World Bound Youth: Amazon to Yukon
Fireside's 20th Anniversary "Into The Wild" Experience

Get The Award for this trip!

An empowering journey blending Indigenous wisdom with climate education to shape young leaders of a sustainable future.

Our most ambitious World Bound Climate and Cultural Leadership course to date, the Amazon to Yukon expedition transports youth to two distinctly magical places: Ecuador and the Yukon. Founder Jeff “Willy” Willis is personally leading this trip along with Fireside and Indigenous Ecuadorian facilitators. World Bound’s Amazon to Yukon course is the perfect opportunity to meet other young people and share a one-of-a-kind, immersive adventure experience in untamed lands of unparalleled biodiversity.

How does World Bound connect Ecuador’s Andes mountains and Amazon rainforest to the sweeping wilds of the Yukon? Through combining trans-hemispheric Indigenous and cultural perspectives, hands-on climate education, one-of-a-kind adventure-style travelling, and connecting with change-makers, educators and community leaders in both locations. Willy has planned an over-the-top experience that puts a spotlight on the impacts of climate change and how Indigenous perspectives are helping create resilient young leaders of tomorrow. Read on to learn more about each leg of this epic journey!

**While it is possible to book only the Ecuador portion, this expedition is intended to weave together two different but equally awe-inspiring locations.

Your World Bound Mission: Becoming a Climate Adventurer

The challenge of climate change is a global one, so a climate activist must become comfortable venturing into new environments, connecting with local cultures, and learning the languages, perspectives, and values of the people they meet. Spanning two hemispheres’ cultures, terrains, and struggles with climate change, World Bound: Amazon to Yukon is a once-in-a-lifetime expedition for aspiring climate adventurers.

During this course, youths will learn to move between Amazonian reforestation projects, navigate canoes through the vast Canadian wilderness, ride horses in the shadows of volcanoes, and more. Along the way, they’ll spend time living with Indigenous families, learning their languages, artisan skills, and worldviews to create an authentic local connection. Participants will return home as budding Climate Adventurers with the tools they need to continue their journey as leaders of the future.

Information Package

DATES
Full trip (28 days): June 25–July 22,  2025
Ecuador only (16 days): June 25–July 10, 2025

AGES
13–18 (co-ed)
Also available for 18+. Contact us if interested.

LOCATIONS
Ecuador: Quito (Ecuadorian capital), Otavalo (largest Indigenous settlement in Ecuador), Cuicocha (lagoon), Cochasqui (archaeological site), Cayambe (volcano), Cotopaxi, Napa River region.
Canada: Whitehorse, Dawson City, Carmacks, Yukon River, Vancouver (airport hotel) 

PRICES (CAD)
*Prices do not include flights to and from Ecuador
**Early Bird discount ends on November 15, 2024
Amazon to Yukon (28 days) Early Bird Price: $6579.00 + GST

Amazon to Yukon Regular Price: $9459.00
Ecuador ONLY Price (16 days): $5799.00 + GST

For Yukon expeditions, see our Yukon Explorer expedition for more info

Includes:
– Pre-course check-in (zoom conference with attendees)
–  Direct contact with our Duke of Edinburgh Award Centre
– 24/7 instruction & support by Fireside staff
– Most meals
– All accommodation (eco-lodge, cabins, tenting, homestay)
– Private ground transportation
– Flight coordination (flight not included) for Ecuador
– Return flight Vancouver to Yukon included for Yukon portion
– Tents and camp cooking equipment
– Admission into all parks
– Horseback riding experience
– White water rafting and river canoeing experiences and gear
– World Bound curriculum, World Bound Certificate of Completion, and t-shirt

Does not include: Flights to and from Ecuador, anything not mentioned above.

More info: office@firesideadventures.ca

You won’t want to miss these experiences

Together with our Indigenous partner Equator Face, and other partners such Huasquila Eco-Lodge, Eddyline, and others, we will explore and discover the wonders of Ecuador and the Yukon. Here are just a few adventures we’ll have along the way:

• Explore the Amazon Rainforest, travel along peaceful rivers, bathe under glittering waterfalls, and hike the Ecuadorian highlands! All while surrounded by monkeys, manatees, sloths, and so much more!

