thenhoc

I do -

We hiked Mt. Kearsarge in Conway. The trip was titled "Chillin' with Cap'n Sarge", led by none other than the venerable Joe Maslow and Travis Genatossio. We stayed at Jackson Cabin Friday night - and being my first trip, I never grabbed a sleeping bag like I was supposed to. Joe was nice enough to lend me his sleeping bag while he huddled in all his clothes under some old ratty blankets...and my dog slept on a nice new warm blanket that I had brought. Thanks Joe!

- J

My trip leaders were Pete Manning and Rusty Partridge. I was new to the whole East Coast backpacking ethic and I came in with the "new guy" attitude that I would later find so amusing. As my trip leaders struggled with getting their whisper light lit I was already enjoying a steaming cup of hot chocolate from my propane stove. You see, I didn't yet realize that this trip was about the group, and not us as individuals.

It was a white watter canoe trip and it was early autumn. It was the beginning of an very rewarding relationship with the NHOC and developed my love for the outdoors. I remember how everyone on the trip looked up to Pete and Rusty as legends and I knew that i wanted to lead trips too.

It wasn't long after that Pete asked me to be the equipment room manager, then a year later I was the programing coordinator (started the full moon club) and senior year I was elected president. In my heyday I was leading two trips a month and I had the opportunity to lead one freshman trip with Julia and Pat was our Assistant Leader.

Through the years I would see fresh faces coming into the fold of the club and so many times they reminded me of myself on my first trip. No one can expect how meaningful the NHOC is going to be. The NHOC was about so much more than the trips, there was a commraderie and a common love for the outdoors that forged a bond so meaningful that I will never forget it. My memories of my time at UNH and in the NHOC are some of the most fond memeories of my life.

Thanks for putting together an alumni space!

Jeremiah Ellis

NHOC 1999-2002

Leadership Training, Fall of 2001. I was so excited!!! So many new people that are now old friends.

Oh yes!
I went on a freshman trip, I was so far away from home and so nervous and the trip was just what I needed. I loved everything about it and the NHOC became my first really great group of friends.

I became the office manager or something like that because Pete asked me to and then started to lead trips.
I eventually led a freshman trip with Janet Bergman to Vt, NH and Maine and loved it. I saw the same look in the eyes of those students as I had. I became friends with those students and saw most of them throughout their first year. They thought of me as a mentor and a friend, which was nice.
I am so glad the NHOC is still strong! Cant wait to see the new cabin when I am back for a visit in the East!

Kate Nicholas Hamzi
98-02

Matt & Megan led an amazing freshman trip in 1990. It was a funny mix of total newbies (like me) & old hat mountain boys (like nick & ken). Such a great way to be introduced to a new home-away-from-home, which the White Mountains became for me for those years.

Thanks NHOC for bringing all us crazy, whoopie-pants-wearing, pinkham notch hangin', Thanks To Gravity listening, mountain lovers together for a while! It's a great club.

Samya (Clumpner) Lutz
1992 dropout class
Lummi Island, WA

Thanks to Gravity! Next thing you know, they'll be some Heavens to Murgatroid and Fly Spinach Fly references being tossed around...

My first trip was in August 2002, led by Jason G himself (plus a youthful Aria) along with Jon Ingerson and Nicole Valentine as AL (who sustained some kind of injury and showed up later in the week). The trip was called Ridge Running in the Great North Woods.

We were a rag-tag group of loud people, quiet people, high school athletes, ex-Boy Scouts, nerds, and a music-junkie...guided by larger-than-life Gods of the Trail Jason and Jon. Some of us were afraid if we got out of line, Jon would scalp us flat-landers and feed us to Aria.

After two days of good solid backpacking, tenting, and cabin-staying, the real fun began. We all know it's the tough going in the outdoors that really sticks with us. Around dusk on day 3 we arrived on a wooded peak in heavy winds. We had the choice of tenting off trail on that hill, or sucking it up and trudging out to the van with headlamps and driving to stay at Jon's mom's house in Lancaster. We had no breakfast food left, and were low on water. Blisters were rampant. We were several hours from the trail's end, but the vote was unanimous.

