Home > Youth Leadership Programs > World Bound Youth: Amazon to Yukon
Fireside's 20th Anniversary "Into The Wild" Experience
Two continents, two awe-inspiring ecosystems, one adventure to bring them together
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. This is the perfect opportunity to share a one-of-a-kind, immersive adventure experience in untamed lands of unparalleled biodiversity. Come on… the Amazon Rainforest and Yukon River - two of the world's most significant regions within 28 days.
During this course, you will move through Amazonian reforestation projects & navigate canoes through the vast Canadian wilderness. You’ll ride horses in the shadows of volcanoes and search for the remains of old gold miner’s cabins in the Yukon. You’ll spend time living with Indigenous families, learning their languages, artisan skills, and worldviews to create an authentic local connection. Return home as a budding Climate Adventurer with the tools you need to continue your journey as a leader of the future… we need you.
Leading the way… Jeff “Willy” Willis and Ecuadorian Indigenous Partners
Fireside Founder Jeff “Willy” Willis is personally leading this trip. As part of our epic 20th-anniversary plans, we decided to offer experiences that have never happened before. Like ever.
We’ll be adventuring alongside trusted Indigenous Ecuadorian partners who we’ve fostered our relationship with over several years of leading experiences in Ecuador.
Why this course is for you?
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. We have 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!
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
Amazon to Yukon (28 days)
$9459.00 (contact us to learn about our subsidies)
Ecuador ONLY (16 days):
$5799.00 + GST (contact us to learn about our subsidies)
For Yukon-only expeditions, see: Yukon Explorer
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
Your World Bound Mission: Becoming Resilient, Knowledgeable, and Adaptive
The challenge of climate change is a global and personal 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.
You won’t want to miss these experiences
Together with our Indigenous partner Equator Face, and other partners such as 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 ancient Indigenous seasonal pathways, gold prospectors, and more.
Meet face-to-face with the wildlife of two distinct ecosystems that may not live to see 2030 due to the 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
Introducing our Ecuadorian partners!
The magic of the Ecuador portion of this trip is only possible thanks to our lovely friends from Huasquilah Amazon Lodge and Equator Face Travels. With their help, we can experience the beautiful country as more than tourists, making authentic and meaningful local connections while leaving the country better than when we found it.
Huasquila Amazon Lodge
Founded by Pablo Marañon and Bastienne Paliz 3 years ago, Huasquilah specializes in offering inclusive and immersive Amazon experiences by combining nature exploration, environmental education, sustainability, and authentic cultural connections. Their work is guided by an understanding that Indigenous perspectives bring generations of knowledge on sustainable living and nature conservation, providing valuable insights to help address climate change.
Huasquilah is committed to working with youth through a climate action lens. This includes teaching young people about climate change through hands-on activities like rainforest hikes, reforestation projects, and cultural exchanges with local Kichwa communities, helping them understand the importance of sustainability and conservation for the future.
Equator Face Travel
Equator Face is a passion project that is 21 years in the making, founded by Diego Orlando Fueres Túquerres - a member of the Otavalo people with long generational ties to agriculture and the Andes - and Huaita Sisa Morales Males - daughter of Indigenous artisans dedicated to the traditional craft of textile weaving. Their mission is to connect youth with the local communities to transmit the ideals instilled in them by their cultural traditions and families.
Equator Face promotes healthy eating by transmitting the Andean diet to new generations, strengthens organic polyculture in family crops to preserve the quality of the land and food, advocates conscious care of humanity's most valuable resource: water, and conveys to all people the feeling of caring for and practicing their beliefs, values, traditions, art, music, literature, and more.
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.
Jeff “Willy” Willis, Owner & Founder
Since 1991, I have developed and led camps and expeditions throughout Canada, Japan, Germany, Colombia, Ecuador, Yukon, Peru, Italy and the Arctic. My love of outdoor experiential education, years of experience in youth and family work, and passion for environmental education and social justice led me to create Fireside Adventures. I’m incredibly proud to be celebrating our 20th Anniversary with this amazing expedition!
Liam “Barnsy” Barnes, Fireside Director
I started at Fireside as a junior instructor. Since then, I’ve led many epic adventures spanning BC, Yukon and Ecuador. As Director, I helped build Fireside’s World Bound and Vancouver Outdoor School’s Fieldschool from the ground up. I’ve also led numerous Yukon expeditions, which we’ve shared with hundreds of kids to help them develop outdoor and leadership skills.
Learn more about the team
