If your New Year’s resolution was to be healthier and exercise, chances are you’ve fallen off the wagon.

The Georgia Outdoor Recreation Program at Ramsey is worth checking out and will help you be healthy and more active while fulfilling other resolutions such as trying new things.

GORP is a program through the University of Georgia Department of Recreational Sports that offer trips every semester for everyone from beginners to experts.

The trips offered include scuba diving, white water kayaking, hiking, caving and rock climbing.

Some of the trips are popular and in high demand. According to Donna Waters, the assistant director for Outdoor Recreation, backpacking in Cumberland Island, snow skiing at Beech Mountain and the horseback riding trips fill quickly.

Others are hit and miss depending on the semester.

“Sometimes caving is popular, and sometimes we can’t beat people over the head to go,” she said.

All the trips are limited to a first-come, first-serve basis.

Some trips are limited for environmental reasons.

“We don’t want too many to impact an area. Ten is a good outdoorsy size group. The nature of these activities dictates it,” said Waters.

Trips are led by students for the most part, with hired staff and volunteers assisting.

Catie Beaulieu, a senior from Flowery Branch, is a trip leader. Among the trips she has lead are backpacking, paragliding and white water rafting.

“I have developed a tremendous amount of leadership skills not only valuable to the outdoors, but also to my life,” Beaulieu said.

The trips do not usually require the participants to have previous experience.

Some of the trips, such as kayaking and scuba diving, do require being able to swim and being comfortable in the water. Others involving longer hikes and inclines will require some endurance.

Some trips require minimal physical ability. For the paragliding trip, all you need to do is run a few feet to get off the ground. If the backpacking or uphill hiking trips seem too difficult, backpacking on Cumberland Island, where it’s flat is an option.

Each trip requires a pre-trip meeting at which everything is explained from the equipment needed to what clothes one should wear.

Kristen Heard, a senior from Alpharetta, went on the Cumberland Island trip a few years ago.

“The trip is really awesome,” she said. “You have to hike about three miles once you get off the ferry onto the island to get to your campsite. Mostly you see the horses and deer running up and down the beach. The sunsets there are like nothing else I have ever seen, and the stars at night are really amazing. I saw my first shooting star on Cumberland Island.”

Since there is limited availability for each trip, signing up early is recommended. The office is on the bottom floor of Ramsey at the Outdoor Recreation Center.

“It is a wonderful experience for students, in a safe and educational environment,” said Waters. “It is a good introduction, and they can go and do stuff themselves.”