Summer groups flock to MOERA
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Courtney Martin and Sam Frueh jump together from a tower on the Odyssey III high ropes course to get back to the ground. The two took part in an Area 1 FFA trip to the Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area earlier this week.
Building teamwork skills, staying in shape and developing outdoor abilities all come just a little easier for groups willing to take a trip to MOERA on the shores of Mozingo Lake east of Maryville.
Thanks to the Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area, any group can work on those attributes with the help of MOERA Director Jon Gustafson and his crew of Northwest undergraduate and graduate students.
“It’s been around a while,” Gustafson said. “It’s one of the best kept secrets, which is sad to say. But it also makes it a special place to come. We have all kinds of different things to offer.”
MOERA is situated near Mozingo Lake and run by the Department of Health and Human Services at Northwest Missouri State University.
The 320-acre compound features a challenge course, a shooting range for shotguns and archery, canoeing, an observatory and other outdoor activities.
The Carolina Climbing Wall, Alpine Tower and Odyssey III high ropes course are popular — if challenging — attractions.
“The main restriction is the mind,” Gustafson said. “If they’re not into heights it’s a challenge. It is a challenge course, as far as (the climbing walls and towers.)”
Participants range from age 10 to well over 70.
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, members of the Missouri Area 1 FFA took up the MOERA challenge.
“Come on, you can do it,” was an often-heard phrase, followed a couple times by, “Don’t be a chicken.”
Gustafson relies on Northwest students and graduate students to work with the groups that visit the compound, which makes for a bit of a challenge during the summer.
“I try to oversee the groups going on (the course) and have enough people working so I can be safety monitor and have them work with the groups,” Gustafson said. “It usually works out pretty good. We do pay our workers, but any time you’re working on volunteer labor and things like that — they have to make special arrangements to get out here — one of the challenges is always finding enough workers.”
Although most Northwest students are gone for the summer, MOERA thrives during vacation season.
Gustafson serves four or five groups a week in June and July, which are usually the busiest months of the year. The beginning and end of the academic year are also peak times.
“Weather is a big predictor with the northwest region,” Gustafson said. “Our season is pretty small, which is kind of a downer.”
This October, MOERA and the Maryville Hy-Vee supermarket are teaming up for a seven-mile trail run over a lake course still under development.
“It’s a neat offering that the city has going with Mozingo Lake Recreation Park,” Gustafson said. “We’re still trying to add to it — the trail would be a neat addition. Eventually we want to get a trail all the way around this lake. We’re just trying to grow the program.”
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
During the Area 1 FFA trip to the Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area this week, Sydney Oberdiek challenged the Odyssey III high ropes course, but had to grip tight to a couple of teammates.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Lacy Carlson, an Area 1 FFA member, climbs the ropes on the Alpine Tower Tuesday morning at the Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
The Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area hosted the Area 1 FFA members this week. One member of the FFA crew was Ben Jermain, who made his way to the top of the Carolina Climbing Wall.
