Students did not let cold temperatures stop them from canoeing and kayaking on the Trinity River Tuesday night. 

Five students and three leaders from the University Recreation Center went on the Full Moon Paddle and traveled four and a half miles on the Trinity River as part of the Adventure Trip Program. 

“I had never been canoeing before, so I was a little nervous,” Alyssa Waller, a first-year movement science major, said. “But it turned out to be so much fun that I will be coming back in April.”

Nicole Pilgrim, a first year nursing major, said she signed up because she wanted an adventure on a Tuesday.

This trip was designed to be beginner-friendly so that no one was excluded,and the stretch of the Trinity the group traveled had almost no current or limited obstructions, Steve Campbell, assistant director of outdoor programs, said.

“The biggest risk was sore and tired arms,” he said. 

Students and leaders strapped on their life jackets, grabbed paddles and stepped into canoes or kayaks. With the sunset as a backdrop, the group traveled down the west fork of the Trinity. 

“It’s a really different experience taking this trip in the daylight rather than in the moonlight,” Abby Smalligan, trip leader and first-year speech pathology major, said. “The moonlight adds certain dimensions.”

Each of the leaders have been on the paddle trip more than once, and it is a different experience almost every time because the people on the trip are diverse, Sam Weitman, trip leader and sophomore nutrition major, said. 

“It’s fun to take people out when they have been closed in their dorms or at TCU,” Mackenzie Wilson, a senior anthropology major, said. 

After paddling for two hours, the group was rewarded with a view of the full moon peeking up over the Fort Worth skyline.

The ATP does a Full Moon Paddle trip every month except for December and January. The next trips will be March 27 and April 25 from 6 to 10 p.m. The cost is $15 for students and $20 for visitors. 

Campbell said the first Full Moon Paddle trip took place in the spring of 2011, and since then it has become one of the recreation center’s most popular trips. 

“We are looking at ways to get people involved in outdoor recreation here in Fort Worth,” he said. 

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