Emily Hemelt

Little Cabin in the Woods!

Last week, if someone made me choose between visiting a beach house or cabin in the woods, I would have said "beach house!" without a second thought. But there's one problem: I had never been to a cabin in the woods before…

If you haven't either, or if you really like cabins in the woods, do we have a treat for you! With the Cabin and Trail sub-club of the Dartmouth Outing Club (called DOC for short), student leaders can take fellow students on these wonderful sleep-away adventures, which are a great way to enjoy the scenery of New Hampshire off campus!

For our trip, we went to Nunnemacher Cabin. After leaving campus at 8pm, we drove to the trail around 30 minutes from campus and ventured into the forest. Picking our way through the mountain, we hiked alongside the beautiful streams trickling down remaining ice patches. After arriving at the top, we spotted it—our cabin!

We filed in, and first thing was first: we broke out the snacks. After our bellies were full with granola bars and cookies, we started a fire, broke out the tarot cards, and told ghost stories, reminding me of orientation week, when we were on first-year trips (tradition where freshmen go on trips outdoors to bond with classmates before their first term!), and every day felt like summer camp! I'm not going to lie, there was a brief moment where readings for class might have emerged from closed folders. But the wonderful thing was that we could do both: we didn't have to sacrifice our schoolwork for an unforgettable Wednesday night experience, and vice versa!

Tarot cards!

With the birds chirping overhead, getting ready to start the day, we followed suit and began making our way down the mountain. And we began another lovely springtime day!