Santa Fe County alone is home to over 470 miles of trails, the majority of which allow mountain bikes. The Outdoor Program, which has its own fleet of mountain bikes, takes advantage of both local and regional trails. To join a trip, simply sign up at the Student Activity Center. To plan your own, check in with the Outdoor Program for a rental bike.

The Outdoor Program runs several overnight backpacking trips each year to locations such as the Pecos and Gila Wildernesses in New Mexico, as well as spring break and summer trips to Colorado, Arizona, and Utah. The Outdoor Program provides all necessary equipment, from backpacks and tents to cooking stoves and sleeping bags.

The college also loans equipment to students who are planning their own backpacking adventures through our Equipment Loan Program. Once you’re on campus, simply check in at the Student Activity Center to get a list of upcoming (and mostly free) guided trips.

Equipment Rental Program

If students would like to plan their own adventure, much of the equipment they will need for their trips can be provided by the Outdoor Program for free.

BACKPACKS

Perfect for an overnight or long weekend outing.

SLEEPING BAGS

Great for all but the coldest trips, the college has several different kinds of bags for all of students’ spring, summer, and fall adventures.

SLEEPING PADS

Ultralight RidgeRest pads keep backpackers comfortable at night without weighing them down during the day.

TENTS

Two and three-person dome-tents, as well as Megamid tents for up to four occupants, are available.

STOVES

MSR WhisperLites are one of the most popular backpacking stoves of all time.

SNOWSHOES

Want to get out and experience the serenity of a snow-blanketed aspen grove? The college has a wide selection of snowshoes to fit people and adventures of all sizes!

The Outdoor Program’s most common trips are day trips to hike the 100-plus trails that are within a short drive from campus. These trails can be through the aspens and pines that are just uproad from campus, through the red mesas and canyons to the north of Santa Fe, or even through sand dunes and dry river bottoms, which are known as arroyos in New Mexico.

To learn about upcoming trips, simply check in at the Student Activity Center to get the most recent Outdoor Program offerings.

Did you know that six ski basins are within two hours of Santa Fe—and that our own Santa Fe Ski Basin is just fifteen miles uphill from campus? With 89 trails at 12,000 feet, Santa Fe Johnnies can literally ski in the morning and hit seminar in the evening!

If you’re looking for an official program to support your ski goals, the Outdoor Program offers a number of ski/board trips and snowshoeing adventures throughout the year. The trips are partially subsidized, but do require some fees from students. In addition, the St. John’s College Ski Club invites students to join them. The club is generally able to offer school-funded discounts as well as transportation to whatever basins the club chooses to visit.

For students on a budget, we recommend getting a local season pass early and purchasing your own used equipment at the Santa Fe Ski Swap or online. After your one-time investment in equipment, you would only have the annual cost of a pass, which tends to be very affordable in our region (approximately $300 for students), and transportation can be reserved through the Student Activity Center.

Common basins visited by Johnnies include the Santa Fe Ski Basin, the world-class Taos Ski Valley, which is just 90 minutes away, the massive Wolf Creek basin in Colorado, and our other local basins such as Pajarito and Sipapu.

Water in the desert? Yes, and we consider it a precious resource as well as an opportunity for great adventure. In fact, the Taos Box is considered one of the best whitewater rafting trips in the country, racing 16 miles through the 800-foot Rio Grande Gorge and offering over a dozen class IV rapids. For the most part, though, our water is calm and provides great opportunities for easy beginner floats. The Outdoor Program offers opportunities for both.

Whether you want an easy paddleboarding trip or a swim across Lake Abiquiu; a lazy float down the Orilla Verde or Corrales Bosque; an intermediate rafting adventure along the Rio Chama; a white-knuckled class IV rapid through the Taos Box; a day of fly fishing on the Pecos River; a meditative day of angling on Santa Cruz Lake; a day of kayaking on Heron Lake; or an ice-cold scuba diving trip into the Blue Hole, New Mexico’s water is waiting for you to both explore and respect—and the Outdoor Program can take you to any of them.

There are few places left in America where one can jump on a horse and ride without roads or fences to put an end to your adventure—let alone see wild horses riding the lonely range, looking for water. New Mexico is one of these rare places. (Fun fact: St. John’s College used to have our own horse stables right on campus!) If you want to saddle up and head out on the open range or through national forests, request that a trip be planned through our Outdoor Program or reach out to one of the many private outfitters in our area.

The Outdoor Program offers climbing experiences that can range from beginner to advanced. We provide cost-free trips to local climbing destinations, provide all equipment, and teach you everything you need to know to have a great day exploring the vertical world. Additionally, visit us at the Student Activity Center to try indoor climbing on our state-of-the-art Tension Board.