I'm Mark Levin and I serve as the director for MindStretch Travel Adventures. I got my start in outdoor education as a camp counselor during and immediately after my college years when I worked in a North Carolina camp for seven summers. I got the itch to start my own camp and launched Open Road Experiences, a travel camp, in 1978. I was teaching school at the time (still am, kind of) and had my whole summer free so those early years included some very long trips stretching out as long as seven weeks for one trip one summer. I usually offered two trips each summer, a long one and a shorter one.

I married Barbara Poole in 1981 (she was also a camp person) and she followed me deep into the North Carolina mountains to start our own residential boys' camp in 1982. TrailRidge Mountain Camp operated for 15 summers as a residential camp until the property was sold. Then I returned to my "roots" by running TrailRidge as a travel camp like the old Open Road days. The TrailRidge business was transferred to a couple from Asheville who took it over for me for several years and I continued to help them until 2004 when MindStretch Travel Adventures took on a life of its own.

Currently I'm working at Carolina Day School in Asheville, NC. I've spent over 30 years in school settings as both a teacher (full-time for 20 plus years) and am now serving as director of communications. I'm also a musician (keyboardist), photographer, and geocaching enthusiast. Bobbie and I live in Columbus, NC on ten acres of land inhabited by us and several pets and a few wild animals.

Other Staff Members...
Each trip is made up of usually three or four adult staff members including myself. These are often teachers who have experience working with kids in both classroom and outdoor settings. Many staff members come year after year. Ray Thompson, for example, who has been on my past few trips was helping me with my very first Europe trip in 1981. On occasion parents come along as staff members. Let me know if you're interested in how this might work.

My leaders and I are all on every adventure and every activity we do. We all have years and years of experience of working with students. We have the maturity to make good judgment calls when it comes to safety and the well-being of your son. It makes a difference having the leaders with your son at all times. We might seem "old," but we're young at heart and seasoned in people skills. We work with each boy to make sure their experience with us is positive and memorable. Boys return year after year.