To view more summer 2025 canoe trips, click here.
Custom Canoe Trips
There's a Whole World to Discover
If you're interested in a custom canoe trip, please do get in touch, we love hearing new ideas! Whether you're an individual, a family, a group of friends, a school, or an organization, it would be our pleasure to create a meaningful wilderness experience together. Custom programs can have as many or as few participants as you like – they're all about what works best for you or your group, and we'd love to help you make it happen.
If you are a school group, please click here.
Spots available: Yes
Voyage Details
Program Details
Dates: Custom (pick your own)
Ages: 8 and up
Program cost: Varies
All of our trips are guided: We are a wilderness-based educational organization, rather than an outfitter. Custom Canoe Trips are all led by our top notch staff while being customized to your needs and goals
Headwaters Highlights
An experience of living in community
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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 in a community who rely on you and on whom you rely is a profound experience, and a rare gift
A meaningful relationship with the natural world
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Unique to Headwaters, we intentionally weave environmental philosophy, naturalist knowledge, and eco-social history into everything we do, developing a relationship with nature far more meaningful than simply "enjoying the outdoors"
Time away from cellphones
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With no cell phones or other electronic devices permitted on our trips, it is a gloriously rare opportunity to unplug and re-connect
Traditional travel
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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.
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 alike
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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 allows 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?"
What's included
We provide:
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Canoe trip leaders who are as good as it gets: expert guides, master naturalists, certified teachers, and teachers of teachers, our staff are second to none. All professional educators, their work is to facilitate experiences that connect us to the wilderness and that teach confidence, compassion, teamwork, care, and joy. Most importantly, they are deeply thoughtful and caring people, masters beyond all else in embodying the values Headwaters seeks to teach
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All food and group gear: canoes, paddles, tents, cooking supplies, and everything else the group will need to live well with the wilderness
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We are very intentional about our gear, only using that which enhances the authentic experience of the canoe voyage, rather than impedes it
You bring:
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Personal clothing, sleeping bag, and sleeping mat (a detailed packing list will be sent upon registration)
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A PFD/lifejacket (we can provide a PFD upon request, but we recommend you bring your own to ensure that it is well-fitting and comfortable)
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An eagerness to explore, have fun, and travel with the wilderness!
Spots available: Yes