Lindsay Ward and another GORP staffer play
around in the equipment store
If the Discovery Channel’s Man vs. Wild has ever prompted you to consider embarking on your own, more tame adventure in the outdoors, the Georgia Outdoor Recreation Program at the University of Georgia might be able to help.This fall GORP is offering students, UGA employees and members of the Athens community more than 50 trips focusing on outdoor activities, such as hiking, kayaking and rock climbing.
Although priority is given to UGA students and employees, if space allows, members of the Athens community are able to take advantage of GORP’s trip offerings at an increased cost.
The cost of the trips ranges from $10 to $890 for students, from $12 to $920 for faculty and staff, and from $15 to $950 for individuals who are not affiliated with the University.
Associate Director for Programs and Outdoor Recreation Jennifer Stewart has been in charge of GORP for the last year and a half. She said she came to UGA to help expand the program.
In fall 2007, before Stewart arrived, GORP offered 20 trips. This fall it is offering more than 50. Stewart said she is passionate about the trips because being in the outdoors provides people with a unique opportunity to learn and grow.
“Typically in an outdoor environment people are a bit challenged if they’re out of their comfort zone,” Stewart said, “so the opportunity is there for people to discover that they’re stronger than they thought they were, and they’re braver than they thought they were.”
Every spring Stewart gives a presentation to the All Campus Allocations Committee, made up mostly of students, which decides how much money goes to various student activities. For the last two years, Stewart said she has received around $10,000 of the $40,000 it takes to run the program from the student activity fee. Revenue from the trips and other GORP activities makes up the difference.
Most of the outings GORP offers are one- to two-day trips in Georgia and the Southeast, but it also offers some longer trips during university break periods. One such offering is GORP’s annual skiing and snowboarding trip to Steamboat Springs, Colo. According to Chase Dudley, manager of the Outdoor Recreation Center’s equipment rental store, these larger, more expensive trips are worth the investment.
“Colorado is ridiculously expensive to ski and snowboard, but because we’re a student organization, we’re able to get group discounts and university discounts,” said Dudley, a senior advertising major from Cartersville, Ga. “You’re saving a pretty good chunk of change when you go on some of the bigger trips.”
While skiing in the Rocky Mountains sounds like an activity for the veteran adventure-seeker, lack of outdoor expertise should not discourage people from getting involved with GORP. Occasionally some of the trips require some previous experience, but this semester all trips are open to people of every skill level.
GORP trip leader Lindsay Ward, a senior from Virginia double majoring in natural resource recreation and tourism, and water and soil resources, said she enjoys helping novice adventurers.
“I know I have a hard time finding places that I want to go backpacking,” Ward said, “so I like being able to take people who want to go out, but don’t know how to do it themselves, and sort of set them on their way.”
Elizabeth Moser, a senior natural resource recreation and tourism major form Atlanta, has gone on many GORP trips since her freshman year, and she said that people would be surprised at the range of trips GORP offers.
“People might think, you know, ‘I am not an experienced hiker, I’ve never hiked the Appalachian Trail, so this isn’t for me,’” Moser said, “but there are actually a lot of different kinds of activities that can cater to anything that you might be interested in doing.”
Along with lack of experience, fear is also a common factor that deters people from participating in outdoor activities. However, Stewart said this fear is often unfounded.
“My philosophy is that everything you do in life is risky,” Stewart said. “I risked my life more often crossing the street in downtown Atlanta than I did when I went out to Glacier National Park and backpacked with grizzly bears.”
“I firmly believe that if you give people information and time to prepare, most of the risks can be managed, and it’s possible to go out and safely have fun doing outdoor stuff.”
For information on trips and availability, visit GORP’s trip webpage.
Edited by: Elizabeth Newcomb
I like the attempt at a more interesting lead than the original story, but it's not going to work for everybody. It's got a shot at working for "Man vs. Wild" fans, but not so much for anybody else. Whenever you make a cultural reference in a story, especially in a lead, you have to consider who you're leaving out. For a story like this, which is about how people can participate in adventures, it would be great to lead with somebody's actual adventure story.
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