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travel supplemei
friday, february 17 1978
Outdoor programs offer hope for spring break blahs
By Kim Hachiya
If you're looking forward to spring
break, but not to 10 days with mom and
dad, The Family Feud or Gong Show
reruns, maybe the UNL Recreation Depart
ment's outdoor programs can offer some
hope.
In its fourth year of planned outdoor,
programs, the Recreation Department is
offering four different trips during spring
break, according to Mark Ebel, outdoor
recreation coordinator.
Ebel said Jim Fullerton, recreation
adviser, will lead a desert backpacking trip
through Arizona's Grand Canyon March
18-26.
Ebel said the hikers will carry five days
of food, clothing, camping gear and sleep
ing bags down the seven miles of switch
back trails into the canyon.
They will spend two days at the base
of the canyon on the Colorado River
before ascending back to the rim.
The hikers will have to carry a diversity
of clothing, Ebel said, because tempera
tures at the rim could be near freezing with
snow, but the canyon floor will have tem
peratures near 80 degrees.
The $75 trip is limited to 10 hikers.
Cost will include transportation by
university van, food, equipment and insur
ance. Although no previous hiking experience
is required, Ebel recommended that po
tential hikers be in good physical condition
and the hikers must have a pair of well-broken-in
hiking boots.
Applications for the desert backpacking
trip will be accepted from Feb. 16 through
March 1. A $25 deposit is required.
The department also is sponsoring an
off-shore sailing program in the Gulf of
Mexico near Fort Myers, Fla., March
15-25.
The $240 trip includes transportation,
food, insurance and five days sailing on
42-foot sailboats.
Ebel said no prior sailing experience is
required. People on the trip can learn how
to sail the boats, skin dive, fish, swim or
sunbathe in the 90-degree Gulf weather.
The trip is limited to 10 people and is
nearly filled, according to Ebel, although
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applications will be accepted until March 3.
An $80 deposit is required.
If sailing in the Gulf isn't exciting
enough for your tastes, the department
also is planning a white-water canoeing
expedition on the Buffalo and Mulberry
Rivers in Arkansas, Marcb 18-25.
Ebel said some experience in negotiating
river rapids is recommended, but not
required for participants.
The $60 trip cost covers transportation,
food, and insurance. Canoes will be
provided by the 'Recreation Department.
Water-repellent clothing or rain gear is
necessary, Ebel said. Temperatures in v
Arkansas will range from 30 degrees at
night . to near 70 during the day, accord
ing to Ebel.
Probably the most difficult of all the
spring trips will be a ski-mountaineering
trip March 14-26, Ebel said.
The goal of the trip is to make a winter
ascent of Gannett Peak in Wyoming, Ebel
said. At 13,804 feet, Gannett Peak is the
tallest mountain in Wyoming.
Participants must have completed a
basic rock climbing seminar offered by the
Recreational Department, have ski touring
experience and be in good physical
condition, Ebel said.
The $150 trip is jointly sponsored with
Bivouac which is supplying food. The trip
is limited to 10 people and is already filled,
according to Ebel.
Ebel said the participants are all UNL
students who were invited on the trip on
the basis of prior experience.
Ebel said the climbers will ski into a
base camp at 1 1 ,000 feet and ascend to the
peak using specialized snow, glacier and ice
climbing techniques.
He said they will descend almost
immediately once reaching Ihe summit
because of the severe weatherat that
altitude. Ebel said the temperatures will be
wfl below zero with 50 ImTe-per-hduf
winds."
The climbers must supply their own pol;
guard, down, and wool clothing,
specialized . mountaineering boots and
gaiters, Ebel said. The recreation depart
ment will supply winter tents and other
special mountaineering gear. '
Making tracks to Omaha
By Jim Williams
It's three o'clock in the morning, and
your reporter is sitting in a deserted,
brightly-lit bar playing cheap boogie
chords on the piano while a select group of
friends sit around about half smashed on
rum and Coca-cola. Not much of a way to
spend a wild evening, you may think, but
consider that we're moving from Omaha to
Lincoln at just under a mile a minute.
This is travel at its decadent, dissipated
best. And it's cheap, too.
The San Francisco Zephyr runs between
California and Chicago seven days a week,
provided for your riding pleasure by
Amtrak, the national rail passenger ser
vice. You can take the Omaha-Lincoln
segment for about $3.55 one way, $6.50
round trip.
The equivalent bus trip costs $3.05
one way, and the lower price requires you
to endure over an hour on a bucking,
smelly Seamycruiser with a continuous
bellowing Diesel accompaniement. You can
also fly between Neb -ska's two largest
cities, but the ticket will burn a $20 bill
and change, and the 20-minute trip gives
hardly enough time to set up the back
gammon board, let alone get into the frame
of mind of a decadent aristocrat.
Of course, you have to endure some
inconvenience for the saks of decayed
elegance. For instance, the Zephyr leaves
Omaha for Lincoln at the unfashionable
hour of 3 a.m. Going the other way is
even worse.
And if you simply must arrive in
Chicago for that important meeting exactly
on time, you'd better look into less exotic
transportation. Amtrak trains are often on
time, but almost as often they're not -they
can be late by hours ot even days.
But if you keep your train trip short, and
look at it as an excursion rather than
transit, youH find things to enjoy. Amtrak
is run as a sideline by Uncle Sam, and it
shows.
Just getting from car to car can be an
adventure. The unused cars aren't heated,
so you run through them, and the vesti
bules between cars often contain knee
deep snowdrifts picked up in the Rockies.
The doors between cars are supposed to
be opened by air pressure, but sometimes
they freeze up. Straddling two railroad
cars while wrestling with an obstinate door
is one of life's rare pleasures.
It's not a bad scenario for a high-roller
evening. Get to Omaha somehow, inhale
some prime rib at the Gas Lamp, hit the
more elegant bars, grab a cab to the station
and leave at three. After an hour and ten
minutes of sitting in the lounge car acting
like William Powell (the bar's closed at
that hour so you're on your own) or nap
ping in a darkened coach with all the other
sleepers or sitting in the dome car watching
the world go by, you're back home again,
ready to face the new day with indigestion
and a terrible hangover.
Amtrak's trains are all reserved, so you
must call their toll-free number, (112)
800 421-8320 to let them know you're
coming. It's a travel experience you can
enjoy without a huge pile of money
if you can stay up that late.
Ksd Cross
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