When Elsa Goebel-Bain was 11 years old, her family moved from Springfield, Illinois, to Winthrop, Maine. That move opened a world of outdoor recreation opportunities. Inspired by her family’s hiking and camping trips, Elsa helped launch an outdoor club at Winthrop High School, where she is starting her senior year. For that effort, she partnered with the Brunswick-based Teens to Trails organization, where she completed a marketing and communications internship this summer and sits on the Youth Advisory Council.
When we moved here, it expanded what we could do. When we lived in Illinois, we went camping and tried to go hiking. It’s very flat there, so the outdoor opportunities were more limited by geography than they are in Maine. I had never skied, and I could ski here. I ski recreationally and have skied all over Maine: Mount Abram, Sugarloaf, Lost Valley – which is small, but it’s close by – Black Mountain, Sunday River. I had hiked in Illinois, but not big mountains. I had camped, but not where you can see so many stars.
One of my favorite places is Monhegan Island. I’ve gone there with my family a couple of times. There’s a really small town and lots of artists out painting, lots of art galleries. There’s really good hiking there, too. Because the island is 10 miles out to sea, the stars are amazing on Monhegan. As the sun goes down, the stars come out.
For me, being outside, whether it’s hiking or skiing or camping, is a way to slow down and connect to the people around you as well as connecting with nature. I’ve gone camping with my family twice in the last week, and just being around a campfire together and being outdoors – it builds good connections with people.
I had been thinking about starting an outing club at my school, and Teens to Trails was a great resource to help guide me in that. I contacted Teens to Trails about starting an outdoors club at Winthrop High School and found an advisor at my school who would be willing to help lead trips. That was during my sophomore year. The next year, there was a new guidance counselor at our school, Sarah Hubert, and she became our advisor. She’s actually a Registered Maine Guide, so it’s been great to have her involved.
Being involved with Teens to Trails, both through the advisory council and through my internship, has made me see that being able to go outside and have these recreational opportunities is a privilege. Having the access and the means for transportation – and also having the knowledge to know what you’re doing when you’re hiking or camping. Teens to Trails has been helpful in getting our club organized. They also provided a $1,500 grant the first year that helped with transportation and equipment expenses.
With our school’s club, we try to have one outing a month, and that can be anything from biking to camping, ice fishing, hiking, white water rafting. We usually have about 15 students at meetings, and generally about 10 on outings. We meet and talk about what kinds of trips we’d like to do, and we talk about gear and make sure everyone has what they need. Teens to Trails also offers a few planned outings throughout the year that multiple schools can go to at once. There’s an October Rendezvous with camping in the fall, another day in the winter, and a whitewater rafting trip in May. It’s a great way to meet students from other schools who have similar interests.
Our club is planning to go on the Teens to Trails-organized outings again this year. Last year we went on a biking trip that people really liked, so we’ll probably try to do something like that again. And group camping is usually a hit – it allows people with different interests to go off and explore and do different things, even though we’re all camping together.
High school can be really stressful, and being able to go out in nature and feel more grounded and have a place to go that’s kind of relaxing can really help. You might never think of it unless you were raised in a family that was outdoorsy, and I think it’s important to help more students find these opportunities to get outside and to learn how to enjoy some of the outdoor recreation opportunities out there.