"Does anyone know how we're gonna cut the drywall?" asks Jason Peterson, a maintenance man from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Behind him, six women in safety goggles falter only momentarily before one says, "I'll do it," and steps forward to take the Exacto knife while the others observe and take pictures. After drywall comes installing an electrical plate and, if there is enough time left in the class, how to put in a window.
The DNR-sponsored "Hand and Power Tools – Oh Yeah!" class serves as an introduction to basic household repair for women and is just one of the 16 classes offered at the
Becoming an Outdoors Woman winter workshop held Feb. 25-27 at Bay Cliff Health Camp. The purpose of the weekend is for women to get out of their comfort zone, says Sharon Pitz, BOW coordinator.
"These classes give them three hours to try things; then if they like it, they can continue to do it at home," she says. "The smiles, giggles and making new friends are definitely worth it."
Other winter BOW classes include cross country skiing, dog sledding, wilderness first aid, wood burning, ice fishing, walking stick design, winter shelters and camping, fish identification, outdoor cooking, introduction to GPS, basic snowshoeing, self-confidence, archery, perennial gardening and fly tying.
In the winter shelters and camping class, the participants are relaxing indoors after a morning of shoveling and constructing a shelter out of snow. Among them sits Rebekah Okins, who traveled to the U.P. from Alabama for the workshop.
"I do BOW in Alabama and besides the obvious fact that there are no winter activities there, the one up here is the same--everyone gets along nice and the type of women are the same," she says. "I'm from Michigan originally and my friend in Brighton wanted to come up and do this, so I wanted to do it with her."
Pitz says there are also "BOW junkies"--women who come to the workshops every year. Catherine Sanborn from Bruce Crossing is one such woman. Standing on the outside of her fly tying class, she explains that her favorite BOW experience so far was last summer when she went fly fishing on a "float-type boat."
"There isn't anything I've done here where I don't feel accomplished," she says. "I can even walk on snowshoes."
Sanborn says she travels from Ontonagon County with nine other women and their local sportsman's club sponsors their registration.
"Our husbands think we're roughing it--haha! Bay Cliff is awesome!" she laughs. "They also don't let us use power tools, but we're all going home now with the skills we've learned and we're going to use them."
She adds that of all the new things learned at BOW, self-consciousness is never an issue.
"No one's going to make fun of you; you're not afraid to fail," she says.
BOW was first offered through the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1991 and was filled to capacity with over 100 participants, according to the UWSP website. Since then it has spread to more than 40 states, some Canadian provinces and New Zealand.
The U.P. edition began in Fortune Lake in 1998, says Pitz. "We quickly outgrew the location and have been here at Bay Cliff ever since," she says.
In the perennial gardening class, elderly participant Lorraine Dickman from Pence, Wis., keeps up with her younger classmates without missing a beat. Another BOW junkie, Dickman has been to every workshop since 1998.
"It's hard to believe all of these wonderful people like to do the same things I like to do," she says.
In addition to the classes, BOW participants also come together as a group for bonfires, saunas and music performances. This year marks the highest attendance with 79 women, says Pitz. The winter classes usually average 60 or more.
Pitz says the summer workshop in June will involve firearms and more class diversity including a pheasant hunt and salmon fishing. Registration for the popular summer workshops is best done
online, and best done early.
Pitz adds that responses from BOW workshops are largely positive. "You can't please everyone but 99.9 percent of the time these ladies have an awesome experience," she says.
Being a hunter, fisher and snowshoer herself, Pitz says she is happy to share these outdoor activities with those who are nervous to try them.
"The youngest participant is 18 years old and the oldest is 91," she says. "We have mothers and daughters, sisters and cousins here. Watching them go out and do these things brings me the most fulfillment."
Becky Korpi is an Ishpeming-born Yooper and freelance journalist. She is also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. She can be contacted via email.