Archery in Pasadena

The Pasadena Roving Archers operate a range in Lower Arroyo Seco Park in Pasadena, with public classes on Saturday mornings from 09:00 - 11:00. I go most every Saturday, but usually leave at around 10:30 for an ultimate frisbee game.

The range is outdoors in a lightly wooded area, and consists of a variety of targets (in the form of haybales, often with a paper target attached) spread out along a couple of trails. It's not paved or anything, so depending on the weather, it tends to be either muddy or dusty, and it's a good idea to wear shoes and clothes that you don't mind getting a little dirty. I generally wear my Tevas (since I can wash them afterwards), and shorts or jeans as temperature permits.

There are three main kinds of activities during the Saturday morning classes:

• The main group (lots of people, in two groups, usually around ten to thirty people in each group) shoots at a set of targets right at the entrance to the range area, from ten or twenty yards away (thus the two groups), while two to five instructors wander around giving people tips. This is generally where I shoot.
• Beginners groups, in which one instructor takes a batch of newcomers who have only shot 0 - N times before off to one of the targets down the range to learn the basics. (I think you can keep going to the beginner lessons after your first time, but I'm not sure if there's a cutoff.) They usually join the main group after an hour or so.
• More advanced groups. One that I know of is led by PRA ace instructor Mike Burnham, which my friend Kacie sometimes attends; they tend to focus on competition and the science of archery, which I find interesting, but I don't plan to shoot competitively, and felt a little out of place the one time I went with them. There are other formal classes and informal groups for folks who want to work on specific things, I gather, but I don't know much about them. My impression is that you get more personal attention, more theory/discussion, and somewhat less practice shooting, at the formal class type groups. I've also seen informal groups wander off down the range together; some of the folks who use more traditional equipment sometimes go off together, for example.

So, you should probably go to the beginners group your first time there, and you can figure out at that point (a) is this in fact something you ever want to do again :^) and (b) if so, should you do the beginners thing a couple of times, or is it really just for your very first time, or what.

It nominally runs from 09:00 - 11:00, but they only have a limited number of bows to loan out, so it's wise to get there earlier than that if you don't have your own equipment; around 08:30, they recommend. If you end up liking it and going regularly, you'll probably want to get your own equipment, which will likely cost $200 or so for a good, new, low-end bow, a dozen arrows, and other accessories like a quiver and protective gear for your hand and arm; less if you buy used gear.

I usually try to arrive at around 09:00, and I generally leave early to play ultimate frisbee over at Caltech afterwards, but I'll gladly show up early to help newcomers find their way around. The PRA site has a map and directions; I'm also happy to carpool and/or convoy over.

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Last updated on 2005-07-29 (Fri) at 16:02 PDT