Adventures of an Outdoorsy Sort

Fall Semester 2011 - Taking the Adventure Up a Notch

2011-07-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome Back Students!!! I hope everyone had an awesome summer. Now that the first day of classes is right around the bend the Outdoor Adventure Club is gearing up too! We have many new and exciting things going on this year.

First thing is that the club will be meeting every week instead of bi-monthly. In addition to planning trips and events we will be engaging in outdoor skills training during these meetings as well.

In order to promote active involvment within the club prosepective members can complete the Active Membership Requirements to recieve various benefits. See requirements sheet for details. Help is really needed and planning a trip is one of the most important and helpful requirements. Please realize that this is not nessessary to be a member od the club.

We now have a club video of all the things we've done in the past. You can check it out below. If anyone would like a DVD of the video you can buy one for $5 or complete the active membership requirements as one of the benefits.

And Don't Forget to Sign Up for Events on our Facebook Page!

Thanks Everyone, I can wait for more adventures with you

Welcome Back Everyone

2011-01-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

Hey all, all the club trips for this semester are up on the Facebook group. Every student is encouraged to sign up after they join. NOTICE that the due date to sign up for a trip is 17 days prior to the start of the trip. I will be using Facebook to sign people up. If you cannot use Facebook e-mail me to sign up.

Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=100909383302669&v=app_2344061033&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=100909383302669&v=wall

The FIRST meeting will be Thursday January 20th at 7pm. A location has not set yet but it will most likely be in the rec center room 245. We will be voting on new officers.

The first trip will Skiing/Snowboarding & Snow tubing at Brandywine Ski Resort on February 5th. The final day to sign up will be January 19th.

Dues are $15 for the semester as always and will be due by the second meeting on February 3rd.

Finally the request for Grant money for next year is due this semester. So all you members should be thinking about what trips you would like to see the club take.

Hope everyone has a great start to the semester
Joe

Online Fundraising

2010-10-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

The club has the oportunity to do some online fundraising through eFundraising. Every member can half a subpage on the fundraising site to give support for the club. I would highly suggest doing this because it seems to work well for other organizations. The OAC Fundraising page is at http://www.efundraisingonline.com/GroupPage.aspx?gredirection=1&e=1270601

There are incentives for you to do this. Like members that sell the most stuff on their page will earn prizes. Check it out. You can do it at your leisure, let people know (ie: work, school, family, etc.) The more people we let know about this the greater chances we have to earn money for the club.

If you are more of a people person and would like to sell a physical product around campus, like chocalate bars let me know and we should be able to work that out.

Thanks Everyone

P.S. OAC Movie Night is November 10th 7pm at the Student Union Theater. The Featured Movie is Without A Paddle.

Attension All Members!

2010-10-03T11:45:00.001-07:00

Event sign ups are no longer on Blogger. To sign up for trips visit the club's facebook page. Here you can let us know if you are planning on attending, might be attending, or not attending the events. Hopefully this will be a much easier system to use so everything will flow much easier. For the time being polls will still be here on the website so everyone can vote on what times would be best for various events.

Also note that we have been having issues about people planning on attending but not attending the trip anyway which costs the club unecessary money. So to deter this from happening a demerit system will be initiated which will be discussed further in the future.

Climbing

2010-09-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Every Friday at 2pm I will climbing at the rock wall in the rec center for those of you who wish to join me. Its great exercise and a lot of fun. You don't have to be good at it just come along and try it, make a goal to reach and strive to surpass it next time you climb. It provides challenges that you don't normally face doing conventional exercises.

Friday afternoons will be the general time for the OAC to get together and climb as a club. Also if you are interested the MILE HIGH CHALLENGE is continuing this semester if you want to achieve that. It requires you to climb the rock wall 99 times in one semester, which is 1 mile high! To sign up you pay a fee at the rec center cashier's office and take the receipt to the rock wall staff and then CLIMB ON!

National Public Lands Day!

2010-09-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

Each semester every club has to do some community service and what a better way for the Outdoor Adventure Club to give back then by helping our Natural Parks. National Public Lands Day is a national event where volunteers all over the country help clean up and improve our parks. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park has 4 volunteer oportunities to choose from.

