Teaching outdoor education during the week…and living the outdoor lifestyle on the weekends. Go hike a popular and beautiful Big Bear classic trail, Cougar Crest. Trail Name: Cougar Crest Trail to Bertha Peak Forest Service Designation: 1E22 Total Distance: 8 miles, round trip Overview: Scenic hike that works its way up mountain ridges to a […]
Is igneous bliss or are all the little sediments of rock knowledge metamorphosing climbers into rock experts? Ha! As rock climbers, we experience many different types of rocks when we go to climb at various crags all over Southern California. Many climbers don’t even think twice about the differences between these rocks, much less the […]
In 1963, scientists estimated a total of just 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles survived in the lower 48 states. The emblem of the United States since 1782 and the only eagle endemic to North America, the American Bald Eagle, is one of the most majestic birds in the world. This glorious bird our forefathers […]
In education today one of the big buzzwords is STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. A study by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) determined that female interest in STEM majors declines as young women enter college. {1. https://www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/Why-So-Few-Women-in-Science-Technology-Engineering-and-Mathematics.pdf] As a woman and mother of a teen daughter, I especially hope to encourage […]
Here’s a riddle: A young explorer finds a map of a buried treasure. With compass in hand, the explorer takes a perfect reading and travels for 5 miles through the wilderness. Upon arrival at the big red X, there is no treasure to be found. The map was precise, as was the compass. The explorer […]
Have you ever found yourself gazing up at a beautiful night sky and asking yourself if there is any other life out there? Or maybe you ask yourself what makes our planet Earth so special. I find myself asking very similar questions, especially 7000 feet up in the San Bernardino Mountains where the stars are […]
“A trip intended to launch not only learning but hope…” – Jacques Cousteau Jacques Cousteau is known for a lot of different things: film maker, inventor, ‘custodian of the sea’, explorer, and one of the fathers of conservation. In celebration of Jacques Cousteau and the holidays, the Cousteau Society recently released ten documentaries including Cousteau’s […]
The first class students have at High Trails is the Team Discovery Hike, where they get to know each other better, learn about the plants and animals native to the region…and hear about the history of Big Bear. The local history always interests students and they ask awesome questions which, until recently, I could not […]
To many, pollution is something dark and disgusting that poisons clean air or pristine rivers, like Dr. Seuss’s Smogulous Smog or Gluppity-Glup. However, pollution can be invisible, sly, and can even inhibit communication. We’re talking about noise pollution, and it is as serious as it sounds. Anthropogenic, or human-made, noise pollution is affecting organisms across […]
While Outdoor Education draws in staff that has a passion for being outdoors, working with students, and understanding the natural sciences, one of the continual challenges for us at High Trails is finding new and innovative ways to provide opportunities for our staff to grow. One solution to this problem is to bring in fun […]
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what are the most diverse, adaptable, and resilient organisms of all? If I had a magic mirror that could answer this question, I’m sure it would reply, without hesitation, “bacteria!” Bacteria are amazing organisms that perform a number of important functions that make all other life on Earth possible. Though […]
Here at High Trails we live and work in the San Bernardino Mountains. While beautiful and incredibly diverse, our local mountains pale in size, height, and snowpack when you compare them to the vastness of the Sierra Nevada in central California. Mountaineers and the adventurous backpacker flock to the Sierra Nevada year round to bag […]
My choice to follow a career path with children comes from an attraction to their optimism and curiosity. Unlike many adults, kids see the world as a place full of possibilities. The stories from the book, Kids Who are Changing the World, by Anne Jankéliowitch, focus on children who channeled that very curiosity into powerful […]
Do you… Think you know it all about Big Bear? Want to learn more about local natural history to beef up your first class with students, our Team Discovery Hike? Seek additional knowledge about the San Bernardino Forest flora and fauna to apply to your Plant Detectives, Feathered Friends, and Furry Friends classes? Need to […]
Every autumn in designated areas in the northern hemisphere, trees prepare for winter, just as the creatures in the forest are getting ready. The diminishing hours and falling temperatures enable the trees to shed billions of leaves; the spectacular show of vibrant colors show throughout the landscape. These shades include yellow, orange, and red. What […]
