Wild & Well Fall Weekend

General Weekend Information

Dates: Friday October 3rd - Sunday October 5th, 2025

Location: Deep Portage Learning Center

Deep Portage Learning Center is a residential environmental learning center located north of Brainerd and south of Bemidji. It is located on 6,307 acres of state land that was formed by glaciers – including lakes, rivers, hills, and bogs. The aspen, birch, and tamarack are beautiful in the fall! The wonderful staff at DP even offer a virtual tour.

Included in the Weekend Fee

Lodging for Friday (Oct 3rd) and Saturday (Oct 4th) nights

We’ll be staying in dorms with bunkbeds, but everyone will get a lower bunk (unless you want an upper one). You’ll see room options during sign-up. Shared and some solo rooms are available. Think summer camp – these aren’t fancy rooms, but they have ensuite bathrooms and heat/cooling units.

Meals

• Friday dinner; Saturday breakfast, lunch, and dinner; Sunday breakfast, bag lunch for the road. Snacks, Coffee, Tea.

• We can accommodate various dietary needs. You can expect an assortment of healthy food as well as some treats. If you have very specific needs or serious allergies that we are unable to accommodate, we may ask you to bring your own food for the weekend, and your fee will be adjusted accordingly.

• You are welcome to bring your own snacks or drinks, but our fridge and freezer space is limited. Preference will be given to people who need to pump and store breast milk and those who need to bring their own food because of allergies.

Fun and Fellowship

• Fall colors, outdoor skills clinics, orienteering, canoeing, 11+ miles of trail, observation tower, indoor rock climbing, evening bonfire, fellowship. Most of our activities can take place rain or shine. If we end up with rain, the fun will go on!

• All equipment needed is included (other than personal clothes and items—but if you need something, let us know, we probably have it). We’ll start with arrivals on Friday afternoon and end around noon on Sunday.

Our group will be capped at 15-20 or so participants this year, so you can expect plenty of connections and adventure buddies but not a huge group.

Investment, Payment Plans, and Scholarships

The regular fee ranges from $300-$375 for the weekend, depending on what you choose for lodging options. There is a small discount for alumni. This covers all the previously mentioned things – lodging, food, fun! You’ll also have the option at checkout/registration to contribute to the “Pay it Forward” fund, which helps provide scholarships for others, if you are comfortable financially. We appreciate it! We have options for scholarships if they are needed.

You can choose to use a credit or debit card or pay using an ACH transfer. If you’d prefer to pay in cash or using a physical check, please reach out to anna@adventureecologies.com

To secure your spot, we’ll ask for 15% of your fee choice as a non-refundable deposit. If this is beyond what you can pay for, please reach out for additional options. In the past we’ve been able to provide scholarship money to help folks attend.

If you choose to put down a deposit to save your spot, we’ll follow up with you to figure out a payment plan for the rest of your weekend fee or whatever remains after scholarships. We can be flexible, but in general a payment plan might look like:

• Deposit (15%)

• Half Paid (additional 35%) by August 31st

• Three quarters paid (an additional 25%) by September 20th

• Fully Paid (last 25%) by Sept 27th

Cancellation Policy

So that we can pay Deep Portage, plan for food, and cover pre-weekend expenses, we’ll have the following cancellation policies:

• Cancelled prior to August 31st, we’ll keep your 15% non-refundable deposit, and refund the rest of anything paid

• Cancelled between September 1st – 19th, we’ll ask for 50% of the trip fee (you’ll keep 50%)  

• Cancelled on or after September 20th, we’ll ask for 75% of the trip fee (you’ll keep 25%)

• Cancelled on or after September 27th, no refund unless our waitlist can fill your spot.

However, if we have a waitlist and can fill your spot, we’ll plan to reimburse you all but your deposit. You can also choose to take a credit towards a future adventure with us instead of a refund.

There are very few reasons that this weekend would end up getting canceled, but if so, we’ll plan to reschedule it to a later date. If you are unable to make it to the rescheduled date, we’ll issue you a credit of whatever you have paid (per the cancellation policy) to apply to a future adventure with us.

Additional Fun Not Included in the Weekend Fee

• Massages from Molly Oace of Molly Oace Massage will likely be available again this year on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to provide massages. She is SO GOOD and works to make massage accessible to all people. She also has traveled extensively and led groups of youths into the wilderness – so she’s a great fit for this weekend. More information on this and sign-ups to come!

• We’ll have the opportunity during the weekend to visit the Deep Portage gift shop. An example of what they have for sale can be found here: Deep Portage Gift Shop. They also have other fun trinkets and fun stuff in their physical store that isn’t found online. They accept multiple forms of payment.

Additional Policies and Community Guidelines

Community Guidelines

At Adventure Ecologies, we believe that all human and nonhuman beings have value. We seek to create safe spaces for people to explore and grow, and we ask that our participants nurture these spaces by treating others how they would like to be treated. This means using folks’ correct names and pronouns, apologizing when we get things wrong (and taking actions to fix it), and respecting people’s cultures, abilities, backgrounds, personal space, and goals.

If there are accommodations that will help you to participate fully in the weekend, please reach out to us so we can have a conversation about how we can best meet your needs. We recognize that the outdoor community has not always welcomed people from all backgrounds, genders, body types, disability, age, socioeconomic status and other variables. We are working to do better and appreciate your feedback if there are things that we can improve to meet you where you are at.

If you actively make this weekend physically or emotionally unsafe for other participants by your actions or words and are unwilling to correct your behavior, you will be asked to leave, and your weekend fees will be forfeited.

Covid and Other Illness

Unfortunately, a Covid is still a thing, as are other bugs. With changing situations, we’ll plan to follow whatever the CDC and the MDH guidance is for this weekend. Our community’s safety is our priority.

If you test positive for Covid or you aren’t feeling well, please stay home. We do still have to abide by our cancellation policy for budgeting purposes, but we will happily provide you with a discount code to apply to a future adventure with us.

Pets

Pets cannot be brought to this weekend per Deep Portage Learning Center’s visiting group policy. Certified service animals are welcome – please let us know if you’re bringing one.

Minors

In general, this is a weekend designed for adults. While we love kids, we feel that it is important for adults to just take care of themselves sometimes, to be able to fully explore what they are capable of and make connections without obligations to dependents.

However, older teenage girls or nonbinary youths who are attending with a parent or guardian may be a good fit, depending on their maturity level. If you are considering bringing a minor with you to this weekend, please reach out to info@adventureecologies.com to discuss.