I do need a list of who is going and what project we will be helping with. The projects are
1) Adopt-A-Trail (Trail sweep and clean up) [10am - 3pm] Won the Poll!
2) Peninsula Trash and Appliance clean up [9am - 1pm]
3) Sagamore Hills Trash and Appliance clean up [9am - 1pm]
4) Exotic Plant management at Richfield [9am - noon]

For details on these projects see http://www.cvnpa.org/Events/eventdetail.aspx?id=165

(Check out the Community Service Page to see Details about last year's National Public Lands Day)

Everyone Needs to Join Blogger

2010-08-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah all, what I think I'm going to start doing is using Blogger to sign people up for trips and events. All members need to join Blogger to be able to use the Event gadget that lets me know who is attending. I will be going over how to do this at the first club meeting this Thursday. The events to attend are located below the blog and it remains there no matter which page you're on.

Also 6 members will be going up to Ray's Mountain Biking Gym in cleveland over labor day and since its a week away I've already submited the paperwork so this is not shown as an event.

Also as a note I will be attending the Mile High Challenge kick off party September 8th at 6pm at the Rock wall. The Mile High Challenge is a climbing challenge where you have to reach the top 99 times over the course of the semester. I encourage everyone to join me.

I hope the school year is going well for everyone.

Product Review

2010-08-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

University Students, I was just given the opportunity to try out and write a review for a new product. The product is the Digeus System Optimizer found here http://www.digeus.com/products/systemoptimizer/system-optimizer.html . It is a software program designed to increase a computers speed and performance. The system had a very easy to follow lay out and was very user friendly. I was quite excited when it started searching for junk files to be deleted. It has a lot of other features some of which I tried and of those there were things that I liked and didn't like. Under the Clean Your Disks application it searched for junk files to be deleted but after it had done searching an error arose and wouldn't let me delete the files. I ran it again and stopped the search halfway to delete some of the files. Other apps however worked great like to Clean the Registry, Defragment the Registry and others. The Otimization Wizard was very helpful in performing an overall cleaning of my computer. My Computer is only about 2 years old so I didn't expect the program to find too much junk to delete but it sure did. I can't say if my computer is running any faster or more efficient just by looking at it but it has cleaned it up a bit. And for the low price that Difeus is offering this program it wouldn't be bad if you tried it yourself if your computer has been running very slow lately or has been crashing alot. If you don't want to commit to purchasing a product without trying it like me they do offer a free trial download.

Joe

Start of the Year

2010-08-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone I hope you all are doing well as school starts up again. This Saturday we will be having our Weekend of Welcome program bewteen the Student Union and Memorial Hall from 12-3pm. Come check out the fun and activities. And then on Saturday we will be at RooFest in the Student Union ballroom to recruit new members from 12-3pm. If you are interested in joining the club or finding out more about us RooFest would be the perfect time.

We now have a facebook page too. There is a link at the bottom of the page, check it out and join.

Spelunking Mammoth Cave

2010-04-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

We will be leaving August 13th at 10:30am and spend 3 days in the Park and return August 16th. In addition to Caving we will be horseback riding and other activities on Saturday.

Mammoth Cave National Park preserves the cave system and a part of the Green River valley and hilly country of south central Kentucky. This is the world's longest known cave system, with more than 367 miles explored. Early guide Stephen Bishop called the cave a "grand, gloomy and peculiar place," but its vast chambers and complex labyrinths have earned its name—Mammoth.

Wild Cave Tour

Duration: 6 to 6½ hours

Caving Distance: 5½ miles

Sells Out at: 14 visitors (reservations required)
Restroom Available? Yes, at Snowball Room

Emphasis on: Safe caving techniques; environmental concerns; cave exploration (past and present); team building

Landmarks Seen: Carmichael Entrance, Cleaveland Avenue, Split Rock, Snowball Room, Boone Avenue, various areas off developed tour trails, Frozen Niagara Tour route

Elevation change: 300 feet

Physical Challenges: Heights that involve free-climbing cave walls; lengthy crawls through areas as tight as 9 inches high; walking in a crouched position; hand and knee crawls over jagged rocks and dirt; crawling through wet areas; twisting into and out of tight crawlway openings

Film Festival and The Rage of White Water

2010-03-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Banff Mountain Film Festival preview party is on April 7. It runs from 7pm - 9pm but if you can come at 6pm to help set up that would be great. We will also have a recruiting table at this event to promote our club and attract new members.

White Water Rafting
The 2nd to last trip of the year is coming up on April 17. Our voyage will be on the Lower Youghiogheny River, PA. We will be leaving from the University at 6am and will be returning late into the night. More information will be available as it comes up.

Fundraising, Recruiting, and Tobogganing

2010-02-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

Sunday is our clean up fundraiser at the JAR, everyone who can attend needs to be there by 3:30pm so I can have you sign some papers.

New Member Recruiting will be the Feb. 23 - 25 at the Student Union for most of the day. If you are interested in the club and would like more information about us this would be a great opportunity to talk to us.

