Over Winter Break 11 AO staff members spent four days on the flanks of Mt. Shasta embracing El Nino and sharpening our winter skills. Over the duration of the trip the crew saw nearly two feet snowfall but was also lucky enough to experience some bluebird skies. The team created a posh winter campsite featuring 4-season tents, snow kitchen, snow walls and a privacy cave for when nature calls. When we weren’t busy digging our tents out from the snow we learned the basics avalanche avoidance and rescue, how to travel in winter conditions and even a bit of how to travel as a rope team. Enjoy the photos below!
You may have noticed a few extremely fashionable folks around Chico rocking the AO t-shirt shown above and wondered “How can I get one of those?” Well now it’s easier than ever! You can purchase one online as well as the traditional method of buying them in our office. We’ll even ship one to you for a small fee.
Looking for ways to stay in touch with us? We’ve got lots of options.
We’re on the following social media sites
You can watch our videos on our Vimeo page
We send monthly updates and occasional (2-3 per year) important announcements to our MailChimp email list
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We are happy to present a preview of our Fall 2015 trips! We’ve worked long and hard to put together what we think is an awesome blend of classic AO trips along some with some brand new adventures. These trips will open for registration, online or in our office, on Friday, May 1st. Below you can preview the physical version of the calendar, these will be available in the AO Office near the end of dead week. http://issuu.com/keithcrawford/docs/ao_brochure_inside?e=4932601/12569952
With the Spring 2015 semester winding down, it’s understandable that many of us are ready to turn on cruise control and simply survive the last 4 weeks.
“I’ll just make it to summer, and then I’ll get outside more; travel more, exercise more, visit with friends more…”
Does that sound familiar to anyone? It happens to all of us, but AO is here to encourage you to finish this semester with an adventure. We have several trips remaining that will be sure to send you into finals, and the summer, invigorated. Live your life to the fullest: thrive, don’t just survive. Below are trips that still have space available but, be warned, they will fill fast.
Big River Sea Kayak April 24 – 26
Prepare to feel the power of the ocean as we ride the tides and paddle through old-growth forest in Mendocino. We’ll turn around with the changing tide while embracing the gorgeous redwoods as we experience the life and energy that surrounds the Big River area. Register here. 
American River Rafting May 1 – 3
Once a major destination for gold prospectors, the South Fork of the American River is a treasure in its own right. With over 50 major rapids in 21 miles, it is easy to see why this is the most popular rafting destination in California. Join us for 2 exciting days and two relaxing nights along this memorable stretch of river. Register here.
Iron Canyon Canoe & Camp May 2 – 3
Take advantage of the Spring weather by paddling the Iron Canyon section of the Sacramento River with AO. This section of the river features unique rock features and feels amazingly wild for being only an hour from campus. We will leave early Saturday morning, paddle a few miles downstream to our campsite and spend the night Saturday. We’ll paddle a few more miles on Sunday before returning to Chico. Register here. 
Upper Park Mountain Biking May 9 If Chico is your home, Upper Bidwell Park is your backyard. Covering 3,670 acres and spanning over 10 miles, Bidwell is the nation’s third largest municipal park. Winding its way through the middle of the park, Big Chico Creek offers a refreshing escape from the warm summer months. The foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, Upper Park boasts impressive canyon walls of sandstone and basalt. Consider this an orientation to all the wonder of Bidwell Park. If you’ve only pedaled on pavement, here’s your chance to hit the trails. Join our skilled AO staff as they teach you the tricks and tips of mountain biking. Explore your own backyard as we travel the trails of Upper Bidwell Park in a new way! Bike rental is not included, but we can help arrange it. Register here. 
AO Staff recently used the Cesar Chavez holiday to extend the weekend for a staff training on the Rogue River in Oregon. The focus of the training was expedition rafting: loading all of our gear for three nights onto our four rafts and rowing, as opposed to paddling. This style of rafting will allow us to run longer rafting trips on more remote rivers in the future. Enjoy the photos, and if you want to see more of them be sure to visit our Facebook page.
