Our trips can take you anywhere: dogsledding in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, spelunking in North Carolina, backpacking the Grand Canyon, paddling the Huron River, and more. Whether you want to take off for a couple of hours, a day or a week, let us handle the details—like food, transportation, logistics, trip leaders, and outdoor equipment—while you take in the great outdoors.
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Adventure Leadership Trips:
Embark on thrilling adventures with our Adventure Leadership Trips, available exclusively for University of Michigan students, faculty and staff. If this is your first trip, rest assured our trips are crafted with beginners in mind and all the necessary gear is included.
Custom Adventure Leadership Trips:
Open to University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff, our Custom Trips offer a tailor-made experience to suit your group’s unique requirements. We provide the essential gear and experienced trip leaders to ensure your expedition is successful. Design your adventure with us!
Questions: Call 734-764-3967 or email us at [emailprotected]
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Have you ever wanted to learn how to rock climb, belay, tie knots? Are you just curious to know what is it about? Come out to Adventure Leadership’s Adventure Education Center and have our trained staff teach you how to belay and let you climb for a few hours on our outdoor climbing wall. You will need transportation to our site, but we can help coordinate carpooling if needed. There is a bus stop about a mile away and the site is right off the of the Border to Border trail if you are a biker!
Cost: $15
Questions: Call 734-764-3967 or email us at [emailprotected]
Register Here!
Whether you’re a seasoned sport climber or don’t even know what a figure eight follow through knot is, this is a great opportunity to get climbing on real rock! Grand Ledge is a unique geologic anomaly in the Lower Peninsula in that there is exposed rock! Thirty-five foot cliffs are a great way to hone skills or try out top-roping for the first time.
Cost: $65
Questions: Call 734-764-3967 or email us at [emailprotected]
Michigan Outdoor Leadership Education Series (MOLES)
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Get ready for an adventure to discover Michigan’s breathtaking landscapes with Adventure Leadership as your guide! If you find the great outdoors to be a bit overwhelming, let us introduce you to the Michigan Outdoor Leadership Education Series (MOLES).
MOLES is designed to empower you with the skills and confidence required for your outdoor journey. Our experienced workshop leaders will serve as your companions, leading you through immersive experiences that not only fuel your passion for exploration but also unveil the authentic stories of the public lands we cherish.
Forget about the gear – we’ve got that covered. All you need to do is show up, eager to participate. No prior outdoor experience is necessary; whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to enhance existing skills, we welcome you. Each workshop will delve into essential outdoor competencies, including navigation, backpack packing, campsite cooking, and embracing Leave No Trace principles. Your Michigan adventure begins here – join us on the path to outdoor discovery!
Questions: Call 734-764-3967 or email us at [emailprotected]
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Outdoor Skills for Groups
Do you have an employee group, department or organization that’s looking to get outside and learn a new skill? Whether you’re looking to relax around a campfire with s’mores or work up a sweat cross country skiing, we’re certain our unique activities will help you reconnect and engage together.
Set Up Your Group
Email [emailprotected] with the outdoor skill(s) you’re interested in, a preferred date, and your group size.
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Is it a sport? An art? A balancing act? Let Adventure Leadership staff introduce your group to slacklining – a fun and safely socially distant outdoor activity! Become aware of your body and mind while trying something new, and discover a new way to hang around with friends outside.
Available Locations
- Grove outside of the CCRB
- An alternative wooded location
Backpacking is the perfect way to immerse yourself in nature for a weekend or longer. Come join us for a hands-on session of the basics: tents and shelter, clothing, cooking, water treatment, navigating, first aid, Leave No Trace principles. Anywhere from one to three hours, depending on how deep and detailed you want to get.
Available Location
- Adventure Leadership Rental Center
Options include a bike tour around and through campus to the Nichols Arboretum, where we will hike down to the river then back to our bikes for the return ride. A perfect way to spend a couple hours away from screens, enjoying campus and nature.
For a longer ride we can start the day with a relaxed 45-minute bike ride through campus, past the hospital, along the Huron River and to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. Almost the entire route is on car-free bike paths, with the final stretch on a newly paved award-winning nature trail. Once there we will enjoy a bag lunch and explore for about an hour with a hike through woods and fields, including trails along Fleming Creek. We will then re-mount our bikes and ride back.
Trip leaders and bikes are included, although you’re welcome to ride your own bike. Please bring a bike, helmet, bike lock (or use one of ours), weather-appropriate clothing, and a small daypack.
All bike tours start at the Adventure Leadership Rental Center.
What more do we need to say? We provide fire, graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. You get to find sticks in the woods for roasting. Trip leaders will provide tips on how to create a perfect golden-brown marshmallow, or a completely burnt marshmallow, if you are into that sort of thing.
