When I heard about SOLAR, I attended my first meeting and was hooked. A few months later I took the spring backpacking class, then the Wilderness First Aid class, the Rock Climbing Class, Advanced Backing Class, Winter Camping Class and an Ice Climbing session. All in the first year.

My one year anniversary with SOLAR was spent climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. By my second year, I was planning to climb the seven summits (highest mountain on each continent). My third anniversary was spent climbing Cerro Aconcagua in Argentina. I have also climbed three mountains in S. Russia and climbed in Alaska three times including Mt. McKinley (Denali).

I now teach the Basic Mountaineering Class and have led three mountain climbing trips to the Olympics and Mt. Rainier. I also teach an Outdoor Cooking Class and assist in the Basic Backpacking, Advanced Backpacking and Leadership, Winter Camping and Land Navigation Classes.

I met my wife Pam Riehl in SOLAR and was married in 2003. We have hiked and climbed in the Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon, Rockies, Quebec, Alps and all throughout Michigan and Midwest. We are planning climbing and hiking trips to the Himalayas, various parts of the U.S., Canada, S. America and Europe. We also Canoe/Kayak, Snowshoe, CC Ski, Winter Camp and Mountain Bike.

This will be my fifth year on the Steering Committee and hope to contribute for many more.

SOLAR has led to many long term friendships and personal growth and not to mention getting my 18 year old triplet daughters outside and active (Yes, SOLAR is also kid friendly).

Along with backpacking, I also enjoy caving, canoeing, sea kayaking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and mountain biking.

SOLAR is an excellent organization, which has so much to offer. With the different variety of outdoor activities, the hard part is trying to figure out what you want to do next. I hope that I can help in continuing the great success in this organization through education and friendship.

Seven years ago, I attended my first SOLAR meeting not knowing anyone. I was tired of camping and hiking by myself. Most of my friends' idea of enjoying the outdoors was a Holiday Inn, or maybe, camping once a year. The first thing I did was take the Fall Beginning Backpack Class. This class opened the door to all types of adventure and it is the easiest way to make friends. It wasn't easy; I had become pretty soft, over the years, and the thought of hiking 8 miles seemed crazy to me!

I learned numerous new skills and I used this class as foundation, from which to learn many others . I have since taken nearly every class SOLAR has to offer. Now, I am actually the lead instructor for the Winter Camping Class. Oh yeah, by the way, somewhere in that seven years, I became Vice President of the Club and now I'm the President! If someone would have told me, on that first night, that I would someday be President, I would've thought they were nuts--me, the president?!

I've made many friends who have encouraged me, and helped me to overcome many fears. For instance, when I started rock climbing, I couldn't even climb three feet off the ground without shaking like a leaf! I was deathly afraid of heights! Today, though still not completely comfortable, I am able to hang from a rope 70 feet above the ground, without giving it much thought.

I've rafted the Colorado River, down the Grand Canyon; canoed Algonquin Provincial Park, in Canada; kayaked Lake Superior; dog sledded in northern Ontario; hiked through Yellowstone National Park and, oh yeah, I just completed a 95 mile backpacking circuit around Mt. Rainier, on the Wonderland Trail. The Wonderland Trail is one of the toughest trails in North America. Looking back, that original 8 miles doesn't seem like much anymore!

So, if you need any help kicking open those doors to “outdoor adventure”, just ask. I'm here to help get you started, and who knows, a few years from now instead of reading these bio's you'll be typing one yourself!

SOLAR has given me the opportunities to not only participate in club-sanctioned adventures, but to meet life long friends that I can travel with, outside the realm of the club. I have been to Japan, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Kenya, Tanzania, Holland, Alaska, Hawaii, rafted thru the Grand Canyon, cross-country skied in Yellowstone National Park and many more places, with SOLAR friends. A few of us even climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, a few years ago.

During my years with SOLAR, I served as the Activities Chairperson for 6 years and was President for 2 years. I help teach the Beginning and Intermediate Backpacking Classes and have led over 50 trips for the club.

I began backpacking in 1978 and since then have visited nearly every national park, in the U.S., including those in Alaska and Hawaii. Together with my husband, Gene, I enjoy backpacking, caving and cross-country skiing, as well as biking, canoeing, kayaking and white water rafting. I have always been an avid outdoor enthusiast, but after joining SOLAR, I am now fortunate to have new, and lifelong, friends with which to travel to exciting places. SOLAR has truly enriched my life!

