Arboretum & Botanical Garden

Moscow’s population, reaching almost 28,000 residents, including college students, allows for a lot of exploration regarding activities to do in the small town.
Moscow offers many outdoor activities within the town and through the University of Idaho, there is a lot more to do on the campus as well as the activities that it can offer.
The town offers hiking, hammocking, volleyball, frisbee, disc golf, and so much more. The UI itself offers so much plus more through the Student Recreation Center’s Outdoor Program.
The UI Student Recreation Center’s Outdoor Program offers winter trips and other activities open to students and others within the community.
When asked what their favorite outdoor activities are in Moscow, UI students had a lot of unique ideas. Many students said hiking, and some of their favorite locations were Moscow Mountain as well as the Arboretum & Botanical Garden. Another favorite of many students was volleyball.
“I like hammocking a lot. University of Idaho was able to put in hammock poles which has really benefitted me in terms of getting outside more and discovering a passion for hammocking but also just everyone that uses them seems to really enjoy them as well” UI student Lexi Verhage said.
There are hammock spots all across campus, on Moscow Mountain, and of course, the Living Learning Communities’ brand new hammock poles. Hammock poles that form an octogen with one pole in the middle allowing for many hammocks to be up at one time allowing for optimal use. The hammock poles were put in late October and have been used quite a lot. Some even said that it has been difficult to find time to use them because they can be filled with other hammocks.
Students also love the ability to walk through the Arboretum & Botanical Garden.
“I enjoy the Arboretum a lot and learning about the botanicals and seeing the turtles as well,” Clare Keogh said.
The Arboretum & Botanical Garden can be enjoyed by many within the community and those passing through. With many different plants to see and apparently turtles it can be a great place for activities as well. With so many options there is a lot of hard options to choose from for what to do in a given day.
Another activity that can be seen played across the campus is frisbee.
“Frisbee gives me a chance to play a sport outside with people who I am good friends with,” UI student Jack Schaefer said. “Anyone is able to play frisbee no matter if they are physically fit or not. It is an easy way to pass a few hours and doesn’t take a lot of time to set up or stop.”
There is a sand volleyball court outside of Wallace which has been being utilized all week, as long as the weather has allowed. A popular sport that was mentioned a couple of times was basketball. There is an outdoor basketball court also outside of the Wallace residence center and of course basketball courts in the Student Recreation Center as well as Memorial Gym.
Disc golf is something that is highly common amongst the campus students and community members as well. UI luckily offers a disc golf course. Frisbee, when the weather is nice, can be seen being played by many across the open green spaces on campus. Other activities that can be mentioned as well on the campus are soccer, football and cornhole. Cornhole can be rented and utilized from the Student Recreation Center by students and community members.
The UI Student Recreation Center offers a wide variety of spaces for many different types of activities for students and community members. Through the many activities that the Recreation Center offers, one way to explore Moscow and other places is through the Outdoor Program. The Outdoor Program offers different winter trips and activities. Different winter activities can include snowboarding, snowshoeing and skiing trips. In the spring and summer, there are different hiking trips, white water rafting trips, surfing trips and much more that are offered. These programs are Moscow-based but can take students and community members to many new places to gain many new experiences.
All of the activities that Moscow has to offer to allow for students to be able to explore, as well as experience and meet new people. It is up to the individual to be finding new activities and explore all the new things that could be experienced. From a competitive aspect, all of these mentioned sports have intramurals that can be joined to get more competitive within these activities.
Some students also discussed the need for more activities across campus that could be beneficial, mentioning workout equipment amongst walking trails like those featured in Lewiston on the riverside walking paths. Some mentioned putting more hammock poles in other locations across campus. Another idea was having the possibility to be able to offer and rent hammocks for those that do not have one. Similarly, having more equipment for students to be able to rent so that they can utilize more of the options for activities given to them across campus.
UI students have ample opportunity to be able to find activities that they enjoy or discover new activities to start with their friends. There are many ways that students can take hold of these opportunities and bring their friends along as well. The UI Student Recreation Center offers many of these opportunities for activities and can be a great place to start for any of those that may not know where to start or those that want advice on how to start new activities. Part of these activities is being able to find friends to enjoy them with and experience them with.

Ducati Schiff can be reached at [email protected]