Lottery is now closed

Spend a weekend in New Hampshire hiking, climbing, eating, roasting marshmallows, and hanging out around a campfire!

This is a weekend-long trip running Friday evening to Sunday evening Oct 27th - Oct 29th, with a mandatory Zoom pre-trip meeting on Monday, Oct 21st at 8 pm. Please only sign up if you can commit to the mandatory virtual pre-trip meeting and the full weekend.

The lottery will run on Oct 17th at 5pm and we will notify those on the trip and waitlisted shortly. Spaces often open up for those on the waitlist. We always need more drivers so if you have a car and are willing to drive others to and from Boston make sure to list this.

We hope to do do some of the following activities if there is enough interest! Please say what you'd be psyched for in your sign up

• An apple picking outing (@ a local farm, will cost $ for admission)
• A spooky scavenger hunt
• A costume contest
• Trail/Tent trick or treating
• Pumpkin carving
• Pumpkin/Apple Pies!
• Orienteering

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What is a Circus?

Circus is a weekend of hiking, camping, climbing, swimming, and other outdoor trips based out of MITOC's Camelot cabin near Groton, NH. We carpool up Friday night and plan trips for Saturday, go on those trips Saturday, followed by a communal dinner and planning Sunday trips, then go on trips Sunday and drive straight home. It's a great way to meet fellow outdoorsy folks, explore the White Mountains, hang out at the cabin, and get outdoors. We’ll provide a light breakfast Saturday and Sunday, dinner Saturday, some snacks, s'mores materials, gear rentals, and trip leaders. Come prepared with ideas for hikes, climbs, and other outdoor activities you're psyched to do as trip planning is a collaborative process!

Complete beginners are welcome and encouraged! For many folks, circus is their first mitoc trip. We'll do our best to tailor the trips to the needs of the group and usually have a range from moderate (5-6 mile, 1000-1500ft) to full day (11+ miles, 3500+ ft). We do have to get everyone home in time for dinner so expect trips to try and wrap up by 5 or 6pm.

Shoulder Season Weather

In order to keep everyone safe, MITOC operates under different rules in winter conditions. We expect some areas, particularly the presidentials, may have snow, ice, and other winter conditions. Any trips going to these areas will need to follow winter rules which means everyone on that hike needs to have attended a set of winter safety lectures. If you have not done winterschool in the past, we'll ask you not to go on any hikes where we anticipate winter conditions. This will be highly variable depending on the weather over the next weeks and we'll know more closer to the date!

We expect cold temperatures potentially below freezing while hiking and camping. If you're not sure about your layers/ sleep system, please reach out!

Prerequisites

Beginners are strongly encouraged to join us on this trip! That said, we do want to set realistic expectations for what we'll be doing this weekend. If you check all these boxes go ahead and sign up! If not and you're still interested, email us :)

• You've been on and enjoyed hikes longer than 5 miles before, or you feel comfortable with similar levels of sustained exercise (running 3+ mi, biking 10+ mi, etc)
• You are able to do potentially hard hikes two days in a row
• You own hiking shoes or running sneakers with good grip or can borrow them from a friend (we don't rent summer hiking shoes)
• You're excited to sleep outside in a tent for two nights
• You're okay with not having a shower for two nights
• You're okay with using an outhouse with no running water

MITOC Membership

You must be an MITOC member with an active signed waiver & current membership to attend the circus. You can complete both on this page here..

Signup & Lottery

Sign up for the trip opens on Wednesday, Oct 9th and will close on Thursday Oct 17th. On Thursday, trip attendees will be determined using a random lottery. The number of people who can join will depend on the number of trip leaders who sign up and the number of people who own or are willing to rent cars. Drivers may be prioritized in both the waitlist and lottery, so please be sure to update your carpooling preferences on your profile.

Shared Responsibility and Saturday Dinner

MITOC operates on a shared adventure model and expects all participants to be engaged and help make the trip smooth and fun. Our volunteer trip leaders are there to help ensure trips operate safely, but we are not a guide service.

Everyone on the trip will be expected to help with Saturday dinner - either cooking or cleaning up - and assist with cleaning as we head out Sunday morning.

Pre-trip Meeting and Gear

If you are selected by the lottery, there will be a mandatory pre-trip virtual meeting held on Monday, Oct 21th at 8 pm, Zoom link will be emailed.

We'll discuss logistics, timing, rideshare, tips and tricks, and any questions.

If you need to rent gear, there will be office hours on Tuesday and Thursday from 6-7 pm and Friday from 12-1pm at the MITOC office in the student center where you can rent MITOC gear. MITOC has tents, sleeping bags, foam pads, packs, and other potentially useful gear.

