California Dreaming

Living at 7,000 feet in the San Bernardino National Forest is great, but after six months of four-plus feet of snow on the ground, early March found me craving some sunny, warm weather; some ocean waves; and some pretty scenery to climb and hike in. After a bit of research into Southern California’s beachfront camping, I found the Leo Carrillo State Beach Campground, just north of Malibu. For just $35 a night I, along with car filled with my favorite people, could camp a half-mile from the beach in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. We craved a snow-free weekend and the sun’s warmth, so we headed off the snow covered mountains of San Bernardino and into the more populated realms of California.

The first day we (myself and two friends, Justin and Matt) explored Echo Cliffs in what turned out to be a rock climbing adventure extraordinaire. The approach was over an hour, filled with stream crossings and scrambling uphill only to slide back downhill, the cliffs always in sight, beckoning us ahead.. Once we found the tops of the climbs we discovered it’s easy to miss the ‘drainage’ used to climb down to the bottom of the cliff (more of a creek than a drainage this time of year), and were continuously thwarted by trees, boulders, waterfalls and loose dirt and rocks in our attempts to get to the base of the cliff. Finally, after bushwhacking down a near-vertical gully, we found what we’d been seeking – bolted rock.

By this point it was almost three in the afternoon, and we didn’t have a whole lot of daylight left. We did, however, find someone with a guidebook and enough knowledge to point us in the direction of some easier routes. Justin was the real climber of our group, complete with his own gear and motivation, whereas I mostly tag along and climb every third route. Matt had never been climbing on real rock before, and we were looking forward to getting him up the wall. We spent the next hour or two climbing until it began raining and then, deciding it was time to meet up with the rest of our group, we climbed up the creek and headed back to the car.

Once we were down the mountain, we headed to the beach to watch the sunset and play in the sand. It was definitely one of the prettier sunsets I’ve seen, and we had a great time running around the beach before heading back to the campsite for dinner and bed.
The next morning we woke up full of energy and started our day by climbing the big sycamore tree in our campsite. Then we headed off to Point Dume, where seaside cliffs provide rock climbing options right on the beach. We scrambled our way up the cliff trail to set up a top rope, where we found a group of schoolchildren, kindergarten-aged, playing at the top of the cliff and learning about the history of California and the local ecosystem. The kids were completely engrossed in their lesson, and it was great to know they were getting a regular dose of experiential learning.

We spent the rest of the day climbing and hiking along the coast, scrambling over tide pools and volcanic rocks, playing barefoot and watching crabs. Mary-Helen and Matt drew toe circles in the sand, standing on one foot and trying to draw a complete circle with the other foot without falling over; I chased waves, running in and out of the surf; and we all tried to catch sand fleas and looked for starfish clinging to the rocks. By mid-afternoon it was time to go home, back up the mountain to the snow and the cold. But the beach had been everything we’d needed – a fantastic weekend of good people, beautiful scenery and all of our favorite pastimes.

Jessi Burg is a 1st year staff with Avid4 Adventure. She just moved to Longmont after spending last year frolciking in the forests and mountains of California.

What Do Avid4 Adventure Leaders Do When They Are Not at Camp?

So what do some of the most fun, creative and energetic people do when they’re not teaching at Avid 4 Adventure? If my coworkers are anything like me, they are likely to spend a lot of time scheming. Good scheming, of course. The type of clever planning that allows them the maximum vacation time while meeting the basic requirements of life. You see, there exists a core of individuals that have found the greatest experiences in life often have to do with nature. Time spent camping, climbing, biking or paddling is the time against which we measure all other moments. It’s a healthy addiction. It’s a great time. And most importantly, it makes us who we are.

I have two resumes. The first resume lists things like “Lived in Bolivia for a year” and “Climbed the Grand Teton via five distinct routes.” It talks about the events that have made my life worth living. It discusses ice climbing, particular sunsets, days of depending upon a climbing partner on remote granite domes. It uses adjectives like “spectacular” and adverbial sentence fragments like “recklessly beautiful.” It employs phrases like “life-changing experience” and “integration of profound wisdom.” This is the resume I hope people will read at my funeral, so they understand that I lived and loved life. Many people don’t understand this resume.

The other resume is drier. It has bolded categories in uninteresting, conservative fonts. The categories are predictable: Education, Career Objective, Work Experience, Noteworthy Skills. Most of it is in 12-point Times New Roman and is boring. Don’t mistake me, it’s sincere. However, if you look carefully you’ll notice something curious. It appears that the longest job I kept fell shy of a year. You’ll also notice extensive gaps of time between jobs. But if you held both resumes side by side you’d see that they fit together seamlessly, like the cliché drawing of the two halves of a broken heart.

There is a problem, though. I may be the only person who has seen both resumes side by side. If you could see both resumes and you cared about the outdoors you’d seen an interesting pattern. (Pay attention! This is where the good scheming comes in.) Five months working with children at a ski resort childcare center followed by two weeks climbing in Utah. Six months at a work-training program for teens followed three months in Ecuador. Four months teaching Spanish to elementary students followed by one week of mountain biking in Jackson, Wyoming. Repeat.

If I may continue speaking for my coworkers, it seems that a career path that only offers us two to three weeks of vacation time is entirely insufficient. How were we supposed to get good at having fun? Part-time and seasonal employment suits us much better; camp life and guiding is the best. Working with youth who are just beginning to discover the joy and freedom of safe outdoor recreation is like looking into a mirror that hurls us back into our personal history. It reminds us of how precious life experience is. It reminds us of growing up and not knowing a lot of things. It reminds of us the glorious paths of learning that lies ahead of the students and ourselves.

In truth, I don’t have two written resumes. But I do constantly plan trips that often lead me to my deeper self while simultaneously drawing me further away from a clean, gapless working history. Still, it’s important to note that outdoor education sums up everything that ever seemed important in life. Outdoors and education. I’m currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Education at Colorado University. I just finished a nine-month employment stint with the Boulder Valley School District – followed by ten days of rock climbing in Nevada. Currently I tutor Spanish, Math, English and Cornell note taking skills.

If there is anything more important than riding my mountain bike or climbing a difficult route, it’s teaching the next generation the skills I have accrued. And I plan on teaching the love of the outdoors in every future gap in my resume.

Erik Dutilly is a 1st year staff with Avid4 Adventure. When he is not climbing, biking, or playing outside, Erik may be tutoring teens or teaching Spanish.