Very Exciting News: Tobogganing has been rescheduled for Feb. 27 Yay!

I hope everyone is having a good semester and remember to LIVE ADVENTUROUS!

New Things to Come

2010-01-25T14:55:00.000-08:00

Hey all, I'm excited to be starting a new semester. If you haven't heard already our beloved former president Michelle has stepped down and I have been given the opportunity to take over as president. We will all miss you Michelle.

The First Adventure for this semester:

The first trip of the season is the Tobogganing trip is on Feb. 6 For information about Tobogganing you can visit the Cleveland Metro parks website http://www.clemetparks.com/recreation/tobogganing/index.asp

Outdoor Adventure is having a backpacking trip Feb. 13 - 14 for anyone who is interested. The Wed. prior they will hold a basic backpacking introduction seminar that must be attended to go on the trip. If anyone is interested please contact me as soon as possible.

I'm planning a meeting this thursday the 28th. An e-mail will come later if it will take place.

GOALS FOR THIS SEMESTER:

1) Get new members to join
2) Fundraise
3) Community Service
4) Discover great adventure

See everyone later
- Joe

Mountain Biking and Hobo Stew Making

2009-11-03T07:02:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the recent silence. Like I'm sure it is with you all, school is happening, and it is...happening a lot, recently.

BUT we did have a successful camping trip! Photos should be up soon--all we had was Nicolle's black and white film camera, and she has to develop the photos by hand. So...coming soon.

But we made it through a rather wet and cold night, cooked some absolutely delicious camp food (and I'll list the recipes on a later post, probably), and danced a dance of victory around our fire that was made from wet wood! Good day.

Our next meeting is this Thursday, November 5th, from 5:15-6pm. As before, we'll meet in the Starbucks in the student union. We'll be discussing three things at the meeting.

First, our next trip.

We'll be heading up to Ray's MTB gym in Cleveland. It's an indoor Mountain Biking Gym (the first of its kind, I think) and it will be sure to be a crazy time. I have never gone mountain biking, myself, so there is no fear about looking inexperienced or stupid while we're there: I'll be taking care of that part. At the meeting, we'll decide on the best date for everyone.

Second, more opportunities for service! With the holidays coming up, there are a lot of placed that need people to volunteer their time to help bring Christmas to those who otherwise wouldn't have one. I'll be talking about these opportunities on Thursday as well.

Third, position changes. I am a fifth year senior (AAAH ahha aAH), and I'll finally be student teaching in the Spring. As such, though, I am not going to be able to be the president of the OAC next semester, and we need to find someone who will be willing to take this position.

That's all for now. Thanks, all!

See you later this week,
--Michelle

Conspiring, Camping, and Carting Rusted Steel...

2009-10-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings, everyone!

There's several points of information to pass along, but first! Here are some pictures of National Public Lands Day where we attempt to look Quite Impressive in our reflective vests....

Joe helps move some of the more than 7,000lbs of scrap metal we recovered that day...

...very reflective vests indeed.

And, in truth, I don't know what's going on with my creepy face. I think I was telling a story.

For those of you who weren't able to make it, we had a great time, despite the rain, getting to volunteer with one of our lovely local parks. And, for those of you more TV-savvy than me, keep an eye out for this new documentary: America's Best Idea. We got to watch a preview of it, and aside from being an absolutely beautiful visual display of the wild places of our own country, it's also a story of people, and the land that's a part of who they are. And it's pretty neat to see the CVNP featured in a Big Deal documentary like that.

So, to more business. Our next meeting is THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8th, at 7:00pm. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE.

We moved the time down so that those of you who want to go trail-running can still go. Speaking of which, I got to run last week, and it was absolutely beautiful. For more information, check out the SRWC's website, or just run into the OASIS and sign up by noon of the 8th.

At the meeting, we will be discussing our upcoming camping trip, deciding on our food, and other important things. Please try to be there--or at least e-mail me if you cannot.

Also, as a reminder, dues are also due this Thursday.

And that's enough for now. Thanks so much, guys! See you Thursday---

--Michelle

Next Event: National Public Lands Day

2009-09-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

http://cvnpa.org/Events/eventdetail.aspx?id=165

This Saturday, September 26th, we will be going to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to volunteer for National Public Lands Day. This is a great way for us to both learn more about our local community and to give back to it as well.

I've been planning with one of the managers at the CVNP, and she's really excited about us coming. The project they've got for us is made possible through a grant just for college students.

Here's the information from the e-mail the coordinator sent me.