• Paddle the Yukon River and enjoy a historic canoe expedition under the midnight sun that follows the path of ancient Indigenous seasonal pahtways, gold prospectors, and more.

• Meet face-to-face with the wildlife of two distinct ecosystems that may not live to see 2030 due to loss of habitat from climate change and deforestation. Then, deepen your understanding of these organisms’ environmental and cultural significance from experts and Indigenous knowledge keepers.

• Learn traditional cooking, crafting, and even hunting skills from Indigenous Amazonian and Yukon knowledge-keepers.

• Travel back in time as we begin the adventure in Quito - inhabited by kingdoms and empires for 10,000 years - and finish our epic journey in Dawson City - an iconic Gold Rush town that lured some of the world’s greatest explorers, artists, and scoundrels.

“Our people are protecting everyone on the planet when we protect our territories”
— Unnamed Ecuadorian Indigenous Leader

Our World Bound Climate Change Curriculum 

World Bound Youth: Amazon to Yukon is all about connecting Ecuador and the Yukon's Indigenous perspectives of leadership and climate change education for youth who need meaningful experiences that prepare them for their future in a changing world.

No, we aren’t going to bombard them with dark and gloomy discussions of a climate change apocalypse. No, we aren’t going to give them fluffy affirmations and take them on a journey of false hope. We certainly aren’t going to bore them with international policies that have no relevance to reality. What we’re going to do is give our youth what they want and need: meaningful skill-building and leadership training from outdoor leaders and Indigenous educators that will truly prepare them for real, hands-on climate activism.

We do this through our World Bound Curriculum, a set of place-based, outdoor-oriented educational modules that will inform this expedition. This curriculum is driven by our five World Bound Pillars, described below. For more detailed information about the curriculum, please visit our World Bound Curriculum page.

“[T]he heart of climate change lies within our disconnection from Spirit, Self, Each Other and Earth. This disconnection is at the foundation of the systems we live, learn and work within. This is the root cause of climate change and what we must focus on changing and taking action upon.”
— Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship

Pillar 1: Integrating Climate Change Principles and Perspectives

• Indigenous Knowledge: Engage with Indigenous perspectives on nature through Cotachi homestay families and Equator Face guides, as well as Fireside friends in the Yukon’s Selkirk First Nation

• Intercultural: Connect hemispheres by integrating North and South American understanding of the impacts of climate change

• Economic: Learn about the intersection between climate change and the resource and tourism economy from Ecuadorian and Yukoner business owners practicing sustainability

Pillar 2: Exploring Real-world Environments

• Rainforest environments: The Amazon Rainforest and the forests of the Yukon

• Mountain environments: The Andes mountain range 

• River environments: The Amazon River and Yukon River

• Urban environments: Quito, Whitehorse, Vancouver

Pillar 3: Volunteering and Connecting within Communities

• Learn traditions, language, and crafting skills of the Indigenous Cotacachi during a multi-day homestay experience

• Volunteer on an Amazonian reforestation project

• Learn wilderness skills from Northern Canadian Indigenous communities

• Connect with youth from around the world who will be accompanying you on this adventure

Pillar 4: Strengthening Life, Social, and Leadership Skills

• Wilderness exploration skills (canoeing, mountaineering, navigation)

• Indigenous Amazonian craft skills (weaving, hunting, music)

• Cooking skills (including ‘Cooking Guinea Pigs 101’ and outdoor cooking)

• Sustainable, community-run agricultural practices

• Language skills (Spanish and Quechua)

• Leadership skills (navigation, team-building exercises, leading the canoe expedition for a day)

Pillar 5: Sustaining Climate Action through Solution-focused Approaches

• Goal-setting and life-planning activities

• Connection with sustainability activists, business owners, and more

• Membership in the World Bound Youth: Climate Ambassador community

• Membership in the Vancouver Outdoor School Youth Network

• Internships as a climate ambassador and mentor in local sustainable businesses and future expeditions