Lawrence University's Student Newspaper Since 1884

Traveling Riverside with ORC

By EVAN WYSE

One of the persistent complaints about Lawrence is the lack of things to do on campus or in the surrounding neighborhood. The Outdoor Recreation Club offers one of the best remedies for this predicament, providing students with opportunities to leave behind the fragrant Fox Valley, at least for a little while.

ORC, as its members affectionately call it, is a laid-back group of individuals who share a common love for the outdoors. Shunning formal parliamentary procedures at its meetings. Junior Phil McKenna described the group’s behavior as "zany." The group, shuns formal parliamentary procedures at its meetings and commonly holds barbecues and rock-climbing day trips to allow people to get out a little during the week. Anyone interested in planning or going on a trip is welcome to attend the Wednesday night meetings in the Coffeehouse, which are guaranteed to run significantly shorter than Lawrentian Editorial Board meetings.

According to Junior Kris Graff, ORC is "a diverse group": mountain biking, studying bird calls, canoeing, snow-shoeing, winter camping, downhill skiing, and sledding are only some of the activities group members enjoy. The group welcomes those who have different ideas or experiences which they think ought to be pursued by ORC.

Some trips taken this year, excluding weekend and day excursions, include downhill skiing in Steamboat, cross-country skiing in the Boundary Waters, skiing and snowshoeing at Camp Manitowish, and backpacking in Utah, with plans for a kayaking trip over Memorial Weekend. The trips offer a special kind of experience only available in college: riding across the country in a fifteen-passenger van while listening to typical hippie fare of Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers and Phish with the occasional stop for Corn Nuts, Star Wars coloring books or much needed bladder relief. Overall, the group tries to adhere closely to its mission to provide the opportunity for students to get off campus at low-cost.

ORC benefits from strong funding from Campus Activities and also historically successful fund-raisers, including the finals week survival baskets. ORC uses these funds to subsidize the trips they plan. Students generally pay a reduced price for any ORC trip. Adventurous souls take note, the leaders of a trip typically have most or all of their expenses paid for by ORC funds. For those who just wish to travel without worrying about logistics, going on an ORC trip can be as simple as attending an informational meeting and packing a bag.

The club also keeps a "shed" full of most items needed to get outdoors. One who has never taken a backpacking trip before can walk in the shed and be outfitted with a pack, sleeping bag and pad, pots and pans, water bottles, and a helmet for extra safety. ORC also has other items which can provide an enjoyable day trip such as several pairs of snowshoes for an afternoon of hiking around campus on new fallen snow.

Members share a wealth of outdoor experience and knowledge, from Boy Scouting and bee-keeping to multi-pitch lead climbing in southwestern Wyoming. The spring break trip to Slickhorn Canyon was led by National Outdoor Leadership School alum Jeremy Bakken and Sonja Rajki, who spent the fall of her junior year going up the hills and down the mountains of Wales.

In the past, the club, has made political statements, including helping to bring Rebecca Katers to campus last fall to speak on environmental issues in the state of Wisconsin. Monster truck driving and cliff sculpture Gutzon Borglum style (he sculpted Mount Rushmore) tend to be frowned upon by ORC as causing too high impacts on terrain and generally disrespectful to the biotic community as a whole.