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The Wildside Outdoor Adveture club in the wild
The Wildside outdoor adventure club at MHCC is living up to the “wild” part of its title.
The club provides members with opportunities to learn about an assortment of outdoor situations such as shelter building, fire starting and “leave no trace” tactics, in situations that provide for a group activity.
Every month, groups who choose to take part have a chance to go on a hike to local locations. “Longer than three miles and shorter than seven” is how Wildside President Kate Crabbe described the general length of these hikes.
“This month, we’re going to go to Coyote Wall (a scenic viewpoint off the Lewis and Clack Highway) and on Nov. 11 we’re planning a hike to Pittock Mansion (an historic 1914 house off Burnside Street in Portland),” said Crabbe.
“We teach wilderness survival and safety skills, but we’re sitting around eating s'mores, having a good time, and that’s what we’re really about,” said Crabbe during a session on fire-building at the MHCC fire pit.
Crabbe said the club was started several years ago by a mysterious individual known simply as “Iceman“ and has since seen its numbers swell. She said the process of becoming a member is simple: head down to the office dubbed “Base Camp” in the Athletic Department and let them know you’re interested.
There are more than 100 people on the e-mail list for the group but club meetings (as is with all of their activities) have varying numbers in attendance.
The club is always looking for new recruits and plan on beginning a campaign to raise awareness among students, Crabbe said.
From time to time the club holds fundraisers, which help pay for their activities, selling things like planners, mugs, canteens, t-shirts and they will soon offer hats made completely of recycled materials.
Every year, the club tries to send one or two of its members to the Wilderness Education Associations national meetings, which include learning about outdoor leadership.
“Were getting more information and bringing it back to the school. Last year two of our people went to Illinois. Before that some people went to California and this year were going to Colorado,” said Crabbe.
Other events that the club will be holding in the near future are a campus clean-up Tuesday, a kayak-rolling workshop in the Aquatic Center on Nov. 17 and a “Bigfoot Search Party” on Nov. 20.
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