Located right along the beautiful shore of Lake Mendota, in the lower level of Memorial Union, sits Outdoor UW. Outdoor UW gives the opportunity for anybody to enjoy the lovely outside educational opportunities, and recreation experiences in the Madison area! Outdoor UW offers visitors outdoor recreation rentals for anything you could possibly need, from group cook sets and lanterns to dry bags and climbing shoes. Outdoor UW has it available! If you are looking to get out on the lake to cool off on a hot day, there are single standup paddleboards, 8-person stand-up paddleboards, single and tandem kayaks, and canoes available to rent. During the snowy months, Outdoor UW offers snowshoes, trekking poles, and ice skates for rent.
Outdoor UW is also home to the Wisconsin Hoofers, one of Madison’s oldest and biggest student organizations, dedicated to providing instruction and experience in outdoor activities including mountaineering, outing (canoeing, backpacking, snowshoeing), horseback riding, sailing, scuba diving, and skiing/snowboarding.
Another addition to Outdoor UW is its special events, offering many excursions for people to partake in. One of the special events is the Hike and Brew, which includes a guided hike to Picnic Point. After the hike, enjoy a drink on the terrace while listening to live music and watching the sunset. Another is Lakefront Live, which gives you the amazing opportunity to listen to the Terraces’ live music from the water on a kayak, paddleboard, or canoe. Additionally, you can partake in family paddle nights or private group experiences.
You can find all Outdoor UW rental, special event, private group, and hoofers information on their website.
My friend and I signed up for Family Night on Lake Mendota. They sent us an email before the reservation, advising us to wear clothes and shoes that can get wet. It was 90 degrees, so that was no issue for me! When we arrived at Outdoor UW we were greeted us with smiles and pleasant employees. The organizers brought all participants to the garage, everyone was given life jackets and we got to know each other.
Our instructor Geri Ikelheimer, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in psychology with certificates in Criminal Justice and Digital Studies, greeted us with a bubbly and welcoming personality. This was Geri’s first summer working for Outdoor UW, and she absolutely loved it.
While we were all getting situated, Geri asked where each group was originally from. We then went around and shared our names and ages with the group. After some brief introductions, Geri started explaining the five rules to us.
- Thumbs up: to having a good time on the water!
- Pointer: always pointing at ourselves and not at others, taking responsibility for our actions, and not blaming others.
- Middle finger: respect! It’s about respecting ourselves, the board, the water, and each other.
- Ring finger: for engagement and commitment since it’s the finger you put a wedding ring on. It represents being committed to the activities we’re playing and being engaged with what we are doing.
- Pinky: The smallest finger! It can get hurt easily, so it represents safety.
When all five fingers are up, the open palm represents being open-minded and you high-five someone next to you.
After explaining the rules, we all decided whether to try out a stand-up paddleboard or a kayak for our time on the lake. My friend and I choose paddleboarding, along with the rest of the group, except for our guide, Geri, and a mother and her young daughter who used kayaks. After that, we received our paddles based on our body length and headed toward the water!
Guides were helpful in assisting us getting on our paddleboards or in our kayaks and Geri informed us about our boundaries in the water and what to expect. As soon as we got far enough out, around the sailboats, Geri gave us the opportunity to take a dip into the lake. I didn’t think twice about the opportunity and jumped into the cool water, swimming alongside the sailboats
After everyone had cooled off, Geri explained the first game we would play, Water Dragon. Water Dragon is similar to Rock Paper Scissors but with a twist. You start with a hierarchy of animals. Our group chose a cat, then a dog, then a monkey, and the highest always being the Water Dragon. In this game, you paddle around the water meowing like a cat, and look for another opponent who is also meowing like a cat. Once you find someone that is the same animal, you do a battle of rock paper scissors. Whoever wins the battle upgrades to a dog, and paddles around barking to find a new opponent who is also a dog, but the loser stays a cat and looks for another opponent, and so on.
Once someone finally reaches the level of a Water Dragon, they have the power to go around and splash anyone. Although me and my friend were stuck as cats the entire game, it was a fun game that kept everyone entertained and was perfect for a hot day.
The next game we played was called Battleship. For this game, Geri tossed a bunch of soft, colorful balls into the water. Once she said “go,” everyone started paddling to collect the balls to either try to hit someone on a paddleboard or toss one and make it into one of the kayaks. As someone with bad hand-eye coordination, I didn’t do too well, but once again, I had so much fun playing with everyone. The little girl kayaking with her mother especially enjoyed the game, so we played twice.
Next, we played shark attack. In this game, two people are the ‘islands’ and serve as the two safe bases for the game and one person is the shark. Everyone else must try to paddle and touch one of the two islands before the shark gets to them, like sharks and minnows.
In between games Geri did a great job of communicating to the group and asking what everyone would be interested in doing. Since it was so steamy outside, we took multiple breaks to jump in the water to swim around and cool off.
The last game we played, which was my personal favorite, was called Lines of Communication. For this game, you split up into two groups of three and throw out two balls for each group. One person cannot talk and point in directions; another person says aloud what direction their partner is trying to express through their pointing, and the last person has their eyes shut, trying to reach the balls based on what they are hearing from their teammate. For my group, Geri and I were right next to each other, facing each other. Geri was facing me and Ollie. Geri, pointing to me where I should tell Ollie where to go.
So as Ollie is a good distance behind me, Geri is pointing in the direction Ollie needs to go to pick up the balls, and using my words and not seeing Ollie, I am supposed to direct Ollie to the balls. I know this might sound confusing, and it was at first which made it all the more fun.
After the game, as the sun was setting, we jumped in for one last peaceful swim. The family paddle lasted two hours and was my favorite experience I have had on Lake Mendota. Our guide was extremely helpful and made the experience even better than anticipated and I will definitely go back again.
By Joelle Leigland
