Assistant Leader Carly Cross takes a break from whitewater raft guide training.

For more info about Adventure Outings or to get an adventure calendar, call 898-4011 or visit www.csuchico.edu/as/adventure. Until they move into the new BMU in early 2001, their office is at 417 Cherry Street.

by Marion Harmon

An outdoor adventure program at CSU, Chico offers more than just trips to the woods

aking like the last sardine in the tin, the one you can’t quite get to without digging out piece by piece, I rode along in the van, trying not to wake up the student next to me who gets carsick if she’s not sleeping. Feeling a little queasy myself, I wondered how much longer it would take to reach the raft launch site. All of a sudden, the slopes to our right dropped from sight and there was the most breathtaking canyon I had ever seen—so deep I couldn’t make out the river at the bottom—with long strings of waterfalls streaming down its sides. This alone was well worth the trip.

We were winding through the Feather River Canyon in one of Adventure Outings’ new vans that morning, some of us nervously contemplating our first whitewater experience. A pretrip name-learning game had loosened up our group of eighteen while we waited for the rafts to be loaded, and the train stories and fish jokes Chico State librarian Jim Dwyer told us on our ride led to much laughter and conversation among former strangers.

Once we arrived at the launch area, we helped unload the rafts, paddles, and helmets. As we squirmed into wet suits and got silly while stretching and listening to the leaders’ instructions on the beach, we started to trust each other enough to embark on the rain-swollen river together. Once we were in the rafts, the trip leaders reviewed the paddling signals and basic maneuvers, and our first few practice runs went well enough for us to head down the river.

This isn’t so bad, I thought, we’re gliding along and...what’s that wall of water doing there? We’re going to the side of that, right? No, wait, I forgot to water my plants, I need to go home and switch my long distance carrier—ohhh, here we go! Wow, we went right into that swirling mess of foam and came out the other side! That was amazing—let’s do it again!

“City kids come here expecting a Disneyland experience. We put them on a river, and they learn what real adventure is all about.”

Call of the wild
This was just one of the many spring trips provided by Adventure Outings, an Associated Students-sponsored program at CSU, Chico that is celebrating its fifteenth year. Whether shooting the rapids on a snow-fed river or hanging off a cliff on ropes, participants find plenty of thrills to get them hooked on the natural highs offered by the program.

“We think of our program as an alternative to the party school image,” says Rick Scott, coordinator of Adventure Outings. “There are so many areas of natural beauty immediately around us. It’s awesome to take students to those areas and let them see there are a lot of ways to expand their horizons besides going to the bars and drinking.”

Adventure Outings has grown from a small program offering two trips a semester into a state-of-the-art outdoor program serving about 1,200 students per year, as well as faculty, staff, and community members. Along with eighty adventure trips each semester and twenty in the summer, the program offers gear rentals, emergency medical training, challenge courses, raft guide school, outdoor information services, and history field studies. Sixty percent subsidized by Associated Students through student union fees, the program produces about $75,000 in income from trips and rentals.

“The person who deserves credit for getting Adventure Outings started is A.S. General Manager David Buckley,” says Scott. “He’s a real motivator and a huge supporter of our program. On the surface, you’ve got recreation and fun, but David sees that positive character traits are developed by doing outdoor activities.”

In 1996, Scott became the program’s coordinator. A longtime outdoors buff with a master’s degree in philosophy, he participated in outdoor programs in college and spent four seasons working as an instructor for Outward Bound, an international program of wilderness schools. He had also been a whitewater program coordinator for people with disabilities in San Francisco and a challenge course coordinator for Indiana University.

Adventure Outings Coordinator Rick Scott takes a hiking break above the Feather River.

Under Scott’s guidance, Adventure Outings has become more comprehensive and structured, and his emphasis on training is readily apparent in the leadership and organizational skills exhibited by his staff. Led by Scott and Assistant Coordinator Mat Erpelding, the staff consists of about fifty students. They undergo rigorous training, first as “shadowers,” then as volunteer assistant leaders, and finally as paid trip leaders.

Getting out there
While offering a variety of services, the main focus of Adventure Outings is its weekend trips. During winter and spring breaks and summer vacation, longer trips of one to three weeks are offered. In describing the trips, participants use such words as challenging, fun, encouraging, positive, and epic.

“It’s the feeling you get when you’re in the wilderness,” says Carey Love, a biology student and an assistant leader. “You feel this awesome respect. In our everyday lives, we get so caught up in the little things and miss out on what is important. Being in the outdoors, you understand that you’re part of something bigger, and you feel more what it’s like to be alive.”

The program offers fifteen different activities, including hiking and backpacking; climbing and mountaineering; rafting, canoeing, and kayaking; fly fishing; mountain biking; and snow sports like skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. Engaging in challenging outdoor activities while bonding with a group of likeminded individuals is one thing that keeps people coming back.

“Every time I’ve gone on one of these trips, I’ve learned a little something about who I am,” notes Lisa Emmerich, a history professor at Chico State. “I’ve learned that I have different strengths than I thought I had, and that’s an empowering experience. And it’s just too much fun—I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard as when I’ve been on Adventure Outings trips.”

