Fifteen participants and trainers completed the 3rd and last Outings Leader Training 101 of the year with the Maryland Chapter at the home of Howard Country Group Chair Carolyn Parsa in Laurel, Maryland on Sunday, November 17th. Special thanks to Trainers Janet Gingold, Outings Chair Prince George’s Group and Ron LaCoss, Sierra Club Potomac Region and to our host Carolyn Parsa, for the use of her beautiful home with a wooded location to practice scenarios on an outdoors walk! Also Estill Harrison, Sally Wood, Sara Werksman, Vontasha Simms who helped prepare materials!
We had a great group of highly motivated individuals from all around the state from Charles, Prince George’s, Washington, Howard, Anne Arundel, Montgomery counties and Baltimore City, who have taken their first step on the way to becoming certified Sierra Club Outings Leaders!
In the morning we learned about Sierra Club structure, requirements to becoming an Outings Leader, and how to plan and conduct safe and educational outings.
What do you look out for when scouting out your hike? After lunch we practiced trailhead and concluding an outing talks
Then we got outdoors on an actual walk practicing. How would you deal with a possible sprained ankle or a change in the weather or someone wanting to leave early?
Finally we all got down to planning our first (mentored) outing and reviewed all we’d learned. Trainees are plotting the next moves for completing their certifications!
What did Attendees say?
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“It was great to see so many people from different backgrounds and generations engaged on becoming hike leaders”
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“The training hike had fun but information roleplay on how to handle certain scenarios during outings.”
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“It was a beautiful location to conduct this training. There was plenty of expertise, enthusiasm, and thorough information about tools and processes.”
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“The OLT binder had a great supply of resources and contact information for us to reach out to potential mentors.”
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“It was smart to show a sample first aid kit showing what kinds of useful things we need to bring to lead outings.”
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“The “fish bowl” discussions were great for allowing others to share and listen to different ideas about planning outings.”
Come join our growing family of hike leaders, to enjoy, explore, and protect the earth with us. Let’s bring folks outdoors for fun, education and inspiration.
Basic Path and Steps to Becoming a Sierra Club Outings leader:
1.) Membership dues paid up
www.sierraclub.org/maryland see the orange button“Join Renew Donate” at the top right hand side
2.) OLT101 ✓ COMPLETED
Whoo Hoo! Congratulations to our 11 new Trainees!
3.) First Aid / Wilderness First Aid for overnight backpacking
4.) Provisional Mentored Outings
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Provisional Outing:
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Secure a mentor
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Choose a date & location
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Create a trip plan
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Scout it out
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Plan Route
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Create Map
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Write up description (who will come, educational component, campaign, etc)
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Post and Advertise it
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Hold outing
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Debrief
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Do follow up
5.) Set up your next outing!
Contacts:
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Outings Intern, outings.intern@mdsierra.org
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Laurel Imlay, Staff, Laurel.Imlay@mdsierra.org 240-764-5309 desk
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Carolyn Parsa, Chair Howard County Group Carolyn.Parsa@mdsierra.org
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Ron LaCoss, Sierra Club Potomac Region Outings, Trainer
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Janet Gingold, Sierra Club Prince George’s Outings Chair, Trainer
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Local Group Contacts www.sierraclub.org/maryland/local-groups
Resources
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NEW Favorite Sources for inspiring love of nature (send your ideas to add to this list to Janet Gingold)
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Information about Sierra Club Outings:
https://content.sierraclub.org/outings/volunteer/opportunities
https://content.sierraclub.org/ourwildamerica/outdoors
Https: New Outings Leader Course 101 Learners Guide.pdf
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Check more opportunities on the calendar sierraclub.org/maryland/calendar