Green Corner

The Outing Club is your opportunity at Exeter to get outside, get out of Exeter and hike some of New England’s most beautiful mountains. A big part of our mission statement is to get Exonians outside to experience the beauty of the outdoors and appreciate the world you don’t see when stuck on campus. Getting out on the mountain is a relaxing and fun experience that allows students to get away from Exeter. No one, however dubious at first, has come home from a hike with anything but excitement (albeit tiredness as well).Just this past weekend we went about two hours off campus to Hebron, NH to hike some of the peaks around Newfound Lake. The hike on our first day was on the Lonesome Lake Hut trail on Cannon Mountain. It was a great hike on a beautiful day, and at the top under a bright winter sun we stood in the middle of the frozen Lonesome Lake and looked at some of the towering nearby peaks. Franconia Ridge tore almost menacingly across the cloudless sky, white tipped with snow and looking down on us. Just last year we hiked both the Franconia Ridge and this Lonesome Lake trail, and much to the surprise of some of the hikers that came on the trip last year, this time around they were able to take in the view instead of panting with their hands on their knees—a welcomed change.When we came down the mountain our hikers were tired and the sun was setting but the day was far from over. We still had to go to the grocery store. Now I know this may sound lame, but being in a grocery store without your parents just begs for mischief. So after an unusual amount of fun in the grocery store we headed to our place of sleep for the night, the house of Kirk Phelps, a friend to both our trip-faculty Townley Chisholm and Michael McLaughlin. Phelps and his family have a beautiful house in the woods with a fantastic sledding hill. After we made a pizza dinner with his young son and two daughters helping out, Phelps showed us his wood-stove hot-tub (into which we fit 10 people, an impressive feat, trust me). After a long day of hiking and fun, we each found our place to sleep and rested before waking to a pancake breakfast and another hike before the afternoon.This is only one of the many fun times we’ve had in the Outing Club, and if you’ve ever wanted to see the beautiful side of nature but never found the motivation then this is really one of the most fun ways to get outside and have your own fun story to tell. We love fun and great hikes and want to encourage you to find the time to hike or get outside on a nice day to appreciate a breath of fresh air.