A detailed packing list will be sent out after the lottery runs. To give you an idea of what you might need, here is a rough list:

• Tent (rentable, sharing encouraged)
• Sleeping bag (rentable)
  • The "unisex" rating on bags is generally for an avg size US male wearing full base layers, on a sleeping pad of 5R. If you are female, are smaller, have lower body mass, sleep cold, don't have a good sleeping pad, or are using worn gear like mitoc bags, you should aim 20-40 degrees F warmer than what the comfort rating says.
• Sleeping pad (rentable)
  • Mitoc pads are only about 1.9R, if you sleep cold, consider stacking two for ~3.8R, or stack a foam pad + insulated inflatable one.
• Backpack with space for 2L water, your extra layers, your snacks, and some group gear (rentable)
• Water bottles (2L +) + a gallon (or two) for the car/cabin
  • There is no water at Camelot
• Warm insulating layers (No cotton! Athletic wear, quick dry fibers, down, wool, are all good. Limited shells/fleeces and puffys available for rent from MITOC)
• Wind/waterproof shell
• Warm hat /gloves
• Sun protection, hat, glasses, sunscreen
• Shoes with good traction (hiking boots, hiking shoes, trail runners, etc) (NOT available to rent unfortunately)
• Personal toiletries/medication/sun screen/bug spray
• Personal snacks/lunches for two hikes (should be able to be eaten on the go)
• Headlamp
• Whistle

Costs

If you are selected by the trip lottery, pay the trip fee. See the table below to determine your fee. You can pay it here: https://mitoc.mit.edu/pay. If you have desk credit, you may also pay using that.

• All students -> $20
• Non-Students -> $40
• If you are a driver driving others both to and from Boston and/or if you are actively organizing and leading a trip -> Subtract $10 from your fee (up to $20 if you're doing both)

The fee helps to cover your gear rentals for 2 nights, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, dinner on Saturday, s'mores, camping at the cabin for two nights, and the fees MITOC pays to the national forest to be allowed to run trips.

Note: All gear rental is included in your circus fee, as long as you return the gear during office hours the week after the circus. You will still need deposit checks, though.

There are no refunds, so paying is a commitment to join the trip. Don't pay your trip fee until you are guaranteed a spot!

Please do not let cost be a reason not to attend. MITOC is committed to making the outdoors equally available to all our members and has waivers for the trip and membership fees. Contact the Circus chairs if you would like to request a fee waiver.

Please also budget $20-35 each way ($40-70) total to split between your drivers, to reimburse for gas, toll fees, maintenance, etc. If you are an MIT undergrad, we have the ability to help with gas costs, please reach out if you’d like to take advantage of this assistance.

Rideshare

Like all things MITOC, our carpooling is a shared adventure model relying on the kindness of those with cars to carpool with those who don’t. A rideshare & logistics spreadsheet will be sent out via email to circus participants after the lottery runs - use this spreadsheet to coordinate. If you listed yourself as willing to rent a car on your trips website profile, you may be asked to rent if we don't have enough drivers. Drivers -- Please make sure your information is up to date and accurate! If you will only be doing a one way trip or will be leaving early/arriving late please communicate this to avoid stranding anyone in NH. Riders – Please be kind and courteous to your drivers, be on time, don’t expect door to door service, be tidy in the car, and please promptly reimburse drivers for gas/wear without making them beg. Car ownership, gas, tolls, insurance, and maintenance add up fast.

Schedule and Cabin Info

Friday: Carpool up to the cabin. It takes about 2.5 hours to get from Campus to Camelot without traffic, so most people will leave between 6 and 6:30PM (and eat dinner first). Everyone should be at the cabin by 9PM when we meet to plan trips for Saturday.

Saturday: Everyone goes on trips in the lovely outdoors! Yay! Everyone will return to the cabin Saturday night, and we'll cook dinner, roast marshmallows, and plan trips for Sunday at 8:30PM.

Sunday: Clean up the cabin in the morning. More trips. Cars return directly to Boston/Cambridge from Sunday trips; return time varies depending on the length of your trip.

Cabin Details: Camelot is a rustic cabin near Rumney, NH. It has limited electricity, a wood stove for heating, and no running water. Please bring plenty of water (for drinking, cooking, and washing) - recommended 2L+ per day and a gallon for the car. There is limited indoor sleeping space - most folks will need to sleep outdoors in tents, the lean-to, or (weather permitting) cowboy camping out under the stars. The cabin itself has a wood stove for heating. There are also plenty of trees around the Camelot woods that allow for some comfy hammocking!

We're humans MITOC is not a guide service. We are an all-volunteer organization dedicated to helping the MIT community enjoy the great outdoors. Circuses are possible due to efforts from volunteers, trip leaders, drivers offering to carpool, and flexibility from everyone. When you sign up for this trip, you are indicating that you have read and understood all circus information and policies in this post and on the website.

Questions? Email circus-chair@mit.edu!