Club Events 2004

Trip List Calendar

2004-03-27 : COC - Calgary Outdoor Adventure Show at Roundup Center


2004-04-04 : COC - McConnell Ridge/Barrier Lake Lookout
As a group, the ten of us would just like to say "Nyah Nyah" to last Sunday's group. They did the same hike, and only three of them made it to the absolute top lookout. We ALL made it. Nyah!

Scott promised us a fairly relentless hump up the hill, and we weren't disappointed. This was a really good early season hike, in spite of quite a bit of slippy, slidey half-melted snow. We slogged our way up to a great lookout where we had lunch and ooh'ed over the mountains on one side, and ah'ed over the prairie on the other.

After lunch, we climbed the rest of the way up to the lookout. Gee, did somebody say it wasn't really much steeper beyond the first lookout!?? This was quite a steep climb, complete with more of the slippy, slidey half-melted snow, and some thigh-high snow that Ichiro decided to jump into.

The views from the fire lookout at the top were spectacular, and it was around that time that the sun decided to start trying to shine for us a bit. We ran into some folks from the Alpine Club who beat us up there and grabbed the bench, but we outsmarted them and hung around long enough for them to leave so WE could grab the bench for a while.

Returning down the still treacherous trail, we had one minor butt-slideage (Misa) incident, but pretty much just strolled our way back down.

Naturally, once we returned to Calgary it was out to Kilkenny where a very high percentage of us indulged in boxtys for dinner to go with our beers. We were joined by some of the folks from the Urban Hike as well, where Scott proceeded to chide them for doing a mere "half-beer hike" while we had done a "six beer hike" (although I think six beers is a bit of an exaggeration, personally).

-- Rhonda


2004-04-06 : COC - Pool at Stix
Good game, good company, good food.
-- Rhonda


2004-04-08 : COC - Officers' Meeting
Minutes

Following are the minutes of the Officers' Meeting, which went three hours (whoa). If you have any questions, or want to make any suggestions or requests of the club, please see the Officers page and contact the appropriate officer for your inquiry.

Club Direction - Year 2
  • Rhonda is very excited about the start of the COC's second year. With all the new officers and event leaders, she feels that the club is evolving wonderfully, and the club will only continue to get better. She thanks each of these fine people who has stepped up to help with running things.
  • Officer Titles, Jobs, Duties: Rhonda asked each officer to review their title, job, duties, etc, and confirm that they're still happy with what they're doing. Everyone is happy with their job, and the only change made is that Steve is going to take on the Legal Coordinator position.
  • Theme Photos: Jerry and Holly, and then Jerry and Rhonda, had prior conversations about doing "theme" photos of the officers, and swapping them in/out at specific times (ie. perhaps cowboy photos around Stampede time). Jerry and Holly are going to follow up on what our first "theme" may be, and try to have something for the Anniversary Party that we can work with.
  • Voluntary Donations: There have been some concerns voiced by people who attend events frequently that it's costing them a lot of money to participate. The group decided that we would add info to the web site, and also announce when requesting donations, that once a person has paid $20 for the year, we do not expect them to donate anymore for the rest of the year. We are going to continue pursuing some kind of corporate sponsorship and other opportunities to eliminate voluntary donations, which we rely heavily on to pay for club expenses. Rob is going to follow up with Kilkenny to see if they will give us sponsorship.
Events
  • Many of the officers have ideas brewing for events over the coming months. Following are a few of the ideas floating around:
    • Rob: A "Stuff Your Sack" event in which people will prepare as though going out for a specific type of comprehensive event, and then get together to dissect and discuss the contents of their packs. This session will be educational for people, and a deliverable will be to update our checklist with any great new ideas discovered during the process.
    • Rob: A "Mountain Biking Confidence Building" event in which some training will be provided for people to improve their technical skills on mountain bike. This event will possibly be held at COP.
    • Rob: Also planning some canoeing, camping and hiking events.
    • Holly: Has had suggestions to hire an instructor to teach cross-country skiing. The group decided that if/when possible, club members will provide some basic instruction on activities, but otherwise, we will refer people to the OPC, who run fine instructional programs. This type of information can also be included in newsletters.
    • Holly: Backpacking trip in July or August; a Fernie weekend including Mountain Biking, and more hikes in planning stages.
    • Jerry: Would like to do a beginner rock climbing event if a suitable co-lead can be found.
    • Jerry: More disc golf and scrambles in planning stages.
    • Jerry: Thinking about doing some kind of "mixed doubles" tournament or something, as a membership drive.
    • Steve: Lots of hikes and some urban biking in the works.
    • Steve: Idea for a two-day, one way hike in which two groups will start out from opposite ends of the hike. They'd meet up in the middle overnight, and then continue on, joining back up using the other group's vehicles. Cool idea!
    • Scott: Lots of hikes and biking trips in the works.
    • Rhonda: The usual offerings of inline skating and easy hikes (weekday hikes) coming up.
  • Checklist/Rules: Rhonda reviewed the Leader Checklist with the group as many of the team are quite new to leading events and she wanted to ensure that everyone was familiar with all the processes and requirements. She also gave everyone a copy of the club Rules to review on their own time rather than walking through the whole thing during the meeting.
  • River Clean-Up: We have the CAOC River Clean-Up volunteer drive in May posted as a COC event. We'd like to get 20+ COC members out to help with the river clean-up.
  • Stampede Breakfast and Stampede Escape: Jerry and Rhonda had briefly discussed doing some kind of thing for the Stampede... perhaps a COC Stampede Breakfast in partnership with a Calgary store or something... or maybe an "Escape the Stampede" thing. We did not have an opportunity to discuss it further at this meeting, but will follow up soon.
  • Swap Meet: We have had some suggestions to do a COC Swap Meet. We're going to aim for doing something at the end of the coming summer season, and if it's a success, we'd like to do them in spring and fall on a regular basis.
Stuff
  • Rhonda had some extra waivers to give to the folks who will be leading events, as well as first aid supplies for Steve and Jerry. Need to get a basic kit for Cheryl.
  • Rhonda offered to get event leaders floats for voluntary donations. Scott and Rhonda both have small floats; other leaders declined.
Web Site
  • Rhonda added a new feature to the web site today whereby member bulletin board postings which are things they're doing on a specific date show up on the club calendar. The group was quite excited about this addition, which was suggested by Philip Walters.
  • The group requested enhanced "waiting list" functionality to be added to the web site which Rhonda will be working on asap.
  • The Treasurer requested additional financial reports which Rhonda will be working on asap.
Other
  • We'd like to include a "Bear Safety" article in Jerry's magazine. Rhonda and Rob will co-write this article.
  • Cheryl will be organizing and leading regular Ethnic Dinner events on the third Wednesday of each month.
  • Jerry will lead a Dim Sum event for the club.
  • Cheryl suggested that the club pay Rhonda back for the club start-up costs, which cost her approximately $300 out of pocket. Rhonda will be taking this money back in $100 installments as funds are available.
  • Cheryl to look into getting bumper stickers printed up for the club that we can sell.


