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Margie likes adventure, loves seeing new places, and enjoys meeting people of all ages.  She enjoys hiking, and cooking has been an interest of hers since childhood.  She says she's not a gourmet chef, but the cuisine in her OASC cooking classes has been delicious, and she enjoys trying new recipes & cooking styles.  Dancing is another one of Margie's passions, and she has found that Charlottesville to have some great dancing groups. 

First Aid:  Margie is a Registered Nurse and is certified in Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers (CPR & AED).

Other tidbits:  After raising a family and spending 29 years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Margie decided to fulfill her dream of exploring the Eastern U.S.  She moved to Charlottesville in November 2003 to start a new phase of her life, while continuing to be an avid Parrot Head.

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Ginger (whose real name is Virginia) grew up in Warrenton, Va. She has always loved being outdoors, unless it’s really cold. She used to play a lot of basketball, and was her high school badminton champion. Rock climbing is her favorite sport. During her travels she has climbed in Canada, Niagara Falls, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Cleveland OH, Richmond, and a few other places.  She has done a lot of hiking on the Skyline Drive trails, and in recent years has tackled Humpback Rocks and Old Rag. She also likes horseback riding and biking, and has lately taken up carriage driving. The four Belgian draft horses she works with are really big but they’re also very gentle, and a lot of fun to drive. Working with slightly smaller critters, she has helped to show Shetland and Welsh ponies at the Maryland State Fair. She studied fencing briefly when living in New Orleans and would love to take it up again. She rock climbs or works out at Rocky Top REC almost every day.

First Aid:  Ginger is certified in First Aid Basics and Adult CPR.

Other tidbits:  Ginger has chemistry degrees from Sweet Briar and Tulane, and a PhD in chemistry from UVa. She was a research chemist for the FBI Laboratory in DC for a good many years; she gave that up to marry UVa faculty member Art Greene in 1977, and subsequently worked here as an Intelligence Analyst with the National Ground Intelligence Center for quite a while before retiring. She now passes the time by doing Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and helping care for the Siamese cats at a rescue shelter in Madison County. Her two Siamese cats brighten up her life wonderfully.

     From July 2007 through September 2009, as a member of Peace Corps Ginger assisting South African village school primary-grade teachers in their classrooms.  We look forward to Ginger's return in October 2009.

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Eric enjoys all sorts of activities related to the outdoors, such as snow-boarding, canoeing, fishing, and camping, but especially bicycling.  He has been a professional biker (paid for it). Everything else he just has years of experience with.

First Aid:  Eric is certified in Adult First Aid with Environmental Emergencies and Adult and Child CPR & AED.

Other tidbits:  Having lived in quite a few places, Eric has come to the conclusion that if you are going to live east of the Mississippi then Charlottesville is the place to be!  Eric has been in Charlottesville since 2008, and is slowly but surely learning about the place! As well as outdoor activities while indoors he might just be brewing beer. With a B.A. in Archaeology from University of Iowa, and a M.B.A. from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah., he is using the excuse of education as one of the reasons for living in many places ... but with his favorite thing to do being long distance bicycle touring ... do you really buy that, he asks?

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Chance grew up on a dairy farm in Louisa County, VA. He played as many sports as possible throughout high school and even wrestled for a semester in college at Virginia Tech. A rabid VT fan, Chance never misses a football game or the opportunity to go mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking or any other outdoor activity.

First Aid:  Chance is an Emergency Medical Technician (Basic) and is certified in Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers (CPR & AED).

Other tidbits:  Chance has been a firefighter for many years, and has taken numerous technical rescue courses and thus is skilled in "getting people out of crazy situations."

Amy , Leader

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Amy grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta. In college, she worked at a camp as a Ropes Course Instructor living entire summers outside in a platform tent. She has fought to stay outside as much as possible ever since. To her, the Club has been an adult camp. It was her love of being active in the outdoors that led her to cycling and riding in several long distance bike tours. In addition to cycling, she hopes to continue hiking, backpacking, scuba diving, downhill skiing and exploring new areas for the rest of her life. She often is seen with her loyal dog, Ree.

