On the Loose
The students of OTL propose five of their favorite destinations.

Singing sand dunes. Pine-scented mountain hikes. A windswept island full of food-snatching foxes. Trail along as the student adventurers of the On the Loose (OTL) outdoors club bring fresh eyes and ankles to five classic California destinations, from misty Big Sur to mystical Joshua Tree. You just might be inspired to get out there and follow in the students’ footsteps. That’s the idea.

DESTINATION 1 / Death Valley
Song of the Dunes
Thad Houston ’10 and his friends stood atop a sand dune and watched a circling biplane fly closer and closer, buzzing past at a mere 20 feet away. The plane landed on a flat stretch of earth nearby, and Houston watched a man get out and walk toward them. “Hi there,” the man said. “You kids want some ice cream?”

From crunchy salt flats to leafy underbrush, from abandoned mine shafts to ice cream-toting, hot spring-dwelling “hippies,” Death Valley National Park is about more than just desert—as Houston says, “it’s the most surreal place in a really fabulous way. Nothing feels entirely real. If I had woken up in my bed, I would have believed that too.”

Houston and his crew recently spent three nights camping in the Saline Valley, on the western edge of the park. After miles of desert highway, they found an oasis on par with those of legend: a shock of green foliage, palm trees and bubbling hot springs surrounded by dun-colored earth. The springs are also home to a semi-permanent alternative community—hippies, as Houston describes them. Despite being subject to the park’s 30-day residency limit, the clothing-optional community manages to keep a regular, if rotating, presence at the hot spring oasis.

The students made camp at the foot of nearby sand dunes, and though high winds added grit to their cooking, the dunes themselves proved an enjoyable testing ground for flips, races and flying leaps off sand cliffs.

Kevin Means ’08 and Sarah Kendall ’09 led a separate, unabashedly sand dune-driven OTL trip: their destination was the Eureka Valley Sand Dunes, the largest in Death Valley at 600 feet straight up from the valley floor. These dunes are famously “singing dunes:” in dry weather, the movement of sand particles can create audible booms and rumblings. “Standing on top of moving sand, sand so soft you can swim in it, sand that looks like flesh—it makes you feel powerful, small and connected all at once,” says Kendall.

Both trips took advantage of temperate fall weather and the park’s vast range of choices for backcountry camping. (Call the Furnace Creek Visitor Center before you leave to see if your destination is legal and to learn more about the park’s stringent leave-no-trace standards.)

More tourist-friendly fare is still available—campsites with flush toilets, historic sites, the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch Resort—but to experience Death Valley, Houston recommends leaving those luxuries behind. “The solitude in a park of that size is incredible. You almost can’t help but have a spiritual experience in that kind of quiet.”

—Peter Enzminger ’08
MORE INFORMATION: http://www.nps.gov/deva/

DESTINATION 2 / Santa Cruz Island
Jewel of the Channel
With gale-force winds churning the ocean, OTL co-leaders Kenton Hokanson ’08 and Jessica Ladd ’08 thoughtfully gave out Dramamine, then took bets on how many of the 18 students on the Fall Break trip to Santa Cruz Island would lose their lunch. But it turns out Pomona students have strong stomachs. “There was no puking,” says Hokanson, “and the boat ride rocked!”

Getting to Santa Cruz Island may be rough, but once visitors arrive they’re rewarded with rocky beaches, tide pools and miles of hiking trails, lushly green in the spring and barren and windblown in the fall. And if that’s not enough, visitors can kayak along the shore to Painted Cave, one of the largest sea caves in the world. “There’s nothing minimal or gradual about the island—there are mountains and sharp cliffs and steep trails,” says Hokanson. “The first ridge we hiked to had a spectacular view of Potato Bay and the wind was just ripping across us.”

Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the eight Channel Islands, also supports about a dozen species of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world, plus many more found only on the Channel Islands. You don’t even have to work hard to see some of them: just cook dinner in Scorpion Campground, set in a eucalyptus grove a half mile past the dock, and wait for adorable island foxes the size of house cats to appear on the perimeter and dart in to snatch food.

Emily Gable ’08 had visited the island twice with her Archaeological Field Methods class before going on Hokanson and Ladd’s OTL trip. During that trip, Gable taught her friends about the middens in the cliffs alongside Scorpion Rock Trail, where the Chumash Indians deposited shells, and the chert quarries where they made tools. “It’s incredible that people have lived on the island for 9,000 years,” says Gable.

Besides getting cliffside archaeology lessons, hikers can climb the rugged Montańon Ridge or descend into the protected Smuggler’s Cove, where Hokanson and his friends opted for a nighttime dip: “The water was frosty cold, and every wave sent rocks crashing into our shins. But it was pretty fun.”

For people looking to get away from the bustle of Southern California’s mainland, Santa Cruz Island offers just the right amount of isolation. “When the mists roll in, you’re just enveloped and secluded,” says Gable. “Then they lift and everything opens up and you can see so far across the ocean. I think it’s pretty magical.”

—Anne Shulock ’08
MORE INFORMATION: www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/santa-cruz-island.htm

DESTINATION 3 / Mount San Antonio
On Top of Old Baldy

As the Angeles National Forest’s highest mountain, exceeding 10,000 feet, Mount Baldy is a commanding presence in the skyline above Claremont. But along with the hiking, skiing and sweeping views, it’s also the mountain’s proximity to campus – only a half-hour drive away – that gives the peak a special place in campus outdoors lore.

A trip to the summit is a rite of passage for OTL members, and, with trips to the slopes scheduled almost twice a week, there are always opportunities for students to get acquainted with Old Baldy, formally known as Mount San Antonio.

