A weekend paddling through Ada Hayden lake or exploring the underground world of a mystery cave in Minnesota is a good way to bring students closer together.

Every few months, the Outdoor Recreation Program takes students, faculty and Ames community members on trips across the country.

This fall, student leaders will be traveling to Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado and Arkansas to do a variety of activities from hiking and biking to backpacking and caving.

Primarily, the Outdoor Recreation Program provides the extended trip experience to give the Iowa State community an opportunity to go see the country.

Jerry Rupert is the assistant director of the Outdoor Recreation Program. Although he is in charge of the 36 student-staff members, he is not in charge of the trips. He said he guides when there are questions, but the students are the ones who plan the trips.

“This is an opportunity for our student leaders to practice the training that they receive,” Rupert said. “There’s not professional staff on most of the trips that we send out, so it gives them a chance to develop their leadership skills.”

Anna Fisher, a senior in nutritional science, is a student supervisor with the Outdoor Rec Program and will be leading the caving and hiking trip to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky.

She encouraged students to sign up for the extended weekend trips because it’s a chance to try new adventures.

“You get to meet a lot of people…we have a lot of [international students] so there’s a lot of cool backgrounds,” Fisher said.

Rupert said the trips can be beneficial for students from a social standpoint. He said students often build friendships or relationships from these trips.

Proof of that is in the 10 couples that worked at Outdoor Recreation Program who have gotten married.

“It’s really funny but it’s true…people build friendships and relationships on these trips.”

Fisher said students should think not only about the people they can meet, but also the places they get to travel too as well.

“I’ve gone to so many places with the outdoor rec program,” she said. “Places I never would have gone and would never have had the opportunity to go.”

Fisher’s favorite so far was a canoeing trip through the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia.

“I’ve never been in that kind of environment before. Swamps are really cool,” she said.

Although the fall break trips are full, Fisher is encouraging students to sign up for the next sessions.

“There’s a really cool ice climbing trip for winter break, that I’m leading,” she said.

Rupert also mentioned a sea-kayaking trip in Alaska next summer that students and faculty should be interested in.

Extended trips for fall break have application deadlines of either Nov. 14 or 18. There are four trips with an application deadline of Nov. 14: caving and hiking Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, a bike tour along the Mississippi River through Kentucky and Tennessee, backpacking through Golden Gate Canyon, Colorado and mountain biking the Golden Gate Canyon.

A trip to backpack the Ozark Highlands Trial in Arkansas has an application deadline of Nov. 18.

Trips range in cost from about $130 to $375, depending on if the student has a pass with Outdoor Recreation.

“It’s an opportunity to have an experience you might never have,” Rupert said. “In some situations it’s very much a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Anyone in the Iowa State community can sign up for the upcoming trips at the Outdoor Recreation Program front desk. For more information, visit the Outdoor Recreation website at http://www.recservices.iastate.edu/outdoors.