Kalina Duncheva

The Dartmouth Bucket List, DOC Edition

You know these online articles that go like, "100 Incredible Things to Do Before You Die" or "The Best Things to Do Before You Die"? Well, I haven't lived long enough to tell you what to do before you die, but I can tell you what to do before you graduate from Dartmouth.

I asked several of my older friends at Dartmouth what THEY have on their Dartmouth Bucket Lists, so today I'll be sharing the results of my little inquiry. While looking at my new Dartmouth Bucket List, though, I realized that the friends I had asked were mainly DOC friends (DOC = Dartmouth Outing Club). Other themes will follow, don't worry! I promise, I'll befriend people who don't live solely for "the seas and the mountains," to quote another DOC friend. I'll come up with a better Bucket List, but until then…

THE DARTMOUTH BUCKET LIST, DOC EDITION

1. Go on a Break Trip

Completely subsidized by the DOC, break trips are several-day trips that happen during the breaks (hence break trips) and can take you to cool places like Maine, Utah, the Rio Grande in Texas, and even Ecuador (these are all locations for this winter break's break trips).

2. Lead a Break Trip

Or just become a DOC trip leader. To become a trip leader, you need to attend some seminars, get a WFA (wilderness first aid certification), show them you can build a fire… and some other things that I don't remember right now.

3. Go on a DOC Formal

What's a DOC formal? It's basically like a DOC party. I think. I still haven't been to one. 

4. Go to the Dartmouth Skiway

Dartmouth has its own ski way? Uh-huh.

5. Visit the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge

The Lodge is very close to Mount Moosilauke. Every fall, it welcomes Dartmouth undergrads, grads and alums for delicious meals and starry nights spent in the cabins that are part of the complex.

6. (Sunrike) Mount Moosilauke

According to Dartmouth Outdoors, Mount Moosilauke "has been the spiritual home of Dartmouth's out-of-doors for over one hundred years." And what does a sunrike mean? A sunrise hike.

7. Visit Gile Mountain during the peak-foliage time

Come October and New Hampshire is just gorgeous. This People Places Pines post sums it up really well. (It's another sunrike!)

8. Hike the Fifty

The Fifty is a ~50-mile-hike, from the Lodge (see #5) to Robinson Hall (the DOC's home) in Hanover. And you do it all in one go. Check out Luke Grayson's blog post about the Fifty. You'll get goosebumps. 

9. Hike the Terrifying 25

I first heard about the Terrifying 25 during a Cabin and Trail meeting (CnT is a sub-club of the DOC). The Terrifying 25 are 25 challenging hikes in New Hampshire. I still haven't met anyone who's done them all. (I haven't been looking hard enough, that's it.)

10. Do an Overnight Trip

Spend a night in a cabin in the woods (Dartmouth's got plenty of cabins, free to rent for current Dartmouth students) or in a tent. Or just under the stars. You'll have plenty of options for overnight trips with the DOC.