SYSTEM OF CABINS
It takes a student fresh from the trail to express themeaning of the Dartmouth Outing Club. The enormousscope of the club, which is even now growing by leaps andbounds, includes so many activities, business enterprises,committees and sub-committees, cabins, trail-upkeep.With Hanover the center, the radius swings in a three quarters circle, pointing for the most part to the northwhere the White Mountains loom up. The number ofstudents who "go out" for outing club has increased tremendously in the past few years, and the same period hasseen a decline in the number of men "heeling" for variousother activities. The Outing Club heeler may not be rewarded with an important position at the end of his periodof heeling, but he has spent three years out of doors, he hasmet hundreds of men on hikes, he has been m any days andnights in cabin or on trail, and he probably has inheriteda vast surplus of health which is much better than a collegeoffice.
Eighty-six miles north of Hanover and well into the White Mountains lies a small well-built cabin facing a beautiful valley. It is Skyline, the northernmost of the chain of fourteen cabins owned by the Dartmouth Outing Club. As the sun daily sinks into the west, it often outlines a group of figures swinging along the country road that wanders up from this valley. The figures leave the road shortly, and strike across to the cabin, perched on a knoll. There, unslinging their packs, they quickly disappear within; soon a curling column of smoke from the chimney testifies that supper is underway.
Inside, all is bustle, as appetites made voracious by miles of tramping become more and more insistent. But soon supper is ready. The talking dies down; the business of eating becomes of paramount consideration. Later when the dishes are done and beds have been tossed up for, the men gather around the fireplace to swap stories and sing college and campfire songs in the glow from burning logs, lighted pipes, and cigarettes. Memories of former trips are recalled—of the time when somebody's roommate fell into Lost River after so carefully navigating half the crossing, or when the freshman produced the shaving set, or when someone forgot to close the door one night and a "porky" ate up half the grub—yarns of exciting ski-runs down twisting mountain trails, of sighting bears on Mount Washington, of sudden storms and beautiful autumn and spring days, of thrilling skiing in the moonlight, of sleeping under myriads of stars in the summer. For what hike is without some memorable incident!
Thus for twenty years has this Outing Club, the progenitor of all such college clubs throughout the country, served as the medium between the students of Dartmouth and the great out-of-doors surrounding Hanover. During this time it has initiated thousands of young men to the lore of the woods—so popular has it become that each week-end finds from 50 to 100 students hiking along its trails.
Connecting its cabins are over a hundred miles of these trails which are being continually repainted and reblazed by members of the club. This work of marking the trail is so thoroughly done as to eliminate practically any danger of getting lost, even to a freshman. A wild and rugged country means that the hiker may go for miles without seeing any sign of habitation. The 14 cabins are for the most part the gifts of alumni and are all located either at the foot of mountains, on the summits, or on the slopes. They are equipped with cook stoves and utensils, wide open fire-places, steel bunks, and woolen blankets.
