Snapshots in J-Tree

Here are a couple pictures from my backcountry camping adventure in Joshua Tree National Park. It was amazing to hike into the desert, surrounded by trees that looked like they came straight out of Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax." I'll fill in more details soon...

A liberal state? Well, there's plenty of diversity!

California should not be labeled just the "Sunshine State" - it should include " And State of Diverse Environments." I live in a secluded house in the mountains with a handful of multifarious experiences spanning across a 2-hour driving radius - the beach, incredible Thai restaurants, the Hollywood sign, Joshua Tree National Park, and hiking trails galore. Where else do you find these kind of weekend venturing options?!?

I have not hit all the things included in the list above, but I am working at it. I need to make a list of my personal "Top 25 Things to do in California" and start checking off items. There have been some Jill "firsts" in the last couple weeks, one of which included a solo snowshoe hike! I borrowed a staff member's pair of snowshoes and hiked from my house out into the woods for a Saturday morning that bled into the afternoon. It was a work-out, but I enjoyed walking on top of the snow and looking behind me every once in awhile to see my huge shoe prints following me ever so diligently...

I've also been trying to snap some good photos of the mountains that are in sight when we're teaching class during the weekdays. This is one good shot that I took during our lunchtime, alongside many of my students with their disposable cameras, just clicking away. (Sidenote: One of the most hilarious things is watching these kids take, at minimum, 10-15 pictures of the squirrels running around in the woods. It's something us staff members like to joke about, and it never fails to happen week after week!)

Speaking of teaching, it has been going quite well! I taught some classes this past week that I had never taught before, including a geology class and a water systems class. Even though I plan out my classes carefully and bring "all the right teaching props," nature always has a way of surprising me and supplementing my class in such cool ways. For instance, while I was teaching an outdoor survival class and going through the Leave No Trace tenets, our group saw a coyote wandering about 70 yards in front of us. Embracing it as a teachable moment, we discussed why it was important to respect the creatures in the woods. When I taught a class on bacteria and insects, we paused our lesson to dig into the dirt and came up with handfuls of mycelium and little bugs - it emphasized the role of these living things the decomposition process more so than any book ever could have illustrated! In the below picture, my class this week created a river town and we discussed how pollutants moved downstream.

When class ends for the week and all the kids have hopped on the bus, then comes the weekend adventuring. For the past couple weeks, I didn't wander too far from our staff house, as I utilized my weekend time to prepare my lessons and recharge for the week. Now that I've got a better handle on the teaching process and the schedule of school, I'm heading out and taking a look around at the Southern California scene. Last weekend, I headed to Hollywood Boulevard with a few fellow staff members to see what all the fuss was about. :D After winding through way too much traffic, we made it past the Hollywood hill and walked down the street, bustled and hustled by Scientology protesters and full-costumed Transformers - it was quite the sight. We saw many stars on the sidewalk - I had to laugh when I took Nate's photo by Alice Cooper and an older couple walking by asked out loud who Cooper was. :D 

This weekend, we're doing some errands in town and then heading to watch a group of staff members play in a band at a microbrewery in Big Bear City. Then tomorrow, I will FINALLY make my first appearance at Joshua Tree National Park - I think I'm the only person on our staff who hasn't been there yet, and I am itching to see those amazing trees and the desert! A couple of staff members and I are going to hike and camp at the park for the next two days, so I will have plenty of picture to share next week! Sending my love from Cali!

Greetings from Snowy California!

Welcome to "photo slices" of my life out here in California! It's been a busy month since I moved out here at the beginning of January, so I'll try to catch you up with the details of my existence as an environmental education instructor...

"Understanding How We Can All Fit Together On One Healthy Planet" is the motto of Camp High Trails, a residential outdoor education school that services elementary schools throughout Southern California. The school, a small business with its program grounded in California State Standards for science education, is run at three different sites within the San Bernadino National Forest, about 2 1/2 hours east of Los Angeles (3 1/2 on a snowy day). Over the course of a school year (September thru May), about 9,000 5th and 6th grade students spend a week with us and get a taste of natural science with their own hands and feet - identifying trees by smelling the bark, breaking rocks to understand their mineral qualities, and hiking through the snow to catch a beautiful glimpse of the mountains.

It truly is a "wall-less classroom" and as a field instructor, I take charge of planning the hiking route, making sure every kid has their water bottle, and incorporating nature-provided teaching props into my lessons...Ponderosa pines, acorn woodpeckers, and the clouds. Our classes range from Furry Friends (the study of mammals and carrying capacity/the food chain) to Water Works (discussion of the water cycle on a global scale), as well as one of my favorites, Little World (the study of fungi, bacteria, and insects). On a normal field day I take a group of 13-17 students out for seven hours, and we complete three classes through series of discussions and activities, with time in between for hiking and lunch.

As a staff member here, I also get to serve as a cabin instructor - High Trails is a residential program, so the students stay in cabins at night. Cabin instructors stay with the students throughout the evening and get to teach a different set of classes based on night hikes or indoor subjects. Astronomy and Nocturnal Nation are our two main night hike classes in which we wander out into the night to discuss the beautiful night sky full of stars or how nocturnal animals' eyes are designed for utilizing small amounts of light. An indoor evening class that's growing on me is our Snakes class - we have five snakes that we get to bring out and show to the kids, ranging from small king snakes to 5 foot pythons! (I'll try to get some pictures of that class on here soon!)

High Trails has been in session for three weeks during the spring season. I've had my first taste of classroom time with kids...and they are incredible clients. It amazes me that some of these kids know all the dance moves to "Souljah Boy" and yet, are completely spell-bound by the grey squirrels darting around in the snow. The shell of "being cool" is easily dismantled as they hunt for lichens and stare into the star-studded sky. It's a beautiful opportunity to take them out of their comfortable environment and show them the wonders of a whole new world, so wildly different than the paved cityscape from whence they came.