Weekend Canoe Campout
TBD in 2022
8-Day Basic Canoe Adventure
TBD in 2022
8-Day Advanced Canoe Immersion
TBD in 2022
contact us for private wilderness experiences at wildernesscourses@teachingdrum.org
Weekend Canoe Campout
DATE: TBD in 2022
(maximum 10 participants)
Come join us on the beautiful shore of a classic wild rice Lake in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. There we spend our days playing in the canoes and learning new handling and paddling skills. In the evenings, we join together around the fire, sharing stories and getting to know one another. This is a great opportunity to meet the staff of the Teaching Drum Outdoor School and learn more about our wilderness immersion programs. Canoeists of all skill levels are welcome.
Bring your own camping gear, tents, chairs, coolers, and food. We supply the canoes, paddles, lifejackets, and the expertise to make this a fun canoe workshop-campout. The adventure starts Friday evening and ends in the late afternoon the following Sunday.
Tuition: $250
– Includes solo canoe and paddle, life vest rental, and tarp. Participants make a $50 refundable damage deposit for equipment.
Back to Basics: An Eight-Day Wilderness Canoe Adventure
DATE: TBD in 2022
(maximum 6 participants)
Here we spend the full eight days learning primitive skills alongside canoeing skills, both of which we start applying right away. This is a two-part course: first, you learn the basic canoe and outdoor skills needed to be confident and safe camping in the woods and paddling our lakes and streams. In the second part, we take off down the river and camp as we go, using the skills learned in the first part of the course.
The featured skills:
- All things canoe related
- Primitive fire making and cooking over an open fire
- Campsite selection and simple shelter setups
- Wild edible plant identification and gathering
- Lostproofing: the art of navigating in the woods
- Personal and camp hygiene
- Wilderness attunement and sensory awakening exercises
Tuition: $1090
– Includes food and equipment. Participants make a $250 refundable damage deposit for the solo canoe, paddle, life vest, and tarp.
The Advanced Immersion: An Eight-Day Wilderness Canoe Adventure
DATE: tbd
(maximum 6 participants)
The goal is to set out with minimal gear and deepen our connection with nature by utilizing what the wilderness gives us. This course is for those of you who want to explore your edges, see what you’re capable of, and experience the ultimate challenge. Spend eight days and nights in the wilderness in a solo canoe, using the skills learned from the Back to Basics Canoe Adventure course. Skills from that course are highlighted and utilized daily.
Here is a sampling of the additional skills you’ll learn in this course:
- Advanced wilderness attunement exercises
- Advanced fire-making techniques
- Advanced canoe paddling techniques
- Group consciousness techniques and practices
- Weather forecasting
Tuition: $1090
– Includes food and equipment. Participants make a $250 refundable damage deposit for the solo canoe, paddle, life vest, and tarp.
Check out what this experience is like
Explore the wildlife of the Headwaters Wilderness by day, cook over an open fire in the evenings, share stories with your camp mates under the setting sun, and fall asleep beneath the stars to the sounds of the forest.
Participants will get an up-close and intimate view of the natural plants and animals that inhabit the river and shoreline, reaching places that most never see on foot.
Join us for a weekend or an 8-day canoeing adventure through the Headwaters Wilderness of northern Wisconsin, located in the pristine Chequamegon-Nicolet Forest. Both canoe immersions utilize a minimalist approach to living in the wilderness.
If you like kayaking, you will love our solos canoes!
All levels of experience are welcome!
Abel Bean is a Senior Wilderness Guide, with 20 years of training under his belt. In the top tier of wilderness skills instructors, he excels in shelter building, friction fire making, hide tanning, foraging, primitive cooking, solo canoeing, orienteering, weather forecasting, dreamwork, and primal parenting skills. In addition, he’s a certified tracker through CyberTracker Track and Sign evaluation.
To find out more about Abel, visit the staff biography page.
Location: Pine River, located in the Headwaters Wilderness of Northern Wisconsin.
For any questions and/or additional information , please email us at wildernesscanoe@teachingdrum.org
Participants must be 18 years or older or accompanied by their parent/guardian.
The Headwaters Wilderness
is the largest of Wisconsin’s wilderness, where wolves and bears scout the shorelines; beaver, muskrat, and otter ply the waters; and a host of birds grace the scene with song and color. Expanses of marsh grass, wild rice, and cattails blanket the shallows, while golden water lilies dapple the surface of the deeper waters. It is also characterized by forested swamps and muskeg, bog lowlands, hardwood ridges, and the largest and oldest trees of the Nicolet National Forest.
In 1965, the Wisconsin legislature designated the Pine River a wild river to protect it from development. Access is limited and the area is rugged. Canoeing on the Pine River is a wild experience for any nature enthusiast that holds many opportunities to see the natural inhabitants up close in their natural habitats.
Here is an 18 minute instructional video on the solo canoes used in our canoeing courses. The instructor, Tamarack Song, taught Abel Bean these paddling techniques. Abel, who has been an apprentice of Tamarack’s for 20 years, is now the Senior Guide of the Teaching Drum’s canoe courses and other outdoor programs.
For customized one-day canoe experiences please check out options at the Headwaters Wilderness Guide Service page