Common Adventure is a way of conducting outdoor trips which fully embraces the ideals of democracy. It’s a great way for clubs to run trips. It helps lessen liability (by spreading responsibilities), and it can be highly effective in terms of the personal benefits participants derived from the trip.
In many forms of outdoor trips, there is a guide or an overarching leader that does much of the organizational work and makes decisions for the group. On a common adventure trip, however, everyone is expected to share in the trip’s responsibilities. The trip initiator (as opposed to the trip guide) gets ball rolling. The rest of the group is expected to help plan, organize, cook, wash, load and unload vehicles, buy food, clean up equipment afterwards, etc.
Let’s look at it in more detail . . .
Brief Description of Common Adventure Trips
A Common Adventure trip is two or more individuals working cooperatively for common goals and sharing expenses and responsibilities as equitably as possible. There are no paid guides. Any instruction or advice provided by any member of the group is given gratuitously in a spirit of cooperation. Members of the group do not hold one another or others liable for accidents.
Sharing Responsibility on Common Adventure Trips
On a common adventure trip, everyone is expected to share in the responsibilities of the trip. The trip initiator (the person who posted the sign-up sheet) simply gets the ball rolling. The rest of the group is expected to help plan, organize, cook, wash, load and unload vehicles, buy food, clean up equipment afterwards, etc. The success or failure of a common adventure trip rests not in the hands of the trip initiator, or the club or institution which might offer such trips, but rather in the hands of everyone that participates in the trip.
Comparing Common Adventure Trips With “Ride Boards”
Common Adventure trips are similar in many ways to “Ride Boards.” Ride Boards are common on college campuses. The “Ride Board” enables drivers and riders who are going to the same destination to get together. Drivers are able to find someone to share gas expenses and help with the driving and, at the same time, riders are able to find a way of reaching their desired destination.
Common Adventure sign-up sheets, in turn, provide a means of getting people together to participate in an outdoor trip that might not have been possible if they had tried to do it alone. Any person is welcome to post a Common Adventure sign-up sheet on the trip board or a club’s Internet site and anyone who has sufficient experience required for the particular trip is welcome to sign up.
Interested in more information on common adventure? See Common Adventure II
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More Information:
Idaho State Outdoor Education main webpage is found here: ISU Outdoor Education
Subsidiary sites are found here: Google Sites | Facebook | Google + | AlterVista Website | eWeb | Hostinger
More Subsidiary sites: Google Web
Ron Watters’ website is found here: ronwatters.com
Outdoor Book Review website (including Guide to Outdoor Literature): Outdoor Book Reviews
Outdoor Dreams 