Are you interested in becoming a Trip Leader? Do you simply want to learn cool outdoor skills for your next personal trip? Then the Trip Leader Develoment Series (TLDS) is for you!

The TLDS is a series of Outdoor Skills Clinics designed to help folks get the most enjoyment and comfort out of their wilderness adventures. These clinics are laid back, fun and informative.

So, come on out and see what we have to offer. You're sure to have a good time!

A Trip Leader interest meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 29th at 7pm in the Rec Center Conference Room. The TLDS takes place every Tuesday at 7pm from Feb. 12th - Mar. 18th.

Name: Sarah Beck
Year: Sophomore
Major: Psychology, Hispanic Studies
Most memorable outdoor experience: My most memorable outdoor moment was getting lost on the last day of my NOLS backpacking trip. Although we had been lost many times before, that time, we were miles off the map and did not think we would find the rest of our group before the buses came to pick us up the next day. We kept looking into the night sky expecting helicopters to find us (as we assumed our group leaders had called in for help), but all we could see were stars. We spent that night, 4th of July, talking about how much our parents were going to kill us when we missed our flights home while munching on partially hydrated cous-cous. I will never forget it.

Name: Katy Bowman
Year: Senior
Major:Biology
Most memorable outdoor experience: I was backpacking on the Appalachian Trail with a friend and another hiker named Tarzan. It was the fourth of July and we had been hiking for about two weeks and were set to finish our trip in the next town. We decided it was absolutely necessary that we see fireworks that night, so we blazed down the trail using our headlamps and emerged from the woods into this small town to see the last few sets of fireworks. A perfect end to our trip.

Name: Dave Esteves
Year: Senior
Major:Biology
Most memorable outdoor experience: One of my most memorable outdoor moments was over Spring Break in Costa Rica. A group of us were there working at a medical clinic and the day before we left to come home, we went hiking in the rain forest. It was incredible. The area we were had an active volcano and as a result, the water that flowed down the streams was a blue I'd never seen water take on before. There was also a waterfall that we were allowed to swim under and some hot springs to relax around.

Name: Martha Morris
Year: Senior
Major: English
Most memorable outdoor experience:  The picture comes from a service trip to the Dominican Republic a few year back.  On our free afternoon, we headed out with some promising tour guides (aka the local boys) to a nearby waterfall/swimming hole.  When we arrived, the boys clambered up a slippery rock about forty feet high and started doing dives and flips into the deeper water beneath the waterfall.  Wanting to be equally intrepid, I followed them up with some other volunteers, but the view from the tiny ledge almost changed my mind.  Luckily it didn’t or I never would have realized my potential as an albatross impersonator.  Despite the frantic wing flapping, it was a thrilling leap.    

Name: Julie Somor
Year: Sophomore
Major:Environmental Science and Policy
Most memorable outdoor experience: I'm kind of an astronomy geek so my best friends and I all went backpacking through the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois this summer for the largest meteor shower of the year.  We hiked to the top of one of the bluffs for an unforgettable view of the most perfect sky I'd ever seen, with more stars than I even knew existed, and at least two to three meteors a minute.  It really was unbelievable.