As winter transitions into spring and the weather grows warmer and clearer, the desire to spend more time in the great outdoors may blossom alongside the almond orchards. However, not everyone has the resources needed for an outdoor trip, and camping equipment can be not only costly, but hard to store as well.

For CSU Stanislaus students looking to schedule an outdoor trip, a hike, or climbing excursion, Campus Recreation’s Wilderness Adventure Rental services is available at no cost for full-time students.

To utilize this service, students must email Campus Recreation ([email protected]) five business days in advance and reserve the equipment on a first-come, first-serve basis, then present a Stan State I.D. or a valid picture I.D upon pick-up. 

As for the length of time that equipment can be rented out for, David Garcia Fuentes (Senior, Exercise Science), a student assistant and intramural referee at Stan State, noted that there is no standard rental period.

“The gear could be rented out for a couple days or more,” Fuentes said. “It just depends, like, in the email, they would have to describe how long it would be rented out for […] I’m pretty sure they can rent it out for maybe a day or a week, they would just have to notify the supervisors and to see if that will work out because depending if the time period is very popular for that equipment, maybe they might have to be like, ‘Ay, you can only rent that for three days because this item is already being looked at.’”

If rented-out equipment is not returned by 4:00 p.m. the date it is due, the rentee will incur a rental fee daily until it is returned. Additionally, if equipment is returned damaged or dirty, a $10 service fee will be implemented. For stolen or lost equipment, remuneration will be determined by the retail price at the time of the rental period, including shipping and taxes.

Even if equipment is returned in clean condition, Fuentes says, “We make sure when the equipment is returned back to us, we as the student assistants as well as other of my cohorts, we really make sure we clean it properly. We don’t just get it back and just put it back into the room and make sure to put Lysol disinfectant.”

The equipment available for rental encompasses nine main categories: Resource Items—such as maps, Camp Lighting, Camp Kitchen, Tents, Sleeping Bags/Pads, Backpacking Gear, Climbing Gear, Sandboarding, and Picnic Fun. The last category, Picnic Fun, has a variety of entertaining sports equipment such as volleyball, football, and cornhole.

Springtime is the busiest time of year for the rental service, according to Fuentes. In fact, he personally utilized the service last spring.

“I went camping—well, I didn’t even go camping. It was more of a day trip with my girlfriend,” Fuentes said. “And I happened to use the backpack and some of the games that we have here in the office. I just took them out for the day trip and it was pretty good.”

On this day trip, Fuentes and his girlfriend visited San Jose and used an app called All Trails to find local hiking trails.

“And the cool thing is, if you’re going on a day trip, you might as well go all out,” he said, “Not just bring, like, a little backpack, because I brought the hiking backpack […] I put, like, snacks, drinks, first aid kit—I put a lot of stuff. With the normal backpack you could probably only fit a few things in there.”

Personal camping trips aren’t the only way to utilize the rental service. The gear is also perfect for outdoor festivals.

“One girl—she’s not here anymore, she graduated—she used some of the camping equipment to go to Coachella, and it really helped her out, like, a lot,” said Facility Operations worker Lizet Tovar (Senior, Liberal Studies). “She saved so much money, ‘cause we have pretty much everything you need. We have a tent, we have a stove, we have cups, utensils, all that good stuff.”

Not everyone is familiar with camping equipment, but Campus Recreation has a solution for that as well. Fuentes and fellow intramural referee David Jimenez (Junior, Business) host Outdoor Adventure Workshops to teach students how to use the gear, as well as learn skills such as fishing and campfire cooking.

“With more participation, it kind of allows us to see what ways we can improve our equipment or improve the experience for students. Because the whole goal is to make sure that students are being able to utilize our equipment and just learn from workshops, that way more students can learn about it,” Fuentes said.

The next upcoming workshop is Archery Tag 101 on April 18th at 4 p.m. A raffle will be held during the workshop with the chance to win a bow and arrow set.

For those interested in river activities, Sara Cisneros (Junior, Liberal Studies), a Facility Operations worker for Campus Recreation, noted that the Aquatics Center on campus offers kayaking lessons in the center’s heated pool.

“I think it’s really worth it,” said Fuentes, referring to both the rental service and the workshops, “because sometimes you don’t have the equipment that you need. And if the school’s already offering it for free, might as well just take advantage of it.”

To rent out camping and hiking equipment from Stan State, visit the Wilderness Adventure Rental Equipment to view an inventory list and email Campus Recreation at [email protected] to make your reservation, or call (209)-667-3705 to learn more. For more information on the Outdoor Adventure Workshops, visit Outdoor Adventure or check out the Campus Recreation booth at the quad on Warrior Wednesdays. You can also follow Campus Recreation on Instagram at @campus_recreation.