The new Hiking Club went on its very first Earth Day hike on April 22, a tradition that Mrs. Katie Lewis, senior religion teacher and Hiking Club moderator, said she hopes will continue into the future, giving students the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and the solemn peace of nature.

“We’re going about three miles at Fort Ben,” Lewis said before the hike. “There are eight people going and we are doing the Fall Creek Trail and part of the Camp Creek Trail,” two paths that snake through the park’s eastern lowlands, skirting the duck pond, abundant wildflowers and “many beautiful vistas,” according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Lewis said she looked forward to the inaugural adventure, calling it “a great day to get outside and appreciate God’s gift.”

This hike is actually one of the first for one of the Hill’s newest clubs. “(Seniors) Ellie Thor and Ellie Sagebiel started the club last year,” Lewis said. “They love the outdoors, so they wanted to start the club.” As the club got underway last year during the beginning of the pandemic, it was challenge to schedule meetings and hikes in at the start; however, Lewis and the Hiking Club were able to make it to hikes around the campus, Fort Ben and even Skiles Test, a nature park west of Fort Ben.

After Thursday’s Earth Day hike, the club hopes to keep the momentum going.

The next planned hike is going to be on May 4. “We’re going to meet at 3:15 and we’re going to walk up the Fall Creek Greenway,” Lewis said. “There’s a bald eagle’s nest about a mile from Cathedral, so we’re going to hike to that and try and see if we can see the bald eagle.”

Lewis invited anyone not already in the club who’s interested in joining to email her at [email protected]. 

Overall, the Earth Day hike and others like it are all about one thing, according to Lewis: The little moments spent in nature.  “I do think that conversations are better outside, when you’re just strolling around and talking,” Lewis said. She hopes to hand that appreciation on to the club’s members.

“I’m just kind of passing on that love,” she said.