History and Mission

MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to provide outdoor adventure experiences that inspire personal growth, community integration, and enhanced awareness of the environment. Wilderness Inquiry adventures encourage people to open themselves to new possibilities and opportunities.

BRIEF HISTORY

More than 30 years ago, WI Executive Director Greg Lais and Bill Simpson took a group of 12-year-old students on a winter camping trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. They had a fantastic time and nobody got cold, despite temperatures of 40 degrees below zero.

Greg realized then that, with the right attitude and know-how, just about anyone could enjoy the outdoors on its own terms. In 1977, at the urging of Greg's sister Mary, Greg and college pal Paul Schurke organized a trip to the Boundary Waters involving two people who used wheelchairs and two fellows who were deaf. That trip opened new possibilities and changed the lives of everyone involved, including Greg and Paul.

After graduating from St. John's University in Collegeville, MN, Greg and Paul served as personal care attendants for a Minneapolis attorney named John St. Marie. John helped Greg and Paul incorporate their endeavor as a non-profit organization in 1978 and let them use his house as a base of operations for trips.

In 1981, then Board Chair Rita Plourde encouraged Greg and Paul to start doing winter trips. Rita hooked WI up with her friend Will Steger. After a couple of years of mushing in the BWCA Paul moved to Ely in 1984. Along the way, Paul led a trip to the North Pole with Will and worked with Ann Bancroft. Paul and his wife, Susan (a former WI trail staff), started Wintergreen Designs in Ely shortly after returning from the North Pole.

In the meantime, Greg continued to build and expand Wilderness Inquiry. New trips throughout the world were added to the list of destinations, including trips to the Yukon's Big Salmon River (1984), Alaska's Porcupine River (1986) and Australia (1988). Greg hired Sarah Milligan-Toffler in 1990, and Sarah brought a new level of professionalism to WI.

Since the beginning, WI has served well over 250,000 people on canoe, kayak, dogsled, horsepack and hiking adventures throughout North America and the world. Many things have changed since Greg and Paul did their first trips together, but the spirit, care, and sense of adventure continues throughout Wilderness Inquiry programs to this day.

This is a very brief version of the last 30 years. Greg and Paul still love doing trips together. They teamed up in 2006 to test-run our new Costa Rica itinerary - so it's quite possible they may just show up as your trip leaders.

The first group of WI travelers assembled at a farm near River Falls,
Wisconsin in August, 1977.

From left, Paul Schurke, Greg Lais, and Senator Wendell Anderson
share the stage at WI's 25th Anniversary party in 2003.

WI office crew shares a moment with Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft
after their most recent return from the North Pole in 2007.