Inspiring Connection. Breaking Down Barriers.
Through inclusive adventures, we seek to engage, inspire, and make the outdoors accessible for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. Your support makes that possible. A gift to Wilderness Inquiry provides connection to community and the outdoors in this time when it matters most.
Inclusive Outdoor Experiences That Change Lives
Your gift helps us provide scholarships for people with financial need, programs for underserved youth and families, support services for people with disabilities, and more.
Making the Outdoors Accessible
Through initiatives like Gateway to Adventure, Families Integrating Together, and Share the Adventure, Wilderness Inquiry brings incredible outdoor experiences to adults, youth, and families of all abilities and inspires everyone to find common humanity.
Removing Barriers
Our Credit Recovery program brings experiential, immersive education to youth with diverse learning styles and supports students who need additional academic credit to graduate from high school. Need-based financial aid makes it possible for individuals, families, and organizations to experience the outdoors regardless of their socioeconomic status.
Improved Outcomes
Place-based, educational outdoor programming through Canoemobile brings the natural world to life for thousands of underserved youth each year through STEM, history, social studies, and math exploration. Both our “floating classroom” and our “virtual outdoor classroom” engage youth in the natural world close to home – improving school performance, cultivating a stewardship ethic, and creating pathways to pursue educational and career opportunities in the outdoors.
The Journey Ahead
The challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have stretched us and directly impacted our ability to deliver our mission. Like a good backpacker, we've lightened our load to the pure essentials – but we know that when we reach the end of this trail the need for our work will be greater than ever. Together, we can make it to the other side of the woods.
Donate Now
Contact [email protected] or 612-676-9400 with questions.
If you prefer to mail in your donation, please send it to:
Wilderness Inquiry
808 14th Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
“The Mississippi River Explorers program is a great way for our students to explore a river that runs through our own backyard. The presenters are great with our students, energetic, and knowledgeable in their field. This program offers a high quality experience for our students and provides a virtual step out of our classroom in these times when in person field trips are not possible.”
- 5th grade teacher
“You cannot imagine how happy I am to be able to experience the Boundary Waters Canoe Area again. I cried tears of joy at night. I hope to be able to do it again in the future, but for now, I have a great memory and proved to myself that I could do more than I ever expected!”
- Lynn, 2020 Participant
“‘Unbelievable!’ ‘This was a great day!’ ‘I learned so much!’ These were just some of the things that kids told me about their Canoemobile day. The kids were engaged, laughing, team building, problem solving, learning, trying new things, and then laughing some more. Thank you! It was not only a perfect day, but a life changing day for our kids!”
-Cassie, 6th Grade Special Education Teacher
“I did it! I was able to test my limits, and I made it! This trip boosted my positive beliefs about myself. I felt that I was able to reclaim a part of myself that has been absent for a long time; I got to live from my strengths rather than my disabilities. It gives me the confidence to go on a river canoe trip with my family.”
-Susan, Share the Adventure trip participant