In 2011, then-president Emma Gross reached out to former COC members to hear their memories of the Outing Club. Here’s what we found:
Dick Birch ’51:
We always looked forward to the Spring trip up Mt Katahdin. The knife edge was something you never forget.
The first time in May on our way to the park we saw the white covered mountain in the distance. What a sight! One year we climbed thru hip deep snow in the dark to get to the Chimney Pond lean-tos. The summit was too icy to get to. Another year Pete Cooney complained about his heavy pack going to the summit. When we got there he found a Colby brick from the new construction which had been put in it to place on the cairn. Canoe trips on the Belgrade Lakes and the Outing Club lodge were always enjoyable.
Lots of good memories!
Nancy Wood ’77:
I was a member of the Colby Outing Club during 1974-1977. Back then there was an annual trip to Katahdin. I went in September 1974 and hiked to the summit. It was my first serious climbing experience. While on the trip we saw moose and a few bears raided the camp. I do not remember doing any other trips with the Outing Club while I was a student.
I do remember that students could borrow outdoor equipment from the Club. I sometimes borrowed snowshoes and cross country skis to go out in the woods around campus. Back then the skis were not the high tech variety that I see people using nowadays. Instead the skis I borrowed were wood with leather straps. You would fasten the straps around hiking boots and hoped that your feet stayed on the skis. They might have had some more up-to-date skis but I always borrowed the ones with the straps. I had never cross-county skied before and I really enjoyed it. I own a skiing equipment now and try to get out as often as possible during the winter.
I was not a particularly active member of the Club. For your purposes, I hope that you hear from the folks who were more involved during those years.
Eileen Kinney Lindgren ’90
Coming from Southern California, cross-country skiing was new to me! I am an avid runner, so it was a natural progression to pick it up with all the snow and ice. I would keep the cross-country skiis, boots and polls that I borrowed from the club in my dorm room. On those gloriously sunny days, I would venture out into the woods and do a few loops. Such a refresher…and beautiful way to enjoy being in Maine.
Pat Sturges ’60:
I only have one memory of the Outing Club and that was climbing Mt.Katalden my Freshman Year. It took forever to get there and we were to climb the next morning. As I recall I had a sleeping bag (don’t remember where I slept – some slept in a Cabin but I think I slept outside with others). It was freezing cold and I didn’t sleep well. I remember having to wash, etc in extremely cold water and was very glad that some of the group had volunteered to make the meals. We started up and had a professor with us – I think I was the only one in the history of climbing Mt. Katalden who sprained an ankle climbing up – but I wasn’t going to give up. When we got to the summit the view was fantastic. I seem to remember that once up there was a narrow path to take going down with a steep drop on one side. At least in my eyes it was very narrow and I was having nothing to do with it – so several others and I descended the way we ascended. Dinner that night was wonderful – I could have eaten a Moose raw – but fortunately did not see any. I don’t remember seeing any wildlife. I was a great weekend but I did not repeat it.
Archived emails courtesy of Nick Markham ’04:
Subject: Smells like Teen Spirit
Body:
- Thanks to everyone who came out to the cabin on Friday night. It was blast! Hopefully, everyone had as much fun as I did. For those of you who did not go, shame on you for being uncool. Mac got naked.
- PR Representatives, please draw up a thank you card for Joe Feely so that we can sign it on Monday night and get it to him with a T-shirt.
- Thanks again to Elizabeth for the bomber sign.
- WFA Kids (aka the Bigelow Buddies), please write up a thank you card for Rob Morrison.
- January, Dug, and writing a few sentences for Lisa are three things that belong together. Ketchup, clay, and silver are three things that do not belong together.
- Ben, buy a boat.
- Laura, two words- Dry top.
- So far, the people going on Spring Break Trips are: Doug, Erik, Dave, Pat, Jess, Callie, Nick, Jordan, Cliff, and Mac(ish)
- Erik, Mac, and Dug, buy skis.
- “We got eleven-thousand dollars, we got eleven-thousand dollars, we got eleven-thousand dollars.” It will be mine… oh yes, it will be mine.
