Where the Pines End, the Adventure Begins

For her Beyond the Pines trip this February, Tess Lawlor ’27 completed a solo six-day backcountry trip on the Overland Track in Tasmania.

Always a student, even when trekking through remote mountains, Lawlor had a purpose: to collect data about backpacking and camping alone as a woman. "Part of this trip was actually connected to a research project I've been working on for about a year and a half on gender dynamics in the outdoors," she said.

Lawlor’s endeavor was unusual in that she was by herself and was tying her trip to research. Most Beyond the Pines trips are undertaken by two to four students, and their intentions are often to take a reprieve from academics, to develop new skills and strengths outside of their studies.

So far this year, Lawlor and two other groups have completed their trips. Three students biked the mountains of Gran Canaria during winter break, and two students backpacked in Chile over March break. The rest will travel this summer: their plans include backpacking through the Balkans, backpacking and farming in Iceland, backpacking across the island of Madeira, canoeing in Costa Rica, and hiking the John Muir Trail in California.

“The beauty of the Beyond the Pines program is it gives students complete autonomy to design, plan, and execute their own trips,” said Michael Woodruff, director of the Bowdoin Outing Club. “It empowers them to be in control of more ambitious expedition-style trips far from the Bowdoin bubble.”

The Beyond the Pines Fellowship

The fellowship program was launched in 2006 by a group of student club officers with funding from the Benson Family Foundation. "The BOC officers, including Keirsa Benson-Wright '06, came up with the idea that it would be a growth opportunity for outing club trip leaders and members if they were able to do more ambitious trips that were outside the scope of regular BOC programs," Woodruff said.

The BOC intentionally avoids international programs, except occasionally to Canada, said Associate Director of the Outing Club Anna Bastidas, as a way to "maintain access and opportunities for all students."

Continuing a tradition started at its founding, the fellowship is administered by current BOC student officers (who are not themselves applying for the fellowship) and volunteer alumni who were active in the Outing Club as students. Each fall, the selection committee reviews applications and interviews finalists to decide which trips to support and how to allocate funding.

Jasper Houston '18, who has served on the selection committee for five years, said he and his colleagues aim to support trips that aren't just "going to do something sick!"

While the outdoors is filled with that kind of daredevil spirit, the committee looks for plans that are "thoughtful and self-designed," he said, as opposed to joining a guided trek, for instance. The proposals must also be at an appropriate difficulty level based on the students' outdoors knowledge and experience.

"It doesn't have to be a crazy, out-of-the-comfort-zone experience," Houston said. "It truly can be a more introspective experience, a challenge for you personally and not something that you can just go and do easily."

Nellie Ross ’26, who served on the selection committee this year, said the program is designed to give back to students who have already given a lot to the Outing Club, as well as to inspire younger students who will be future club leaders.

Before each trip is funded, the Outing Club staff evaluates each plan to ensure that participants have outlined sound risk-management strategies, which adds another level of safety to the process.

Completed trips

Solo Backpacking in Tasmania, February

On her way to Christchurch, New Zealand, for her spring study-abroad semester, Lawlor made a stop in central Tasmania. She was prepared to hike the Overland Track by herself, but she wasn't solitary for all six days: she found fellow hikers who joined her for some trail sections, “one of the nice things” about the Overland Track, she said.

Highlights of the trip: Summiting Mount Ossa, the tallest peak in Tasmania, which required a challenging climb over boulders on baking hot terrain. And the stars. "Being deep in the Tasmanian backcountry meant almost no light pollution. One night around one in the morning, I got out of my tent to look at the stars, and the entire sky was lit up."

Another bonus: Building trust in her own judgment. "I learned I'm capable of more than I sometimes realize. I spent a lot of time preparing for this trip and planning it carefully, but actually executing it successfully in a foreign country felt really empowering," she said.

Gratitude: “Beyond the Pines gives students the opportunity to explore new places and pursue meaningful adventures without the barrier of cost. It’s a remarkable gift and a program that feels so uniquely Bowdoin: encouraging us to follow our curiosity, plan ambitious adventures, and learn through our experiences.”

Backpacking the Cerro Castillo in Patagonia, March

Lily Echeverria ’26 and Ava Liversidge ’26 trekked for five days through the high peaks of Chile's Cerro Castillo National Park. They described their trip as a “capstone” to three years of leading outing club trips and four years of friendship. "This was the first time we backpacked outside of a group," Echeverria said, "completely on our own."

