They sat huddled in a circle, headlamps off, in pitch-blackness.
“You don’t even know which way is up when it’s that dark,” senior Hannah Thorson said.
“That was the best trip,” senior Talbot Andrews added.
Last November, Thorson and Andrews led a caving trip to Lost Lake near Mt. St. Helens, Washington, with UP’s Outdoor Pursuits Program (OPP).
They led six other students and brought with them an old map of the forest roads with vague handwritten directions like, “look for three-foot dip in road, followed by fallen tree with very big stump, walk 100 paces into the forest and look to your left.” They crawled through four caves, slept overnight, ate pancakes for breakfast and went on a hike — a memorable trip, to say the least.
“It was very very cool,” Thorson said.
OPP is a special group — it acts as a passport that allows students to put down their books for a day and enjoy the outdoors. Every weekend, six students, a leader and an assistant leader crowd into “Bertha,” their van, and take off for a nature getaway.
Those active in OPP get the chance to take part in a lot of different activities, including paddle boarding, hiking in the Gorge and camping on the coast. Best of all, students don’t need to be lifelong outdoor afficionados to to take part: the trips are geared towards all experience levels.
“As a trip leader my favorite thing is taking people outside who haven’t really been outside,” Andrews said. “That’s my favorite part — watching people fall in love with nature.”
Thanks to the new Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center and a large investment from Columbia Sportswear Company, as of this year OPP has gained the resources needed to expand: A new position, Outdoor Pursuits Program Manager, was created, the bike shop is open more hours, they have a shiny new office, the rock wall scheduling is booked and an order for new gear was just placed on Monday.
“This extra help has really changed our world,” Andrews said.
Hired in July, Nathan Hingley, program manager of OPP, works directly with Co-Coordinators Andrews and Thorson on scheduling, outdoor education and planning.
“He’s like, ‘This is great. Let’s build on it. Let’s make it better,’” Thorson said.
With the additional oversight, Thorson and Andrews have been able to plan more diverse and complex trips. They have four overnight trips planned for the semester and Hingley hopes to eventually send out multiple trips every weekend.
In another effort to diversify, Hingley is working on adding trips that are accessible to students of all abilties— not just just those who are able-bodied.
“We are just looking at ways in which the program can reach more of the student body,” Hingley said.
Design Editor Rebekah Markillie can be reached at markilli17@up.edu and on Twitter @r_markilli
