diff --git a/Tusker/Screens/Explore/ExploreViewController.swift b/Tusker/Screens/Explore/ExploreViewController.swift
index f15ff818..75c58f65 100644
--- a/Tusker/Screens/Explore/ExploreViewController.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Screens/Explore/ExploreViewController.swift
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class ExploreViewController: UIViewController, UICollectionViewDelegate, Collect
         
         resultsController = SearchResultsViewController(mastodonController: mastodonController)
         resultsController.exploreNavigationController = self.navigationController!
-        searchController = MastodonSearchController(searchResultsController: resultsController)
+        searchController = MastodonSearchController(searchResultsController: resultsController, owner: self)
         definesPresentationContext = true
         
         navigationItem.searchController = searchController
diff --git a/Tusker/Screens/Explore/InlineTrendsViewController.swift b/Tusker/Screens/Explore/InlineTrendsViewController.swift
index 9eefaaab..74ab5e36 100644
--- a/Tusker/Screens/Explore/InlineTrendsViewController.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Screens/Explore/InlineTrendsViewController.swift
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class InlineTrendsViewController: UIViewController {
 
         resultsController = SearchResultsViewController(mastodonController: mastodonController)
         resultsController.exploreNavigationController = self.navigationController
-        searchController = MastodonSearchController(searchResultsController: resultsController)
+        searchController = MastodonSearchController(searchResultsController: resultsController, owner: self)
         searchController.obscuresBackgroundDuringPresentation = true
         searchController.hidesNavigationBarDuringPresentation = false
         definesPresentationContext = true
diff --git a/Tusker/Screens/Search/MastodonSearchController.swift b/Tusker/Screens/Search/MastodonSearchController.swift
index b35eb034..bc627645 100644
--- a/Tusker/Screens/Search/MastodonSearchController.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Screens/Search/MastodonSearchController.swift
@@ -24,7 +24,11 @@ class MastodonSearchController: UISearchController {
         super.searchResultsController as! SearchResultsViewController
     }
     
-    init(searchResultsController: SearchResultsViewController) {
+    private weak var owner: UIViewController?
+    
+    init(searchResultsController: SearchResultsViewController, owner: UIViewController) {
+        self.owner = owner
+        
         super.init(searchResultsController: searchResultsController)
         
         searchResultsController.tokenHandler = { [unowned self] token, op in
@@ -152,6 +156,12 @@ extension MastodonSearchController: UISearchBarDelegate {
     }
 }
 
+extension MastodonSearchController: MultiColumnNavigationCustomTargetProviding {
+    var multiColumnNavigationTargetViewController: UIViewController? {
+        owner
+    }
+}
+
 extension UISearchBar {
     var searchQueryWithOperators: String {
         var parts = searchTextField.tokens.compactMap { $0.representedObject as? String }
diff --git a/Tusker/Screens/Utilities/MultiColumnNavigationController.swift b/Tusker/Screens/Utilities/MultiColumnNavigationController.swift
index 96576a61..b11bdd17 100644
--- a/Tusker/Screens/Utilities/MultiColumnNavigationController.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Screens/Utilities/MultiColumnNavigationController.swift
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@
 
 import UIKit
 
+/// View controllers, such as `UISearchController`, that live outside the normal VC hierarchy
+/// can adopt this protocol to indicate to `MultiColumnNavigationController` the context for
+/// navigation operations.
+protocol MultiColumnNavigationCustomTargetProviding {
+    var multiColumnNavigationTargetViewController: UIViewController? { get }
+}
+
 class MultiColumnNavigationController: UIViewController {
     
     private var isManuallyUpdating = false
@@ -99,6 +106,8 @@ class MultiColumnNavigationController: UIViewController {
                 index = _viewControllers.firstIndex(of: c)
                 if index != nil {
                     break
+                } else if let targetProviding = c as? MultiColumnNavigationCustomTargetProviding {
+                    current = targetProviding.multiColumnNavigationTargetViewController
                 } else {
                     current = c.parent
                 }