I grew up very outdoorsy, hiking and backpacking with my family. We lived the city life in Washington, D.C., but on weekends took to the trails nearby. Family vacations let us escape the cars and tall buildings of downtown D.C., and embrace the towering Rocky Mountains in Colorado. All of that changed in 2020 and I suddenly found it difficult to leave the city to go hiking with friends and family. This coincided with my long awaited first year of college; I realized it wasn’t going to be the experience I was dreaming of. What was excitement, turned to fear. I was unsure about living on a college campus with the increased risk that daily, normal interactions pose in the time of COVID. With the pandemic and stress in full swing, I looked for any opportunity to be closer to the outdoors and continue my studies in a safe manner.
I found myself booking a flight to Arizona to spend my first semester as part of the newly formed program, A Place Beyond (APB), a wilderness campus for students taking remote classes. It provides academic support, professional mentorship, and optional workshops that cultivate social, emotional, and real-life skills. Living in a bubble with forty other students in the woods was not how I imagined my college experience, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Photo: Carly HoganBruen
Walking around campus the first couple of weeks, I saw students hanging out in hammocks they brought from home. With A Place Beyond tucked into the Prescott National Forest, there are endless places to hammock, but I didn’t understand the hype. Soon thereafter, A Place Beyond created a hammock classroom in partnership with Eagles Nest Outfitters (ENO). Originally designed as a relaxing place to attend virtual classes and provide an alternative to learning indoors, it has turned out to be so much more. It gave me a chance to try hammocking for the first time, and now I am hooked. Hammocks have become a staple in my life. I love feeling the chilly breeze on my cheeks as I write an essay after breakfast in the morning and taking my classes with the birds and deer that casually fly and walk by.
Outside of classes, the ENO hammock classroom became a place to socialize between lectures. We talk and listen to music, call and catch up with family, or take quick breaks if you have video conference fatigue. It has given our instructor team a fun space to lead community sessions and has turned into an unexpected intentional place to unplug and take a break. It’s so calming to lay in a hammock, listening to the birds chirp.
Photo: Carly HoganBruen
I’ve noticed a huge improvement in my overall health, both mental and physical, since I started taking my classes outside. It has helped me clear my head and reconnect with nature. I came to APB feeling stressed with learning how to deal with schoolwork and starting my first semester of college during a pandemic. I left feeling like a new person with a clear headspace. I had always had this set image in my mind of what college was, I never imagined it would be taking classes and listening to lectures while outside in a hammock. I highly recommend giving it a try.
Article contributions by APB student, Carly HoganBruen.
Learn more about A Place Beyond at: www.aplacebeyond.com
A Place Beyond seemed to have just landed on my lap during the disorienting year that was 2020. When met with a decision to either stay at home in isolation while taking online classes or be in a community with other college students in Prescott National Forest, Arizona, it was a no-brainer. APB is an in-person, remote learning community for college students who cannot or do not want to return to their physical college campus during the pandemic. The program provides community, mentorship, educational workshops, and outdoor recreation programming such as mountain biking, hiking, and bouldering. As a result, I had the opportunity to both try out hammocking and bouldering, two activities that have similar stages of doubt, embracing the unknown, and joy of being in the moment. Doubt “So, you are saying this is supposed to hold me?” I asked Noah, one of the instructors at A Place Beyond, as I gestured incredulously at the thin piece of fabric in front of me shaped like the waxing crescent moon in winter time. He grinned and excitedly said yes. My eyes darted between the hammock and his encouraging smile. I couldn’t help but remember the same animating smile from Brandon,...
Hometown Hideaways — New Jersey Hometown Hideaways is a series of blogs featuring top places to hammock around the U.S. Each guide is curated by outdoor enthusiasts who live, work, and play in the region, sharing their insights and experiences on where to hang your hammock and enjoy the great outdoors. Explore your backyard with us, you don’t have to travel far to find adventure. Round Valley Recreation Area Hunterdon County Brisk blue waters and hike-in campsites attract outdoor hammock enthusiasts to Round Valley Recreation Area. Round Valley is one of the few parks in the New Jersey area that offers wilderness camping. Sights and sounds abound at this recreation area including one of the largest lakes in New Jersey, the Round Valley Reservoir, which covers over 2,000 acres and is stocked with lake trout. There are three marked trails at Round Valley: the Pine Tree Trail, Family Hiking and Biking Trail, and the Cushetunk Trail, which accesses the campsites. Enjoy activities such as hiking, biking, boating, camping, sledding, cross country skiing, and then rest amidst the trees in your ENO hammock. Keep in mind that entrance fees are collected from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. Check out...