That final starlit march is still painfully vivid. The trail was almost entirely downhill for miles, and we'd already hiked a full day, which meant knees and feet crying out in pain. Hours blurred together. I think we made it out of the woods between 11 and midnight, exhausted, thirsty, and hungry. We thought the sight of that old Campus Rec van in the trailhead lot might have been a mirage at first, but no: we'd survived the death march. Next stop: 24 hour gas station for junk food and two days of Franky Cabin and swimming. After the actual hiking this was like Club Med. Sadly, classes and dorm life were soon to follow, and I'd come to miss even the tired and sore sections of the trail. And, little did I know, some of the people I met on that trip would still be counted among my best friends almost six years later.

-Ethan G.
Class of '06

How could I forget it? I didn't go on a freshmen trip, but got involved in the club right away at the beginning of my freshman year. My first trip was on October 12-14 2001 (I do have the date written down, but I know it off the top of my head!) It called Masters of the Mahoosucs and was led by Corey Denton and Genevieve O'Connell, with Colleen Woods as our Assistant Leader.

After eating dinner at Stillings (this was in the days before Holloway Commons!) we headed up to Jackson Cabin. I have fond memories of hanging out by the wood stove, talking , playing games, and just having fun.

We left Jackson Saturday morning and drove up to Mahoosuc Notch in Maine. We had a full day of hiking ahead of us, including the mile that goes through the heart of the Notch. There were lots of rocks and boulders to climb over, under, and around, but it was a blast! We were talking amongst ourselves the whole time, and Corey kept us thoroughly entertained with stories from his childhood.

After navigating our way through the Notch, we had a steady climb up to Speck Pond Campsite. We selected a tent platform, set up, and cooked the classic beans and rice for dinner.

On Sunday morning we left our gear at the tentsite and hiked up Old Speck with daypacks. There were clouds at the summit, but the wind was pushing them and we were able to get some gorgeous glimpses of the Presidentials surrounded by undercast. We returned to our campsite and packed up, and of course Corey took a swim in Speck Pond. After we hiked out, Corey jogged several miles down an old logging road to retrieve the van and pick us up. I was already looking forward to my next NHOC adventure.

Now, some six years and dozens of trips later, I still think about that trip often. It was my first impression of a club that has come to mean so much to me. It was when I first heard the NHOC leader requirements, which I have recited so many times since then. It was the very beginning of a series of friendships, experiences, and memories that I will always have.

Of the many trips I've led since, I have almost always had at least one participant who is on their first trip. Each time I wonder if, years down the road, they'll remember that trip as fondly as I recall mine.

Aaron Marquis

Leaders - Dean Moosavi, Robin Rice, and Stu from Wisconsin (AL). We attempted Bondcliff in December 1998. Friday night we hiked in the dark to the junction of Franconia Falls trail from Lincoln woods. That night we spent the night off the trail. In the morning Dean was gone, which I thought was random. He ran back to the van to grab his sleeping bag. It seemed not important the previous night b/c it wasn't that cold, but Saturday it was in the single digits. We hiked and almost summited Bondcliff, but stayed below treeline due to the heavy winds. We followed the tracks of Stu, but once it awhile we would fall off the trail and post hole to our thighs. As my first time hiking in the wintery mix of NH, I survived and some. I did struggle since I was from Long Island abd the previous adventures with snow was ice skating. Saturday was cold, but we all had a blast anyway. The next we went back the way we came. I cannot remember the other participants, nor any other details. Memory goes away especially after all the crazy trips I did afterwards. Though, I should have remember the sleeping bag incident when Gagnon went on Travis and my "Chillin with Sarge" trip.

Mr. Joe "Joeybear" Maslow
BS Geology '02
M.Ed '07
NHOC Alum for life!

Ethan described a great first trip, it was my first trip too, Ridge running in the Great North Woods. It was a very terrifying experience to show up, but was the right choice. Ethan neglected to mention that our fearless leaders didn't bring maps, and we had no idea Mt Waumback had 4 peaks. We never got to hike Franky Ridge like we were supposed because of the rain, but we did some amazing rock sliding doing Dry Brook. I learned how to play cribbage and I too made some of my best friends.