- Be thinking of ways that we can offer Financial Aid to members for the Spring Break Trips. Remember, it should be done fairly and such.
- Pat has offered to redo the COC board in the Stupid Center. And there was much rejoicing. yeah.
Booty.
Subject: From the Desk of the COC Cabin Lawn Maintenance Crew:
Body:
Hello, everyone. I write to you in response to Tom’s initiation of the COC Summer Talk Series. This missive will be my first installment. Per usual, I have several points, opinions, and mirthful glee to share with you all.
First, a couple of you were left off of Tom’s initial emailing by mistake. Please use this listing in order to reply to everyone while engaging in summer discourse. Also, please use protection while engaging in summer intercourse. Safety first. To summarize Tom’s email, he would like us to get a little dialogue rolling before the semester starts to toss around ideas with regard to a new meeting time (Sunday nights?), pro deals with a gear shop in NY, and anything else that anyone wants to talk about. Tim Newhouse wants everyone to start getting excited about the totally phatty COC T-shirts that are now in the COC office. Pat Ely is in Central America, but still is working on developing a computerized method of keeping track of our accounting. Now that’s the kind of diligence that we need! Fuckin’ A.
I have been doing a little COCing while living out at the cabin this summer. Namely, I have procured a free Fire Cabinet for our use in the COC office, recovered nearly $300 in bounced checks that was owed to the COC, mowed the lawn at the cabin three times, assured that we will get all $16,500 that we asked for, and I’m getting ready to order 1000 custom made 4 color tatoos that sport the COC logo. I’ve also taken all of the stuff that you stored in the COC office and sold it on EBay for my own personal gain. With this new income, I’ve decided to buy the COC cabin and live there forever.
Tom, we cannot spend any serious money over the summer. Jon Nickerson (new SGA treasurer) has given me permission to spend about a hundred dollars for the tattoos, but that’s it. So, we probably can’t buy stuff for you to bring up here with you. Also, it’d be nice to do an inventory first.
As for the Activities Fair this fall I was thinking that we could all show up dressed as our favorite characters from the hit 80’s sitcom Charles in Charge. Then, we could put on a skit where the whole family goes on a hiking trip to Katahdin. Or, maybe we could pretend that we’re the Colbyettes and wear black pants and sing songs by Vanessa Carlton while pretending that we’re snowshoeing in the Bigelows. My final idea is that we could show up wearing nothing but our new fake tattoos and shout out quotes from the movie Kindergarden Cop like, “Boys have penises and girls have vaginas!”
To echo Tim, if y’all are up in Maine come and visit us.
Have a good rest of the summer,
The Cabinboy
Steve ’71:
I’d like to pass along an account of my small chapter in the history of the Outing Club:
It was the summer of 1971. I had just graduated. My Colby wife, Susan (Susan Hoy Terrio, ’72), our 1 year old daughter, Kristin, and I were asked if we would serve as “caretakers” of the Outing Club property on the Belgrade Lakes for the summer season. We thought about it for maybe 5 seconds! Free rent at this beautiful location? You bet.
The quarters were modest at best. A two room cabin, with running water- cold only, drawn directly from the lake. But we were happy to have it, and thoroughly enjoyed our summer at the lake. The duties and responsibilities were minimal, making sure that canoes were put away after use, etc. What a beautiful place to be, so close to nature. I remember scouting the property in early May, prior to taking occupancy for the summer. There were still pockets of snow in the woods at that time! Among my fondest memories is simply the sound of the wind in the pines. With zero noise pollution out there, it was like nature’s serenade.
We left Maine the next summer, and I regret that we haven’t been back to the lake since. I trust that Colby still owns and operates the same property. It would be interesting to know if caretakers are still retained for the summer, compensated only by free rent. And if so, has anything changed in the way of the accommodations?
Sorry we don’t have any pictures. We were probably to poor to even own a camera at that point!
I hope someday to revisit the Outing Club at the lake. We’re a Colby couple married for forty years come December. Naturally, after all these years we have many fond memories, but none more unique and special than our experience that summer.
