A Brief Glimpse at Flight
This past Saturday (April 2) a few SMU members along with myself settled down in the van for a drive to New York, TX for a day of zip lining. We arrived at the location fairly early, and had plenty of time to take in the gorgeous view from atop that small mountain. Soon, it was time to put on our harnesses and take a brief class on how not to crash into trees, and away we went. The first couple of lines were fairly short, but I’m sure that was just to give everyone a few practices at breaking and slowing down before we got to the big 800 and 900 foot lines! Those were a couple pretty incredible rides. We were up near the tops of the trees, watching the scenery pass by beneath us. It was truly a breathtaking experience! After our “flights”, we sat down on this amazing patio outlook and had a nice picnic lunch with a view of the country. We still returned to SMU at 2 o’clock; not a bad way to start out a day!

Stephen Hayden, SMU OA Trip Leader

What is grand, red, deep, orange and brown, with cacti all over?
The Grand Canyon of course! Just this last spring break, six SMU students and 3 SMU alums decided to spend their Spring Break testing their mental and physical strength as they backpacked down, through, and back up the Grand Canyon on a 6 day trek. And I’m happy to say they were not disappointed.

All of us were tested in just the first two days, and it was not because of the Canyon, but because of the 16 hour drive. Over the course of two days of travel, we all got to know each other very well…almost too well sitting in the 12 passenger van. Finally though, we reached the Grand Canyon, and the view over the rim into the canyon was incredible. Everyone was getting excited for the hike to begin!

So, on Monday afternoon, we descended into the canyon with our first campsite to be the glorious Horseshoe Mesa. Our hike was only to be 2 1/2 miles, but in those two miles, we dropped almost 2600 feet. Not to mention, we were greeted on the trail by thick layers of ice that made the trail slightly treacherous, especially when you are carrying a 50 pound backpack. The instep crampons helped though. As we hikers tend to do, we braved the decent and were treated to a glorious night full of delicious backcountry cuisines and a bright, nearly full moon that followed us through the week.

On Tuesday, we hiked nearly 6 miles to a secluded spot along the Grapevine Creek, where we would spend the next two days. Here, we were able to relax and converse along the creek as we began to really come closer as a group. Also, many people took the opportunity to get some sun in, read, or simply explore the area. We even took a day hike down the creek and got to see what it looked like to be really deep within the canyon itself. Some participants even decided to take a quick dunk in the creek, just to see what it was like.

After our break, we took off once more, this time headed for long tree canyon. I hate to say it, but there happened to be a multitude of trees…well at least things that looked like trees. Again, we enjoyed the view of the canyon and even got to spend some time with some hikers from the University of Arizona who gladly shared some of their delicious food with us. Again, we enjoyed some delicious foods as we watched the moon ascend into the sky and enjoyed the glorious view of the canyons still surrounding us. We even got together to play some epic games of cards until we could no longer stay awake.

The last day was spent getting prepared for the long hike out of the canyon. We tried to get as close to the starting climb as possible…well, almost too close. Most of us decided to sleep outside that night. We woke up at 6:00 and began our long journey back to the rim of the canyon. From the bottom to the top, we climbed around 4-5 miles in distance and 3200 ft. in height. All the way, day hikers were encouraging us, telling us we were just about there. So, after 4 hours of hiking, we finally reached the top! Looking back down we could see where we had just camped and we could not be any more proud of our accomplishment of hiking through the Grand Canyon!

After getting everyone back in the van, we all took the shower we deserved and satisfied our hunger with a little grub from a real restaurant. Then, we began our journey back home to Dallas, and sadly, back to the reality of the front country. I know though, as I’m sure everyone on the trip knows, that this trip will always live within us, and it will always be a great reminder of what a group of 10 people can actually accomplish.

Jeremy Rechtien,

Outdoor Adventures Trip Leader

“Do you hear that”? I said. “Nope”, he replied. Complete silence, what an interesting concept it seemed to be after considering the amount of noise that we ignore everyday in the city. After being surrounded by sirens, construction noise, car noises, and other air pollutants, you don’t quite remember how much you appreciate silence until you are engulfed by it. The Winter Backpack Trip last February to Ouachita National Forest provided all the silence and refreshing comforts necessary after a long winter of ice storms. We started with a five hour drive to the trailhead at Billy Creek Trail near Muse, OK. After divvying up group gear and food we started our 4 mile hike. The weather was great in the mid 60s during the day and mid 40s to 50s during the night. Along the way we encountered great views looking down into the valley of the Ouachita National forest as well as many nice creeks and rivers. We stayed at a nice campground that night after a satisfying day of hiking and made chicken quesadillas and told stories around the fire pit until the stars came out. The next day we woke up and completed our short hike back to the van. While the trip was short, I think everyone in the group could appreciate how sweet it was.
Brendan Nelson, Trip Leader.

