Off the Beaten Path: Student Hikers Find Friendship, Peace in the Outdoors

As midterm season ramps up, Harvard students are finding time to trade in problem sets for pine needles, taking advantage of the Northeast’s famed fall foliage by heading outdoors. From a quick trip to Middlesex Fells to an overnight climb in New Hampshire’s peaks, hiking has become a way for students to recharge and reconnect with nature.

For most students interested in breaking out their boots, campus organizations such as the Harvard Outing Club and the Harvard Mountaineering Club offer a support system, making them a popular resource for those interested in leaving the Harvard bubble.

HMC provides students with gear for rock, ice, and alpine climbing, organizing group trips throughout New England. HOC runs regular weekend hikes, camping trips, and biking excursions, providing both gear and transportation for group members.

“Through the clubs — because you’re signed up on a trip — they’re arranging all the transportation. They’re making sure that you have enough water and the proper gear and everything,” Megha Khemka ’28, a HOC leader trainee, said.

“For people who are just getting started out, I would really recommend that they do it through a program like that,” she added.

The First-Year Outdoor Program — a pre-orientation program during which incoming freshmen spend a week camping across the Northeast — can also set students on a path toward exploring the outdoors.

Miabella H. Di Lorenzo ’26 who hails from urban Minneapolis, said FOP was her introduction to hiking. Now, it has become a significant part of her college experience.

“I didn’t actually have a hiking background before my first real hike,” Di Lorenzo said. “My first hike was on FOP, and it was never really something that my family had been into. I just loved my experience so much, and I wanted to continue doing that.”

Now a HOC and FOP leader, Di Lorenzo said spending time with students outside of campus can foster deeper connections.

“A lot of the best conversations I’ve had while at Harvard have been on the trail in some way,” Di Lorenzo said. “And I think you get to know people in a different way when you talk with them outside of the Harvard bubble.”

Khemka, who most recently hiked Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire, shares this sentiment.

“The Harvard bubble does have a tendency to suck you in as the semester goes on and on,” Khemka said. “You feel that if you leave, ‘I’m going to miss out on this comp meeting, or this club meeting, or dinner with my friends, or this class that I have to study for, this p-set that I have to do.’”

“I think for me, the reason that I choose to go out is because going out gives me the energy to do all of those things when I get back onto campus,” she added.

FOP and HOC leader Sylvie S. Wurmser ’27 emphasized that opportunities to explore the outdoors aren’t far outside of town.

“I’m a really big fan of biking and running to places just to get into nature, because that’s free most of the time,” Wurmser said. “There’s a lot of stuff that’s nearby — like Middlesex Fells, for example, you can just bike to.”

For students who are interested in the long haul, New Hampshire’s White Mountains — about a three hour drive from campus — are a popular destination.

HMC Vice President Finn M. Tondro ’28, said that the notoriously rugged peaks bring a new set of challenges — and fun.

“Last year, I attempted a winter traverse of the Presidential Range in a day — 18 miles and 10,000 feet of elevation in winter conditions,” Tondro said. “I like to go really fast and sort of do crazy objectives.”

Still, like most student hikers, Tondro said the activity is more than just exercise.

“It’s a source of calm,” Tondro said. “I just love both the athletic elements of it and also the more existential ones as well.”