Rick Morey ’68:
The Colby Outing Club was one of my favorite college experiences! I was a four-year member of COC (1964-68) and in my junior and senior years was chosen to Katahdin Council, the governing committee.
One great campus experince was when Colby hosted an Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet. I participated in individual and team competitions and still recall our feeling of triumph when we defeated both Dartmouth and West Point! ( At least this is how I remembered it — the Meet was in spring 1967, or 1966).
I did the Mount Katahdin weekend in late September in 1964, 1966, 1967. We summited (most of us) in 1964 and 1967, but in 1966 bad weather kept us in camp close to the final climb (forget the name of that camp — Chimney Pond?). One year a cow moose and calf walked me back one mile — adding two extra miles to the hike on Friday, with dusk coming on.
Heather Boothe ’94:
I’m a Colby Outing Club alumni, class of 1994 (though I graduated 95J). I served as secretary, treasurer, and vice president of the club while at Colby. I was there during a relatively inactive era of the club — we had the building at the pond, but it was nearly unusable because of sewage issues. But we did have trips most weekends, and of course an annual shopping spree at LL Bean.
I went on the annual fall Katahdin trip my first fall, and then led the trip the next three falls I was at Colby (I was away on semester). It was always a full trip, and it always seemed to snow while we were crossing the knife edge. I also went on or led trips to Acadia at least once a year, if not more, including my 21st birthday, when we spent the next morning watching the sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain (it was quite cold in mid-October). During the summers after my sophomore and junior years, I ended up working at Acadia, first as an intern in the interpretation division (visitor centers, ranger programs), then as a ranger in Seawall campground. Each of us had one night of “office hours” at the club each week, checking out equipment, giving people trail advice etc. I have to admit the perk of having a key was great when I wanted to borrow snow shoes late at night for a walk around campus. It was a great place to hang out with friends. At that time the office was in Robert’s Union.
Probably my most memorable two trips were one during fall break (I think in 1993) to the Allagash Wilderness on lumber company land, in search of “the ice cave” that we had seen on map. It involved lots of bushwacking, crossing beaver ponds, and otherwise getting soaked in the rain and sleet, when we finally found the ice cave campsite — canoe access and not on our map, complete with fire pits and outhouse. The cave was small and we didn’t think to bring caving eq! uipment, but before we found it we had lots of fun imagining what it might be. The other trip was a fall trip to the Heritage forest, to see Maine’s old growth forest. As a California who was used to old growth redwood forests, I thought the tree were rather small, but there was a gorge there that was well hidden and gorgeous. I still have a photo of myself sitting on a cliff above that gorge.
And of course I have friends still who I met while on outing club trips.
For the last 12 years I’ve been working for the National Park Service, in 10 parks around the country. Now I manage the Volunteer Program at Yosemite, and I get to set up activities for several college alternative spring breaks from all over the country as well as weekend work trips for local colleges.
Betty Wade Drum ’47:
A memorable Outing Club trip for me was in 1948, the year after I graduated I taught Freshman Math and acted as chaperone to the Outing Club for a trip to Mt. Katahdin. It was memorable as I became tired and would not have finished the climb but for the fact that one of the hikers was carrying my lunch and I had to finish in order to get any lunch. So I did reach the top and was very glad I did. I truly enjoyed the several years I was a member of the group, but have few recollections of our hikes. Good luck with your collection of memories.
Grigory Petrov ’99:
I was actively involved with the COC during my all four years at Colby. I was a co-president from 1996 to 1999.
Those years have been glorious, as among other things, we have maintained the annual tradition of leading Katahdin trips in the fall (all four years), started telemark skiing program and gear rental, relocated and expanded the office from Bob’s to its current location, mounted a campaign to prevent a sale of the COC cabin in Belgrade (with resulting renovations to the property), established a partnership with LLBean that let us purchase discounted gear for the club and the members, etc.
We have maintained other Katahdin Council traditions by selling club T-shirts in the fall during membership drive, assisting COOT trips, and sponsoring lectures with other special events in addition to the regular weekend trips.
