I just returned from a wonderful trip to Sequoia National Park. It was my first time there and planning an EDT in an unfamiliar location was a little nerve wracking. I wasn’t worried about safety or communication issues, but was more concerned about providing a positive experience for the students. However, as I found out, […]
You never really plan on Plan B. When I told Michael a couple of months ago that my idea of a perfect camping trip would be to backpack with only my own gear and food (OK, I’ll take the med kit, too) and some experienced packhorses schlepping the rest (stoves, tents, tarps, group food, cookware, […]
Last weekend, squeezed in somehow between camping trip preparation meetings, Spring Sing, and the last coffee house of the year, I managed to grab a few hours, a Suburban, and seven eager sophomores for a quick trip to Los Angeles to take in some culture. Our destination: my friend, Thacher classmate, and advisee’s father Johannes […]
It was in late August that I first felt the happy dizziness of seasons spinning, doubling back and oddly moving ahead at the same time. There, topping the list of my Sierra campmates, was Nan, senior prefect to the 9th grade girls who’d be trekking together for five days (six, if you throw in the […]
It’s nearly 3 p.m. when we lucky seven pull out of the mouth of Horn Canyon and, a few minutes later, into the pack station, our ten horses bone-weary from six days on the trail, covering 65 miles or so of rugged Sespe backcountry. Or maybe that’s just me, projecting. I am bone-weary from my […]
Kids need three things: to be known, to be loved, and to be held to a high standard. This is the message Mr. Mulligan often shares with families visiting Thacher for the first (or second, or third) time. His wisdom is offered as an example of how our school understands teenagers and what they need […]
A few weekends back, I heard that the first horse packing trip of the year was leaving from the Ike Livermore Pack Station on Friday before classes were out–so I headed up to see how it all was going (a couple of my students were in the mix). I asked, “Anyone got a camera here […]