The only thing that came of that date was she mentioned a club she had belonged to. Great people, great activities, great club. She mentioned Colony Hall, Southfield, and Tuesday nights. That was enough to get my curiosity up. A little detective work and I showed up and was greeted at the door by the Membership chairperson, Maria Picano. She introduced me around to people who shared my interests (primarily backpacking and canoeing at that time). I listened to all the presentations of activities, past, present and future, enjoyed the program. I was convinced that I should at least give this club a try. I wrote my membership dues for the year that night. I think it was $12 at the time. Just a few trips, classes and events later, I knew I had found a place for me. The next chance I had, I purchased a life membership.

Somewhere during that time, Laurie Love became editor of The Ray. It got to be a big job and Bob Westbrook (then President) asked me if I might like to help out. Well, I'd been getting a lot out of the club and decided to give a little back. Laurie and I were co-editors for a year or two. During that time I started up the clubs first presence on the internet. It wasn't much, but it was a start. After I'd been involved in the workings of the club for a while, even instructing a few classes, the steering committee asked me if I'd consider running for president. Why not? I'd have to look up the dates I served, but I remember that time fondly.

I've since moved with my wife, Marie (who I met while in the wilderness canoe class), to Washington State where we have a little place on Liberty Bay in Kitsap County. I commute across Puget Sound (via the state ferry, not the canoe ... yet!) to work at The Seattle Times (a big jump from The Ray!) as an electrician. I'm very happy here but think often of my time with SOLAR and the friends I made in the club. So, if any of you need a stop over on your way to the Olympic Penninsula (my personal favorite mountains), Cascades, Mt. Ranier, etc. etc., feel free to drop us a line. Meet me on the trails!

What drew me to SOLAR over the Sierra Club or American Youth Hostel is that SOLAR truly taught a person to be an independent member of a group. I needed someone to "teach me how to fish," not hand me one already filleted. That was 21 years ago. Within a year, I became deeply involved in most of the classes the club had to offer. I am a teacher, and was soon assisting as an instructor with the wind surfing, rock climbing, and backpacking classes. I served on the Steering Committee as President in 1987, followed by Public Relations, Equipment, and of course At Large.

SOLAR has made a profound impact on my life. To put it simply, SOLAR is my family. The friendships forged with fellow adventurers will be lifetime friendships. When I attend monthly meetings and new people are asked to stand and be recognized, the club applauds them. When that happened to me so many years ago, I knew then that I was finally home. As a woman in the mid eighties, it was difficult if not near impossible to find a group that would teach you without doing for you. SOLAR continues to provide that today. I smile when I see those new people. They have no idea of the adventure on which they are about to embark!

In 2001, I was involved in a very serious accident. It nearly cost me my leg, and could have cost me my life. The outreach of my friends from SOLAR during this terrible time in my life was unbelievable. Their concern and actions for me cemented my feelings about SOLAR for life. The song "We are Family" comes to mind...

My travels have been worldwide, and my companions have been phenomenal. I met my soulmate and husband, Dave, in SOLAR. Our biggest problem is fitting in all the places we want to visit in this very short span of time called life. We have climbed Devil's Tower in Wyoming. We have made our own bamboo raft to float back from tribal villages in Thailand. We have made it to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. We have been at the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan for sunrise. We have traded with natives along the Amazon River, and hiked the Going to the Sun Trail at Macchu Picchu in South America. Several years ago, a group of us completed the West Coast Trail in British Columbia and then flew over and hiked the Haute Route from Mont Blanc, France to Zermott, Switzerland. This summer a group of us intend on backpacking the 220 mile John Muir Trail in California. Life is good. In a few years, we hope to retire early, and either spend 3 months in Australia/New Zealand, or take a year to travel around the world. Either way, we will have fellow SOLAR adventurers meeting up with us.

SOLAR transcends both age and background. I have close friends in SOLAR that are 20 years my senior, and 20 years my junior. I have been on trips with people and known them for over a year before I ever found out what they did for a living. I did however, know which type of backpack they liked, and why. That is one of the reasons SOLAR has successfully been together for over 30 years. I look forward to meeting new friends, and together planning new adventures!