhood initiation adventure around that interest, though. Unlike his little brother, this son seems to have a negative attitude about everything. Not that he's a bad kid - he just never finds enjoyment or pleasure in anything. Even things I can visibly see he enjoyed - six weeks later he'll tell me how awful he remembers it being.

Scuba diving sounds like a real possibility. It could be a little scary and definitely has an element of danger. It requires preparation and training. It could involve a road-trip to Florida. His grandfather has done a lot scuba diving, too, so that is something we could share in common with him.

Spelunking is not a bad idea, either. Also requires some training - also an element of risk and conquering your fears.

A race car adventure might be possible - that's definitely up MY alley. But it could be humiliating for him to get smoked so badly by his old man in a racecar! It's impossible for me to go easy on anyone once I get a crash helmet on.

Thanks and keep the ideas coming boys!


Before qualifying for the initiation adventure, he will need to complete a physical challenge, a spiritual challenge, and an intellectual challenge. Each of those is something we will do together. Ultimately, I want the initiation adventure trip to be something he buys into. I want to come up with some challenging options and see what grabs him.

I would LOVE to do that! That sounds perfect for me. But I don't think it would grab him, much. Plus, I don't think I could get across the border and back not having been injected with the Trump vaccine and all. And, Canadians don't seem to favor my type of folk. I'm not sure I'd be welcome there.