In 1997 we have organized a Spring Break trip out West, which was either the first such long-distance venture or a long-forgotten ambition. We did not have a COC historian at that time, so I don’t know, if COC ever traveled West for Spring break before us, but it was certainly not the case in recent years prior to 1997.
There should be an article from The Echo that was published about 1997 trip and we tried to frame and hang it in the office.
So, there’s a lot to tell about the end of the 90s.
Nancy Short Hall ’68:
Colby Outing Club was my main social outlet during my Colby, As a Katahdin Council member there were many fun times on general trips and even more as the council members hung out to plan activities. Katahdin Council Members could be spotted wearing Red and Black wool Jackets wherever we went.
There were of course the Katahdin trips and yes I summited the mountain many times. Usually we would go up from Roaring Brook and spend the night at Chimney pond before climbing to the summit. My favorite trail was up Pamola crossing the knifes edge and coming down Saddle Trail. I also enjoyed ascending the Cathedral trail but never descended that way. I had an affinity for the knifes edge so always included that in any trip to the summit.
I remember one trip up The Hunt Trail from Baxter State Park where I did encounter a Moose in the middle of the Trail on the way down. Most Moose sightings were at Sandy Stream Pond where you could count on seeing several of the animals foraging for food in the middle of the pond.
I also have many fond memories of overnights at the cabin on Great Pond in Oakland. Campfires and Spaghetti dinners were central to planning activities for the year although I suspect we did much more socializing than planning. The Cabin was also the starting point for many of our canoe trips. It was also the place where many of my friends stayed the night and celebrated graduation in June of 1968 before scattering to begin our post Colby lives.
Betty Smith ’55:
I remember climbing Mt. Tumbledown (not sure that is the exact name). I just remember that I was supposed to be studying for an exam and got talked into it. I still remember the views and the clear air. A great day.
Ken Haruta ’57:
A large group of people in our class (’57) climbed Mt. Katahdin, perhaps in 1956. At the base camp the night before, a dozen of us slept in a lean-to which was built to accommodate only six, because there were so many of us. It rained during the night, but the day of our climb was beautiful. The view from the mountain was simply unforgettable.
Libby Corydon-Apicella ’74:
I did summit Mt. Katadin my freshman year, and it was the beginning of many great Colby experiences. I remember being a little nervous because it was the first time I had to skip classes on a Friday afternoon…….the weather was perfect and I was in a group with Herr Kueter, the German professor. He was like a billy goat on the mountain–but a good coach for those of us hiking on a mountain like this for the first time.
My animal adventures are two: I still laugh til this day about a racoon sitting next to me during dinner and sharing my cocoa. And waking up in the leanto…with a moose staring at me was something I’ll never forget!
Knife’s Edge has fond memories as a big accomplishment! And to think that this is the beginning of the Appalachian Trail….
I will try to find some pictures when i get home. I’m in Scottsdale at the moment….and about ready to climb Camelback– I’ll call it the Katadin influence…
Paul E. Reichert ’59:
The fall trip to climb up Mt. Katahdin, was, I feel the best. I went several times, arriving early, before the sunset, to help set up camp and also arriving after dark and having to use flashlights to find the trail to the camp.
Before my first time the “old” timers talking about the Knife Edge and Chimney Rock were a little scary – exaggeration on their part. The view from the top and the pile of rocks to make the mountain a mile high are things to remember. Crossing the Knife Edge and coming down the chimney are great experiences.
We carried snacks and water, but on one trip I found an orange someone had dropped. It had some ice crystals in it, boy was it good.
About seeing moose on these trips – never saw one, others did. They were there but were afraid of me – I saw where I scared the s__t out of them.
I did see part of a moose – does the head still hang above the fireplace in the lodge at Belgrade Lake? Trips out there for a get together and a meal were fun. Also the first jump into the lake after the ice went out. Wouldn’t consider doing that now.
