This upcoming October, CU Active will be taking registered students on its annual Mid-Semester Basecamp trip to Mammoth Lakes. Located in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, the trip will occur from Oct. 10 to Oct. 13 and will feature plenty of nature-filled activities for the 20 students who are set to participate in this year’s basecamp. 

Kryssa Mattson, the new Associate Director of CU Active and Outdoor Recreation, began planning the trip to Mammoth when she was hired in July. Mattson chose Mammoth Lakes as an ideal location for the fall semester Basecamp due to her having plenty of familiarity with the small mountain town. 

“I grew up going to Mammoth my whole life, winters and summers camping up there; skiing, snowboarding… not many (students) have been there, so I want them to experience the beauty of Mammoth, explore the lakes in the fall time. I think it’s going to be beautiful with the trees,” Mattson said. 

Mattson said that the trip to Mammoth is “fully booked and has a waitlist,” and added that she goes to Mammoth every year due to her parents having a cabin there. 

She also added that students have “heard really great things about Mammoth” and that she thinks “a lot of students are just wanting to get out and experience the outdoors.” 

The bus taking the basecamp group to Mammoth Lakes will leave on Thur, Oct. 10 at 8 a.m. from Uppers Lawn located in between the Quads, Rho and Sigma. 

The basecamp group will be staying at the Old Shady Rest Campground, which is located right next to the Mammoth Lakes village. Mattson said that there were “a lot of limitations” on campgrounds that were available during October, but she thinks that Old Shady is a convenient choice because “it’s a good central location and it’s not located up in the mountains.” 

Daelynn Lopez senior and president of CU Nomads, will be going on the trip and will help lead some of the hikes that the basecamp group will do while in Mammoth. Lopez has been to Mammoth a couple of times before in her life and she has gone on every basecamp trip “since they started up my freshman year.” 

“It’s a bittersweet moment for me as I reflect on all the trips. I’ve seen how my love for the outdoors developed through these trips, which is why I wanted to become president of Nomads. I want others to experience the outdoors like I have and enjoy it with other like-minded people,” said Lopez. 

Lopez has seen wildlife on basecamp trips, such as squirrels and chipmunks, but her favorite wildlife encounter “was from one of the Hume Lake trips; we saw a bear and its cub on one of the hikes. They reminded me of Kenai and Koda from ‘Brother Bear.’” 

Relating to the weather, the Mammoth Lakes area could potentially have a chance to see some form of precipitation in the middle of October and Mattson said, “We’ll be watching the weather, seeing if there’s going to be any rain or snow, but I’ve been in October to Mammoth and it’s beautiful. Warm during the day, gets chillier at night, so we’ll make sure that students are prepared for the colder nights.” 

While the Mammoth trip is fully booked and set to leave in October, students are recommended to keep an eye out for the announcement of the spring semester Basecamp adventure. Sign up early, and contact Kryssa Mattson at kryssa.mattson@cui.edu for any questions you might have.

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