News

Oct 25, 2024

UREC Outdoor Recreation: Your Gateway to Adventure  - University of Alabama News

Outdoor Recreation, located inside the Student Recreation Center, equips students to tackle any outside adventure. Outdoor Recreation offers four main services: the rental center, bike shop, climbing

Outdoor Recreation, located inside the Student Recreation Center, equips students to tackle any outside adventure. Outdoor Recreation offers four main services: the rental center, bike shop, climbing wall at the Witt Center, and facilitated outdoor trips.

Programs and services are open to students, faculty and staff. Anyone can go on trips or use the climbing wall, although membership fees may apply.

“Whether it’s a student renting out a piece of equipment from us, riding around campus on a BamaBike, or going on their first camping trip and then deciding they want to work for us, I find most of my pride and joy in creating a space for students to think critically, challenge themselves, and learn something from outside of the classroom,” said Outdoor Recreation Facilitator Zach Cox.

Here’s a short guide to everything Outdoor Recreation has to offer.

Planning a camping trip but need gear? Want to explore one of the area’s many bodies of water but don’t have your own vessel? The rental center can help!

Sleeping bags, tents, stoves, cookware, backpacks, canoes, kayaks, headlamps and other equipment are available. Students, faculty and staff can rent outdoor equipment for one day, a weekend or a full week. Prices vary depending on equipment and rental duration.

Does your bicycle need a tune-up? Don’t have a bike but need one? The full-service bike shop located in the rental center at the Student Recreation Center is a great resource.

The shop can provide main safety checks for $35 and a full range of repair services, such as fixing flat tires, for a flat fee, depending on the repair.

The BamaBikes rental program offers about 130 bikes in various sizes for students, faculty and staff to rent for a month or semester. To reserve a bike, customers can fill out a Bike Request Form online, call the Outdoor Rental Center, or come in person.

Bikes can also be purchased through the bike shop’s partner, State Bicycle Co. Students can fill out a request form and purchase the bike, then the shop will order the bike on their behalf, assemble it and provide three free safety checks.

The climbing wall located at the Witt Student Activity Center offers a fun indoor workout for beginners, experts and everyone in between. Climbers can check out equipment including climbing shoes, crash pad and chalk bag or buy chalk. Classes are offered for all levels. A student’s first visit is free. After that, students can purchase a semester membership for $20 or a monthly pass for $10.

The climbing wall is also home to “T-Town Pull Down,” an annual climbing competition open to the community each spring. Climbers can compete in top rope, bouldering, or combined formats in beginner, intermediate and advanced divisions.

Each semester, Outdoor Recreation hosts 10-15 trips to locations around and outside Alabama. Past trips include whitewater rafting in Montgomery, rock climbing and caving in Northern Alabama or backpacking on the Appalachian Trail.

No experience is required for trips, and everyone is always welcome. Trips are led by experienced student leaders trained in wilderness and remote first aid.

Cox said his fondest memory was backpacking on the Appalachian Trail with UA Outdoor Recreation, where students spend three nights and four days on the trail.

“It’s fascinating to watch a group of 10-12 strangers become friends through hiking with big, heavy packs through the North Carolina wilderness. While the sights are amazing and the activities are great, it’s the people that you share these memories with that make them last forever,” Cox said.

University Recreation hires hundreds of student workers each year, including the position of outdoor recreation associate.

UREC offers a family atmosphere that puts student employees first. Cox said, “I do thoroughly enjoy the direct and indirect impact I have on students and more importantly the impact they have on me.”

Outdoor Recreation is only one of the many areas of University Recreation. Students enrolled in at least 1 credit hour receive access to the Witt Student Activity Center, the Aquatic Center and Student Recreation Center. Group exercise classes for all fitness levels, a year-round lap pool with a heated deck, an outdoor pool with a waterslide, saunas and steam rooms, and intramural sports teams make University Recreation the gym experience with the most amenities in the county.