Outdoor adventure participants embrace outdoors

With a batch of steaming blueberry pancakes prepared, sunshine, swim and sleep awaited the members of Outdoor Adventures.

It was day four of the Canoe Canada Expedition.Day three had been a bit of a mishap.

After venturing three miles from the intended route into “The Narrows” and enduring 12 straight hours of paddling, seeing land was a blessing.

The rock-side campsite wasn’t pretty, but it did its job.

Surrounding a richly sustained island in Ontario, clear waters abounded.

For Tyler Kivland, an instructor and full trip leader for Outdoor Adventures, the Canoe Canada Expedition has encompassed the purpose of the group as an outdoor recreation program that offers classes and adventure trips.

The organization, which is based out of Eigenmann Hall, offers adventure trips year-round, including five trips during spring break to destinations across the country. The final day to sign up for spring break trips is Feb. 3.

Every July, a group embarks on a trip to Boundary Waters at Quetico Provincial Park.

The park teems with wildlife, and spotting a bald eagle is a daily occurrence.

“This trip isn’t just a cut-and-paste camping trip,” Kivland said. “There’s a lot of solid educational information they get about the area and camping and the human impact on the world in general.”

Participants have to decide where to camp, how to find and prepare food and how to adapt to the changing environment into which they have been thrown.

While it is advertised as a canoeing trip, participants engage in a system of “lake hopping” — after reaching their destination, they have to pick up their belongings and hike to a camping site, which sometimes involves trekking up two miles of hills and rocky areas.

“It’s a trip I love because it pushes people mentally and physically,” Kivland said. “You become strained and don’t see yourself moving on. It really tests people mentally, and I like that. It really grabs you and shows you what life’s about and what you’re made of.”

The voyagers said they have learned from their previous mistakes.

After a slight misdirection one year, the teams began to bring white flags to indicate they had been to a site before the other group.

“By day two, your mind is still trying to find out what the hell is going on, but by the end of the week, people are doing rock-paper-scissors to carry more gear,” Kivland said.

Kivland said he easily puts 100 hours into preparing this trip.

“Running this trip is, like, one of the loves of my life,” he said.

Assistant Program Coordinator Kim Collins not only has attended the trip to Canada but has also taught the Introduction to Wilderness Leadership course through the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, a required class for those interested in becoming a leader for OA excursions.

“More often than not, people sign up by themselves,” she said. “We do get people that come with a buddy for the longer trips, but most people are willing to meet new people, which is awesome because that’s a big part of how we run our trips.”

Collins said motivation might be one of the most overlooked aspects of the trip.

“People just want to get outside,” she said. “They want to get off campus or away from town, and they just want to spend some time and meet new people.”

With OA’s recent expansions and the move to Eigenmann from the Indiana Memorial Union in spring 2010, Kivland said she has a hard time imagining what comes next for the group, but she is also looking forward to the future.

“Right now, our expansion is the student involvement,” he said. “Trip leading is our best asset because what those trip leaders get through their progression is immeasurable value in terms of leading peers and learning about themselves.”