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10 days ago
Here I am, back in Joshua Tree- a place I have been in the Spring and Fall since my return from New Zealand in 2006. Crazy. I never imagined spending much time in the desert- much less living in one of these moisture parched landscapes. I grew-up in a place that has more fresh water than anywhere else on earth, with wet, rainy summers and cold, snowy winters. Here in the Mojave desert it's been in the high seventies in the day, and mid-thirties at night. I have seen exactly two drops of precipitation since I arrived- and that startled me (I though a bird pooped on me). So how did I end-up down here . . . again . . . on a more permanent basis? Well, I was offered a position as a full-time field instructor with Odyssey Wilderness Programs, who I was working for this past summer, as they started a new therapeutic rock climbing and backpacking program in the park. A new program means lots of risk, but lots of opportunity to contribute to the structure of courses and the curriculum ...
62 days ago
Geesh, what a season! The weather is turning cool again, and I suppose that's a sign that it's time for me to migrate. But before I scamper off to Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California for my next stint of work, here's the fatty on what I've been up to from August onward. After returning from British Columbia I led my first trip with Odyssey Wilderness Programs aboard the Resolution- a 26 ft. longboat schooner. We sailed through the San Juan Islands for the next 14 days, making stops here-and-there to resupply and visit with therapists in the field who met with students about their therapeutic progress. I always learn a dump-truck load about myself on these trips, and I find that being involved in a therapeutic program isn't just beneficial for "clients", but equally beneficial for me. My ability as a leader is constantly tested and adjusted, and the way in which I communicate- verbally or otherwise- is challenged. I love this work because it challenges ...
121 days ago
After trying to stay in one place since April, having work fall through and more work fall through, and examining the concerned expressions of roommates as I consumed damaged canned goods and produce with a famished fervor, it was time to explore all possible options for keeping myself fed and housed. After a flurry of e-mails, and another whirlwind of paperwork and trips to the fax machine to send-off resumes and copies of certifications, I got an e-mail from Thom Henley who I had led a trip to Indonesia for in February. He offered to have me on as a volunteer worker at a camp he was constructing for international youth in Kitwanga. After some research, I found that Kitwanga was located on the Skeena River inland from Prince Rupert British Columbia, just a bit south of Mt. Edziza Provincial Park and the Stikine River where I had worked the year before with Alaska Crossings. With visions of salmon and mountains dancing in my head, I said yes and packed my bags. En ...
169 days ago
Huh. Did I really leave Asia more than three months ago? Yep- I guess so. It is now the middle of June, and my last blog was back in late February. So what have I been up to? Well, certainly not all I intended on being up to, but somehow life has a way of making me bend to its will. I'm bending. Upon returning to the States I began working for Peak Performance in Joshua Tree National Park, as is common for me to do in the Spring and Fall. I worked with some great kids from Marin Country Day School and Polytechnic School who I took backpacking and rock climbing in remote areas of the park. Between courses I visited the "Integetron". What the heck is an Integetron? Why, it's a machine built by aliens of course! Ok- not exactly. The machine was built by George Van Tassel in 1959, after he was visited by some friendly folks from Venus (would you call them Venetians?) who told him to build the thing. Unfortunately the machine was never finished, so it wasn't able ...
278 days ago
Yes, yes, it’s true. I’m still overseas, and still traveling. And no, I don’t have a hidden chest full of gold that I’m using to pay my way through. The chest is far too big to hide. This time I was visiting Sumatra- a northwestern island of the Indonesian Archipelago. I was working for “In Touch with Nature Education”, run by Thom Henley who is half man, half legend here in Thailand because of the dozens of books he’s written on Asia’s protected natural areas and ecology. The trip was for International School Phnom Phen (ISPP) out of Cambodia. My co-leader, Mana Sareewong, and I met the kids from ISPP at the airport in Medan, Sumatra after spending a lovely day wandering the dirty streets of the dull and architecturally uninteresting city. We all bused our way north of Medan to Gunung Leuser National Park where we stayed the night just outside the preserve. The next day we headed across a river to an Orangutan sanctuary, where we watched a ...
