Calleva is an awesome adventure-learning organization based out of Poolesville, Maryland, with sites everywhere from the Chesapeake Bay to National Harbor. Their Farm in Dickerson is home to one of the better Ropes courses I've seen (not to mention Markoff's Haunted Forest in season). Somehow I ended up in charge of our annual "outdoor adventure" field trips this year. Instead of our usual outfit, I decided to give Calleva a go with our gang. Some of the great folks working there actually came to our school last spring, taking the time to sit down with us and talk about the programs they offer and how they could best meet the needs of our unique population of kiddos. That they wanted to tailor their programs to our students impressed us right off the bat. Once I started planning our field trips, it was really easy to coordinate with Calleva via e-mail and telephone. They were proactive, responsive, and flexible. I even received e-mails and calls from each day's individual Head Facilitator in order to gather more detailed information about our overall goals, how we envisioned the day would go, and specific activities they had planned. Both days of our field trips, we arrived with busloads of active kids, ready to go. The Calleva facilitators were equally ready: fully prepared, organized, and full of energy. They led our students through a really fun, well-thought-out day of team-building, creative problem solving, and testing personal limits. All the facilitators did a great job of explaining the activities, and then -- more importantly -- debriefing at the end, so the students better understood the point of each. We did both high (Zip Line, Big Swing, Balance Beam) and low (X-Games, Think Tank) elements -- and adults even got to play. I also have to mention that hot coffee was ready for us both mornings; Calleva obviously knows who they're dealing with, and that educators run on little more than coffee and adrenaline. The property itself was worth the extra drive it took to get out to Dickerson. The Ropes course is spread throughout somewhat dense woods, up and down hillsides, and over creeks. Whether it's a field trip, company bonding, or a crew of you and your friends, Calleva Farm is an excellent place to challenge your fears and work up a sweat. read more

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This is my kid's second home. They offer team building programs, after school programs, summer camps, the famous Markoff Haunted Forrest, the equestrian program, and more. My kids have been involved in the equestrian program for a few years, taking lessons, leasing, building their work ethic and learning some great life skills. Great, caring people, great programs, love this place. read more

Calleva Farm - Horseback Riding Near Me - Dickerson, Maryland

Such a great venue to enlighten young minds. So fun. Interactive staff and animals. What a great day! Farmer Max,Alexa, and Big Hank (pig) were awesome! read more

I am a huge fan of Calleva. I have been involved in many school outdoor trips, and this organization is simply the best. They provide several talented leaders who make meaningful connections with the kids and push them to get out of their comfort zones. The site is constantly improving their offerings. Can't wait to go back next year. read more

Calleva Farm - Horseback Riding Near Me - Dickerson, Maryland

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This place was awesome. I came here for staff retreat and it was quite a retreat alright. All those physically and mentally challenging obstacles. Their staff is so awesome and friendly. Let's just say, they don't give up on you. I would come back with big group of friends to do these exercises to build our friendship next time. read more