First Aid:  Amy is certified in Standard First Aid and Adult CPR & AED.

Other tidbits:  Amy has a BA in Romances Languages from the University of Georgia and lived in Europe for two years studying languages. While she was a flight attendant for four years, she had the opportunity to explore much of Europe and North and South America.

Jon , Leader

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Jon’s worst fear is leading an ordinary life. He’s always looking for new adventures and to meet new people. He has traveled, backpacked, hiked and generally adventured his way across Sub-Sahara Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, Australia, New Zealand, Central America and most of Europe. Along the way he's done everything from tracking gorillas in Rwanda and ascending several of Africa's highest peaks to scuba diving in Thailand and skydiving in New Zealand. His love affair with the outdoors started when he was young and it keeps on growing. He’s a Virginia native, having grown up in “NOVA,” and has spent countless days camping, backpacking, white water canoeing, skiing, and hiking throughout the Virginias. In fact, he has more than 15 years of outdoor leadership experience leading hiking, camping and backpacking trips for diverse groups of people. Jon is also an avid runner and biker and competes in triathlons and road races in his spare time.

First Aid:  Jon is certified in Wilderness First Aid and Adult and Child CPR & AED.

Other tidbits:  Jon's passion is to help the rapidly developing parts of the world develop in an environmentally sustainable manner. As part of that goal, he is back in the US working on a PhD in Environmental Engineering at UVA focusing on the remediation of groundwater pollution using bacteria.  During his most recent period abroad he served for two years in the Peace Corps working as a water and sanitation engineer in a rural area of Uganda. Check out his website and travelogue, where he’s got thousands of photos and stories from his travels abroad and his work in the Peace Corps.

Katie , Leader

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Katie was born and raised in Northern Virginia. She developed a love of the outdoors as a child hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her dad and siblings. Katie has also lived in Pennsylvania and Texas and spent a large amount of time hiking in both those states. In 2005 Katie seized the opportunity to move back to Virginia and settled in Charlottesville close to the Blue Ridge Mountains that are so dear to her heart.

     Katie enjoys a variety of outdoor activities and is always up for trying something new. Some of her favorite activities are: hiking, white water rafting, playing in mountain streams, kickball, wallyball, disc golf, and sand volleyball. Katie also enjoys bowling, miniature golf, and playing Wii! She especially prides herself on her Wii Boxing abilities!

First Aid:  Katie is certified in Standard First Aid.

Other tidbits:  Katie spends her working hours sitting behind a desk analyzing data and crunching numbers. In order to balance that she spends as much time as she can outside of work being active and having fun. Katie loves to travel. Some of her favorite destinations so far have been Colorado, Yellowstone, Sienna Italy, and Dominica. Katie is an amateur photographer and would love to show you some of her photos. Katie also enjoys spending time volunteering and is a supporter of environmental conservation. She is always seeking out opportunities to carpool to club and non-club events.

Michelle , Leader

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Michelle hails from North Carolina. She is a science and nature geek who enjoys hiking, backpacking, running, snowshoeing, and travel. Before moving to Virginia in 2005, she spent a number of years working at an environmental education center inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As the Citizen Science director, she led youth and adults in activities ranging from snorkeling in search of giant hellbender salamanders to hiking to remote areas of the park to find slime molds. She loves urban trails and gets out at least once a year to day-hike the whole 20-mile Rivanna Trail. She's a doting dog owner and enjoys leading some dog-friendly hikes.

First Aid:  Michelle is a Wilderness First Responder and certified in CPR and AED for the Professional Rescuer and the Healthcare Provider.

Other tidbits:  Michelle is a faculty member in the Virginia Tech Department of Forestry and is the state coordinator for the Virginia Master Naturalist program, a program that trains and involves volunteers in natural resource conservation and management. She's learning to play the fiddle, and she is a fan of old-time Appalachian music.

