BY DENNIS LYDAY

“Who wants to go to Jump-off Rock?”

This isn’t a typical type of question in my workday. But in early September, I joined 15 members of The Anderson School’s class of 2004 on one of 10 Pre-Orientation Outdoor trips organized in partnership with UCLA Recreation’s Outdoor Adventures Program. These optional trips give incoming students a chance to get to know each other, do some team-building and face and overcome perceived personal barriers.

I’d heard quite a bit about this collaboration and had been itching to do an article about it for SA Today, an internal newsletter of Student Affairs, which includes UCLA Recreation. Outdoor Adventures manager Shane Reynolds suggested I join one of the trips.
I went for the gusto — choosing “canoeing up the Black Canyon of the Colorado River to the Arizona Hot Springs.”

My five-hour van ride to the river let me spend time with several students whose conversations veered from lively nightspots in Los Angeles to “How much money is really enough?”

At first I thought it a rather pecuniary discussion. But the answers were in the realm of having enough of a financial cushion to start a second career as a teacher at a small college, or taking the fruits of success back to one student’s native country to battle grinding poverty. I decided there really is hope for the future.

The first day on the Colorado was an eight-mile canoe trip upstream to the Arizona Hot Springs. As soon as camp was set, lead guide Dave Eisenberg asked, “Who wants to go to Jump-off Rock?” This is a ledge about 15 feet above a quiet pool at the river’s edge. The students went off it like seals off a dock. That was when I realized what a high-energy, risk-tolerant group this was. For me, it was the second day before I took the leap, but it was one of those “overcoming personal barriers” experiences.

The next day, another four-mile pull upriver took us to within 100 yards of Hoover Dam. From our quiet spot on the river, floating with the wild ducks, we could barely make out the silhouettes of tourists 725 feet above, looking down and probably wondering how we got there.

Two miles back down the river, we beached the canoes at Goldstrike Canyon, where our group really did strike unexpected treasure.

The mile-and-a-half climb up the canyon to a hot spring was a challenge intentionally planned by Outdoor Adventures. Groups don’t make it without great teamwork, a good amount of physical strength and mental toughness. Eisenberg noted that he’s had more than one group get partway up and then quit. But our group made the climb like champs, alive with encouragement, lending strong helping hands over the tough spots and taking the challenge head-on.

The trip back down the river on the final day gave us the magical gift of seeing bighorn sheep grazing along the sides of the canyon. They symbolized the whole trip for me — in a place I never thought I’d be, doing things I never thought I’d do, making memories and friends I’ll always treasure.

Lyday is special assistant to the assistant vice chancellor of Student and Campus Life.