Mt. Zirkel Video: The Funniest BVICO Outing Video Ever

We had the pleasure of having Evan Geary, the national Sierra Club video intern, join us on our trip to the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness this summer, and he produced the following, absolutely hilarious, video. In addition to being hilarious, I think the video does a great job of capturing the BVICO experience. Thanks to Linda Muscatell for assembling and leading this zany outing. And thanks to Evan for capturing it all for us.

Gorgeous weekend to encourage youth to explore, enjoy and protect the great outdoors at Lake Pueblo

Our group gets ready to roll.

ICO Youth Leader Moises bags trash collected by Chris.

Boulder Valley Inner City Outings organized a weekend trip to the shores of Lake Pueblo in south-central Colorado. The area lived up to its reputation of great weather to enjoy a myriad of outdoor activities. Our outing focused on learning the basics of mountain biking and low-impact camping, and included a service activity of picking up trash along the trails and around the campground. In partnership with the Trips for Kids organization, we stressed responsible mountain biking - staying on designated trails, minimizing actions that cause erosion and yielding to other trail users. We had rides for all levels, ranging from paved bike paths to gnarly, technical singletrack. The more advanced riders did almost 20 miles of riding over the two days. Although we chose the most primitive walk-in tent campsites in the park, the youth loved the camping experience. For many it was their first time camping. We organized a trash collection around the campground so that the area was left cleaner than we found it.

Kyra celebrates being outside and making it up another hill.

We had a diverse group of eleven youth from low-income families in Boulder County, eleven other youth from Casey Middle School, one Casey teacher (and former pro bike racer), one set of parents, one Trips for Kids staff member, and three ICO volunteers. We talked about the community coming together in light of the recent devastating Fourmile Canyon fire that hit close to home, and how this trip is a small example that exemplifies building community. The ICO volunteers organized the trip from top to bottom, the Casey teacher led recruitment and group cheers, while Trips for Kids provided bikes, ride guiding, and took care of mechanical issues. Sierra Club’s Building Bridges to the Outdoors and Water Sentinels sponsored the outing, and some additional financial contributions were made by Casey parents and ICO volunteers.

Fruita Trip - March 2010

ICO ran a 4-day camping and mountain biking trip to Fruita with kids from the C-A-S-E-Y spells CASEY Bike Club and two brave kids from Centaurus High School. The mountain bikes and ride leading were provided by Trips For Kids Denver/Boulder. We were treated to clear weather and dry trails at the beginning of the season. No crowds! We rode 5 or 6 different trails, took a sunset hike one evening, and did a night ride!

Following the Fruita pictures, there are some highlights of the Casey kids performing at the Boulder Velodrome:

Snowcave trip - January, 2010

On a sunny and relatively warm winter day, we built a snowcave in the Caribou area. The trip also involved belly sledding on a magic carpet, followed by destruction of the snowcave. That was a shame because we could have easily rented out our amazing snowcave to one of the skiers passing by!

Scary Fish 2009

It took a while to get this video together but here it is: footage from our "Scary Fish" backpacking trip in 2009. This trip is so-named because the fish in the lakes we visit on this outing are so big they're scary. Thanks to Kera Tafoya and Melissa Pierce for making this trip a success. It was, indeed, a lot of fun.

Note: This video makes fair use of copyrighted material by Lyle Lovett.

Congratulations, After-the-Holidays Party, & 2009 Statistics

Congratulations!

Congratulations to all of the volunteers who make Boulder Valley ICO so successful! We have been awarded the Special Achievement Award from the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club for our outstanding work over the last year and a half.

Congratulations are also due to Linda Muscatell, our treasurer, who has been awarded a Certification of Appreciation for her contributions to Boulder Valley ICO. Our chairperson, Michael Le Desma, has also been awarded the Chapter's Grassroots Leader of the Year award.

After-the-holidays Party

These awards will be presented at the Chapter's After-the-Holidays party this weekend. Please join us:

Sunday, January 19, 7-9 p.m.
Unitarian Church, 5001 Pennsylvania Ave., Boulder 80303

Please bring a side dish, dessert, and/or beverage (beer and wine ok) to share.

Please let Steve Welter know if you plan to attend by emailing him at steve.welter@comcast.net

Our 2009 Statistics

And, just in, are our statistics from 2009, and they are impressive:

We generated 364 kid-days, for 177 kids, with a whopping 3,792 volunteer-hours. Our cost per kid-day for single-day outings was an amazing $5, and our cost per kid-day for multi-day backpacking was just above $20. These are great numbers!

Equally impressive, our volunteers donated approximately $3,900 in mileage, food, and fuel to the program in 2009.

Way to go, folks!