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Wandering the woods of Albemarle and Greene county since a child, Jim has a special love for the Piedmont and mountain terrain of Virginia. Always fascinated with the idea of complete self dependence in nature, Jim started a long quest for survival and native skills in 1982, mainly under the tutelage of Tom Brown, Jr and the Tracker School. Jim views nature as the ultimate sanctuary and feels that true knowledge of nature includes not only survival skills, knowledge of animals and plants, but also about the great depths of perception and awareness that are possible when away from modern civilization, which is often more a matter of mental distance from modern culture than of physical distance from the nearest road. He feels that native skills are not just about physical facts and techniques, but also about mental, emotional and, for some people, spiritual principles. Jim has given various short lectures on native skills over the years, but most of his experience teaching was from giving a course at LSU while living in Baton Rouge. After chasing a career around the county for 15 years, homesick the entire time, he returned to his old stomping ground of Earlysville in 2002.

First Aid:  Jim is certified in Wilderness First Aid and Adult and Child CPR & AED.

Other tidbits:  Jim has degrees in Sociology and Scientific Glass Technology, and good but unaccredited knowledge of real world physics, mechanics and chemistry. He has 3 years experience as a blacksmith and welder, as well as 15 years as a scientific glassblower. He currently owns DFIRM, LLC , a small contractor and handyman business. Some of his many interests include cooking, pool and billiards, playing harmonica, guitar and drums, and listening to blues, progressive rock, fusion, funk and jazz.

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Jan grew up in Northern New Jersey but has made her home in Virginia since 1967. New adventures and travel inspire her. Being immersed in different cultures provides continual learning experiences which she relishes. Jan's favorite exotic place is Africa where she went on a photographic safari throughout the bush in Kenya. Originally, she went for her love of wildlife but wound up enjoying the different tribal cultures even more. This past summer she traced her roots by taking a Mediterranean cruise and visiting Rome, Sicily, and the birthplaces of her grandparents in Florence and Naples. She also spent time in France, Spain, and returned to Africa. On her last birthday, Jan treated herself to a week in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert where daypacking took her and other adventurous women to the Huachuca, Chiricahua, Santa Rita, and Santa Catalina Mountains.

Jan loves to hike, bike, swim, ride, run, and play tennis. However, the mountains reach out to her, so Jan and her husband moved to a community owned farm on Parker Mt. just outside Shenandoah National Park the summer of 2005. Her favorite job is volunteering for the National Park Service where she assists visitors at the Byrd Visitor Center and on the trails at SNP. Favorite mountains to hike are the Chiricahuas, Tetons, Rockies, and, of course, Shenandoah.

First Aid:  Jan is certified in Standard First Aid and Adult CPR.

Other tidbits:  Jan is married to Mike and has three grown children. She has been an English educator all her life. After many years in the secondary classroom, Jan took early retirement and soon succumbed to boredom. She now calls herself a “retread” and continues her teaching by sometimes working as an adjunct instructor for different universities, an endorsed consultant for the Southern Region of the College Board, and assisting various school systems with training, test development, and special projects.

Jan has an undergraduate BS degree from Bowling Green State University, an MA from Virginia Tech and a CAGS. Having worked most of her life, Jan now wants to do everything and go everywhere. Her motto is: “I’ll try anything once, within reason.”

Dr. Jay , Medical Advisor

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Jay strives to take a weeklong trip out West to snowboard once a year, and hopes to visit more national parks he has yet to explore. Between injuries, he enjoys hiking, mountain biking, climbing, running, backpacking, sea kayaking and taking photographs of the scenery.

First Aid:  Jay is a Board-certified Family Physician; and he's certified in Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers (CPR & AED).

Other tidbits:  Jay grew up in flat suburban Michigan, where it was grey skies from October to April. He came to truly appreciate the outdoors in college when he worked for a summer camp and traveled to wild areas in Michigan and Northern Ontario. From there, Jay went with friends to the Mid-east before taking campers out West and to Alaska, camping and hiking throughout those phenomenal areas. he collected great memories, photographs and of course, outdoor gear!

When it was time to move on, Jay looked for another great small city like Ann Arbor, but he wanted someplace a little sunnier and maybe warmer in the winter, and it had to be green with mountains. Despite his travels out West, C-ville was his first choice. It will definitely take a lot to separate Jay from a town where he can play soccer, hike in the mountains with his dog Bristol, drink sweet tea and hear “y’all”. “What more could I ask for?” says he!