AMHERST — As they navigated the steep and rocky terrain of Mount Abraham, members of the UMass Amherst Outing Club struggled together as they carried a 150-pound dog down the mountain on a makeshift stretcher of blankets.

It was a beautiful fall day in Vermont, and the Outing Club was descending the mountain when they came across a small group of hikers standing around a dog lying on his side. The large boerboel, Cypress — a type of mastiff — was unable to move, and the hikers were struggling with how to get the incapacitated dog down the mountain.

“When we came by, we saw it was a situation that seemed remarkably high stress, and we offered to help them out,” said Leo Hoglund-McGuirk, a member of the Class of 2026 and the diversity, equity and inclusion chair of the Outing Club. “It was a great moment of working together with each other and other community members, and we got the dog down safely.”

Five members of the Outing Club stayed with the group of hikers, and together they were able to carry Cypress over two miles back to the trailhead.

The hike on Mount Abraham was one of many trips the Outdoor Adventure Sports Club, or simply the Outing Club, runs each week. It’s one of the largest clubs at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with around 600 active members. The club runs trips almost every day, taking students hiking, backpacking, canoeing, kayaking, rafting, skiing, caving and rock climbing.

“I went to the club fair, like, the first week of school,” recounts said Thomas Oberlander, another UMass junior. “I had been looking for an outdoor-focused club when I was coming into school because it’s something I really enjoy, and the Outing Club members were carrying a canoe around the student union room. And I was like, immediately, ‘That’s the club for me,’” said Oberlander, who is now the club’s president.

In just one week this semester, the club ran nine trips, including a sunrise hike, kayaking pool sessions and an overnight canoeing trip. With hundreds of members wanting to participate, there is a robust leadership structure, allowing for as many activities as possible. There are trip leaders for each sport who go through a certification and training process. Chairs of each sport organize the leaders, and there is an overall board that runs the club.

“There is just such a community surrounding it,” said senior Ellie Karatzas, the club’s leadership development coordinator. “All we want as upperclassmen is to facilitate the same experience that we had and make sure it keeps afloat. So I just want to make sure that everyone is welcome in the outdoors, feels like they have a place, and that they can do whatever they set their minds on.”

Trips with the club range from shorter activities like white water kayaking sessions in the campus pool to multi-night backpacking trips. Oberlander was part of a group that did the Connecticut River challenge, where club members canoed from the Canadian border to Amherst on the Connecticut River. They started on a Friday and finished on Monday, camping along the way.

“The community that you build together, going through a trip like that, I think that was one of my favorites,” Oberlander said.

Many members didn’t have any outdoor experience coming into college. Karatzas came in with no experience, and now she leads canoeing and front country hiking trips. The club accepts people with any experience level and provides them with training in the different sports. They prioritize building a community and providing easy access to outdoor activities at UMass.

Compared to similar groups, the Outing Club’s trips are more affordable; the leaders volunteer their time, so the only costs are for food and gas.

“People are involved in this club in so many different ways. There are some folks that just go on our weekly polar plunges, and there are some people who are doing remarkably intense hikes and remarkably intense whitewater sports, and both of those levels of involvement are just as valued,” Hoglund-McGuirk said. “I hope that everyone [in the club] finds a sense of community and enjoys themselves outside.”