The Woodsmen’s Club maintained a section of the Appalachian Trail. My freshman year we made plans to spend a weekend working on the trail. Two of us were playing freshman football and had a game Friday afternoon so couldn’t leave with everyone else. To the rescue – Professor Moore had sea plane. Some days he flew to work – he landed on the river at foot of the hill and he said he would fly us up to the trail. Dean Nickerson made us get permission from our parents. Flying up to join the other was great. Professor Moore had lived in Alaska and was considered a top bush pilot.
Canoe trip – found out that aluminum canoes ride high in the water and when the wind comes up they are hard to handle. Didn’t get wet, but paddling was very tiring. Have fiber glass canoes that I now use.
The Woodsmen’s meets showed how much the students enjoyed outside activities – they got involved and got wet. Give the students what they want and they will participate – snow sculptures for Winter Carnival is another example.
Karen Smith Clark ’76:
I grew up in Upstate New York and Western Massachusetts camping in the Adirondacks and hiking in the Berkshires. I love being outdoors and for me the Outing Club was a great way to explore Maine with new Colby friends. My fondest memories of Outing Club adventures were trips to Acadia National Park. Watching the waves crash through Thunder Hole was such a powerful memory I wanted to be sure to include it on the itinerary when we planned a trip to Acadia with our children many years later. Another memory that has stayed with me is the white sand at Sand Beach and of course the very cold water of the Northern Atlantic. I might not have been terribly impressed except for the contrast with the black volcanic sand and the warm bath like waters of the Pacific on the coast of El Salvador which I experienced during Jan Plan my Freshman year! Jan Plan gave me the desire to explore more and I signed up for a Junior Year Abroad in Hull, England. The English version of the Outing Club is the Rambling Club and my positive Colby experience combined with my desire to explore as much of the countryside as I could took me on frequent hikes through the moors and mountains of Northern England. (No moose but plenty of sheep!) In addition to the exercise and the great scenery the obligatory pub stops for lunch provided a wonderful glimpse of local culture and some of the best food in England. But, back to Colby! I have had the good fortune not only to go to Colby myself but to send my two daughters there as well (Sarah ’08 and Molly ’13). Part of the “Colby Experience”, I believe, is the ”Maine experience”. Going to Acadia is part of the Colby tradition I share with Sarah and anticipate sharing more with Molly. I especially relished the moment when Sarah showed pictures of her and Colby friends climbing Beehive. Since I have now developed something of a fear of heights she was quite surprised that I too had climbed Beehive with my Colby friends. Unfortunately I don’t still have the pictures to share with you or prove it to her but the memories are great ones to share!
Dick Chamberlin ’52:
While I was a student I joined the Outing Club and enjoyed the times we had together. The Outing Cub had a piece of property on the west side of Great Pond on an access road that ran from route 8 in North Belgrade down to the shore. It was a popular place where there was swimming and boating and many of the Fraternities, including mine at ATO, held their spring picnics at the Outing Club facilities. We did not do Katahdin but we did do Mount Battie in Camden every year. That is about all I have.
Judy Jenkins Totman ’54:
My fondest memories of my time with the Outing Club were the times we spent hangin out at our place at the Belgrade Lakes — swimming, relaxing, sailing, just having fun being together. I believe i was on the “Board” for several years. I graduated from Colby in 1954 and to the best of my memory was involved for all four years.
Skip Tolette ’59:
I may have more stories than you will want. I am a member of the class of 1959. (We had our 50th reunion in June – and it was delightful). I joined the Outing Club and the Woodsman’s Club at the beginning of freshman year. I believe the president of the Outing Club was Nathanial (Buddy) Bates and he was followed by Tommy Brackin. We climbed Katahdin every September (except we had an Asian flu epidemic our junior year and we were forced to cancel the trip, I was president of the Woodsmen’s Club my sophomore year and president of the Outing Club my junior and senior years. At that time we maintained 20 miles of the Appalachian Trail (the Barren-Chairback Range) and we competed in the intercollegiate woodsmen’s meets. We also ran an annual woodsman’s meet on campus. Back then there were fraternities. each having a team. At that time (perhaps you still do) we were governed by the Katahdin Council–a group elected by the members. We had an active Yacht Council that kept sailboats at the “Outing Club Lodge” on Great Pond. We sponsored canoe trips and hikes to several Maine locations. At that time we were not allowed to have a co-ed trip unless it was chaperoned by faculty members. Also at that time alcohol was not allowed on campus or on any of our trips.