The biting, icy wind was fierce and growing stronger by the minute. Gusts howled over the ridgeline we walked, slamming into us with a force great enough to drive me to my knees. I huddled in the snow and waited for the gust to pass, certain that if I stood up I would be knocked […]
At the end of my Environmental Awareness class, I pose the question ”What will you do back home to do your part in conservation?” Now these students are not wrong when they say they’ll turn off the water when brushing their teeth or turn out the lights when leaving their room, but what if I […]
“Fee fi fo fum, only plants chow down on air, water, and sun.” These are the words of that eccentric science teacher we all know and love, Ms. Frizzle. From her supernatural approach to her quirky behavior, she has changed the lives of students and teachers across the globe in the classic television show, The […]
Almost 150 years ago, a Swiss botanist proposed something crazy: he said that the simple living thing called “lichen” was actually 2 different kinds of living things working together. Simon Schwendener proposed that a lichen was a fungus (usually an ascomycete) and a photosynthesizer (an algae or a cyanobacteria) that engaged in something called a […]
I want you to picture a mountain in your mind’s eye. It’s what our students see the moment they step off the bus here at High Trails. From then on, their imaginations (and questions) are inspired by this majestic scenery around them. Soaring peaks, towering treetops, crystal clear lakes and streams, and… bears?! Yes, bears […]
All of these excuses didn’t matter…Deep down I knew there were a few things I needed to work on, but I hadn’t figured out exactly what I needed to do to fix the problems I was having while teaching. The peer mentoring program at High Trails Outdoor Science School is a way for instructors to […]
Working at an outdoor science school in the San Bernardino Mountains has some perks. Aside from hiking in the forest, teaching students about nature, coexisting in a healthy world, breathing fresh mountain air, and going on weekend adventures, we also get to learn about the forest from true professionals. For once, WE got to be […]
When High Trails was approached by Amanda Martin last spring with the offer to have the AEOE (Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education) Southern Fall Conference at our site, we thought “Why Not? It might be kind of fun.” Little did we know just how fun it would be. 80 outdoor educators + a crisp […]
As an instructor at High Trails Outdoor Science School, I get asked a lot of questions from curious students. If I do not know the answer, I will do some research to both further educate them and myself. “Why do evergreen trees have needles?” A student asked me during a hike this past fall. The […]
“The grass is always greener on the other side.” I have ardently disliked that phrase, not because it is cliché but because of how painfully true it is with regard to human nature. Our incessant comparison of everything inevitably brings us dissatisfaction. I am no exception. As a passionate instructor at High Trails who loves […]
It’s February in the San Bernardino Mountains and winter is in full swing. There is a lot of beauty to be found in the snow covered forests, but, even for a native upstate New Yorker like me (read as 300 plus inches of annual snowfall), I find myself longing for a chance to dust off […]
Me: “So, ladies and gentlemen, what is an alternate mode of transportation?” Student: “Bicycle!” This is the typical response I receive when prompting students about alternate forms of transportation. It is great that students recognize the bicycle as an alternate form of transportation, but this wonderful two- wheeled device deserves a much more in depth […]
This is my dog, Meg. I love everything about her. Except for the clumps of hair that accumulate in the corner of the kitchen, or end up on my clothes as I rush out the door. But it’s not her fault. When I need a new coat, I can just go to a store and […]
Have you ever flushed a toilet or turned on a sink and wondered to yourself, where DOES the water go once it has disappeared from sight? Well, the instructors at High Trails Outdoor Science School were wondering the same thing, so they loaded up into their magical Subaru school busses and headed to the Big […]
Solar panels, wind turbines, hydroelectricity… all of these terms probably ring a bell for most folks interested in renewable energy; and for some time I’ve considered myself someone who falls under that category. However, when I arrived at High Trails, one term that didn’t ring a bell for me was biomass conversion. Early on, I […]
“Are fires good or bad for the forest?” I ask my students. They respond with a variety of thumbs up and down. “Why are they bad?” I ask one of the more adamant students. “They kill animals!” He answers, and I can imagine the picture in his head: Bambi and all his friends crying as […]
