Ontario Wilderness 32-day Leadership Whitewater Canoeing

SAVE 15%! Apply before March 1, 2023.

Are you a strong leader looking to broaden your technical and interpersonal skills while connecting with nature?

On our most extended backcountry experience, your instructors will guide you to develop your leadership and paddling skills. This 32-day course will begin at our Ontario Wilderness base camp in Minden, Ontario which is home to some of the best whitewater paddling in the province. During this time, you will spend a few days honing your paddling skills, learning to read rivers, and growing together as a team. After a few days, you will head into the field to put your learning into practice for a week on the Petawawa River. Following your trip down the Petawawa, you will be shuttled to the Dumoine River where to spend the remainder of the expedition in the remote wilderness to expand your leadership and paddling skills. 

This course will cover the curriculum for the Leadership and Peer Support (Gr. 11)  high school credit. Course work will be done through activities, group discussions and analysis, and daily journal reflections.

 AREA & ACTIVITIES

Your 32-day course will be split into 3 sections modeled after a key part of Outward Bound’s foundational curriculum – Immersion, Main and Final. 

Immersion – Based out of our Ontario Wilderness base, you will meet your instructors and peers and become immersed in the learnings of wilderness tripping. These learnings will include camp craft, paddling strokes, reading rapids, backcountry meal preparation, and navigation. You will also spend some time getting prepared and geared up for a long but rewarding trip. Your group will soon begin to develop its own culture of support and leadership through various lessons, experiences and activities facilitated by your instructors. 

Main – You and your team navigating the many rapids of the Petawawa River from Lake Travers to Lake McManus. During this part of the course, your instructors will begin to step back from their leadership role and begin to hand you and your team more responsibility such as camp duties, navigation, and leadership.

Final – This will take place on the Kipawa and Dumoine Rivers in North Western Quebec which is situated within the traditional territory of the Omàmìwininìwag (Algonquin), Anishinabewaki and Cree Peoples. During this leg of your journey, your instructors will continue hand over all day-to-day responsibility to your team. Throughout the entire transition, instructors will be managing safety, risk and group dynamics while providing insight and guidance when necessary. Please note that specific course locations may be modified to respond to any environmental conditions as needed.

Eventually, your course will come to an end right where it all began. Our goal is that you return having learned something about yourself, nature and your fellow students that you can take back to your reality!