TheWaterStop

TheWaterStop Summer Trip 2007 - Final Info

Canadian 5-Day, Canadian Champs, Sass Peepre Junior Training Camp, Colorado 5-Day, USOF Convention, USOF Junior Training Camp

Registration

To register, send an email with the following information to jfredson@gmail.com:

• Name
• Age
• Dates you plan to join the trip for (see dates below).
• And your flight info as soon as you get it.

We will be in contact with everyone regarding more specific details about the trip (i.e. what to bring) as we get closer to the start.

For discussion about this trip see the Summer Trips discussion board.

What

TheWaterStop is hosting a Junior trip next summer to the Canadian 5-Day (including the Canadian Champs and Sass Peepre Junior Training Camp) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the Colorado 5-Day (including the USOF Convention and USOF Junior Training Camp) in Elbert, Colorado. The trip will likely start in Denver, Colorado a few days before the start of the Canadian 5-Day and finish just after the end of the Colorado 5-Day on August 12th for a total of about 4 weeks. This is a USOF sponsored trip.

When

Starting July 22nd in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and ending August 13th in Denver, Colorado. We will be renting the vans out of Denver, so if you find it is cheaper to get a round trip flight in and out of there, you can join us on July 20th for the drive up to Saskatoon.

Here is a breakdown of the trip:

• July 20th: Arrive in Denver, Colorado, rent vans and drive directly to Saskatoon.
• July 22nd: Pick up people at the airport in Saskatoon and drive to the Night-O.
• July 22nd-29th: Canadian 5-Day, Sass Peepre Junior Training Camp and Canadian Champs.
• July 30 - August 2: Drive to Elbert, CO doing lots of interesting sightseeing along the way, including a stop in Yellowstone National Park.
• August 3-12: Colorado 5-Day, USOF Junior Training Camp and USOF Convention.
• August 13: Depart from Denver, Colorado.

Where

The trip will officialy start in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but we will be renting the vans out of Denver Colorado two days before, so if you find it is cheaper to get round-trip tickets out of Denver you may join us then. We will rent vans and drive nort,h directly to Saskatoon. We will be in Saskatoon from July 21st until July 29th when we will drive down to Elbert, Colorado for the Colorado 5-Day doing some sightseeing along the way. The plan is to drive to Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming and spend a couple days there if we have time.

Who

The trip is open to all Juniors in North America (although other countries are of course welcome as well). We will have several competent adults acting as chaperones so parents should feel comfortable sending children as young as 12 or 13 on this trip. We will be traveling, eating, camping, and of course running together so children who are not necessarily ready to go off on a camping trip on their own yet should feel comfortable coming along and learning it all for the first time.

Why

Our goal is to give Juniors a chance to attend both of these great events even if their parents can't take them. We also hope to help build a tighter Junior community by bringing them together for both Orienteering and fun. While the main goal of the trip is to go to these two Orienteering events, there will also be a great emphasis on having fun. We will have the opportunity to see lots of cool places in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Saskatchewan and North and South Dakota, so we will plan extra travel time to allow us to see as much as possible between the meets. Both meets are conventions, so they won't be chock full of racing. There will be plenty of time for socialization and other fun things.

We also hope to teach Juniors the skills they need to travel around the world to cheaply. One of the things that makes Orienteering so great is that you can do it in so many interesting places around the world. After this trip Juniors should feel comfortable doing a similar trip on their own. We also hope to hold more trips to Europe and other places in the coming years so younger Juniors will have even more opportunities to experience this before they feel ready to try it out on their own.

The main goal of the trip is to nurture a love of Orienteering and traveling in our Juniors.

Costs

We will be collecting money at the beginning of the trip in order to take care of various costs as a group. The individual numbers may change a little as we get all the details finalized, but don't expect the total to change too much. Of course this is just an estimation so we may come up a little over or under budget at the end, and we will have to work that out then. In general we will plan to over-budget slightly so as to avoid any complications during the trip.

Here is a breakdown of what we expect the trip to cost:

• $530 - Van rentals. $3500 plus $750 for gas per van. Cost assumes 8 people per van.
• $210 - Food. We will be taking part in all the organized dinners at both events, leaving 14 days for us to take care of our own food. Cost allows for $15 per person, per day.
• $65 - Camping. We will also be taking part in the organized camping during the events, so that only leaves 13 nights separately. Cost assumes $5 per person, per night.
• $805 - Total estimated cost for the trip.

In addition to the trip cost, participants will be responsible for arranging and paying for the following things on their own:

• Registration and fees for both of the events.
• Any travel costs needed to get them to the beginning of the trip.

We do not have an estimate on the total trip cost as of yet but we will update this page as soon as we do.

Questions

If you have any questions about the trip, feel free to post on the Summer Trips discussion board. Here are some frequently asked questions:

• What if I can't make it to the whole trip? You are welcome to join us at any stage of the trip and leave at any point as well. We will be happy to help try to coordinate this with you.
• Is there any financial aid for this trip? Yes. US Juniors can apply for a travel grant from USOF to help cover the costs of both traveling to and from the trip as well as the costs of the actual trip. For more information on US travel grants contact the US Junior Team Leader, Janet Porter. We are looking into funding for more general scholarships for this trip as well. If you are interested in sponsoring this trip please contact John Fredrickson.