We have a huge announcement for you today! Adventure Outings trips can now be experienced virtually. Using the power of Oculus Rift participants will be able to experience the beauty and thrill of the outdoors with none of the hassles of actually going outside.
What the heck is an Oculus Rift? Well, we’ve been testing them for 8 months and we’re still not really sure. They’re basically these big, gaudy goggle things you put on your face. Once you’ve gotten over the embarrassment of wearing them you begin to feel like you’re outside, in a climate controlled building. WOW! Here’s some science jargon we copied off their website:
The Oculus Rift is a new virtual reality headset that lets players step inside their favorite games and virtual worlds. The Rift uses custom tracking technology to provide ultra-low latency 360° head tracking, allowing you to seamlessly look around the virtual world just as you would in real life. Every subtle movement of your head is tracked in real time creating a natural and intuitive experience.The Oculus Rift creates a stereoscopic 3D view with excellent depth, scale, and parallax. Unlike 3D on a television or in a movie, this is achieved by presenting unique and parallel images for each eye. This is the same way your eyes perceive images in the real world, creating a much more natural and comfortable experience.
Cool, huh?
Why? We take our participant’s feedback very seriously. After compiling tens, hundreds, thousandsMILLIONS of trip feedback surveys, we began to notice some trends. Some of the most common statements we read were:
- It’s too hot outside
- It’s too cold outside
- My feet hurt
- My back hurts
- Poor cell phone service in the woods
- Lack of outlets for charging my cell phone in the woods
- Exercise is hard
We’ve heard your feedback and we believe virtual trips are the answer! Now you can get outside without going outside! Stay tuned for our virtual trip schedule.
Is This Real? Nope! It’s an April Fool’s Joke. Our participants love our trips and love to be active while pushing themselves mentally and physically. We hope you enjoyed reading this as much we enjoyed writing. Additionally, the Oculus Rift is a pretty neat piece of technology. We don’t really think they’re embarrassing or gaudy.
This information is now outdated. For information on the 2016 screening of the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Chico please visit this link.
After much deliberation, we have decided on films for this year’s Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour screening in Chico. If the short teasers below leave you wanting more then purchase your tickets here to join us April 10th.
Continue reading “Films Announced for the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour – Chico”
Adventure Outings offers multiple trips every semester to a wondrous place called the Trinity River. It is located just 3 hours north of Chico and is the longest tributary of the Klamath River. The best parts of the Trinity River are the views. Its is extremely scenic and full of wildlife. You can see fish jumping out of the water and its not uncommon to see a golden or bald eagle while boating. While on an Adventure Outings trips, you will rarely see other people on the river and the campsite is straight out of a dream.
It has a really nice cement pavilion that has multiple picnic tables underneath for those times with inclement weather. For all other times there are small fields of grass that over look the river and a really nice bond fire pit. The other great thing about this camp site is that you don’t have to go anywhere to put into a really fun and exciting run on the river, you can put your boats in right there!
Adventure Outings offers 3 different types of trips to the Trinity River. If you are new to the river and don’t know much about whitewater or you are just looking for a low key way to have a boat load of fun, check out our rafting trips.
If you are looking for something a little more high octane where you are in more control sign up for our inflatable kayaking trip, it is one of my personal favorite trips that Adventure Outings runs. The inflatable kayaks are like little miniature versions of the 7 person rafts that you guide yourself!
If that doesn’t sound like enough excitement for you we also offer a class that will teach you how to kayak in a hard shell kayak. This is one of our most intense trips, but at the same time one of the most rewarding. You come away with a really amazing skill and all of our instructors are ACA certified to teach kayaking.
Regardless of what you do when you are out there the Trinity River is an amazing place and everyone should get out there!
-Rachel Curtin
AO Marketing and PR
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