Since we last wrote to tell you about Alberta Wilderness Association’s new event, things have been unfolding with an amazing precision and we’re all pretty excited!

The response to Adventures for Wilderness has been overwhelming. With a dozen adventures from around Alberta posted to our website and several more in the queue awaiting a few final touches, we’re ecstatic that we can finally offer the ability to include people from across this amazing province, and connect with the wilderness they love and know that’s in their own backyard.

For example, here’s one of our great new adventures this year: A Garden Exploration led by longtime AWA friend and expert botanist Vivian Pharis. Vivian has an amazing day in June planned for her adventurers: a visit to four beautiful private gardens in the highlands west of Calgary, with time for refreshments in one of these gorgeous settings. Each of the gardens comprises a fascinating example of Chinook belt horticulture, and will be accompanied by the host gardener explaining their approach to moulding elements of the wild into themes representative of beautiful wild rockeries or woodlands. This is a very rare chance to see these private gardens, and anyone who raises $100 or more will be given the opportunity to participate in this exclusive adventure with Vivian.

That’s just one of the adventures we already have up on the site! Not your speed? If you’re looking for something a bit more, well, adventurous, then how about a hike around the Jumping Pound Mountain Circuit with Chris Saunders? Looking for a winter adventure? We have a cross-country ski trip from Canmore to Banff with Jamie Jack. In Edmonton? Stand-up paddle boarding on the North Saskatchewan River with Gail Docken. Prefer to stay inside and let your mind do the adventuring? A wilderness-themed trivia night with Sean Nichols.

And for those of you that just miss climbing the stairs, then stay tuned! We have a couple of different stair-climbing ideas just for you folks that are about ready to bloom. We hope to have them up on the site soon, so keep checking back!

The range of adventures really does leave us inspired. We hope you agree, and that you’ll join us on one — if not more — of these adventures.

Or better yet: we hope you’ll also be inspired by these ideas, just like we have! Is there an adventure that you’d like to go on? We can’t wait to hear about it! We’d love to see more and more of your wilderness adventures popping up all over the province. There’s a form right on the website where you can submit your idea. We’ll be happy to add it to our map along with the other adventures. When you register your adventure, we’ll be in touch with fundraising ideas and will set up a dedicated page where you can promote your adventure, invite participants, collect sponsorships and more.

In the meantime, keep an eye on our website and social media pages for details and news of the Adventures being planned.

What’s Your Adventure?