31st Annual National Gathering
May 28 - May 31, 2010
Get Ready to Have Fun and Celebrate 31 years of Women Outdoors!
Every Memorial Day weekend, women from across the country come together for the Women Outdoors National Gathering: three wonderful days of fun and adventure at the Sargent Center in southern New Hampshire. Whether you are a hiker or biker, kayaker or swimmer, birder or star gazer, painter or poet, writer or reader, the Women Outdoors Gathering has something for you. This is sure to be our most memorable year!
Daytime Activities
Most of the activities at the Gathering are volunteer-led workshops. Some of the favorites include the hike to the heron rookery to see the fuzzy heads of baby heron, the wildflower identification walk, trekking up Mount Monadnock, and biking New Hampshire’s back roads. Members also offer workshops such as orienteering, knot tying, bicycle repair, camp cooking, drumming and first aid. Some of the quieter offerings may include chi qong, yoga, painting and crafts. In addition, women can canoe, kayak or swim in Half Moon Pond, explore the many walking trails at the Sargent Center, or challenge themselves with an adventure activity such as the climbing wall or high ropes course.
Evening Activities
On Friday night, the Gathering opens with “getting to know you games” that leave you laughing with your new friends. Saturday evening features a keynote speaker, and Sunday night brings down the house with the annual coffee house review – a talent show of Women Outdoors members. A campfire and s’mores round out Saturday and Sunday nights.
Keynote Speaker
We are still finalizing plans for our keynote speaker for the 31st Annual Women Outdoors National Gathering. Check back here in the next few weeks to see whom we've selected.
The Sargent Center
Nature's Classroom operates the Sargent Center in Hancock, New Hampshire. Located in the Monadnock region of southern New Hampshire, the 800-acre camp features hiking and biking trails and a large lake – Half Moon Pond – for canoeing, kayaking, swimming and relaxing. Perhaps most important, the meals at the Gathering are fabulous.
Accommodations
Women have a variety of options for their stay at the Gathering. Cabins sleep 4 to 10 people in bunk beds and have a living room and a bathroom with hot showers. Dorm rooms sleep up to 6 people in bunks and have a bathroom with hot showers at the end of the hall. Cabins and the dorm are heated and have electricity.
Yurts sleep 4 to 6 people on cots in an open floor plan. The yurts are like round platform tents and are completely enclosed and above ground. There is no heat or electricity in the yurts. Women who want to camp can pitch their tent in the meadow. There is a separate bathhouse with hot showers for the yurters and tenters.
Meals
The gourmet chef at the Sargent Center prepares incredibly delicious vegetarian and non-vegetarian entrées for each meal. Desserts are fabulous. Meals from Saturday breakfast through Monday lunch are included in the price of the Gathering. Friday night’s dinner is an additional charge.
Registration Fee
Fees range from $100-$270, depending on the accommodations you choose and how many days you attend. Some partial scholarships are available.