Breakaway Adventures
College Outdoors, founded at Lewis & Clark in 1979, ranks among the top college outdoor programs in the country. Supported jointly by the student government and the College, the program provides the Lewis & Clark community access to the spectacular outdoor environments of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. College Outdoors offers a range of activities, including hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, backpacking, sea kayaking, igloo building, white-water rafting, swift-water rescue, and guide training–to name a few.
The program is so popular that 9 out of 10 Lewis & Clark students take at least one College Outdoors trip. For some, the trips are just a great way to pass a weekend or spring break. For others, they’re a highlight of the college experience.
Each fall, just before New Student Orientation, more than 100 incoming students participate in Breakaway Adventures. College Outdoors sponsors a variety of trips and also teams up with the Office of Student Leadership and Service to offer outdoor service projects.
This year’s adventures included sea kayaking on Waldo Lake in Oregon and studying old-growth forests in Washington.
Photography by Robert Reynolds.
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Students enter the Goat Marsh Research Natural Area on the southwestern slopes of Mount St. Helens in Washington. One of their first tasks is to measure the second-tallest noble fir in the world. -
Joe Yuska, director of College Outdoors, demonstrates his tree-measuring skill. Yuska has headed the College Outdoors program since 1990. -
Melea Kossel ‘10 measures the diameter of a Douglas fir. -
Nora Moore ‘10 assesses a tree’s cause of death. -
Clockwise, from lower left: Jamie Tanner ‘10, Kirby Gnerre ‘10, Rachael Skinner-Green ‘10, and Kate Stirr ‘06, trip leader, practice self-rescues. -
Carrie LaBaron ‘10, Eric Buzzard ‘10, Hannah Satein ‘10, and Alex Broom ‘10 ready their kayaking gear. -
In addition to premier kayaking, students camp on shore, hike to surrounding peaks and waterfalls, and gaze on the dramatic vistas of snow-covered volcanoes. -
Students set out on their first day of kayaking on the south end of Waldo Lake.
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