Rock Climbing Extravaganza
The weekend of September 21st 2012 the outdoor recreation club went on a trip to Portersville, Pennsylvania for rock climbing. After arriving at the campsite base camp was set up and then tents to spend the night. The next morning the campers woke up to the smell of bacon, pancakes, and sausage. After breakfast the campers took a beautiful hike in the McConnell’s Mill State Park and some of the campers went kayaking. This park is located in the Slippery Rock Area and is 49 miles long and full of slippery rocks. It is believed that an Indian trail was formed by the creek at a shelf of sandstone near a natural oil seep, which made the rock exceptionally slippery. Because of this natural occurrence a creek, a town, a university, a rock formation and many local businesses were named after the rock. In the late 1800s, oil wells briefly flourished in the valley, but the oil was swiftly invaded by groundwater and the wells were abandoned. The oil wells drained the oil seep and the Slippery Rock is no longer covered in oil. The Slippery Rock Gorge Natural Area was made a national landmark in 1974 and became a state park in 1998. The steep-sided gorge contains numerous rocky outcrops, boulders, old growth forest, waterfalls and rare plants. After the hike the campers were led to another area of the park where they went repealing which is a form of rock climbing only backwards. There was a small repeal that was about 40 ft. and the large repeal that was about 100 ft.
The next day the campers packed up everything and went to Ellicottville for the high adventure course. The adventure course challenged all the campers not only physically but emotionally as well. A great educational and fun time was had by all.
No comments:
Post a Comment