Planning a Winter Outdoor Education Trip? 3 Days at an Algonquin Log Cabin
Planning a winter outdoor education trip your students will actually remember? Our off-grid Log Cabin on Surprise Lake, just outside Algonquin Park, hosts school groups every winter. All equipment, meals and instruction are included, and each program is tailored to your class, your grade and your learning goals.
A Chance to Unplug. An Opportunity to Reconnect.
Powered by solar energy and immersed in Algonquin’s wilderness, our off-the-grid setting brings sustainability to life. Students step away from screens and everyday distractions to connect with nature, strengthen relationships, build resilience, and learn through meaningful outdoor experiences.
Peace of Mind for Educators
While students enjoy a genuine opportunity to unplug, teachers and schools can rely on satellite phones for essential communication and added peace of mind throughout their stay.
What a Day on a Winter Outdoor Education Trip Looks Like
The morning starts with a hot breakfast and real maple syrup. Then everyone heads out: skiing the Moose Tracks loop, snowshoeing through the forest, and reading animal tracks in fresh snow.
Lunch is hot soup and fresh-baked bread, back at the cabin. After lunch, afternoons are for the classics: snowshoeing up to the lookouts, a first ski lesson on the lake, flying down our 100 m luge run, and a visit to a real winter camp to see how people live out here in a heated tent. You can also add a dogsled trail ride for the whole class.
After dinner comes the part students talk about for years: torch-lit broomball and soccer on the frozen lake, the sauna, and a night sky with no city glow.
Overnight School Trip Options: 3 or 4 Days
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- 3-day Algonquin Winter Classroom: the Log Cabin classics, from snowshoes and skis to the luge, broomball and sauna.
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- 4-day Winter Camp & Log Cabin Expedition: two days of Log Cabin fun, then students load toboggans, snowshoe out and spend a night winter camping in a heated wall tent.
Where Students Sleep and Eat
Living off-grid is part of the lesson: students see how warmth, water and light actually work when there’s no switch on the wall.
On this overnight school trip, your students sleep in the Log Cabin and the Pinecroft sleeping cabin, with the option of a night in a heated winter tent. The Log Cabin has two indoor washrooms with flush toilets, and the shower and sauna cabin is open to students any time, day or night.
We cook three meals a day for your group. Tell us about allergies and dietary needs when you book, and we’ll plan around them.
Safety and Supervision
On every winter school trip, Wilderness First Responder-certified instructors with years of winter instructing experience lead your students. Every activity is instructor-led, with 4 instructors for a group of 20.
Before your trip, we share our Emergency Action Plan with your school, and satellite phones are on site at all times. Schools have trusted us with their students since 1991.
A Living Classroom
Our instructors teach with passion, curiosity and humility. Out here, science, geography and physical education happen naturally: how animals survive winter, how ice forms, how to navigate a frozen lake, and how to stay warm.
The trip works well as a Grade 8 overnight trip, as a Winter OE trip for senior grades, and for outdoor education credits. It also suits Duke of Edinburgh groups.
Winter School Trip Details
| When | Mid-week, January and February 2027 |
| Group size | 12–24 students, Grades 6–12 |
| Length | 3 or 4 days |
| Where | Surprise Lake, near Algonquin Park Access Point #1 |
| Price | 3 days $620 + HST per student; 4 days $850 + HST. Based on groups of 12–24. Dogsled trail ride add-on $235 + HST per student |
| Included | Accommodation, all meals, all winter gear, trained instructors |
| Getting here | Your own school bus to Access Point #1, or come by public bus or train (for example, Ontario Northland) |
Questions Teachers Ask
What if it’s really cold? Students head out in proper winter gear, and instructors adjust the day to the weather to keep everyone moving, fed and warm.
Do students need ski or snowshoe experience? No. Most of our school groups are first-timers, so instructors teach everything on day one.
What do students need to bring? We supply the skis, boots, poles and snowshoes, and send a packing list for everything else.
Can parents reach us? Phones don’t work at the cabin, so students are fully unplugged. In an emergency, however, you can reach our staff by satellite phone, and your school has our Emergency Action Plan.
Book Your 2027 Winter Outdoor Education Trip
Mid-week dates for your Algonquin Park school trip in January and February fill first, and only a few weeks are left. Tell us your group size and preferred dates, and we’ll build the trip with you. You can also see all our school programs for winter.
See you soon…