For some students, planning a trip can be difficult, but USC Outdoor Recreation (ORec) has come up with a way to ease that frustration. With Adventure Trips by ORec, students are able to go on a weekend or day trip that has already been planned for them.
ORec presents the trips in an easily accessible way — with online descriptions, deadlines, costs, an itinerary and what to bring, it eliminates any planning and prepping that students must do in order to take the trip.
Planned by ORec coordinator Blain Foley and the Adventure Trip committee, Adventure Trips encompass a wide variety of outdoor activities planned for students.
Taylor Wood, fourth-year global supply chain and human resources student and the rental shop manager at Strom said the backpacking trips are by far the most popular, drawing in the highest amount of participants.
“This semester we scheduled only one and it filled up within the first two weeks of the semester so we actually created another trip,” Wood said.
But for ORec, it’s not just the same-old, same-old every year. In fact, they’re trying to add more trips to their list yearly in order to draw more students to the adventures.
“We’ve tried to branch out and try new places and new trips,” Wood said. “I think that might continue into the next semester.”
Among the newer trips was the canoe weekend where students were given the opportunity to canoe out to a camping location and spend the night there, canoeing back in the morning.
Wood said it was the first time they had utilized the canoes that are rentable at the ORec office for one of their Adventure Trips.
Foley and the department have already been talking about what will be planned for next semester’s outings, but one thing is certain: They are sure to be adventures of their own.
“Our department as a whole, all of ORec, our goal is to get people outdoors and experiencing new things and testing their limits and meeting new people while they’re doing that,” Wood said. “I think going on adventure trips is a really good way to do that.”
The remaining trips of the semester are the Whitewater Kayaking Day Trip on April 11 for $55, the Beach Day Trip on April 25 for $25 and the Service Waterways Day Trip on April 26 for free. All students need to do is visit the ORec office at Strom in order to sign up for any of the trips.
The cost of the trip includes transportation, equipment, instruction, permits and any fees that the student may need to pay.