One place where new friendships are born is that great and long-standing GC tradition, the All College Hike. Mary Tenney recounts its origins in her book Still Abides the Memory. The first All-College Hike was held in 1912, and in that first year it was for men only. The purpose of the expedition to the Okaw River (known today as the Kaskaskia) was to gather hickory nuts. They left on Thursday evening, October 10, and camped six miles from Greenville on the first night. They did not arrive at their destination until after another three and a half-hours walking the next morning.

Once at the river, the boys cooled themselves off by taking a swim. In the afternoon they gathered nuts, returning to camp at dusk with their sacks full. They spent that night, as the previous one, sleeping out in the open air without the benefit of tents. The next morning they headed home, arriving on Saturday after, "each one with about a bushel of nuts, two sore feet, and many aching joints.""

Not to be outdone, the girls conceived their own outing. While the boys were off gathering nuts, the girls traveled to Hudson Lake near Mulberry Grove for a picnic. Some of the girls camped out under the stars that cool October night in 1912.

The following year saw the two groups united. The reason for the switch to a coed format seems to have been two key shortages directly related to World War II: gas and guys. The hikers also stayed close to home, trekking to Greenville Lake, rather than driving (yes, the tradition of driving to the "hike" had already begun) to favorite destinations of past years such as Hillsboro or Springfield. A 1943 Papyrus writer explained, "We’re glad to stay [close to] home, and send the gas such a trip would take to our boys who should be with us this year – we’re so glad to do it, for it will help bring them back to us sooner." After the war, however, the guys and gals once again piled into their cars and went their separate ways in 1946.

In 1959, with the destination Ramsey Lake, six stout-hearted fellows decided to put the hike back in the All-College Hike. Their goal: to walk the thirty-five miles. The Papyrus tells the story best: "By 3:30 Wednesday morning Barry Allen, Ken Shepard, Bob Joseph, Ed Knox, Hugh Siefken, and Dale Benson were on their way to Ramsey. Taking backcountry roads, which they vainly hoped would cut the thirty-five mile distance to twenty-five miles, they strode confidently six abreast down the road. When Ed Knox asked what their policy toward cars should be, the group decided to step aside for anything bigger than a Volkswagen.

"As the miles stretched on, the pace got slower. Trying to step it up, Allen and Shepard kept getting further and further ahead of the rest. When the other four got to the first fork in the road, they discovered with dismay that the map and half the water supplies were somewhere ahead out of sight.

"However, with a combination of luck and directions from farmers, they managed to do the nineteen miles to Van Burensburg. There Knox collapsed, looking, as Joseph put it, like an animal hit by a car. Deciding wisdom to be the better part of valor, they accepted the next ride offered."

Meanwhile, Allen and Shepard kept going, walking the entire thirty-five miles in nine painful hours.

In 1961, another brave group walked all the way to Carlyle. Reported one, "The nearby scenery was kept lively by the variety of dead animals along the roadside. And no one can forget the elusive steeple in Carlyle, which looks to be only a mile or two ahead when first sighted. But this steeple moves – and it takes seven miles to catch it."

In 1971 and every year since, the destination has been Durley Camp. About five miles from campus, it is a manageable yet challenging walk. Dr. Reinhard once described the hike as "Fun, sweat, and jeers – everything from mud wrestling greased pigs, to a high lift swing, to campfire devotions and a walk home with a new and special friend. It is a most memorable tradition for Marilyn and me. It was our ‘first date’ over thirty years ago." Dr. Mac, who should know a thing or two about it, has said the All-College Hike is "one of the things that makes Greenville."