NOT SAFE, TOO MANY SEVERE INJURIES My school used Calleva for team-building activities and last week we went to Calleva twice. For the first day, my grade went to a new Calleva rope course that was not on the main Calleva farm. We were generally excited since the course was new and we had never used it before. The bus showed up. The outside looked normal but the inside was covered in dirt and grime, had a horrible stench to it, and there were no seatbelts. We were given no gloves for the rope courses and had to grip metal cables and pull ropes with our bare hands. Numerous people got rope burn, including me. I also ended up with burns on the underside of my arms, one of which had a purplish bruise over it, from holding on to a metal cable while trying not to fall off the side of a rope net. I asked a Calleva staff member for an ice pack and he gave me one. After the ice pack melted I asked him for another one, which he wouldn't give me and said the ice packs wear off fast. I went home that day with multiple burns, and many other students in my school had also been burned. The next day there were different activities. My group went hiking and cliff jumping. The hike was difficult with many slippery spots and at one point the path was about 1 foot wide. Many people slipped. When we got to a lake with a cliff on one side, we ate lunch. Then we swam across the lake to the side of the cliff. The cliff went straight up and had many jagged edges and sharp points. One of my friends got cut climbing up the cliff and ended up with a bad cut on her leg that bled a lot. After cliff jumping, my ears got severely injured, and I was experiencing level 10 pain. I starting crying and freaking out and then thought there were pain meds on shore. I became full of Adrenaline and started swimming to shore. I thought I had got water shoved into my ear from the impact since that happened to me at the beach once and it felt the same at first. One of my teachers asked me if I was ok and I told him I thought water got in my ear. The pain went down to a level 8 and I thought the pain would slowly fade as the water drained out of my ear. It got worse and I asked two different Calleva staff members for ice as we hiked back to camp. They said there would be ice back at camp. Another one of my teachers stayed with me since I was in obvious pain and crying. At camp, there was no ice, first-aid-kit, or pain meds. One woman who worked there said, "There's a first aid kit in my car, but it should really be in my backpack." Of course it should be in her backpack! She gave me a lost and found waterbottle to fill with cold water and use as an ice pack. On the bus ride, the same teacher who asked if I was ok after cliff jumping asked me if I was ok again. I told him the pain was really bad and he said I could get ice from the nurse when we got back to school. On the bus ride, the pain climbed from an 8 to a 9 as I cried and tried to bear it. By the time I got off the bus, the pain was a 10 and I was crying and yelling in pain. The nurse wasn't in her office and my teacher told me to tell my mom to come get me. My mom came and we found the nurse on another part of the campus. The nurse thought I ruptured my eardrums and we drove quickly to urgent care. Now the pain was a level 15, I was screaming and crying, and I thought I was going to die. It felt 10 times worse than a broken bone. (I would know, I broke my arm twice). I got eardrops from a doctor and now have to take pain meds every 2 hours so I'm not screaming in pain. I understand that my ear injuries aren't Calleva's fault, as they did nothing to cause them. However, having us do the rope courses with no gloves, which caused us to get rope burns, is definitely their fault as they could have simply given us gloves and the rope burn would have been completely avoided. There should also have been ice packs, a first aid kit, and pain meds nearby. The activities we did were dangerous, and if there is any chance of something going wrong and someone getting injured, Calleva needs to be equipped and ready to deal with injuries or people will continue to get hurt and suffer! There is no reason for anyone to suffer as I did! The first time I went to Calleva a few years ago, I really enjoyed it. It was fun and I liked being up in the trees. It is a sad situation that Calleva has such good potential but as of fall 2018, cannot deal with injuries properly. Until Calleva changes for the better and is able to handle injuries and not give people rope burn, go somewhere else to do a zip line​ course. read more

Avoid at all costs I don't know why this place is not shut down. They never clean the tents the rain covers are always wet the food is awful and the activities are dangerous and half the time life threatening. Also there are wolf spiders everywhere read more

I came here one year ago on a school field trip. The only fun activities were the biplane and the giant swing, but nothing really bad happened. Today, I went to Calleva on the same field trip (the whole middle school goes) and I was so mad about how it turned out! The grades in middle school are divided by their homerooms, so they are supposed to do the same activities, but at different times. There are four activities to do. The first thing that we went on was what I believe is called Bauer's Boardwalk? (excuse my spelling of that haha) It was alrigght, but definitely wasn't a challenge for anyone in my class. The second thing we did was go to this pointless duck game, where you put a plastic duck on a hook and put the plastic duck on a table. It's supposed to teach you teamwork, but all it does is frustrate everyone. We just kept on telling ourselves that we would be at The Wall soon. By the way, The Wall is a wooden wall without anything to hold onto when you try to climb up it, so you and your class must find a way to get everyone over the wall. The kids that had already been on it said it was lots of fun. After the awful duck experience, we ate lunch. After lunch, we were very excited because we knew we would be at The Wall soon. Our third activity was Jacob's Ladder, which was okay. It was very challenging, but all I really remember about it was how muddy the logs were and how cold I was. Finally, our fourth and final activity. The Wall. We ran up to where we were supposed to go. Once we got there, we were so disappointed I cannot even explain. What was there, you might ask? The Knight Table. A pathetic obstacle course (a couple tires and a board of wood) with a "table" in the middle that wobbles. You do the course and wobble on the "table." Our guide clearly knew very little about the game, so we didn't really do much. We were so upset about not being able to go on The Wall, she finally said we could watch the other kids climb the wall. Watch the other kids have fun. Watch the other kids do what we were all excited to do, but our plans were canceled. We watched them, and were extremely upset about our situation. Afterwards, we had some time left, so our guide told us that we were to go back to the covered area. Back at the covered area, we did a human knot (exciting, right? Not when everyone is covered in mud) which she acted like would make up for the whole thing. After all the other groups came back, we found out why we didn't go on The Wall. While we were playing our stupid little duck game, one of the other classes was on The Wall. Apparently, the was my classes turn to go on The Wall. We weren't told this. We were told to go to the duck game. They messed it up for us. Anyways, the class that went on The Wall while we were supposed to be on it were told to go on The Wall when it was their turn, so they went twice. My class didn't go at all. So thank you, Calleva! I clearly know now how unprofessional and unorganized your little camp is. I really appreciate you ruining the one field trip that we get to actually have fun on this year! I would fully recommend you skip the trip to Calleva if you are thinking about it, and go the Sandy Spring adventure park instead. I highly recomend that place. Calleva, I never thought I would be this disappointed about a field trip, but you need to understand that this needs to be taken seriously, and I would like a refund! read more