Wilderness Passage

Wilderness Passage Options: Backpacking, Canoeing, and Rock Climbing

Your Wilderness Passage trip will take you on one of three amazing adventures to enjoy God’s creation. Your trip will provide close community, facilitate spiritual growth, and prepare you for the transition into college. Wilderness Passage is a completely technology free experience, allowing you to fully connect with your peers in creation. Previous outdoor and camping experience are not necessary.

During the registration process students can choose their preference for one of the three wilderness trip options: Backpacking, Canoeing, and Rock Climbing. Keep reading to learn more about your options!

Location, Accommodations, and Food for Wilderness Passage

Lake Superior shoreline Our People Variant

Location

Wilderness Passage takes place in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin, an area known for outdoor adventure in the state.

Accommodations

Students will camp in backpacking tents and sleep under the stars. Leave No Trace principles will be used to properly use the bathrooms in these pristine wilderness locations. Wilderness Passage ends at Wheaton's HoneyRock Center for Leadership Development in Three Lakes, Wisconsin.

Food

Food will be prepared by students while on their Wilderness Passage trip using camping stoves and other cooking equipment. We can accommodate medically necessary dietary needs when given advance notice in your registration form.

"Passage was such a formative and amazing experience to have before starting my time here at Wheaton. The time spent in the wilderness allowed me to disconnect and reflect before having to adapt to the changes of college life." — Ethan Roth '25

Sample Schedule of Wilderness Passage

Watch bald eagles as you paddle your canoe along the changing current of the Wisconsin River. An example day on your Wilderness Passage canoeing trip will look similar to the schedule below. Depending on the group, weather conditions, and campsite availability, the timing of each day’s itinerary will vary. Trips include a rest day for intentional spiritual reflection where little to no paddling is included.

Time	Activity
7:00-7:30	Wake Up, Personal Prayer and Devotional Time
8:00-9:00	Prepare and Eat Breakfast
9:00-10:00	Pack Up and Disembark
10:00-12:00	Paddle 4 miles navigating around river islands Take a snack break at a campsite and continue on
12:00-1:00	Stop off on a sandbard to eat lunch in the sun
1:00-4:00	Paddle 3 miles and select an overnight campsite - often on an island
4:00-5:00	Set up Camp
5:00-6:30	Prepare and Eat Dinner
6:30-8:30	Evening Campfire, Debrief of the Day, and CORE 131 Discussion
9:00	Head to Bed & Sleep

*Approximate schedule provided; subject to change.

Chalk up and prepare to climb at one of the Midwest's most iconic rock climbing locations: Devil's Lake. See below for an example of what a day might look like on rock climbing Passage. Depending on the group and weather conditions, the days' schedule may vary. Some days of the rock climbing trip are focused on climbing, while other days focus on rest and spiritual reflection. See below an example of a rock climbing day.

Time	Activity
7:00 - 7:30	Wake Up, Personal Prayer and Devotional Time
8:00-9:00	Prepare and Eat Breakfast
9:00-10:00	Pack Up. shuttle and hike to climbing site
10:00-12:00	Practice belay skills and climb the routes of your choice.
12:00-1:00	Lunch Break
1:00-3:00	Continue climbing and spending time with your new friends.
3:00-4:30	CORE 131 Discussion
4:30-5:30	Hike and shuttle back to the campsite
5:30-7:00	Prepare and Eat Dinner
7:00-8:30	Evening Campfire, Debrief of the Day, and Discussion
9:00	Head to Bed & Sleep

On a climbing day, you would spend the morning getting oriented to the site and start climbing the routes of your choice, which will vary in difficulty to meet the varied ability levels of the group. The afternoon is spent continuing to climb and spending time with your new friends at the rock face.

*Approximate schedule provided; subject to change.

Tighten your laces and double check your map – the backpacking trip will wind along a section of the 1200-mile-long Ice Age National Scenic Trail. The schedule below gives you a peak into what a day on a Wilderness Passage Backpacking trip might look like. Depending on your group and weather conditions, the exact schedule of your day will vary. Trips include a rest day where little to no backpacking is included so that students can focus on spiritual reflection.

Time	Activity
7:00 - 7:30	Wake Up, Personal Prayer and Devotional Time
8:00-9:00	Prepare and Eat Breakfast
9:00-10:00	Pack Up and Depart
10:00-12:00	Hike 3 miles along the Ice Age Trail Take a snack break and learn about the historical glacier activity in Wisconsin
12:00-1:00	Stop for a lunch break
1:00-3:00	Hike final 3.5 miles to your overnight campsite
3:00-4:00	Set up overnight campsite
4:00-5:30	CORE 131 Discussion
5:30-7:00	Prepare, Eat and Clean up Dinner
7:00-8:30	Evening Campfire, Debrief, and Discussion
9:00	Head to Bed & Sleep

*Approximate schedule provided; subject to change.

Moments on Wilderness Passage

Passage registration opens January 15, 2025

"Passage was a great way to make new friends and really helped with the transition into college life. It was an amazing bonding experience to be backpacking with total strangers, with no technology, and living 10 days in the wilderness! It was the best way to take a step back and focus on the Lord before moving onto campus." — Kathryn Skinner '25

Passage was a fun adventure and a great way to meet new people before the transition to college. It put me in a new environment that forced me to try new things, and had a blast with the girls in my group! — Sarah Schwartz '25

The rock climbing Passage Wilderness trip I was blessed to be a part of heightened my anticipation of the next four years at Wheaton and showed me to embrace the challenge of change. My time at Passage was full of laughter, joy, excitement, tears, and learning alongside fellow classmates and amazing leaders. Throughout the trip, we made up songs while hiking, shouted encouragement from the top of the cliffs, and held life-giving conversations centered on the goodness of God and his work in our lives. — Arabela Escareño '25

Passage was one of the most formative times of my life. I was stretched in ways that I didn’t know I could handle and met some of my best friends at Wheaton. I grew in my faith and became so much more confident in myself. Wilderness Passage was an amazing way to begin college.” — Ellie Swigle '25