Our trip out to Mineral Wells went very well. We left around 7:30am from SMU and arrived at the site close to 9:00am. Everyone on the trip was excited to get out on the rock and start climbing. Most of the people on the trip were inexperienced climbers, but at the end of the day they all said that the trip had been a fun and rewarding experience.
We were able to set up a variety of routes, from a humble 5.6 to a challenging 5.10. The participants did very well on the rock and surprised themselves at thier climbing prowess. We broke for lunch for forty-five minutes and then continued to climb. Near the end of the day we were able to set up a rappell. Only one participant decided to rappell off of the rock face, but the others enjoyed watching.
The trip ended with a quiet ride back to SMU. The day had taxed everyone and it was a common agreement that a warm shower was to be well enjoyed later in the evening. All of the participants expressed that they would enjoy being a part of a future trip and that they would like to start climbing at the wall more. One enterprising staff member even managed to get a participant interested in competing in the CSS rock-climing competition.
At the end of the day, the participants felt that they had experienced a great trip and the staff agreed that the trip was a success. Though tired and worn from a full day, smiles protruded from every face as they walked out the door to thier cars. The trip, in this writer’s opinion, was better than that which could be imagined.

Submitted by Trip Leader-Rock, Devon Finninger

Trip through the Tunnel of Mud
This past weekend (Feb 12-13) we loaded up the van and started the drive up to Oklahoma. There we visited Quartz Mountain State Park, and a place called Jester’s Cave. We left early Saturday morning, and while it was cold at the time, we were blessed with a beautiful spring day. Upon reaching the state park, we met up with some folks who had volunteered to lead us through the cave. After some pleasant greeting, we drove off together to find Jester’s Cave. The cave itself rests under an area of private land in a place that can only be described as “the middle of nowhere”. We parked, got our gear together, and all headed off to the entrance. This cave is one of the biggest in the state and has 68 openings to the surface, so while walking across this area of land we saw a number of places that looked like a good area to start. Needless to say, we were glad to be with someone who had been there before. After successfully navigating the tumbleweed branches and the cacti, we descended into a cave mouth. This was where we were going to start our 2.5 mile walk/crawl through Jester’s Cave. This was the first wet cave I had gone caving in, and it looked very different from the caves I was used to seeing. For a majority of the hike we were following along an underground river (sometimes being in the river itself). This cave looked pretty much what you would expect a cave that had been formed by a stream to look like: one long tube. There weren’t any of the rock formations I had come to expect from other sites, but the uniqueness of this cave didn’t leave me disappointed. We walked past a very large number of bats (which we unfortunately couldn’t help but wake up some). After the rooms of bats the ceiling began to lower and we started our crawl through the soft mud. Throughout the rest of the cave, we alternated crawling/walking through mud/water, throughout tunnels and large caverns. My favorite room (properly named the “run around room”) was shaped like a horseshoe. Now, the center of this horseshoe was a pretty deep pool of water, and the outside edge of the shoe had steep walls. The horseshoe itself was a ring of mud slanted downward into the pool. So, the only way to get across was to run along the muddy trail to have enough momentum to avoid falling in the pool. We ran back and forth a few times before heading on. Who would have expected to find such a fun area underground? All in all, the cave was a lot of fun, and it ended way too quickly. Once out of the cave, we took the long walk back to the van, changed out of our muddy clothes, and began the drive back to Quarts Mountain State Park for the night. Our dinner there was cooked on our own outdoor stove: chicken quesadillas and cookies. A delicious dinner indeed. The warm food kept us toasty just long enough to get into our tents and our sleeping bags. Good thing we got in them quickly as the winds picked up and the temperature dropped. We kept warm the next morning by cookin’ up some bacon and eggs. Our stomachs full, and the trip a rousing success, we loaded up the van and drove back to SMU.
Stephen Hayden, Trip Leader.