A Weekend At The Loj

By Cameron Rusin

Hi friends!

Exactly a week ago I embarked on a journey into the White Mountains of New Hampshire! I’m not really sure what to say about this trip, because (1) there weren’t too many huge moments to talk about and (2) the moments that I remember are the kind that make my heart feel good, but are hard to describe exactly why to others. Kind of like our backpacking trip this summer, it was just a generally wholesome nature experience with quality people.

However, I will try to tell you guys about what I was up to, in my typical fashion of dividing it into days. Also I should tell you why I was there first (I’m adding this in after writing a fair amount, realizing that no one knows what I’m talking about…). The Tufts Mountain Club is a very large group that basically serves any outdoorsy need you could ever have, and they also own a lodge, called The Loj, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Usually they coordinate rides and individuals and small groups can go up whenever, but sometimes they hold special weekends, which is what I did. This special weekend was Queekend! A weekend devoted to providing safe spaces in the outdoors to the queer community at Tufts, especially for those who had never been to the Loj before.

Here's the Loj

Friday

I left at 7:00 pm from Tufts with a car of 5 other complete strangers, which was a little scary at first but I can’t stress enough how good the people on this trip were so it ended up being a very nice drive. As it was Queekend, we talked about things like cringey coming out stories, but also about fast food chains and our families and why seasons happen and the stars. All in all, a good time. We were one of the last cars at the loj so by the time we got there everyone else had settled in, so we had mac and cheese from dinner and claimed bunks. I slept in a separate cabin because there were ~~50 people and was on the 2nd layer of a 3 story bunkbed! After dinner we chilled and stayed up late to watch a meteor shower. I guesstimate that at least 30 people lined up in the grass and lied down shoulder to shoulder for warmth while watching the stars, which is one of the memories that makes my heart happy. Also the stars were amazing.

Saturday

Today was hike day! We had signed up from trips of 4-6 people the night before to go out on various excursions. Usually TMC wakes up very early, but for some reason we are allowed a very chill morning and hung out together eating chocolate chip pancakes to a very eccentric and diverse playlist. Then my car headed out! This was such a trip because we took the wrong freeway entrance and ended up going in the wrong direction, but because we were in New Hampshire there is a freeway exit once every eternity so we just kinda took a nice drive through the woods and observed the fall foliage before turning around and heading towards the trailhead. Again, this drive was very enjoyable because of the new amazing people I was with. We mostly jammed out on this car ride, and “The One That Got Away” became the hike anthem for some reason. But anyways, the hike was nice, but also harder than I expected.  It was only 6 miles, but we submitted one of the 4000 footers in NH which involved mostly scrambling up rocks, which required far more arm strength than I am used to using. Here are some pictures:

Then that afternoon and evening was just chilling, eating some really good, and playing half a game of Catan.

Sunday

Sunday wasn’t too interesting. Everyone just got up pretty early and drove home, yet again in a friendly car full of strangers. I was a little bummed to be back but also school is a thing and going to the mountains for a whole weekend is a little stressful. Also going to the Loj severely threw my mind and body out of whack. It was weird getting used to being back at Tufts even though I had only been gone for 2 days, and I was also very sore and exhausted. However, it was a really good weekend!