Govs Outdoors offers affordable trips for campus, community

Austin Peay State University’s Govs Outdoors, a program through University Recreation, offers about 10 trips every semester to members of the Foy Fitness & Recreation Center, including Austin Peay students, faculty and staff and members of the surrounding community. 

“Our trips are for all Foy members,” said Clayton Sheehan, assistant director of programs for University Recreation. “We have community members who go on our trips. We have students. We have faculty.” 

This semester’s trips span a one-day trek to nearby King and Queen’s Bluff and a nine-day spring break excursion to the Grand Canyon. 

“We have lots of options around here,” Sheehan said. “We have two rivers that run right through town. We have a climbing site in the middle of town. We are about two hours from everywhere, where there’s lots of mountain biking, kayaking. 

“One of the benefits that we have found is we can introduce people to all of that,” Sheehan said. “For a really cheap rate.”

BIG, SMALL TRIPS AT A BIG VALUE

The next three trips provide an example of the breadth and value of what Govs Outdoors offers. 

About 25 people already are signed up for the ski and snowboard weekend Feb. 23-24 at Paoli Peaks in Paoli, Indiana, a trip that costs only $100 plus $30 to rent equipment.

The price covers food, travel, hotel rooms and guides, “pretty much all expenses,” Sheehan said. “It pays for all the food except for what you eat on the road, going to and from.” 

The Grand Canyon trip is March 2-10 and includes stops at Petrified Forest National Park, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, Coconino Forest and Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The cost: $450, and it covers everything (hotel stays, van transportation for the road trip, camping, excursions and most of the food).

Govs Outdoors also is offering a trip March 2-6 to Congaree National Park for people who don’t want to spend their entire spring break traveling. The cost of that trip is $175.

“One of the biggest things about our trips,” Sheehan said, “is everyone walks away with new relationships, especially the weeklong trips. We come back hanging out with everybody with new relationships they’ve built from the experiences.”

ANOTHER VALUE: STUDENTS LEAD THE TRIPS 

Sheehan currently has seven student workers who lead the trips.

“That’s the main thing for this program, it’s professional development for these students,” Sheehan said. “These trips are all student-led.”

The students help come up with destinations, and though Sheehan sets the price, “the students lead the trips completely.”

“They plan the trips from A to Z.”

LEARN MORE

Govs Outdoors, found in the front lobby of the Foy Center, also provides:

• Rentals: tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, camping equipment, water sports and bikes.
• For-credit college classes: rock climbing, backpacking, canoeing, and map and compass.
• To learn more about Govs Outdoors, go to https://www.apsu.edu/recreation/adventure/index.php.

UPCOMING TRIPS

• Paoli Peaks Ski/Snowboard Trip: sold out.
• Congaree National Park, March 2-6 – $175.
• Grand Canyon/Southwest Adventure Trip, March 2-10 – $450.
• Rock Island State Park Camping Weekend, March 23-24 – $35.
• Southern Illinois Outdoor Climbing Trip, March 29-31 – $55.
• Montgomery Bell State Park Sampler, April 6 – $20. –
• Cumberland Trail Backpacking Trip, April 12-14 – $55.
• King and Queen’s Bluff Earth Day Trail Cleanup and Climb, April 20 – free.