ORC creates online trip board to organize activities
The Outdoor Recreation Center has created an online trip board for students who would like to travel or do local activities together, said John Louviere, the ORC program administrator.
“Every day someone calls or comes in asking about trips, rock climbing or other activities,” Louviere said. “I’ve started the trip board as sort of a phase one, as something that empowers students to get out and do their own trips.”
Louviere said he wants students to get outdoors and do activities, and that the trip board is a way to connect students together.
Louviere said the trip board is based on the same concept of the ride board in the TSC, where people advertise the trip or activity and those involved share the cost.
“We used to lead trips, but not really anymore,” Louviere said. “We hope that in a couple years we can start leading trips again, after training and proper permits have been obtained, but I’ve started the trip board in the meantime for students.”
Louviere said that the ORC had a need to review their trip program due to a tightened risk policy after the van rollover last September, as well as the expense of leading trips.
Students can find and post trips and activities on their Web site, http://www.usu.edu/orc.
“It could be something as simple as hiking in Logan Canyon. You just leave your contact information and get connected to other students looking for someone to hang out with,” Louviere said.
“We’re not trying to compete with match.com or LDS singles Web sites, but if it helps students find a date, why not?” Louviere said.
Louviere said he wants people to get outside and not forget about the canyon. He said it’s easy to get tunnel vision from studying when you’re a student, and that the ORC has many resources to help students enjoy the outdoors.
According to the site, the ORC is students’ resource to dream, plan, prepare and go on an outdoor adventure.
The ORC has an extensive library of local and surrounding state guide books, maps and how-to books ranging from “hiking, climbing, skiing, snowshoeing and birding, just to name a few,” said Louviere.
“I want to make it very accessible and easy for students to get outside,” he said. “Our library resource center is there to help in the decision process.”
The ORC offers non-credit skill classes in the areas of avalanche safety, bicycle maintenance, skate skiing and youth cross-country skiing.
“We offer classes under the direction of Campus Recreation,” said Louviere. “We help out, but don’t facilitate them. We’re a student service.”
The ORC has a rental program that gives students the tools they need for the outdoors, he said, which include rental equipment for camping, fair weather activities and snow equipment.
“We keep the prices as low as we can for students,” he said. “We have extremely high quality equipment.”
Camping equipment includes tents, sleeping gear, backpacks and cooking gear.
The fair weather rental equipment includes water sports equipment and accessories and mountain sports equipment.
The water sports equipment that can be found includes kayaks, canoes, wetsuits and a portable toilet, among other items.
The mountain sports equipment includes rock climbing shoes and helmets, mountain bikes, tandem (two-person) bikes, kid trailers for bicycles and mountain board kites, just to name a few.
Snow equipment includes air boards, snowshoes and skiing equipment for children and adults and snowboarding equipment, as well as other equipment.
Louviere said that winter camping can be overwhelming without the right skills, but that it doesn’t have to be that way.
For those who would like to experience winter camping, the ORC rents out Mongolian-style yurts. According to the Web site, they are outfitted with a wooden floor, wood-burning stove, kitchen and bunks for six to eight people, depending on the yurt.
Staying overnight in a yurt allows people to “enjoy the beauty of winter camping, which is really fun and memorable,” Louviere said.
The yurts are located up Blind Hollow, Bunchgrass, Green Canyon and Steam Mill (Hell’s Kitchen Canyon) areas in Logan Canyon.
Louviere said that USU is the only university that has a yurt system with the available terrain, and that “people from all over the country rent out yurts,” Louviere said.
For more information about the trip board, rental equipment, yurts or anything else relating to outdoor recreation, contact John Louviere at the Outdoor Recreation Center, located east of Romney Stadium at 1050 N. 950 East, or the Web site, http://www.usu.edu/orc.
-heidifk@cc.usu.edu