QUESTION & ANSWER - Butler Outdoor Club
Butler County is filled with a variety of people doing interesting things. This weekly feature offers snapshots of some of them by asking them five questions. The latest installment appears below.
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The Butler Outdoor Club is busy planning its annual Outdoor Extravaganza, set for May 27 to 30 at the Breakneck Campground near McConnells Mill State Park. Many of the club's volunteers are working to host events like kayaking, climbing and hiking. Among them is club president Steve Bickel, 51, of Slippery Rock. Here, he takes a break from planning to talk about the club.
QUESTION: Who belongs to the club?ANSWER: Membership varies from year to year. (It probably averages) 100 members. There's a pretty big age difference: anywhere from 20 to 85 years old.
QUESTION: Do club activities target only the physically fit?ANSWER: There are different activities for different fitness levels, and we don't say that you have to be physically fit. There are bicycle trips, hiking trips — and there are just walks and what we call rambles: going out for the evening to look at flowers.
QUESTION: Do you offer instruction for some of the activities?ANSWER: Yes. On some of the outings we'll offer some advice. Several times we've had backpacking courses so people could get familiar with backpacking. And (when) kayaking, we'll take a couple hours. Usually club members kind of go over things.
QUESTION: What are the most unusual outings your group has done?ANSWER: A group of us within the club have done what we call the Tour de North Country Trail. We've hiked all the sections or are going to hike all the sections in Pennsylvania that are not road walks. ... We have one 10-mile section left to do.
QUESTION: What do you want readers to know about the club?ANSWER: There are always things going on as far as hikes and stuff. Anybody's welcome to come. They don't have to be a member to come to any of our events, and we do have a website where people can go and get information. The address is www.butleroutdoorclub.org/.