"Please meet at Boston Mills Ski Resort, located at 7100 Riverview Road in Peninsula, at 8:30 a.m. to complete waiver forms and get something to eat. Your group is signed-up for the demolition site project in Brecksville to remove scrap metal. We will serve a light breakfast and lunch.

Please wear sturdy boots or shoes, long pants, long sleeves (preferred), hat (preferred), dress for the weather, and bring a small pack with work gloves, sun block, insect repellent, and water."

We start at 8:30am (with a provided breakfast!), work until noon (with a provided lunch!), and then have the option of watching a new documentary there, if we'd like. So it's not too big of a time commitment, there's free food, for goodness sake, and it sounds like we'll have the chance to make a difference. How cool.

More information coming on how we'll carpool/meet to get there, but I hope you're all able to come!

See you all at the meeting this Thursday!
--Michelle

Meeting Minutes from Sept 3, 2009

2009-09-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

Huzzah, spiffier-looking website! I'm not done with it all yet, but...it's-a coming.

It was so exciting to see a bunch of new and returning faces yesterday, so thank you all for your support and interest! Here's a summary of what we talked about (because yes, in the midst of all that rambling...we actually did end up saying something, I hope).

-- Budgets are tight/nonexistent this semester, so we'll be doing a lot of amazing local trips.
-- So we welcome any suggestions! Feel free to comment below or e-mail us with your ideas.

--Dues are due by October 1st, 2009.

--If you were not able to make it to the meeting, you need to meet with Michelle as soon as possible to get your Health history and Liability forms filled out. She needs to turn these in by September 17th.

--Also, if you have any recommendations/OHMANdon'tbuythis on any outdoor products, movies, books, or places, let us know. We're going to try to build up this website as a resource as well.

--Spread the word about us! We're going to get our name known on campus this year.

--T-shirts are finally coming! AAAH yay.

--Life is beautiful. And an adventure.

* * * * * *

Next meeting: Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 5:30pm. Location TBA
Next Event: National Public Lands Day, September 26th. See link at right (under profile) for details or click here.
Next Trip: Camping at Westbranch State Park, October 9-10th. Again, see the link at right for details or click here.

(if the links aren't active yet, they will be soon.)

Whoo! It's going to be a great semester!

Beginning a New Semester

2009-08-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings, all!

I'm quite excited to start this new semester, as I hope you all are.

Within the next two weeks, this website will be refurbished, updated, and ready to go with relevant information. Whoo! Life! Yes!

Until then, thanks so much for your patience and keep an eye on your inboxes for an e-mail about when our first meetings and trips are.

Take care, everyone, and keep excited.

Talk to you soon--
--Michelle

Orienteering Saturday

2009-03-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

The first ever University of Akron campus Orienteering event will be offered Saturday March 28, 11 to 3 PM. Using a map and compass, you'll try to travel the most efficient route between about a dozen marked locations on a detailed campus map. For competitive athletes, you'll be making decisions about the best path from point to point while running hard for 15-30 minutes. The winner won't always be the fastest runner, but the person who can navigate and think clearly at speed. For those who don't want to race, orienteering can also be a relaxing way to add some variety to a leisurely walk, seeing areas you might not visit otherwise. Or try orienteering as a team, working with friends to keep track of where you are and where you're going. Racer or stroller, all are welcome! This is a great and convenient chance to try a new and exciting sport right here on campus.
There will be three courses - Beginner, Short, and Medium. Try one, or do them all! Registration is $5 / map (teams may want more than one map), and will be open March 28 from 11-2 outside the Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Starts can be any time from 11-3 (each entrant's start time is staggered so you don't just follow the person in front of you!). Instruction, maps, compasses to borrow, and information about orienteering in the woods will also be available. Sponsored by Recreation & Wellness Services, Outdoor Adventure and the Northeast Ohio Orienteering Club.

HERE IS THE WEBSITE of the guy who is running it all. It explains Orienteering in more detail.

See you all there!

ALSO: Next Meeting is Monday, March 30th, at 5:30 in the Club Sports Office.

Bake Sale!

2009-03-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

OH man, it's bake sale time.

The first week we're back from Spring Break, we're going to be selling delicious and delectable pastries and sweets as a means to gather enough money for our upcoming firebuilding class.

The sale will be taking place from 12-3pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

These are the people who have signed up to be at the tables...

Monday: Leah (12-3) Kurt (1-2) Joe G (2-3)

Wednesday: Leah and Kurt (1-3) Lindsay (Maybe 2-3)

Friday: Lindsay (12-3) Leah (1-3) Melissa (1-3)

I will be at the tables always, attempting to resist the urge to remove certain cookies from existence.