The thrill of new challenges is enjoyed by Adventure Outings staff as well as its participants. “It’s great to get folks out there and see their eyes open up to a new experience and see them get over fears of climbing or rafting,” says Martin Roland, a senior trip leader who’s been with Adventure Outings for six years. “When faces turn from pure panic to pure exhilaration when they’ve made it to the top of a climb or when they get through a rapid, it’s a great feeling.”

Adventure Outings Assistant Coordinator Mat Erpelding, right, and staff training at Castle Crags State Park near Mount Shasta.

Although mostly geared toward beginners, the trips are not entirely free from risk. Participants are warned of possible risks in the mandatory pretrip meeting and during the trips. CSU, Chico alum and Disability Support Services staff member Sommer Carter says the extensive training she received helped her through a tricky situation on her first kayaking trip.

“We went down this one rapid and actually got wedged between some rocks,” recalls Carter. “I was really scared, but the training helped because they told us, “Don’t panic, just relax—think about what you’re doing, and your stroking and paddling.’ So we stopped, took a breath, and got ourselves free.”

Adventure Outings takes full advantage of Chico’s location—surrounded by an abundance of rivers, lakes, and mountains. Within an hour or two from campus are Deer and Butte Creeks, Mt. Lassen, and the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. Farther afield, but still close enough for a weekend getaway, are the coast redwoods, Mt. Shasta, and the Trinity and Klamath Rivers. Longer trips include canoeing on the Colorado River, backpacking in Zion National Park, and following the Lewis and Clark Trail through three states (see “Pioneering 101”).

One of the most popular trips involves canoeing and camping in Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park, about fifteen miles northeast of Burney Falls. Fed by one of the largest freshwater springs in the world, the lake is surrounded by a reserve with no access except by boat. Dwyer, an Adventure Outings regular for twelve years, remembers one memorable weekend there.

“It’s considered a power point by Native American tribes in the area,” says Dwyer. “A small group of us stayed up all night because we felt the spiritual power of the place. Two people had brought didgeridoos on the trip, I brought some percussion instruments, and somebody had an acoustic guitar. We played music until 4 a.m., sitting on a wooden bridge with the spring water flowing underneath.”

Many students come to Chico from the suburbs of Northern and Southern California, and programs like Adventure Outings open up a whole new world for them. “City kids come here expecting a Disneyland experience,” notes Scott. “We put them on a river, and they learn what real adventure is all about.”

Students lead the way
When you walk in the door at Adventure Outings, an infectious energy draws you in and tempts you to stay awhile and chat with the students who continuously come and go from the cramped office. Scott proudly points out the many pictures on the walls—widely grinning people clinging to rock faces and gathered around the campfire, staff members in enormous group hugs hamming it up for the camera.

The student staffers, whose majors range from liberal studies to business and science, are responsible for running the trips and doing a lot of the training.

“The number of students involved in running the program is unique,” says Buckley. “At a lot of schools, it’s all professionals who run the program. Our program wouldn’t work without all these great students that we have.”

Becoming a trip leader is quite an involved process. There’s a long list of minimum competencies, including completion of two recreation classes; current CPR and first aid certification; participation in at least five Adventure Outings trips; and attendance at staff trainings, a staff retreat, and eleven staff meetings.

“We train our own people,” says Erpelding. “We run our own trips. We have our own equipment. I think one of the big keys is that we don’t have to contract out with any other organization in order to do our trips. We’re fully self-sufficient.”

Working in the great outdoors
Some of the student leaders have changed their career path based on their experiences with Adventure Outings. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Timber Auth was an English major who didn’t have a lot of outdoor experience before coming to Chico. Through Adventure Outings, he learned the technical skills he needed to embark on an outdoor career and has worked for several outdoor companies, including Adrift Adventures in Utah and his current job teaching rafting and multienvironment courses for the Colorado Outward Bound school.

“Working for Adventure Outings is a fantastic rŽsumŽ builder if you want to work in the outdoor field,” emphasizes Auth. “I don’t have a recreation degree, but I now work for one of the most prestigious outdoor companies there is. Adventure Outings helped me get into the outdoors and get a fantastic job, and it was a big part of my discovering what I was all about.”

Former trip leader Lynn Richardson, who has a bachelor’s degree in parks and natural resources management, is now a raft guide for River Odysseys West in Idaho. Former trip leader Andy Reimers has two very different jobs—manufacturing consultant in Chico and kayak instructor for Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina.

Also, the skills that leaders learn are not just useful in outdoor careers. Former trip leader Phil Swingle teaches fifth and sixth graders in Hamilton City and says he uses the group leadership skills he learned at Adventure Outings on a daily basis.

Looking to the future
The future looks bright for Adventure Outings. Scott says they’re in a huge growth phase. Starting in the fall there will be more internships, and they hope to expand some of the newer programs, such as Chico Bound, a five-day wilderness orientation program designed to help new Chico State students get to know other students. Scott also hopes to expand the challenge courses, facilitated group activities that help participants develop better teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills, and transfer those skills into the work or school environment.

As for me, I learned a little something about myself that day on the river, fighting the urge to jump out of the raft before hitting that first wall of water. Getting through that makes tomorrow’s committee presentation seem like a walk in the park. Now where did I put that information on the mountaineering course...

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