Last weekend, my significant other talked me into going on a backpacking trip with UNI Outdoors. At first, driving ten hours to the shores of Lake Superior to hike almost 20 miles in the cold didn’t exactly sound like an appealing idea.
I certainly wouldn’t consider myself an “outdoorsy” type of guy and haven’t been camping since I was eight, so I really had no idea what to expect. The things we do for love, right?
As it turns out, I had one of the most unforgettable experiences of my time at UNI.
From the amazing fall colors of the forest to the huge cliffs of the Pictured Rocks lakeshore, I felt closer to nature than I had all summer.
Cooking and swapping stories by our communal campfire, I was able to have real human interactions without the distractions of phones or busy schedules. It’s my hope that all people in the UNI community appreciate and realize the excellent opportunities provided by UNI Outdoors and take advantage of their awesome opportunities.
We were guided on our trip by several coordinators from UNI Outdoors, UNI students who are passionate about the environment and have the experience to teach a bunch of college students all kinds of outdoor skills.
I was blown away by how professional, knowledgeable and friendly these students were. On our first night, they helped everybody put their tents together at 3 a.m. while it was pouring rain in the pitch dark!
From the meeting before the trip to the ride home, their primary goal was to make sure everyone had a good experience, while they had a great time themselves. Any trip I take later in my life, I doubt I’ll be able to connect with my guides as much as I did last weekend.
It’s now my fifth year at UNI and I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner!
UNI Outdoors plans a wide variety of trips throughout the fall, spring and summer. I’ve always figured I’d travel and do “outdoorsy” stuff later in life, when I have the time, resources and knowledge. I’m probably wrong.
Take advantage of this opportunity while you can! When you’re retired, you will not be in the kind of shape to hike 20 miles in three days like you are now. Besides the clothes I wore and the food I brought, UNI Outdoors provided all the equipment, tents, permits and transportation for the trip (not to mention great advice).
All I paid was about $100 on my U-Bill. Never in my life am I going to want to drop a chunk of cash for camping supplies that it would take to do this on my own.
UNI Outdoors even rents their equipment out to students and faculty for the experienced folks.
Getting to the know the coordinators and other students on the trip gave me hope for our generation: we are still able to communicate without technology at our fingertips.
Hiking for miles in the pure wilderness helped me remember how important the environment is, and how fragile that beauty is. I have developed a new appreciation for warm, dry, boots and how easy it is to sleep after a long day of hiking.
Although I was pretty sore on Monday, the only thing I regret from taking the trip this weekend was that I didn’t do it sooner.
UNI community: take advantage of one of the best-kept secrets on campus, UNI Outdoors.
Students, you’ll likely never have the free time, money or motivation to do this on your own, use these great resources to get your feet wet and get yourself outside!
