Courses & Workshops
Welcome to the Wilderland Outdoor Academy, where you explore and practice essential outdoor skills, gain imperative field experience, and become confident in wild places.
All of our outdoor skills training and professional development is rooted in community learning and growth.
Join us for fun, engaging, and immersive outdoor experiences that are rooted in personal safety, group risk management, supporting environmental stewardship, and foundational outdoor industry expectations & standards.
We provide local certified instructors with extensive outdoor leadership experience. We are excited to have come learn with us!
Are you an educator or outdoor leader?
This interactive day paddling workshop will introduce participants to safe and rewarding canoeing day trips. You will work towards the Paddle Canada Canoe Basics skills certification as well as a foundation of essential outdoor skills such as trip planning, emergency planning, fire building, navigation, and more!
This interactive day hiking workshop will introduce participants to safe and rewarding day hiking trips. You will learn trail skills and etiquette as well as a foundation of essential outdoor skills such as trip planning, emergency planning, fire building, navigation, and more!
Join us for a full day workshop that introduces Educators to the OCC Field Leader framework and practical risk management strategies on the trail. We spend the first half of our day in a classroom setting discussing and navigating the process of effective participant focused trip planning. The afternoon is spent on a local trail learning how to implement, lead and manage a group during an outdoor event. The last hour is spent debriefing our day as well as discussing strategies of how to use this framework within our own personal leadership contexts such as field trips, community outings, and outdoor events.
This 2 day course offers a systematic approach to planning and managing a paddling and/or a hiking activity for one day. Prior to the course, it is recommended that students obtain a technical paddling certification from another organization. Students must read a 80 page manual and complete attached quizzes. Course length is 20 hours. Graduates of the FL (Paddling and Hiking) course are qualified to lead one day trips into class 1 paddling environments and class 1 hiking terrain as defined in the Outdoor Council of Canada's matrix.
This 2 day course offers a systematic approach to planning and managing a hiking activity for one day. Students will be required to read a 60 page manual and complete attached quizzes before attending the course. Course length is 16 hours. Graduates of the FL (Hiking) course are qualified to lead one day trips into class 1 hiking terrain as defined in the Outdoor Council of Canada's matrix.
This interactive overnight canoe camping workshop will introduce participants to safe and rewarding multi-day trips. You will work towards the Paddle Canada Canoe Basics skills certification as well as a foundation of essential outdoor skills relevant to overnight wilderness camping. This includes trip planning, meal planning, emergency planning, fire building, navigation, and more!
This interactive overnight hiking & camping workshop introduces participants to safe and rewarding backcountry hiking trips. You will learn trail skills as well as a foundation of essential outdoor skills relevant to overnight wilderness camping. This includes trip planning, meal planning, emergency planning, fire building, navigation, and more!
Join us for a full day workshop that introduces Summer Camp Leaders to the OCC Field Leader framework and practical risk management strategies on the trail. We spend the first half of our day in a classroom setting discussing and navigating the process of effective participant focused trip planning. The afternoon is spent on a local trail learning how to implement, lead and manage a group during an outdoor event. The last hour is spent debriefing our day as well as discussing strategies of how to use this framework within our own personal leadership contexts such as camp activities, day trips, and wilderness programs. As of now, this course is offered as a private group training.
This certification is an extension of other Field Leader courses. Students must have complete at least one other Field Leader course prior to registering. This module will review and deepen the event cycle and offers effective group management techniques for longer outdoor trips. Students will be required to read a 80 page manual and complete attached quizzes before attending the module. Module length is 20 hours of instruction time, most of which is spent outside, plus one night outdoors. Graduates of the FL (Overnight) module are qualified to lead longer trips in low-risk terrain classes relevant to their activity.
This one day certification course is an extension of other Field Leader courses. This module will review and deepen the event cycle and offers effective group management techniques for cold environments. The Field Leader (Hiking) is a prerequisite to this module. Students will be required to read a 40 page manual and complete attached quizzes before attending the module. Module length is 8 hours, most of which is spent outside. Graduates of the FL (Winter) module are qualified to lead one day trips in low-risk winter environments as defined by the OCC Hiking Terrain matrix.