The Forest Next Door

Urban Wilderness

For over a decade, Urban Wilderness has connected young people with meaningful outdoor experiences that build confidence, foster teamwork, and inspire a lifelong connection to nature. What began in Cincinnati has grown to include a thriving chapter in the Twin Cities and programs that travel to communities across the Midwest and beyond. Through immersive experiences in nature, participants of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds discover the transformative power of the outdoors.

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  • The Urban Wilderness Program has provided my students with lifelong team-building strategies, teaching them resilience, perseverance and the ability to collaborate.

    BARBARA CULBERTSON | KILGOUR SCHOOL TEACHER

  • The student interactions, cooperation and goal setting cannot be replicated inside the classroom.

    COLLEEN EPPERSON | SCIENCE TEACHER, HIGHLANDS HIGH SCHOOL

  • The Urban Wilderness Program gets kids out of the classroom for real-world, nature-based experiences—while providing support to schools that makes it easy.

    KRISTA TAYLOR | MERCY MONTESSORI PRINCIPAL

  • One of the the most amazing things I’ve seen in years!

    JOHN DARNELL | HIGHLANDS HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

  • The experience gives us invaluable academic touch-points for the rest of the year.

    ANDY MCCLELLAN | NORTH AVONDALE MONTESSORI TEACHER

BOATBUILDING

STEAM-BENDING | LASHING | RIVETING | PADDLE CARVING

Our STEM-based boatbuilding program empowers students to construct a beautiful skin-on-frame canoe from start to finish. In the roughly two weeks that it takes to complete the craft, students are introduced to dozens of techniques, from lashing and lacing to skinning and steam-bending, all while employing their knowledge of math and science.

Our boatbuilding staff—trained by master craftsmen from the Minneapolis-based Urban Boatbuilders—ensures that each and every student has a hand in the process, and can take pride in the finished product.

CANOEING

PADDLING | PORTAGING | RIVER READING | RESCUE TECHNIQUES

Canoe trips have been a staple of our Northwoods summer camps for nearly a century, and our Cincinnati-based canoeing program offers students a taste of this exhilarating means of wilderness travel.

From paddling and portaging to river reading and rescue techniques, students are introduced to the foundational skills of canoe camping. Along the way, they learn the value of perseverance and teamwork.

WOODCRAFT

CAMPFIRE COOKING | WILDLIFE IDENTIFICATION | FIRE BY FRICTION

Woodcraft—also known as woodsmanship—encompasses the skills and knowledge necessary to live comfortably in the woods.

Rooted in Native American traditions and distilled from the curriculum developed by naturalist and author Ernest Thompson Seton, our woodcraft program includes a range of empowering hands-on activities such as campfire cooking, fire by friction, knot-tying, shelter making, wildlife identification, and knife and ax techniques.

 

Partners

While the Urban Wilderness Program borrows heavily from the programs honed at our two summer camps, Kooch-i-ching and Ogichi Daa Kwe, it is the educational expertise, volunteer support and training opportunities provided by our main partners that have allowed it to flourish in Cincinnati.

 
 

Inquire about the Urban Wilderness Program