Incidentally, I met my wife (of 50 years) on Katahdin and she has climbed it 19 times.
Robert M. Sears ’66:
Traditions… skidding on the ice around the lake in my car every year.
Tom Claytor ’85:
I summitted Katadhin. I ran into a Moose a few times in Maine. I used to fly all over Maine in seaplanes when I was working for Telford during the summers. I was VP of the Outting Club in 1985. My favorite trips were a White Water Kayaking trip to the upper Penobscot? and a flying Outing Club trip up to Red Hill. The club used to be in Roberts Union in a prime spot on campus and what I used to love the most was when new students would come to join and borrow or rent gear to go and explore the outdoors. You could see they didn’t really know what they were doing, but they wanted to try. The coot trips back then were hugely successful. I led several coot trips for Freshmen and January Freshmen. The Colby Outing Club was and is one of the great parts of life at Colby
Lisa Klein ’78:
I wish I could remember more, but here’s what I have …
Outing Club was one of the greatest things about Colby back in 1975 – 77. (I transferred to Colby in January of 1975.)
Nancy Noreen teaching me how to X-C ski on the snow covered outdoor running track.
Borrowing Outing Club equipment and going X-C skiing/winter camping in the Pemi Wilderness with Jonathan Smith, Brett Thatcher et al. and freezing in a borrowed sleeping bag from the Outing Club. (I hope you have warmer ones now!) 🙂
Amazing Woodsmen’s meets!
Pen Williamson ’63:
I have a series of snapshots taken of the Outing Club’s trip up Katahdin in Sept 1962, my senior year, when I was the leader; we put over 100 students on the summit that year!
One of my classmates proposed to his wife (another classmate) the night before the climb at the Katahdin Stream Campground; the diamond from the engagement ring came loose from the setting, fell on the ground – and with all combing the ground, it was found!
Several of us encountered a moose after the climb while driving around the park – in a Volkswagon! After staring at each other, the moose retired into the woods!
Josh Waldman ’99:
Oh the Outing Club! Most of my great memories of Colby are wrapped up in the Outing Club, and it is great to hear that you and the club are gathering history. I was an Outing Club member and officer from ’95-’99. I will attempt to track down some photos if you are looking for photos.
In those years, the Outing Club moved from a side hall in Roberts to the Mary Lowe (sp?) basement where I believe it is still located today. The move was something that many of us were not too excited about at first, but quickly proved to be beneficial.
To the best of my knowledge, we began the Spring Break trip out west. I led a trip to Escalante and Bryce (which were conveniently research topics for papers in two of my classes) and then to Canyonlands, two years later. This was my first real experience of the west, and since graduating Colby, that’s where I’ve lived; in Oregon, New Mexico and now California, including work as a NPS ranger. Do these trips still continue?
Finally, these years also saw the remodel of the COC cabin. The old cabin, a beloved place, was not in the best shape, and was to be demolished and rebuilt. I remember the cabin being quite funky in that each room seemed to have been built by a different bunch of volunteers in different years. The decision to remodel and the funding to support it was something that happened outside of the Outing Club, but we took it as a sign that someone was recognizing the importance of the club. So while we knew it was going to happen, we didn’t know too much about when, etc. So, it came as a shock to me and my girlfriend (Andrea Keisler, now my wife) when the heavy machinery arrived as we were sleeping.
Peter Breu ‘77:
I’d love to write 5 pages about my Outing club experiences. I won’t have time, but I will try to send a few paragraphs as I have time. I was VP in 1975 and had a hand in the start of the COOT program which was very exciting. Lots of trips to Katahdin including several winter climbs. Pine tarring XC skis in the basement of Johnson stands out as what perhaps most wrecked my brain at Colby… I’ll bug some friends to remind me of some of the upper classmen who were on those trips when I was a freshman. The winter climbs to Bigelow (crawling to the summit in January, unable to stand against the wind and about -20F not including wind chill) and other summits were the highlights for me.