Please remember to bring baked goods, and if you want brownie points (ack, the pun), then bring them already bagged and priced. Also, bring all your outdoorsy-like equipment like climbing gear, lanterns and whatnot to attract interest.

ALSO, if everyone who is interested in going on the Camp Carl retreat or Firebuilding class would please meet me sometime at the bake sale, it would be wonderful. We've got to fill out some additional waivers in order to go.

Alright, I'll see you there! Bring spring break stories to tell!

EDIT : Bake sale has been moved to MARCH 30th-APRIL 3rd.

2009-03-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys!

Next meeting is tomorrow, MONDAY, MARCH 9th, at 5:30pm.

We'll be in the Club Sports room again, and we'll be discussing some exciting things. Nicolle and I have been making plans, and we can't wait to share them with you all.

Also, if you have any ideas, feel free to bring them to the table as well.

See you there---

Everything's been updated!

2009-02-15T14:58:00.000-08:00

Greetings, everyone!

I've just finished updating the site with relevant information, so be sure to investigate the lovely links to the right of this text window. There you'll find the information for our next trip, the calendar, and more. I'm planning to use this website as a tool to keep up-to-date information at your fingertips, that way you'll always have an idea of what is going on.

NEXT MEETING: 5:30pm on Tuesday, February 24th.

That's all for now. I can't wait to go tobogganing with you all!

OAC Calendar, Fall 2009

2009-02-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

Here is the first draft of this year's calendar. I'm sure that more things will be added as our plans for this year are solidified, and I will e-mail you all if I find out any changes. If anyone discovers something they'd like us to do, please feel free to recommend it to me!

For now, though, you can at least get an idea of what we're planning. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Tobogganing Trip Info

2009-02-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

No longer will you be jealous of the chilly cheeriness of these people, for you will get to live the tobogganing dream on Friday, February 27. It will be the stuff of legends.

We will meet outside the OASIS office on Friday, and we'll leave by 5:15 pm. (please e-mail me if this is a bad time and we can leave later). We will carpool to the Cleveland Metroparks Toboggan Chutes, and stay there until they close at 10:30pm, if we're into it. There is also a nearby chalet with fireplaces and cocoa, for all those who will need a warm respite.

If you want to go on this trip, I need to have your waiver information, emergency contact info, student ID# and phone number by the meeting on Tuesday, Feb 24th (at 5:30 in the Club Sports Office). You can e-mail me at mjl22@uakron.edu if I don't have this information already.

You are required to wear hats and gloves in order to sled, and I'd really recommend that you bundle up well. Regardless of the weather, the chutes are refrigerated, and you will have a numb butt by the end of the night unless you're prepared.

Can't wait to see you all there!

Frequently Asked Questions (Mostly)

2009-02-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

How do I join?

Just contact any of the officers listed here. We always welcome new adventurers at any time throughout the semester, and we will answer any questions you have. Our semesterly dues are $15, and you must sign a liability waiver and health form before you go on any of our trips.

Do I have to be like Les Stroud to be a member?

No worries--there is no prior experience needed to be a member of the OAC. Part of our mission is to get educated about all the countless facets of outdoor adventuring, so we're all learning! ...Though if you do have Survivorman skills, you have my utmost respect.

What exactly do we do?

The OAC does all things outdoorsy and adventurey--kayaking, white water rafting, rock climbing, hiking, winter backpacking, camping, fire-building, wilderness survival-learning, raccoon-battling, outdoor cooking...a lot of fun, in other words. In addition to our trips, we also attend seminars, lectures, and demonstrations to broaden our scope and enhance our ever-growing knowledge of the outdoors.

This semester's calendar of events can be found here, and for information about our next trip, click here .

Are all trips free?

We will do the best we can to make all OAC trips as easy on your college-student wallets as possible, but we have little funding this year, so this is hard to say.

If we have some dedicated fundraisers, however, dues will probably be the only thing you'll have to worry about.

What is the difference between Outdoor Adventure and the Outdoor Adventure Club?

Outdoor Adventure is not the same as the Outdoor Adventure Club. We're a club sport, and they're a service through the SRWC. They offer seminars, trips, gear rental, and training, and we generally take all of our big trips through them--it's just safer that way, for one, and we can rent equipment from them too. (for more information, click on the "Outdoor Adventure" tab on the left side of the university website).

Am I allowed to bring alcoholic beverages, drugs, weapons, or general stupidity to any gathering of the OAC?

HAha--No. Wherever we are, we are an acting representative of the University of Akron, and we will act with the respect and decency that we would expect from anyone else. Please do not violate this element of our constitution.