River Prairie Group OUTINGS Committee

By Connie Schmidt

Outings! The cornerstone of the Sierra Club from its inception. Getting folks outside to experience nature in hopes that they will be:

• Refreshed and invigorated to have a life more connected to the natural world.
• More inclined to want to protect these wild spaces for others to enjoy.

The River Prairie Group of Outings leaders is one of the, no let me correct that, is THE most engaged group in the state! They meet on the first Wednesday of each month. They meet in-person as much as possible and sometimes virtual if that works better because of weather and scheduling. The in-person events are a great bonding opportunity of having a main course dinner provided by the host, with supplemental dishes from some of the members. There could be between 10 and 18 people present at a meeting. The June meeting is especially nice because the River Prairie Group Ex-Com hosts the Outings leaders and provides the meal and listens in on their planning process.

The leaders are a special bunch. They have wilderness first aid training and training on handling group situations. Some of the leaders are secondary and don’t require the specialized training and are co-leaders for the trips. Those leaders who have been active for years are happy to walk new leaders through the training process. 

The purpose of this article is really twofold. We want you, the general newsletter reader, to know that our outings are led by fun, well trained, interesting people who truly love getting others out into the spaces they enjoy. In addition, we welcome new leaders into our fold to come to an Outings meeting to meet the “old timers” and consider becoming leaders themselves.

So, whether you are just interested in signing up for a day hike, a bike ride, or even a cross- country ski adventure, we hope you will come out into the wild with us. And if you have a wild place you love and would like to introduce others to it, we want to train you to become a leader with us to do just that. And maybe….just maybe….you will want to become more active in some of our other programs to help protect the wild places here in DuPage and beyond. Check out the Outings Calendar here for newly added outings.

Contact Connie Schmidt at (630) 234-3029 or Mike Davis at (773) 817-4967 to discuss joining with us.

Photo by Connie Schmidt: Hike in Naperville Knoch Knolls Park with State Representative Janet Yang Rohr