Martha Farrington Huotari Mayo ’64:
I was in the Outing Club and climbed Katahdin once (or maybe twice) from 1961 to 1963. I climbed Katahdin a total of 7 times, but most of those were with the summer camp (Med-O-Lark in Washington, Maine) where I was a camper, CT and counselor. Mostly I climbed from Roaring Brook. I understand the Chimney Pond campground is no longer an overnight option, but I recall that the Outing Club carried in food for the entire group and cooked in a bunk house or at least a structure that was more advanced than the lean-to’s that I had slept in numerous times. From Chimney Pond, we climbed Cathedral Trail, went across the Knife Edge and came down Pamola.
I was also treasurer of the Outing Club. It was the last time I agreed to be treasurer of anything! Several months in a row, I was off by $100, but it was never a matter of a decimal point: two or more errors happened to add up to $100!
Suzanne Morneau-Francisco ’77:
If you look at Colby yearbook from ’77, you’ll see two graduates’ photos that were taken while on a snowshoe outing with equipment borrowed from the Outing Club. Fellow 1977 graduate I married in 1980, Doug Francisco, took my picture while we were snowshoeing, and I likewise took the yearbook photo he submitted. Best to you in your recap and history-to-date summary of Colby’s Outing Club as you and others are researching and compiling it.
Virgil Hervey ’65:
I thought I was the only one who saw a moose. Then I began to doubt whether I actually saw it or not. Now that you are bringing it up again, I’m beginning to think there might be some truth to it after all. I will definitely send you something, once I have had time to gather my thoughts. My freshman year outing to Baxter State Park was a truly magical experience.
Sara Johnson ’58:
I was active in it over the four years I attended Colby — and was on the famous Katahdin trip where we did stay overnight at the tiny cabin at the base of the mountain (there were a lot of us and zero room inside) and we did climb to the summit the next day. I attended my 50th reunion last year and heard there were long, detailed stories in the Echo about the trip. Outing Club also sponsored some dances and I’m sure this info is also available in the school newspaper’s archives.
Mike Metcalf ’68:
When I was at Colby (1964-1968) I spent some time going through old copies of the college newspapers and yearbooks in Miller Library, looking for early mention of COC. I tossed the few pages of info I gathered quite a few years ago, but I recall a folder of clippings n(I think it was located in Miller Library), especially about the college ski slope that was across the Mesalonskee River out towards Thayer Hospital. I don’t think the slope is still there – it had a couple of J-bar tows in the 1960s and a “lodge” at the top of the slope. This folder had many clippings about winter carnivals and the like dating back into the teens of the 20th century. Last month was the 10th anniversary of the Dartmouth Outing Club, and I have the impression that COC was founded not too many years after DOC.
By the late 1960s, Colby had been participating for quite a few years in the Eastern Intercollegiate Woodsmens Meets and had some of the more successful non-forestry program teams. Marty Dodge (’67 or ’68 ?), a long-time professor at Finger Lakes Community College in NY State was team captain and has run a very successful program at Finger Lakes for many years. Bob Merrill, Colby ’67, ran the eastern meet at Colby in 1967. My brother, Chris Metcalf, helped run a meet in the early 1970s. I’ve been back to one Eastern meet at Colby and another at Dartmouth in the last decade. Paul Tabor, ’70, may have copies of some of the rules by which the meets were run as well as pictures of at least some members of alumni teams from the 1990s or early 2000s.
By the 1960s the Woodsmens Council of COC was responsible for maintaining what I recall to be about 18 miles of the AT across the Barren Chairback Range from Bodfish Intervale to Katahdin Iron Works. I don’t know if this is still true.
I summited Katahdin on COC trips from September of 1964 to September of 1969 (my wife of almost 40 years and counting graduated in 1970). I think we all had experiences with moose slowing the hiking down near two ponds (twin ponds ?) on the way up or down the Roaring Brook Trail to/from Chimney Pond.
In the 1960s and 70s there was a Colby-owned cabin on the Belgrade Lakes that COC had access to for spaghetti Dinners, as a base for canoe trips, etc.
