The Wilderness Classroom started with a simple idea: to show students from around the world the wonders of exploration and wilderness travel.

In late 2000, Dave Freeman decided he wanted to travel across northern Minnesota on cross-country skis with a sled dog named, Tundra. Dave’s mom was not thrilled with the idea of Dave being alone for eight weeks in sub-zero temperatures. She wanted a way for Dave to be able to contact someone if he fell through the ice. Cell phones don’t work out in the wilderness, so Dave started researching satellite phones. A satellite phone can get a signal and make a phone call from just about anywhere on Earth.

Plus, satellite phones can transmit photos, text, and videos to the Internet. The seeds for the Wilderness Classroom were planted.

Dave was able to convince a handful of teachers to log onto the web to follow and monitor his progress. When he completed the Border Country Adventure in the Spring of 2001, he visited those schools. He was impressed with how much the students learned and retained about his expedition. In the fall of 2001, Eric Frost joined Dave for a 2,500-mile canoe trip down the length of the Mississippi River. The curriculum became more robust, and more teachers began to sign on.

Six years and ten expeditions later, the Wilderness Classroom reaches over 45,000 students around the globe. Our goal has never changed. We seek to instill a lifelong appreciation of wilderness in young people by highlighting the joy of discovery.

Over the years, the Wilderness Classroom has successfully created a program that is entirely student-directed. Students contribute to live, web-based expeditions by making decisions for the team via the Wilderness Classroom’s web site. Students decide what equipment the team brings, what food to eat, how to combat illegal logging and the illegal pet trade, the expedition’s route, and how to stay safe, as well as hundreds of other decisions.

In addition to the web content, the Wilderness Classroom has written a complete, inter-disciplinary curriculum guide for Elementary and Middle School students. Members of the WCO expedition team also offer school assemblies and accredited teacher training workshops.

Eric Frost and Dave Freeman have been talking about embarking on the Trans-Amazon expedition since founding the Wilderness Classroom Organization. It’s truly a dream come true, and they’re excited to share their experiences with the world.


The Wilderness Classroom's Previous Learning Adventures

Superior Waters Project (September-October, 2006): a 7-week, 1,100-mile kayak journey around Lake Superior, the largest lake in the World. This program focused on freshwater usage, and the importance of freshwater conservation.

Project Peru (March-May, 2005/2006): The Wilderness Classroom, in partnership with Chicag’s Shedd Aquarium, traveled to South America for a learning adventure in Peru’s Amazon basin. While in Peru, they explored the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, 5-million acres of protected rainforest. For six weeks the Wilderness Classroom traveled by dugout canoe in an effort to bring the biodiversity, cultural significance, and ever-changing landscape of the Amazon rainforest to dozens of schools. Because of its popularity, the Wilderness Classroom retuned to the Pacaya Samiria National reserve during 2006.

Boreal Forest Project (February-April, 2004): During this 2-month-long dogsled adventure, the WCO expedition team explored the changing environment of Northern Manitoba’s forests, lakes and rivers. Students took part in interactive activities dealing with native plants and animals and local culture and tradition, as well as looked at the environmental impacts of hunting, fishing, logging, mining and river damming, among others.

Bimaadagaako Adventure (February-April, 2003): 550 miles by dogsled through the remote wilderness area between Cumberland House, Saskatchewan and Pine Falls, Manitoba. At times, more than 100 miles from the nearest paved road, this adventure included visitation and interaction with local Native American settlements, voyageur history, ecology and temperature-related experiments. (Bimaadagaako translates “to travel over the ice” in Objibwe.

Jiime Adventure (September-November, 2002): A 700-mile canoe trip from Lake Superior to Lake Winnipeg, Canada. Retracing long-abandoned fur trading routes used by the French voyagers in the 1700s, students studied the wildlife and habitats of the Boreal forests, the history of the region, native Indian cultures, and much more. (Jiime is “to go by canoe” in the Ojibwe language.)

Big Muddy Adventure (September-November, 2001): A 2,340-mile journey by canoe down the length of the Mississippi River from Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Curriculum and online adventures included studies of the environment, exploration history, and people of the Mississippi River watershed.

Border Country Adventure (February 1-March 15, 2001): A solo, 240-mile, midwinter trip by snowshoe and dogsled across the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. During this adventure, students participated by Internet and classroom study in experiments ranging from the study of temperature variation to the winter habits of beaver.