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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

DOC offers summertime adventure

For some students lying out in the sun on the docks is just not enough.

For those who need a little bit more adventure in their lives, the Dartmouth Outing Club makes having fun in the sun infinitely easier.

The DOC's Ledyard Canoe Club offers students many opportunities to enjoy the vast resources of the Connecticut River.

Kathryn Scharbach, '97, a member of the club since the end of Spring term, said "yesterday was the first day I hadn't been out in the river" this term.

Mary Hollendoner '98, Ledyard's summer director, said the club is popular in the summer because "instead of just swimming or sunbathing which gets boring after a while, [students] want to take out boats to do something more fun."

Hollendoner said the "majority of our business is canoe rental." A student can rent a canoe or two kayaks for $5 per hour or $15 per day during the week and $25 per day during the weekend, she said. Members can use a canoe or two kayaks for up to 24 hours without charge. A student membership costs $30.

The club is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the weekends, Hollendoner said.

In addition to rentals, the club has a series of planned events each week.

"We have pancake paddles every Tuesday at 7 a.m.," she said, in which people can eat pancakes after taking an early excursion on the river.

"Every Thursday we have a [kayaking] trip to Hartland Rapids," Hollendoner said.

The club also hosts an all-you-can-eat for $3 feed every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. she said, and they also "have full moon paddles and bat paddles when there is no moon."

Hans Kierserman '97, who works at the canoe club where she is also a member, said "we just got back from 'Sophomores from the Source,' which is a four day trip from the source of the [Connecticut] river to Hanover."

Ann Melander '97, said the trip was "amazing."

"I met a lot of '97s" she said. "We had good karma the whole trip."

For those who prefer the woods to the water, Tom Russo '97 said the DOC's Cabin and Trail division provides many interesting activities.

Russo, who is the summer chair of Cabin and Trail, said "our big project is a shelter we're building out in Vermont on the Appalachian Trail."

"It's a log structure," he said. "We cut down the spruce on site. And now we need to build the thing."

Russo said the group is planning "a number of fun trips," including a trip to the College grant and a bushwack to Caragan Pond, "the most remote place in the White Mountains."

The Cabin and Trails division of the DOC has meetings every Monday at 10 p.m. at the Sherman House, he said. Located on the corner of North Main Street and Maynard Street, across from the old hospital, the building will serve as DOC's headquarters while Robinson Hall undergoes renovations this summer.

For those looking for even more adventure this term, the activities of the DOC's Dartmouth Mountaineering Club might provide an adequate alternative.

Claire Hibbs, '97, a member of the club said "people feel so accomplished after they go climbing."

The club "alternates between local climbing places," John Kaufmann '97 said. He said occasionally the group climbs Dartmouth buildings like Bartlett Hall and Gerry Hall and often goes off-campus.

"Last Saturday Peter [Guinn '97, the club's summer president] took a group of about 15 people to Winslow Cliffs," Hibbs said. "Some people had never climbed before."

The club is open to everyone, including less experienced and more experienced climbers alike, Kaufmann said.

Hibbs said "something that I found great is that there are a lot of women involved -- especially this summer."