Roberta Stockwell ’67:
I think I climbed Katahdin twice (maybe three times) with the Outing Club. One of those trips the weather was very cold for late September. Eight of us slept in a lean-to. I think the lean-tos were only 12 feet wide, so we had 1.5 feet apiece. We arranged ourselves boy, girl, boy, girl, etc. The following week-end we had dates with the guys who shared our lean-to. That year or the next there was snow overnight, so we didn’t climb to the top of Katahdin. We went on short expeditions around rather than up the mountain and gathered mountain cranberries. At least once I climbed to the top of Katahdin. (Fortunately or unfortunately, I’ve climbed Katahdin several other times. I remember crossing the Knife Edge but don’t know if I did it with Outing Club.) The fall trip to Katahdin was my only Outing Club activity, unless the Woodsmen’s Meet was a part of Outing Club. These were entertaining contests resembling the competitions at fairs of today. I remember the guys dressed in their red and black check wool jackets racing to see who could chop or saw things fastest.
Tom Thomas ’63:
I think that I climbed Katahdin all four years that I was at Colby. I also had a fantastic encounter with a moose. I think it was the fall of 1962 or 61 . This happened between Chairback Mountain and the east end of Long Pond along the part of the Appalachian Trail that the Outing Club maintained then.(Do you still do that?) Warren Balgooyen ,also ’63, and I were headed back to our canoe walking in ankle deep water when we came upon a very large moose about 10 meters in front of us. We knew that moose can be very aggressive in the fall rutting season and this moose was as surprised as we were. After grunting couple of times, the moose walked away and so did we but there was a serious moment of fear a very long way from “civilization.
Byrd Allen ’75:
I was there from 71-76 and have stories about:
- four years of annual fall trip to Katahdin
- two winter trips to Katahdin
- learning to climb at Hallowell quarry freshman year
- the old time ski movie fundraiser with the deluxe ski package raffle
- collecting all the abandoned wooden skis and ripping them down for x-c skis
- the campus wide shopping expedition to EMS when it was run by Rick Wilcox
- plundering the state military surplus for winter climbing gear (wind pants, crampons, mittens and mouse boots)
- varnish parties in the basement of Johnson (outing club supply room) when we would recondition all of the snowshoes; I seem to recall that somebody lived in there for part of the year because they had a terrible roommate problem (I would need to verify that with my old roomie).
Eunice Bucholz Spooner ’60:
I graduated from Colby 50 years ago this coming June. My freshman year, 1956, I joined the outing club on a climb up Katahdin as far as the knife edge. It was too icy to go further. I had never climbed a mountain and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I think it was on the way out of Baxter State park that I saw a moose – the only time I saw one in my 4 years at Colby.
I do have some pictures on my other computer that I could email to you or if you could come to my house in Sidney, you could choose the ones you might want. I do not have very many but some were taken at Bill Millet’s camp on China Lake. Those may have been in connection with the biology picnic/event. I also remember going on what I think was the first overnight event that Colby sponsored to a lodge in Jackman. I wore long sleeves to cover up German measles.
Charlie Fitts ’76:
The last trip I did was a cross-country skiing / backpacking trip through Baxter State Park from the north entrance to the south entrance over the course of 3-4 days. There were about 10 of us and I can remember some of the names: John Lumbard, Sue Williams (Seamans), and Martin Hubbe. We had beautiful skiing in clear cold weather, staying in cabins at South Branch Pond, Russell Pond, and Roaring Brook, I think. At one of the ponds we saw tracks of otters that had been sledding down the slopes and out onto the pond. We enjoyed doing the same on skis. I tried ice-fishing on Russell Pond and got my limit of cold feet (2). The last morning when we got to the south entrance, it was clear and -40 F. We tried starting my car but it didn’t so much as click when I turned the key. We spent hours building a fire and sliding the coals in under the engine compartment, and eventually we warmed up the oil and engine enough that it would crank and start. John Lumbard and I have done a lot of winter camping since then, although not in the past few years. It seems the ground is getting harder over time.