Northern Tier is the Boy Scouts of America’s gateway to adventure in the Great Northwoods. In the summer, Scouts from Northern Tier’s three wilderness canoe bases explore millions of acres of pristine lakes, meandering rivers, dense forests and wetlands in Northern Minnesota, Northwest Ontario and Northeast Manitoba. With the thick Boreal Forest making trails difficult to navigate and maintain, canoes are the preferred mode of transportation in the Northern Forest.

Okpik Cold Weather Camping, Northern Tier’s winter offering, is the BSA’s premier winter camping program. At Okpik, Scouts experience a true Northwoods winter: learning how to thrive in subzero temperatures, travel across frozen wilderness lakes and construct their own sleeping structures out of snow.

Not every Scout has the opportunity to come up with a crew, or they want to have a unique experience with other Scouts from across the country. That is why Northern Tier offers individual programs to give Scouts those opportunities. Maybe it is doing trail work for a week with the Order of the Arrow, learning about ecology with the Forest Corps, or camping outside on a frozen lake at Okpik, there is an individual program for all Scouts.