(The Oakland Press/JOSE JUAREZ) Aaron Whatley, who is a parks and recreation employee, kayaks on Crooked Lake in Independence Township. Whatley will be guiding the first outing of the TOGA (Teens Outside Great Adventure).

A new, countywide club is trying to get teens away from submersion in their computers, iPods, video games and cell phones, and show them how to enjoy the great outdoors in all seasons.

“We’ve seen a (national) dropoff of kids participating in outdoor recreation and it’s been a pretty drastic decline,” said Kelly Hyer, recreation supervisor for Independence Township.

Oakland County’s Parks and Recreation Department secured a grant from the National Recreation and Parks Association and the Outdoor Industry Foundation to get the TOGA club — for Teens Outside Great Adventure — started. The grant money allows them to offer eight-day trips throughout the year for reasonably affordable prices.

Joining the club requires an annual membership fee of $15 and each one of the trips costs only $20.

The county partnered with the parks and recreation departments of Independence Township, Wixom, Huntington Woods and Novi to get the program started, but teens from any community in the county can join.

A handful of teens have already registered for the club’s first event, a water colors paddling trip that will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday on Crooked Lake in Independence Oaks County Park.

“We’ll start off just giving the participants a brief description of the equipment, how to use it, proper paddling techniques and safety procedures,” said Aaron Whatley, a program assistant with Independence Township’s parks and recreation department.

There will be opportunities for teens to both paddle a kayak and a canoe.

“It’s a gorgeous lake out there, and it should be an excellent outing,” said Whatley.

An outdoor enthusiast who enjoys fishing, kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking and just being outside, Whatley hopes he can get the teens interested in outdoor activities.

“It’s hard to promote recreation to teens nowadays with all the video gaming and everything, but if we have people who come out and are passionate about it, I think it will wear off and hopefully create new patrons of the outdoors,” Whatley said.

The club’s second day trip will will be a Geocaching Turkey Run on Nov. 8, also at Independence Oaks.

Teens will use GPS devices to track down hidden containers, and prizes are awarded to the top three winners.

“It’s like a scavenger hunt,” Whatley said. “Oakland County has really nice GPS devices, and they’re great for beginners.”

In January and March, two winter events will be held at Addison Oaks County Park in Addison Township. The activities will depend on the weather, but may include snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing, snow hut building, winter dodgeball and more.

A Frisbee Fest, is scheduled for April 11 at Addison Oaks, which will have teens disc golfing, playing Ultimate Frisbee and other disc-related sports.

“Those are the five scheduled day-trips, and after that we have three special events in the summer,” Whatley said.

Two of the events will be at waterparks in Madison Heights and Waterford, and the other is a 24-hour-long event.

“The 24-hour experience is from 10 a.m. to 10 a.m. (the next day) with three hours of time when teens can sleep, if they choose to. It’s fun-filled and jam-packed full of outdoor activities,” Whatley said.

Teens interested in attending Saturday’s event can register through Friday.

“We just feel it’s really important to educate the teens and promote outdoor activities, and share the joy of the outdoors, too,” Whatley said.



Contact staff writer Karen Workman at (248) 745-4643 or karen@oakpress.com.