About Us
BOAT is more than a bus
We created a collaborative model that we believe is a critical part of a nationwide effort to get more people outside.
Our goal with BOAT is that people can go outside on their own terms. We provide the resources and support to enable our partners.
Our Mission
The Bus for Outdoor Access & Teaching, or âBOAT,â strives to empower impact organizations to get more people outside. We put a full-service outdoor program in the hands of community leaders, addressing barriers to outdoor experiences.
By honoring and enabling the vision of others, we leverage the power of time outside to help our partners achieve their mission.
Our Model
Put an outdoor program in the hands of community leaders, and let them cook!
our programs are unique in that they are
Partnership-Based
Every single program we run is a partnership with another organization.
We want people to get outside on their own terms!
Community Led
Our goal is not to lead trips. Our goal is to empower leaders in the community, giving them the tools to run their own trips.
Rather than set our own agenda for what being outside should look like, we want to empower people in the community to model that for themselves.
Cost Effective
We aspires to be the lowest-cost mechanism for providing expeditions. We avoid traditional cost creators like large fleets or owned property.
The average wilderness expedition program in the US costs over $250 per person, per day. We can provide the same service for less than half that cost – even before fundraising discounts.
Full Service
We provide a full suite of services: training, planning, insurance, food, guiding, equipment, transportation, and much more.
You need gear, transit, food, and more for every trip – a failure to provide any one of these creates a barrier to outdoor access.
our story
BOAT was founded by Micah Leinbach, and launched in Denver in the Summer of 2019. Our first series of expeditions ran in Fall of 2019. The COVID-19 impact halted our operations, and BOAT nearly ended there.
Fortunately, in partnership with James Mills, author of the Adventure Gap, BOAT was able to relaunch in the Great Lakes region with an ice climbing trip that was featured in National Geographic.
BOAT has experienced steady growth in every year since, and now operates a fleet of two busses between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic.
BOAT was not a âlightbulb moment.â While people often focus on the bus itself as our most visible asset, the real differentiators for BOAT were, in our founders words, âboring logistical stuff.â The goal was to build a program that could:
- Emphasize remote experiences, but meet people where they lived – including in dense cities.
- Avoid excess costs – things like land and buildings that inevitably pass expenses on to either donors or program fees.
- Serve group leaders with group goals, rather than convincing many individuals to participate.
- Support pre-existing work, missions, and curriculum, rather than trying to get âourâ curriculum into places.
As the model came together, our team learned that lots of community leaders had fantastic ideas, curriculums, or goals they wanted to execute. What they often were missing was the resources needed to make it happen. Lots of programs were offering vision (who they wanted to get outside, and what they wanted to do once they got there). Far fewer helped make those visions a reality.
BOAT is a bus. But more importantly, BOAT is a low-cost, high-access, flexible, customizable model for community leaders to expand their impact into new terrain. Weâve served over 40 partners, 110 trips, and 1,900 people – with more to come!
our theory of change
We recognize we cannot do it all. As part of our theory of change, we use the following equation. It helps us understand the underlying variables that limit outdoor access.
We try and tackle each area of concern, but BOAT is primarily an operating partner – it will take a coalition across the entire outdoor industry, leveraging the skills of brands, retailers, manufacturers, influencers, marketers, and more to really make this happen.
Visibility
People need to see outdoor spaces and activities.
Most traditional expedition programs start from HQs far from urban areas. We put highly visible buses in the communities we serve, and attend events to share about public lands.
Outdoor influencers using social media to encourage engagement outside – or even just parents bringing their kids.
Attraction
People need to want to spend time outside.
BOAT trips are an extension of our partners existing work – we help get people outside by putting the outdoors to work for their existing goals and interests.
Making gear easier to find, afford, and wear through accessibility efforts. Diversifying the strategies used in public land management to enable many kinds of camping.
Knowledge
People need to feel confident they know how to enjoy time outside.
BOAT provides basic camping instruction on all of our trips, and also works to train more community leaders to be guides in their own right.
Teaching classes, forming community groups, and creating spaces where people of all ages get to learn the wide range of skills and discipline outside.
Operations
People need to be able to easily get outside with what they need.
BOAT enables community partners to bring a fully-mobile wilderness program right to their door, solving for transportation, food planning, guiding, insurance, and gear all at once.
Simplifying permit processes, improving online resources for trip planning, starting local gear libraries, and more.
Retention
The experience outside needs to be good enough that people want to come back.
Simply put – by working without partners to run fantastic programs, and making sure those programs meet their goals.
Investing in more inclusive experiences outside that give people what they want!
our values
At BOAT, we donât set out to teach a specific set of values through our tripsâthatâs up to our program partners. Some focus on youth resilience, others on mental health, healing, community building, interpersonal connection, or survival skills. We believe all of these are valuable ways to approach experiential learning.
Instead, our values guide how we design trips that work for a wide variety of partners and goals.
we don't lead,
we support
It is critical that a BOAT program deepens participants relationship with their existing mentors and community.
inclusive outdoors
What makes getting outside hard? Cost, transit, access to gear, cultural barriers. The list goes on â and we systematically address each one.
your values, outside
We believe in âmission extension.â We are trying to further your work, not our own values, agenda, or curriculum.
impact oriented
Camping is the mechanism, not the mission. We believe the power of outdoor experiences can extend into other parts of life.
Ready to plan a trip?
Have an idea for a trip? Letâs make it happen!
Need inspiration? Weâve got you covered!
Contact us today to start planning your adventure.