“Some of the best trips that I’ve been on have been on Baldy,” says Kenton Hokanson ’08, who trekked up to the summit with a group of friends last spring. “We bundled on to the lift chairs, alone with our packs strapped in next to us, and took in an absolutely breathtaking view for the 10-minute descent,” he said. “A really cool way to end a backpacking trip!”

Students are drawn to the rugged, pine-shaded terrain and an impressive view that, on clear days, can extend all the way out to the coast. The area is also home to a wide array of wildlife, ranging from rare bighorn sheep to the occasional coyote. During the winter, snow falling on and around Baldy provides ideal conditions for winter sport enthusiasts looking to conquer some of the steepest runs in Southern California.

There are two primary ways to reach the top. Beginners can start their Baldy experience with a ride on a ski lift, followed by a 6.4-mile hike up and down the steep Devil’s Backbone Trail. For the more seasoned OTLers, the Ski Hut Trail provides a punishing 9-mile hike up to the summit and back down. (Whichever path you choose, your group will want to take the proper precautions of bringing the right gear and letting people know where you’re going.)

Veteran hikers have also come up with some pretty creative—if not downright wacky—ways to spice up their Baldy experience.

To fight the summer heat, Thad Houston ’10 organized a 15-person hike to the summit with a strict Speedos-only dress code. Passing fellow hikers on the way up, the students turned heads with their colorful spandex swimwear. By the time they got to the summit, the students were Baldy celebrities, posing for pictures and shaking the hands of fellow hikers. “It was just very hilarious,” says Houston. “It was definitely the most fun trip that I’ve ever been on.”

—Travis Kaya ’10
MORE INFORMATION: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles/

DESTINATION 4 / Joshua Tree
Silence in the Desert

Arriving in Joshua Tree for 24 hours of silence, Danielle Joseph ’10 helped set up camp without speaking and then pointed to a pile of rocks. She and her five OTL trip mates silently—except for occasional laughter—summited and sat atop the mound, each facing a different direction as “the peacefulness of silence and J-Tree saturated our minds," says Joseph. “That was my moment of complete bliss. There was nothing on my mind but the sound of the wind going through the rocks and the setting sun.”

Paul Kiernan ’04, meanwhile, recalls driving out to Joshua Tree for a day of its famous rock climbing, then heading back for a concert at the House of Blues. “We ran back to the car from climbing and went into L.A. in the same evening.”

Joshua Tree National Park is only two hours from Claremont, but the atmosphere is a world apart. “There’s an isolated quality where everything stops moving,’’ Kiernan says. “It’s pretty special for Southern California.”

While some go there to climb, hike, bike or camp, J-Tree, as students call it, is also a place where wildlife thrives—you can find anything from night lizards to wildflowers to the spiky-leaved joshua trees that are sprinkled throughout the western half of the park. Moonlit nights at the park offer their own chilly charms.

“Sometimes the moon would get so bright that we would turn our headlights off when we would drive,” Kiernan says. Occasionally, it was almost too bright to go to sleep. In winter, those bright nights can also be frigid. Kiernan and his friends would heat up volleyball-sized rocks in the fire pits, then would wrap them in shirts and put them at the foot of their sleeping bags to stay warm.

Kiernan keeps a picture, showing the sky in a monochromatic blue, that brings back one of his many memories. “As the day became evening, somehow it just evolved into lavender and pink and orange … an entire spectrum,” he says.

—Mai Thai ’10 and Julie Trescott ’08
MORE INFORMATION: www.nps.gov/jotr

DESTINATION 5 / Big Sur
The Drama of Nature
Traveling to Big Sur, the adventure begins on the ride up the winding coast on Highway 1. “It’s exactly where you want to drive because you’ve got the beach and the cliffs on one side and huge green hills with flowers on the other,” says OTL President Zak Silverman ’08. “You feel like you’re in one of those car commercials.” In addition to enjoying scenic views, students sometimes stop along the way to snap photos of sea lions napping in the sand and explore tidal pools.

Once at Big Sur, seasoned backpackers and fresh-faced greenhorns alike will find appropriate activities, because according to Silverman, the region boasts a combination of leisurely “nature walks” and “really badass trails.”

The jagged topography of the region results in separate microclimates, which means wearing layers is key for being comfortable. “What was ridiculous about our trip was how the weather changed like clockwork—by day, you couldn’t ask for anything better, but by night, it rained incessantly,” says Ryan Frazer ’09.

These drastic variations in weather allow for a wide array of flora, ranging from coniferous forests to open oak woodland to chaparral scrub. “It’s very dramatic,” says Grace Vermeer ’10. “You descend into these lush valleys with rivers and a ton of ground cover. Then, you go into the more open areas and there are all these dried-up sage grasses and cacti within a mile.”

Home to state parks and privately owned campgrounds, Big Sur’s camping is as varied as the scenery with streamside sites in the valley and ocean-view, bluff locations along the southern end.

Alex Scharr ’10’s favorite Big Sur locale is Sykes Hot Springs, where the cool Big Sur River runs alongside the steamy, natural pools. This beautiful relaxation spot can be hard to find, since locals have been known to tear down signs in order to preserve the area. Other must-see attractions include an 80-foot waterfall that drops from granite cliffs into the ocean from the Overlook Trail and the Point Sur Light Station. “There’s tons of stuff to do, whether you want woodsy backpacking, hot springs, rivers or beautiful beaches,” says Silverman. “It’s like a utopia back there.”

—Julie Trescott ’08
MORE INFORMATION: www.bigsurcalifornia.com