Kalina Duncheva

Overnight Trips & The Grant

Imagine a college that owns a thirty-thousand-acre piece of the New Hampshire woods where you could go canoeing, birdwatching, biking, cross country skiing… or where you could simply rent a cabin and spend a quiet weekend away from campus. Enough imagining. You've got this college – that's Dartmouth. And the piece of New Hampshire woods? That's the Second College Grant, or simply: the Grant.

The (very gloomy) Dead Diamond River

I visited the Grant with the Flora and Fauna club a few weeks ago. We stayed at Peaks Cabin–a cute-looking red-painted house lit only by gas lamps by the Dead Diamond River. The plan was to hike around and look for some moose. The Grant and Northern New Hampshire, as a whole, are known to be spectacular locations for moose sightings, but, as I was told, the moose get more active during the spring, not the fall. In other words, we saw no moose. But we did see some cool birds–possibly an osprey–and some breathtaking views.

James, Ian, and Ada marveling at the river

For those of you interested in the DOC (Dartmouth Outing Club) cuisine: on trips you might usually have hummus, tortillas, apples, carrots and bell peppers, some cheese…. Overnight trips, however, get way more special food-wise. For one, we've got pancakes for breakfast! It was on a DOC overnight trip where I learned how to make American pancakes, in fact (before I could only make the French crêpes). At the Grant, I was actually the Pancake Chef (a title I'm very humbly giving myself now.) And instead of tortilla with hummus and bell peppers for dinner, we had delicious Indian curry! (Jack Roney was the Curry Chef.)

Scarlet and I, Breakfast Chefs

Jack the Curry Chef (even though that's not the curry he's working on right now)

This three-day trip to the Grant with the Flora and Fauna now holds a special place in my heart because I also got to know better some amazing upperclassmen. After all, how often are you going to have five seniors and one junior stuck with you in a cabin in the woods, available for you to bombard them with questions about school and life? Not that often.

Exploring the Grant (notice James on the tree)

But it wasn't just just a mentoring experience–my amazing Flora and Fauna mentors are also fabulous friends. One moment, I'm silently standing beside them, amazed by their knowledge and passion for every living thing (looking at you, Wyatt, Tristan, and Ian), and the next, we'll be sharing a quiet moment in the cabin over some French cheese (with Ada and Scarlet). Or even better, we'll be playing Bag (don't ask if you don't know) and we'll be rolling with laughter as Ada and Jack pistol squat over a paper bag (as I said, don't ask).

P.S. The FnF Grant Soundtrack = Levitating

(Join the Flora and Fauna once you become a Dartmouth student and you'll know what I'm talking about. I promise, I'll personally let you in on that secret.)