Unless you live under a rock, you may have heard that in 2015/16 we are supposed to be experiencing an El Niño winter. The term “El Niño” gets tossed around quite a bit and some of us have come to accept it without even fully understanding what it means. For students coming to experience High […]
What are the characteristics of a mammal? When I present this question to my students, they are instantly excited to share their knowledge of these awesome creatures. We end up with a list of traits describing what makes a mammal a mammal. They are warm-blooded, they have hair on their bodies, they give milk to […]
In our Little World class here at High Trails we discuss three types of decomposers: Bacteria, Fungi, and Invertebrates/Scavengers. We do in fact find all sorts of interesting critters, both growing and crawling around the San Bernardino National Forest. However, our mountains are dry, arid, and have few year round water sources. This means there […]
Are you looking to see the remains of a wildfire? To see the evidence of recovery and the broad sweeping scenes of chaparral forest unique to the San Bernardino Mountains? I was curious enough to take this half-day hike that offered me evidence of ecological adaptation to wildfires, the scenic beauty of the chaparral forest, […]
A streak of light burns bright and brief across the night sky. A collective gasp comes from the group of students huddled in the darkness as they exclaim, “a shooting star!” As we discuss that shooting stars are actually space rocks called meteors, I tell my cabin group that these meteors rarely make it all […]
“As you enter the cabin, I would like you to tell me at least one thing you learned about snakes during Snake class tonight,” I tell my students. Answers vary between each student, but a common answer is that snakes have infrared vision. What is this magical and natural ability? Infrared sensing is the ability […]
I have used thousands (if not tens of thousands) of paper towels in my life to dry my hands. However, I cannot recall one time I have used a paper towel to dry my hands properly. You might be asking yourself “How can someone use a paper towel incorrectly?” All you do is take some […]
Fungi finally get their 15 minutes of fame here at High Trails as we teach our class Little World. This is just fine with me, as fungi were hugely important to my family’s world when I was growing up; they were food, fun, and a connection to the outdoors. As a kid coming to age […]
In sixth grade I remember losing a spelling bee because I did not know how to spell ‘hypothesis’. Our science teacher, Ms. Miers, had spent the entire fall semester pounding the Scientific Method into our heads and yet I still did not even know how to spell hypothesis. From that one humbling moment on, I […]
As an environmental educator, one of the lessons I try to teach my students is how important it is to keep pushing yourself and to keep learning. A lot of us here at High Trails like to do this by listening to informative podcasts in our free time. Recently, I was excited to find that […]
Instructor: “Ok, who can tell me an example of a renewable resource?” Unnamed Student Raises Hand. Your mind goes blank. You look down at your attendance sheet. Back at the student. Back at the attendance sheet. Nothing. Their name? You don’t have a clue. Embarrasing. Instructor: “Umm… yes… you.” This has happened to everyone. Whether […]
Every week, one or more of my students will discover intricate mazes and pathways chewed through dead pine branches on the forest floor. I use this discovery to teach my students how just one seemingly small factor can tip the scale and generate massive change. These tiny lines on logs are evidence of a great […]
What do some of the greatest technological breakthroughs and innovations have in common? Brilliant, creative minds? Hours and hours of work? There is another common, and arguably under-credited, factor: NATURE. Rewind history to a young boy sitting in the grass watching the birds fly about in a cool afternoon breeze. The boy studies these birds […]
In the recent Hollywood blockbuster, The Martian, director Ridley Scott focuses his view on potential living conditions for humans on Mars. The movie follows the Ares III astronaut crew as they explore Mars and take samples for analysis from the red planet. A sudden storm forces evacuation, but one astronaut doesn’t make it to the […]
One of the last things students do while at High Trails is watch a world class performance of the Lorax, performed for them by their cabin instructors. This play is more than entertaining; it sparks great conversations between the students afterwards, discussing the pros and cons of the two main characters – the Lorax and […]
What does the pilot Captain Sully Sullenberger, the explorer Sir Edmund Hillary, and a High Trails student have in common? At a first glance, these three people couldn’t be more different. Captain Sullenberger saved the lives of 155 people when he emergency-landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. Sir Hillary was the first […]
