"There's more to Cabin and Trail than cabins and trails," member Krystyna Oszkinis '14 said at the group's meeting on Monday night.
Aside from hiking and camping trips, Cabin and Trail offers its members a variety of outlets through which to engage with the outdoors, including "hiking trips, eating trips, basically any sort of trip," co-leader Billy Zou '12 said.
At their most recent weekly meeting, members presented various events that they would be leading throughout the week. Among those presenting was Athena Aicher '11, who returned to the College to host an upcoming trip to the Grant, 20,000 acres of New Hampshire forest that are owned by the College.
As part of DOC Winter Weekend, scheduled to take place Saturday and Sunday, members will participate in events that include sledding, cross-country skiing, hiking and showshoeing, member Will Bishop '12 said.
During the excursion, members are encouraged to stay the night in the "really cozy" Harris Cabin, he said.
"We maintain a network of 12 DOC cabins, which are open to student use, and 50 miles of the Appalachian Trail," Zou said.
While membership mostly includes individuals who regularly participate in DOC trips, the trips also draw students not usually involved in DOC activities, Governali said.
As a result, members sometimes lead trips with students they have never met, he said.
Cabin and Trail differs from other College outdoor clubs in that it is entirely student-run and covers a broad variety of activities, according to Governali.
"We're not as focused on one specific activity, and our membership is less skill-based," he said. "We do a lot of education about backcountry navigation, group leadership and what it means to be an effective outdoors leader."
Following Fall term, the group participated in a series of winter hiking trips called "Cabin-Hopping," in which a total of 46 individuals some of whom had never been backpacking before participated in any of four week-long backpacking trips, Zou said.
During the term, other students participated in organized apple picking, diner touring, sunrise hiking or "sunriking" and other outdoor activities.
This term, the club is continuing one of its members' favorite activities, "FEED," in which members gather for weekly home-cooked meals at "The Rock," an off-campus house occupied by members of Cabin and Trail, according to Governali.
Cabin and Trail will also host other indoor and outdoor events to attract students to exploration of the area. A planned star hike, or "strike," for example, will begin on the last night of January and continue into the early hours of Feb. 1.
"We're hiking away into February," hike leader Reed Wommack '14 said. "Occupy was so January, strikes are February." Other Ivy League schools and liberal arts colleges have outing clubs devoted to getting students and faculty members outside.
"In the fall, we did a weekend camping trip, and people have led trips to the White Mountains," Amherst College Outing Club president Abigail Gray said. "I led a spelunking trip in December and that's one of the most popular things we do here."
The Harvard Outing Club at Harvard University makes equipment including canoes, fuel, ice axes and tents available to participating students, according to the organization's website. Members also organize trips year-round to both New England areas and "exotic locales," according to the site.