2004-04-10 : COC - COC One-Year Anniversary Party
Saturday , April 10, What a beautiful day! I have a sneaking suspicion that Rhonda put in a special day order for the celebration of the first year of the Calgary Outdoor Club! Well- it worked!

Umpteen people showed up at the little café in Bowness Park where a lovely setting of coloured tablecloths, nice white china and comfy chairs made a real afternoon tea setting- not to mention about 6 kinds of sandwiches, juice, all the coffee you could drink and THE CAKE- a monument to creative thought and enough for everybody!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent in(order goes down according to energy expended)a very active football (soccer) scrimmage led by Brad, Scott, Merv, Allan, Ichino and Goda and badminton, frisbee, walks around the park and then those that simply lay back and enjoyed the sun and the light breeze. A lovely afternoon- felt like those lazy hazy days of summer.

-- Jak

One person at the event remarked that different people like different outdoor activities but everyone seems to like eating cake on a Saturday afternoon, nothing could be closer to the truth. Approx. 30 people showed up for the COC 1-year anniversary party, probably a record for one event.

The merry band of gluttons converged on the "Lagoon Cafe" at 2:30PM sharp and gathered at the door waiting for their hunger to be satisfied. Once the doors opened, the crowd flowed in and demolished five plates of sandwiches and gallons of orange juice. Once the main course was consumed it was time for cake. A wonderful cake was provided with a little group of hikers drawn on the top in icing (I'm not sure which members they were supposed to be). I was put in charge of carving the cake and was forced to butcher the unfortunate little group of hikers. There were several requests for the skull cap from the guy on the left side (I was told that it was quite good).

After the cake was devoured, we all headed for the field where many games were played. These included badminton (with no net), baseball (with no bat), soccer (with no goals), and Frisbee (we did have a Frisbee). The soccer game soon consumed the players from the other sports and ended with everyone losing and everyone winning (because people kept switching sides).

Following the games, the most hard-core COC members had to keep the event going and headed to Kilkenny for a beer where many rousing discussions were had about subjects that I cannot write on a family type page.

