Now that the sun is beginning to shine—even in the months where the sun isn’t shining so bright—Central’s Outdoor Pursuits & Rentals (OPR) is a great resource for students seeking to get out and enjoy the beautiful areas surrounding central Washington and the Cascades.

Senior creative and professional writing major and OPR staff member Malissa Smith said this is the time of year when Central students are most excited about getting to go outdoors.

“Winter months definitely die down,” Smith said. “We just started doing our cross country ski rentals during the winter, so we had some traffic, but summer and spring is definitely our high peak months.”

Smith said some of the more popular activities of this season are the water activities like renting rafts and tubes to float the Yakima River.

“This quarter we’re actually going to have stand-up paddle board instructional days, Smith said. “We’re gonna go to the pool on Sunday nights from 7-9 starting in May.”

After the pool sessions are completed, the group will then be traveling to Irene Rinehart—also known as people’s pond, to get out and experience the real thing.

“And then our grand finale for stand-up paddle board instructions is going to be an overnight trip on the Yakima River,” Smith said.

In addition to rafts and tubes, OPR offers wintertime activities, slacklines, tents, sleeping bags and even camping tents.

But what they offer doesn’t stop there—if you’re not comfortable taking on these adventures on your own, OPR provides regularly scheduled guided trips and various instructional classes.

These can range from one-day adventures in our own backyard to multi-day trips in the surrounding backcountry.

As part of their mission to continually strive to bring the outdoors to the students, OPR also hosts a variety of events such as films, vendor fairs and gear swaps throughout the year.

Sophomore Kendyl Raab said she’s never rented or done any activities through OPR, but said she would be open to doing one of the many things they offer.

“I think taking the instructional paddle board classes could be fun,” Raab said. “I’ve paddle boarded before but could definitely get better.”

Raab said her prior attempt of trying to get a little too tricky on a paddle board leads her to believe that there is still room for improvement.

It’s great OPR offers guided hikes for trails like Manastash and Umptanum falls because they are some of the more popular ones students like to tackle.

Having hiked both Manastash and Umptanum Falls before, Raab said the views and the overall experiences of the hikes are what she enjoyed most.

Junior finance and economics major Brita Brongil said she enjoys how seamless the renting process is at OPR.

“I love that I can charge a raft straight to my student account,” Brongil said.

Brongil said she’s not really the type to go on guided hikes because she likes taking the opportunity to get out and explore on her own, but she too said she is interested in paddle boarding.

Brongil said she would definitely rent a board, but her only concern is finding a way she can transport the large board to different bodies of water.

The good news is, the demand for the paddle boards currently isn’t very high, so there are still plenty of opportunities to snag one up!

If you’d like to catch up and see what OPR is all about in person, don’t be afraid to stop in and take part in the outdoor adventures.

Catch a sunset hike every Thursday from 4-7 p.m. or set up a slack line and put your balance to its true test.

Whatever your outdoor pursuit may be, come in and let OPR help prepare you for your next outdoor adventure.