Over the May 16-17 weekend, 10 high school outing clubs came together in Caratunk at Adventure Bound for the 2015 Teens To Trails (T3) Spring Thing!, an annual gathering of high school outing clubs from all over the state for a weekend of camping, hiking, biking, canoeing, rafting, service projects and more.

This year, the outing clubs in attendance included Dirigo, Ellsworth, John Bapst, Mt. Ararat, Mt. Desert Island, Skowhegan, Windham, Wiscasset, Yarmouth and one member from Brunswick, totaling 92 participants (76 students and 16 chaperones).

On Saturday the participants spent a full day exploring The Forks and the Caratunk area led by experienced outdoorsmen and women volunteering their time and energy to get more teens outside and reaping the benefits of lifelong sports and connecting with nature.

One outing club canoed on the Dead and Kennebec Rivers with Maine Path & Paddle Guides, three outing clubs hiked on the Kennebec River Trail (part of The Forks Area Scenic Trail System) before heading down the Kennebec in Adventure Bound’s canoes, and yet another group hiked into Moxie Falls and biked with a Chewonki leader by Moxie Pond and Pleasant Pond using the Maine Winter Sports Center’s bikes from their L.L. Bean Healthy Hometowns equipment trailer rental program.

Two other groups hiked on the Appalachian Trail with representatives from the Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC) and the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) enjoying views from Pleasant Pond Mountain, while two more groups experienced a guided hike to Grand Falls with a Maine Master Naturalist and did trail work with the Maine Huts & Trails trail crew.

Convening back at Adventure Bound on Saturday in the late afternoon the outing clubs benefited from unstructured recreation before setting camp, cooking dinner, making s’mores, and watching select films from the 2014-15 Maine Outdoor Film Festival (MOFF). The weekend came to an end on Sunday afternoon after a successful day on the Kennebec River rafting with Adventure Bound. The new friendships that were formed and the old ones that were solidified from this weekend spent in the outdoors were reflected in the laughter, smiles and teamwork seen in the 12 rafts of mixed outing clubs.

The Spring Thing! is all about outing clubs across Maine coming together to learn from each other and experience all that the Maine outdoors have to offer. Special thanks to the Plum Creek Foundation, the Davis Conservation Foundation, the National Park Service’s Cost Share Challenge grant, and individual donors for making this year’s Spring Thing! the most successful yet. Additionally, the weekend would not have been possible without our 

T3 Partners including: Adventure Bound, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), Chewonki, the Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC), Maine Huts & Trails, Maine Master Naturalists, Maine Outdoor Film Festival (MOFF), Maine Path & Paddle Guides, Maine Winter Sports Center (MWSC) and the L.L. Bean Healthy Hometowns Program.

For more information on how to support Teens To Trails and other exciting opportunities like the Spring Thing!, visit www.teenstotrails.org.