-- Steve

I have just a few additions to the submissions already made…

The playing field enthusiasts did indeed risk life and limb in the pursuit of Fun, but it must be mentioned that two particularly brave souls, Lana and Lora, took on an even greater challenge: Despite all warnings, they conquered their fears and rode the mighty rails around the park with a hearty whoo-whoo. Everyone else took one look at the engineer, shook in their athletic shoes and stepped away from the train.

Regarding the die-hards at Kilkenny’s. Yes, the subject matter was at times a bit risqué for young ears. Let’s just say that we talked about philosophy and phraseology (after much foodology and boozeology).

Happy belated birthday. Many happy returns…

-- Cynthia


2004-04-11 : COC - Roxboro/Stanley Park
Wow! Where did this weather come from? It felt like the middle of summer out there today.

This was a great little Easter hike through Calgary, including some time in parks, and some in the neighborhoods. There were a few minor up-hill sections to make us feel like we worked today, and lots of great views of the city. Kathy's little pushed-in-face dog, Ernie, provided lots of entertainment, and we truncated the end of the hike in favor of stopping at a patio on 4th St for beers.

This hike started with a climb up from Roxboro to the back side of St. Mary's Cemetary. The path is heavily treed, but alas, the trees are still naked, so I've set up a couple of return trips - one for July to see it when the trees are "full", and one in September, to see it when the trees have turned colour.

-- Rhonda


2004-04-15 : COC - Evening at Schank's (MacLeod Tr S)
D'oh! Unfortunately, due to the Calgary Flames game this evening, Schank's was the epicenter of the media event of the century. Only about half the folks signed up showed, and I'm not sure if maybe some of them accidentally went to Schank's North, or if they showed up a bit late and were put off by the line up of ~100 people waiting to get into the place.

Next time, better planning... I promise.

-- Rhonda

Update:
  • Joel worked late and couldn't drive down from Olds on time to make it
  • Cheryl came a bit late, stood around in the lineup for a few minutes and then left. (bummer).
  • Jerry didn't go out, but if he had, he would have gone to Schank's north (heheh)
  • Dave got sucked into a meeting and couldn't come out
  • Steve tried to come out, but alas, the outdoor lineup got him, too.
  • Janice (and her guest, Debbie): lineup
  • Jorge's car, apparently not the best purchase of his life, was broken down
  • Alan was doing stuff for his Mom and took longer than expected (awwwwwww)
  • Keith and Carl are still MIA


2004-04-18 : COC - Bridgeland/Bow River
This Urban Hike didn't suck if your name was Doug. That's right... lucky Doug got to spend two hours of his day with SIX women. Life doesn't get any better... right Doug? ;)

We actually did take about two hours to do this hike (the book says an hour and a half). It may have had something to do with waiting while Bridget ran up and down the 121-stair staircase near the Ukranian Cultural Center. After her tenth trip, the rest of us had to force her to move on for the rest of the hike. OK, seriously, Bridget's advice to those considering an Urban Hike: try NOT to do one immediately following a trip to the gym involving numerous leg presses, squats, extensions and calf raises. Hmmmmmm....

We had some great views of downtown Calgary, and some of our bridges, as well as a great stroll along part of the Bow River Path, east of city center. It was a pleasant day, 11C with a somewhat cool breeze.

For a brief moment during the hike, I went into a trance and channelled my (still living, thank goodness) Mother when I instructed all the hikers to please not accidentally step on the mating bugs that were in our path. Oh boy....

After the hike, I invited the group to join me for the muscle car show at McMahon Stadium, but alas, no one took me up on it. Hmmmmmm...

-- Rhonda


2004-04-19 : COC - Douglas Fir Trail
If you like hiking in the mountains better than in the city (d'uh), this is the urban hike to do. At times, it's not hard to forget you're even in a city at all. The path meanders up and down on the side of the hill behind Riverside Club. There are lots of wooden stairs, lots of dirt trail, and lots of trees. Not too much city.

-- Rhonda


2004-04-25 : COC - Jewel Creek
A most excellent early easy, easy hike. The "view" portion of our day pretty much happened at the beginning and end, with great views of Barrier Lake and the mountains around it. The rest of the time was up and down through forest, which was still very nice. A definite highlight was the appearance of several crokuses.

On our way back, as expected, we ran into Steve's group who started one hour after us.

Many continued on to Kilkenny, although I think they spiked our drinks with sleeping potion as we were one sorry-butt bunch of people sitting around the table.

-- Rhonda
Note that:
(1) I am hiking in sandals
(2) We had to hike some parts in snow


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