Each day, they hiked nine to eleven miles in rugged terrain, pushing them in ways they appreciated. "It was a nice change of pace from the challenges we face in our academic lives," Liversidge said.

Challenges: They missed one of their flights and one of their buses. Echeverria suffered a bout of food poisoning. They also encountered bed bugs in a hostel, which did not, thankfully, infest their sleeping bags.

Highlights: Hiking through fascinating landscapes. “I have never seen anything like it, with alpine lagoons, wild cows in the forest, and terrain that would change from rock to forest very quickly,” Echeverria said. At night, they'd talk for hours at the campsite. “We got closer as friends, if that's even possible,” she added.

Gratitude: "The Outing Club facilitates time in the outdoors in group settings, which is valuable in learning skills, but it is a true test of your self-confidence and capability to leave that group setting and do something without a staff member 100 feet away in case anything goes wrong," Liversidge said.

Upcoming Trips

Disconnecting to Connect and Make Art in the Balkans, August

Ben Carroll ’27, Eva Sola-Sole ’27, and Henry Stack ’27 plan to cover 119 miles on a twelve-day backpacking trip through the Accursed Mountains (aka the Albanian Alps). They will follow the Peaks of the Balkans Trail loop, making their way through tiny villages in Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro. They have vowed to take no photos, only pulling out their phones in an emergency.

Goals: "The goal of the trip is to engage creatively with the place we're in," Stack said. "We're not going to take photos, but we are going to do creative things—draw, write, and make music."

Sola-Sole said that, for her, drawing is a different but equal way of learning compared with listening to a lecture. "I think on this trip, I will learn so much, especially being in a part of the world I've never been before and being intentional about observing."

Their approach—combining artmaking with being in the outdoors—is one they want to embed more deeply into the BOC culture after they return to Maine.

"My biggest goal," Carroll said, "is to integrate that more into the BOC, whether that is having some kind of song night, or leading a trip to hone our skills as outdoor artists, or a backpacking trip centered around writing stories or making music."

Gratitude: “We’re getting funded to go on a backpacking trip. Last summer, my internship was funded,” Carroll said. “At, Bowdoin, there are endless opportunities to take advantage of.” Stack, who is studying abroad in Africa this semester, added, “Bowdoin has opened the world to me.” 

Farming, Backpacking, and Catching the Eclipse in Iceland, July-August

Asha Adiga-Biro '28 and Nora Wunsch '28 plan to backpack through the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, which is reachable only by ferry and has no roads. They will also volunteer at a farm famous for its organic barley. (Plus, they're timing their trip to catch the total solar eclipse.)

Goals: They added a volunteering stint to their trip to gain a deeper sense of the place. "Living with local people is one of the best ways to experience a country," Adiga-Biro said. “And it makes the travel more fulfilling when you're giving back to a country, to a family."

While their trip isn't a typical Beyond the Pines one, Wunsch said it "weaves in our passions." She is an earth and oceanographic science major interested in Iceland's geology, and both of them have experience farming. (In fact, both worked on the same farm in France at different times.)

The challenge: "It is in a remote place, in a different country, and there will be a lot of river crossings! It will be a challenge for us physically, and also learning how to work together," Wunsch said.

Gratitude: “Travel is so important—you learn so much by meeting new people and hearing about their experiences. Bowdoin giving this opportunity to students, free of cost and making us think about how to minimize our costs, instills in us the importance of travel and community,” Adiga-Biro said.  

Backpacking Across Madeira Island, May

Evan Braude ’28 and Maya Benitez Longo ’28 are planning to hike seventy miles, from one end of Madeira Island to the other.

Goals: “It will be intense and like nothing I’ve ever done before,” Benitez Longo said. ”It will push us and bring us closer together.”

It'll also be a chance for them to hone their outdoors skills, gained through BOC Leadership Training this year. They also noted that they both love the ocean—and they should have ocean views throughout their hike.

The challenge: “It is one thing to plan and lead a trip for students in Maine, with all the infrastructure in place. It's another thing to find that infrastructure and execute it on our own,” Braude said.

Gratitude: “Giving people the opportunity to fund a trip they wouldn’t have been able to do at this age is incredible. To go someplace you’ve always dreamed of, giving us at age nineteen or twenty the chance to make lifelong stories and bring that back to Bowdoin is really awesome,” Benitez Longo said.