Academic Catalog

PHED 23A: TRAIL HIKING

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2023
Units: 1
Hours: 3 laboratory per week (36 total per quarter)
Advisory: This course is included in the Cardio Fitness family of activity courses.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Area VII: Lifelong Learning
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Identify the components of fitness and create a hiking program to meet personal fitness goals.
  • Demonstrate efficient hiking technique, use of 10 essentials (gear) and leave no trace principles.

Description

The opportunity to exercise in the great outdoors to gain and improve cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, and endurance through hiking at a fitness pace on the trail.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Understand and explain the principles of exercise which increase cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, and endurance
  2. Demonstrate and practice outdoor ethics called "leave no trace"
  3. List a minimum three benefits of regular cardiovascular exercise
  4. Identify the different types of park systems in the San Francisco Bay Area
  5. Analyze and make decisions regarding weather and trail conditions
  6. Develop basic navigation skills on marked trails
  7. Recognize and site examples of potential safety/health hazards when exercising in the outdoors
  8. Learn leadership skills and increase social skills through hiking as a group
  9. Explain the basic gear for fitness hiking, including the "10 essentials"

Course Content

  1. Principles of exercise
    1. Intensity
    2. Duration
    3. Frequency
  2. Leave no trace
    1. Techniques to preserve environment: minimum impact
    2. "Pack it in, pack it out"
    3. Waste disposal in the outdoors
  3. Benefits of cardio fitness (including, but not limited to, examples below)
    1. Maintain or lose weight
    2. Improve blood pressure, sleep, and ability to relax
    3. Improved body mass (fat to muscle ratio)
    4. Improve energy level
    5. Feel better, look better
  4. Park systems
    1. County
    2. City
    3. Private
    4. Reserve vs. preserve
    5. State
  5. Trail and health hazards
    1. Trailhead safety
    2. Animal and plant hazards
    3. Trail conditions—hiking as a group with appointed daily leaders, scouts, and sweeps to maintain group safety and other user safety
    4. Heat and cold emergencies
    5. Physical injuries on the trail—basic first aid skills
  6. Gear and 10 essentials
    1. Proper trail shoes and socks
    2. Layered clothing appropriate for the season
    3. Explain when cotton is recommended and when it is strongly discouraged
    4. Small pack or backpack with 10 essentials: extra food, water, clothing, map of location, emergency contact information, personal first aid kit, duct tape, sunscreen, hat, whistle

Lab Content

Lab content may include but is not limited to:

  1. Intensity
  2. Duration
  3. Frequency
  4. Trailhead safety
  5. Animal and plant hazards
  6. Trail conditions

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

1. Local foothills, from the North Bay to the South Bay to Santa Cruz.
2. When taught as an online distance learning or hybrid section, students and faculty need ongoing and continuous internet and email access.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Pre-test: Initial time to get to quarter-mark, halfway-mark, three-quarter mark, and top of mountain to be recorded
Post-test: Improvement of time to get to quarter-mark, halfway-mark, three-quarter mark, and top of mountain when compared to initial time
Hiking/exercise preparation, navigation skills, leadership skills, and minimum impact skills will be assessed by direct instructor observation

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Pre- and post-testing to see improvement of hiking skills
Lecture discussing proper hiking skills

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Brown, Marie Ann. 101 Great Hikes of the Bay Area, 3rd ed.. 2009.

Anderson, Bob, Bill Pearl, Ed Burke, and Jeff Galloway. Getting Back in Shape, 3rd ed.. 2007.

Kavanagh, James, and Raymond Leung. Nature of San Francisco and the Bay Area: A Pocket Naturalist Guide. 2006.

Rusmore, Jean, Betsy Crowder, and Frances Spangle. South Bay Trails. 2007.

Although these texts are older than the "5 years or newer" standard, they remain seminal texts in this area of study.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Take-home worksheets and tests

Discipline(s)

Physical Education