Experiencing Fall Colors And Traditions With Outdoor Adventures

With summer colors bleeding into the burnt orange of fall, the semester opens with pumpkin spice in the air, spooky nights and hearty soups. But beyond the comfort of home lies a world filled with color and adventure. This fall, Outdoor Adventures is offering four trips that give students opportunities to experience the season in different ways, from Labor Day weekend getaways to Halloween-inspired adventures.

“Fall has such potent imagery,” said Jackson Bendele ’26, trip supervisor for Outdoor Adventures. “Whether you’re thinking of fall colors and Thanksgiving, or you’re thinking of Halloween and the spookiness that comes around with that, we wanted to make the most out of that time of year.” 

When Labor Day weekend rolled in, Outdoor Adventures planned a paddleboard trip to Inks Lake State Park. The trip gave students an opportunity to escape theTexas heat and take a break from the start of the semester. 

“We really wanted to focus on relaxation and fun in the sun, so that meant bringing stand-up paddleboards to the lake and putting them together to make a raft where they could play games there,” Bendele said. “Eating watermelon on the side and watching other park visitors enjoying the lake.” 

Inks Lake Paddle Trip, unlike other trips, offered participants a stress-free experience where they did not have to worry about preparations, equipment or even cooking their own food. Grace Harrell ’28, one of the trip leaders, took charge of the kitchen.

“I love cooking, it is my pride and joy to cook for participants,” Harrell said. “I made chicken tacos the first night, and that was perfect. Everyone loved it. We did pancakes the next morning, [you] wake up, sit by the lake, drink coffee and eat pancakes.”

For participants like Jingyi Zhang ’30, a doctoral student from Hong Kong, the camping experience proved to be different and welcoming.

“I think in my previous camp experience, I need to consider a lot about how to keep my stomach full,” Zhang said. “So, that’s actually a lot of preparing about how we should cook food, what kind of food we should bring and how to keep them frozen. All this kind of stuff actually takes a lot of time and effort to think about and prepare. But with OA, we can get rid of all these worries and just enjoy the fun.”

Yet planning a menu for an outdoor trip is no easy feat. Outdoor Adventures makes sure every menu is accommodating to every dietary restriction.

With food sorted out, and Inks Lake Paddle Trip complete, Outdoor Adventures is turning its attention to two back-to-back weekend trips. The first takes students on a spooky trip to Caddo Lake State Park on Oct. 30, followed by a trip to Lost Maples State Natural Area beginning Nov. 6.

“Caddo Lake is one of the prime nature destinations in Texas,” Bendele said. “I think it’s one of the only natural lakes in Texas, if not the only one then, it has these amazing Spanish moss trees that are just beautiful. They drape down and it’s this really eerie kind of environment.” 

Spooky Caddo Lake Trip, as the title suggests, sets the tone before the adventure even begins, blending the eerie atmosphere of Caddo Lake with the playful spirit of Halloween. From telling scary ghost stories around a crackling campfire to paddling through the dark lake with glow sticks, Bendele has turned the lake into a perfect setting of laughter, fun and fright. 

The following weekend, participants have the opportunity to travel to Lost Maples, one of the prime destinations in Texas where adventurers can experience fall foliage taking center stage.. 

“You see other states like Arkansas, Colorado and all these nature states and you’re like, ‘Man, I wish Texas had [fall colors], but Texas does have that,” Bendele said. “Lost Maples has the best fall colors out of anywhere in the entire state, and so I had the great opportunity to get a campsite reservation at the peak fall colors window which is around early November, and we’re going to make this trip happen.”

 As Thanksgiving approaches, Outdoor Adventures will shift the focus from seasonal scenery to community. The Thanksgiving Break Cliffs and Canyons Expedition will take students hiking and camping at Big Bend National Park, providing an option for those who may not be able to travel home during the break.

“There are plenty of people, whether they’re international students or students who are out-of-state, who may not get the opportunity to go home for Thanksgiving,” Bendele said. “We want to provide them with not only a great outdoor trip in West Texas, but also provide them a community and a family that they can share a Thanksgiving dinner table with.”

Yet beneath the chatter of new found friends, and the sounds of nature lay a moment of stillness, something Zhang got to experience in her trip to Inks Lake State Park. She took a moment and looked up at the night sky.