Hiking, geocaching, and camping in Kitchener-Waterloo (KW) make up just some of UW’s Outers Club’s (UWOC) termly events, encouraging students to disconnect from their busy university lifestyles and reconnect with the refreshing activities nature has to offer. UWOC executives Emilie Schatzmann, Alana Mainolfi, and Lauren Maxwell shared the club’s most popular adventure destinations, as well as how their time in the club has shaped their university experiences.
“Whether you’re outdoorsy or not, coming out to our hikes or our social events is a great opportunity to take a breath and step away from school,” Schatzmann said. Schatzmann is in her fourth year of environmental engineering and joined the UWOC in fall 2024. Since becoming a member, she has served as an executive member leading the club’s meetings, coordinating events, and overseeing equipment room activity in PAC. In total, the club has 19 executives and nearly 100 active members.
In 2025, Schatzmann started hosting bi-weekly hikes and bi-weekly social events, alternating every other week. To fit the seasons, club events involve activities such as kayaking, canoeing, wood chopping, snowshoeing, movie nights, tent pitching races, and rock painting. Recent kinesiology graduate Mainolfi has been a club executive since May 2025. Mainolfi says she is certain that incoming first-year students and upper-year students can find something to enjoy within the club’s wide variety of activities that range in difficulty levels.
Mainolfi is very fond of the club’s dynamic and how everyone in its tight-knit team possesses a shared passion for the outdoors. “I think the reason for that is that everybody is very open-minded, willing to learn, and curious. Those are the three qualities that I think you need when you’re outdoors because stuff pops up that you have to deal with, so you have to be very go-with-the-flow and laid-back. Nature doesn’t follow an itinerary, so you need to be flexible,” she explained.
Being an executive has allowed Mainolfi to witness the club grow along with its members, who come from all UW faculties. “The most valuable thing for me is just the diversity and the range of people that we get, and then they contribute to us as well. They bring so much value to the club just in their storytelling, perspectives, and life experiences,” Mainolfi shared.
Like Mainolfi, second year environment student Maxwell also found her place in the club because of its members’ passion for nature, and joined the UWOC in her first year. She was promoted to an executive position this January. “I was looking for a little bit of a leadership opportunity, and I felt that coming on [the team] as an executive would be a good way to fulfil that,” she said.
The club gives Maxwell various opportunities to immerse herself in forests and bodies of water rather than textbooks, which is what helps her reset her mind and energy. “Getting outside is huge, especially when [life] gets kind of stressful. With school, being able to get outdoors for a little bit, even if it’s just for a couple hours on the weekend, I feel like it really helps put things in perspective,” she noted. The diversity in club events is what appeals to many of its other executives and members, such as Maxwell, who says the club has so much to offer to anyone looking to do something active outdoors. Maxwell also appreciates the club’s interest in continuing activities all year round, as this gives her and all other members opportunities to learn seasonal outdoor skills.
Trails
The hiking trails the club frequents are all located within KW, are accessible by the Grand River Transit, and are led by different executives to demonstrate their specific skills and interests. Here are a few of them and what they offer.
Columbia Hills’ Geotime Trail (594 Sundew Dr., Waterloo, ON N2V 0B9)
UWOC’s classic hiking spot is the Columbia Hills’ Geotime Trail. This trail is favoured by many members for the solar clock along its route. This path has popular photo op locations, is accessible during all four seasons, and is where members snowshoe together during winter.
Health Valley Trail (3075 University Ave., Waterloo, ON N2J 3S5)
The Health Valley Trail combines members’ love of nature with their love of coffee. After passing through a horse pasture, this trail ends at several local cafes, such as EcoCafe, where executives lead the group to enjoy drinks, treats, and conversation.
Huron Natural Area (801 Trillium Dr., Kitchener, ON N2R 1K4)
This large park is filled with many trails and meadows. Executive Konrad Cheung leads members on bird-watching hikes around this area to encourage further connection with the local wildlife.
Grand River Trail (Walter Bean Grand River Trail, Waterloo, ON)
Here, members can participate in night hikes that are well suited for stargazing.
The Hydrocut (1522 Glasgow St., Waterloo, ON N2N 0A7)
This trail is only accessible to bikers during the spring, summer, and fall, but becomes a winter hiking trail where the UWOC mainly hosts their winter activities like snowshoeing. “It’s really nice to see people get out in the winter, which is awesome,” Schatzmann stated.
Laurel Creek Conservation Area (625 Westmount Rd N., Waterloo, ON N2J 2Z4)
After paying a fee to enter this conservation area, members typically enjoy its beach, hiking trails, water activities, and campsites.
Special club events
Women in Wilderness
The club’s newest initiative, Women in Wilderness was started by Schatzmann to help women feel safer while engaging in outdoor activities. Many of the team’s executives are women, who often feel unsafe going outside due to an increase in violence against women and femicide. With this initiative, Schatzmann hopes to break down misogynist stereotypes about who can engage in outdoor activities, such as the belief that women can’t chop wood or shouldn’t start fires. “I want there to be a safe space where people feel they can come out and ask questions in a good, fostering environment,” she shared.
Geocaching
One of Maxwell’s favourite club activities is geocaching. This activity consists of using a third-party GPS app to track down treasure items along hiking paths that were placed there by app users. The treasure pieces, called “caches,” usually contain pieces of paper and pens for those who find them to sign their names and sometimes trade small trinkets with other geocachers. Maxwell recalled moments during which she had to climb a tree to retrieve a cache, find and use keys to open locked caches, and scavenge through rocks along the Geotime Trail to find hidden ones.
Camping trips
The club runs overnight camping trips in KW and some locations outside the region like Elora. During these events, members get to test their outdoorsy and survival skills while bonding with each other in the depths of nature.
