Canoe Trip Summer Camps
Do something extraordinary this summer
Wilderness adventure. Meaningful Memories. Lifelong friends.
Built on our expertise in running exceptional outdoor education programming for schools and universities, our summer camps are unique.
~ All of our staff and trip leaders are professional educators, not camp counsellors
~ Real, authentic learning is woven into everything we do. Campers leave with a textbook's worth of nature knowledge without even noticing because they're having so much fun
~ All of our trips are completely beginner friendly without being boring, offering teenagers new to backcountry camping an accessible entry point while still providing a real adventure
Photography Adventure Camp
Algonquin Provincial Park Canoe Trip
In partnership with:
Not your average canoe trip, Photography Adventure Camp is a unique combination of exploring the natural world, learning all about nature photography, mastering the beginner skills of canoe tripping, and having a fun adventure with new friends!
This camp is run in partnership with Focus on Nature. Each camp is led by two Headwaters guides alongside a Focus on Nature staff who will bring their popular photography camp programming to the backcountry canoe trip environment!
Photography Adventure Camp provides an intro to canoe tripping for those who have never been on a wilderness trip, while also enabling seasoned canoeists to discover a deeper, more meaningful experience than they have in the past.
All of our summer 2026 trips are beginner friendly, with no prior experience necessary.
Siblings & Friends Discount
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Those who register as a group of two or more (family members or friends) receive 10% per-person off the camp cost
The Voyage
Discovering meaning through nature and community
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An experience of living in community
A sense of belonging and purpose toward the larger group, beyond oneself. In addition to developing both leadership and teamwork capacities, knowing what it is to live and travel for a few days with a small group who rely on you, and on whom you rely, is a profound experience, and a rare gift.
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Time away from cellphones
With no cell phones or other electronic devices permitted on our trips, it is a gloriously rare opportunity to unplug and re-connect.
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Meaningful learning
Unique to Headwaters, all of our trips are led by professional educators, not camp counsellors. We weave learning into everything we do. Without them even noticing it, youth leave the trip not only having mastered camping skills and with knowledge of the natural world far beyond what any textbook could teach them, they also depart having developed a deep relationship with the natural world, one far more meaningful than simply "enjoying the outdoors."
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Traditional travel
We travel by canoe and wooden paddle, we portage on foot. We cook on an open fire that we made ourselves, preparing each meal communally. Our food consists of homemade recipes long perfected for the canoe voyage, with fresh baking savoured when we please. We sleep in tents. We awake when our bodies are rested, rather than by the clock. We gather blueberries from the land and our water from the lake. We travel as according to how the weather dictates. We take rest days whenever we find a good spot. We live without haste, for the trip itself is the point.
What Our Trips Look Like
All of our trips are traditional. The lakes, rivers, and portages we travel constitute an interconnected trail system that has been in use by the living beings of the land for thousands of years: we voyage on ancient paths, never the first to have done so and hopefully never the last. What we see has been seen and what we experience has been experienced, but to us it is new, and so long as the wilderness remains free and our hearts remain open, we shall be pioneers of the spirit.
Character Development
All of our trips intentionally develop moral character, with a special focus on the following traits:
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Joy for life and its experiences
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Care for others and our world
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Wonder about life's mysteries
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A feeling of awe for both the grand vistas and the little things
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Respect for the wellbeing of others and our world
We place an emphasis on developing resiliency as the groundwork of moral character
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Resiliency teaches us to keep going even when things are uncomfortable. Because of this, it is the core of moral character, enabling us to ask, "what is worth doing, even if I fail?"
It has been said that "what gives each person his or her personal identity is that person's private store of recollections. If so, then people should be careful curators of the assortment of memories that they collect over the years."
~ John Locke, Kathleen Dean Moore
Memories make us who we are – the experiences and ideas that are powerful enough to remember are the ones which come to form the character of our lives.