Head Outside
for Learning & Adventures!

Come to Wolf Ridge, a nationally respected and accredited K-12 school and residential learning center. Our educational activities immerse participants in nature exploration, cultural history, outdoor skills, team-building, and personal growth. In addition to K-12 school programs, we offer summer camps, family vacations, grandparent/grandchild Road Scholar, wilderness trips, graduate naturalist training, and live education animal programs.

Why We Bring Our School to Wolf Ridge
- Created by Orono School

Summer Registration Open
Sign up for summer camps, wilderness trips, family programs at our
Online registration page.
Check out our new blog!

Work at Wolf Ridge this summer
as a naturalist, trip leader, or camp counselor.

In the News

Llyod K. Johnson Foundation
"Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota was recently awarded a grant from the Lloyd K Johnson Foundation of $15,000 to support the Environmental Science Immersion Program...." read more

Visiting Groups This Week

Chisago Lakes, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Hibbing Community College, Breck School

The Naturalist's Journal

January 23
Frost Cracks
This week the bitter cold of winter has finally arrived at Wolf Ridge. With overnight lows reaching -19°F, some interesting music has been coming from the woods. What sounds like a loud explosive rifle shot is actually the bark of sugar maple trees cracking, creating what is known as a “frost crack”. These long vertical fractures can be found on the southerly facing side of tree trunks, where the day’s sunlight heats the bark and wood directly under the bark. This causes the bark and inner wood to expand slightly. When the temperature quickly drops at nightfall, the outer bark cools and contracts more quickly than the inner wood. This rapid and uneven contraction of the wood is what causes the bark to split open in an audible crack that echoes for miles through the wintry northern woods.
-Sarah Onstad


- photo by Sarah Onstad

More about frost cracks...

Illinois Extension Service
Montana Extension Service

See more Naturalist Notes

For Everyone

Geocache Wolf Ridge
During Daily Visitor Hours

We have two geocaches at geocaching.com. Note that geocaching is only available during daily visitor hours.

For Teachers

  • Climate Change Curriculum
    Teachers, download these teacher-tested materials for your classroom.
  • EcoTime is a set of EE-based activities for elementary morning meetings from the Jeffers Foundation.



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Wilderness Trips


Naturalist Training


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