Carleton may be her place. Or Colby may be. My kid went to the latter, so here is my 2 cents worth.
A girl from our LPS went to Colby starting in GES and loved it. DS (a BS kid who also attended Colby) met her on campus and made the connection that they were from the same place. He noted that because the GES kids tended to get housing vacated by juniors going abroad for the spring, they tended to end up with better living accommodations than most freshmen.
Yes, Colby has lots of outdoorsy kids. My kid (yes, a skier) became more interested in those activities as the years went by but was never super engaged in that as he was more interested in music. The school offers lots of opportunities for kids to explore these - and no better place than Maine!- , and my sense is that many kids take advantage of these. But many don’t.
As for the BS and preppy crowd – we noticed them at every admitted student day and even tours junior year. Many come from the same towns, played sports together, went to camp together, summer in the same places, or currently go to school together. Although DS went to a BS, he knew nobody. Personally, I attributed the obvious presence of that group to their excitement to see a familiar face in a new environment. My kid’s friends whom I met were mostly from LPS in MA and ME.
So if your D feels like she can find her tribe there, odds are excellent she can. By design, the student body is much more diverse in terms of types of kids than it was even a decade ago, when DS started. At the same time, location alone will always make it a magnet for the outdoorsy Maine-loving types, who also tend to be of a certain demographic. It’s hard to say which would be better for her.
Reading this, my guess is she could be happy at either. And neither is a bad option!