Available Location
- Adventure Education Center
Cooking while camping ranges from minimalist to gourmet. We’ll teach you the basics, including how to use three different camp stoves, and then you’ll get to try your hand at preparing some food. Sessions at the AEC may include cooking over a fire.
Available Locations
- Adventure Leadership Rental Center
- Adventure Education Center
If we have snow (at least 4”), we can ski! A basic lesson and try-out on Elbel Field at the Adventure Leadership Rental Center, or a few hours out at the Adventure Education Center (hot chocolate included!). Nothing beats the peacefulness of a snow-covered landscape, and nothing beats Seasonal Affective Disorder like outdoor exercise.
Available Locations
- Adventure Leadership Rental Center
- Adventure Education Center
Let nature tell you a story! Learn about the plants, animals, and other ecological features that make up the Great Lakes region.
Available Locations
- Adventure Education Center
- Nichols Arboretum
- Or an alternative location!
The best times to take a night hike are during a full moon, when the night world is bathed in ethereal, faint white and grey, or the new moon, when stars are most visible. Join us for a unique walk in the woods and fields of the Nichols Arboretum or the Adventure Education Center. Even if it’s cloudy, walking through the woods at night is a great experience. Headlamps provided. Time frame is generally between 8:30pm and 10:30pm.
Available Locations
- Adventure Education Center
- Nichols Arboretum
Take your team building in a new direction by learning to navigate without a GPS unit or cell phones. Discover the parts of a compass, measure your pace, and try triangulation. Once you’ve gotten your bearings, complete a practice course to solidify your skills and work collaboratively with your team to solve a puzzle!
Available Locations
- Adventure Education Center
- Nichols Arboretum
Engage all of your senses while connecting your body and mind with nature. Allow yourself to break away from daily distractions and pressures to live in the present moment. Join us for an opportunity to practice mindfulness and learn body regulation skills at our beautiful wooded facility at the Adventure Education Center, or any other quiet outdoor location of your group’s choice.
Available Locations
- Adventure Education Center
- Nichols Arboretum
- Or an alternative location!
The most important aspect of survival is to be prepared – both with appropriate supplies and the ability to work with your environment in critical situations. Increase your knowledge of fire and shelter building, practice cooperation and team decision-making skills, and expand your capacity for resourcefulness in the outdoors.
Available Locations
- Adventure Education Center
Available Locations for Outdoor Skills
- Adventure Leadership Rental Center:Stationed near Elbel field, this location is ideal for a short commute to find a big adventure – and pick up all the gear you need for your excursion!
- Nichols Arboretum:A prominent and notable campus feature within walking distance of most student housing and university office spaces.
- Adventure Education Center:Our most remote and secluded-feeling location, within a short drive or moderate bike ride from campus.
Register Here!
Wilderness First Responder courses are designed specifically to meet the needs of wilderness guides, expedition leaders, and anyone traveling in the backcountry with friends or family. This is the industry standard for outdoor professionals and the course you want your friends to have taken before you travel with them. Using the Wilderness Medicine Training Center’s unique Hybrid Course, participants complete a course of study and tests online (Part 1) prior to the start of the practical on-site training (Part 2). This training is focused and thorough. The online portion requires seriousstudy and the in-person portion requires commitment and effort. Refunds are generally not availablefor those who do not successfully complete the course.Call with questions or for more information at 734-764-3967.
Dates
In-person May 7 – 11, 2024. Online study and testing must be completed ahead of time.
Price
- $750 (Part 1 and Part 2)
- $475 (Part 2 only)
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Purchase Tickets!
Ignite your passion for adventure! The Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour will exhilarate you with amazing big-screen stories when it comes to the Michigan Theater, hosted by Adventure Leadership. Journey to exotic locations, paddle the wildest waters and climb the highest peaks. This local showing is sponsored by Bivouac.
Date
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Location
Michigan Theater @ 603 E Liberty Street, Ann Arbor
Price
In advance: $16 for adults, Student Tickets $12
Day of show: $20 for adults, Student tickets $16
It is with great disappointment that we have made the decision to cancel the 2024 Recreational Sports Adventure Leadership Summer Youth Camps.
While we do not see a path forward for camp this summer, we will be back for summer 2025 providing opportunities for campers to build courage and independence, develop new friendships, expand their outdoor skillset, and put leadership theories into practice. We anticipate releasing registration information this November and you can check back here for future updates.
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Refunds for Adventure Leadershiptrips are given only for the following circ*mstances:
- You can find someone to take your place on the trip.
- You havea documented medical emergency and must cancel.
- There is an active wait list for the trip and we are able to fill your spot.
- You are cancelling at least 3 weeks prior to the trip. For Spring Break and First Ascent Trips, at least 4 weeks prior is required.
Each trip follows a different set of policies and guidelines. We typically cover this informationin ourmandatory pre-trip meetings. These meetings are held a few days before your trip; if you have questions at any time, contact us.
