Adult Courses

Do you ever want to unplug, step away from the daily grind to take on new challenges? Are you ready to conquer harder skills and remind your senses (or discover for the first time) what it’s like to crest a mountain peak, hear the echoes at the edge of a vast canyon or feel the rush of white water spray on your face? Take a break from your routine, radically change your surroundings and test your tenacity. Put some “firsts” in front of you and find moments of unexpected discovery along the way. Experience Outward Bound as an adult and prepare for an injection of adventure, awareness and adaptability that sticks with you long after you unpack your backpack.

• Build skills, form connections: Meet like-minded peers and make connections as you work through priorities and adventures together, learn outdoor skills at the hands of expert Instructors, and earn every good night’s sleep.
• Value strengths and strengthen values: Re-discover your inner strength, renew your natural leadership abilities and practice adapting to new environments. Tap in to your trust and compassion as you tackle obstacles with a support crew standing beside you.
• Demonstrate mastery: As you awaken your wilderness skills and dig deep to rise to the physical and mental challenges, the bulk of the expedition’s leadership and decision-making responsibilities transfer from the Instructor to the crew. Work together to achieve team goals, solve problems and succeed both individually and together.
• What you’ll learn: Watch, try and share more difficult outdoor skills that you’ll master on your expedition. Discover and then remind yourself that there’s more in you than you know. Having taken the risks, learned from and adapted to all sorts of new situations and environments, you’re ready for whatever life hands you going forward.

Return home with newly expanded wilderness acumen, an energized outlook, a rekindled allowance of empathy into situations and relationships and an eye toward the future.

Service

Service is a cornerstone of every Outward Bound experience. From the seemingly small daily acts of service to the environment to the regular tasks of being part of an expeditionary team, participants have ample opportunities to experience the value of giving back to the larger community. On the expedition, participants are encouraged to practice environmental stewardship in the form of Leave No Trace ethics - leaving campsites and trails in better condition than they found them. Participants also practice regular acts of service for their team including the hard-working sled dogs by preparing and serving meals, securing drinking water, breaking trail and giving the dogs plenty of affection.

Outcomes

Courses are offered in a variety of locations and lengths of time to provide a range of programming options for students to choose the optimal experience for them. Longer courses allow for a full immersion into the Outward Bound experience, more time to practice wilderness skills and the opportunity to experience both success and failure to promote powerful and lasting personal growth. Shorter courses offer students an opportunity to step away from the hectic pace of modern life and experience the simplicity of wilderness travel while gaining new perspectives through a potent and energizing expedition.

Adult courses focus on self-reflection, defining or redefining values, increasing self-awareness and gaining clarity of purpose. Regardless of course type, participants can expect to get comfortable living and working together in the wilderness while creating a solid foundation of skills and perspectives they can continue to build on after the course.

Course Area

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota

Over 10,000 years ago, continent-sized glaciers scraped their way across much of Ontario and northern Minnesota leaving deep ruts, ravines and holes in their tracks. Eventually, as the glaciers melted, these ravines filled with water, creating a seemingly endless interconnected web of lakes and rivers. In 1964, the US Forest Service designated 1 million square acres of this north woods environment as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) making it one of the largest, most pristine wilderness areas in the country. Without roads or motorized traffic, the Boundary Waters is true, remote wilderness where wildlife including black bear, moose, bald eagles and the common loon enjoy life unspoiled by human impact. In the winter, the BWCAW transforms into an even more wondrous and intense wilderness as many plants and animals hibernate or migrate, leaving the hardy, well-adapted species to take the spotlight. Playful otters, howling wolves and sturdy evergreens reign supreme in this snow-covered wonderland. While travel in these extreme conditions can be more difficult, winter enthusiasts enjoy moving over frozen lakes and rivers by dogsled, cross-country skis and snowshoes. Winter in the Boundary Waters is mesmerizing, peaceful and inspiring. It is a place of spectacular extremes: fresh snow resting on ancient granite; clean, cold air surrounding glowing hot fires; and powerful silence encased in a brilliant starlit sky with the occasional blast of colorful northern lights.