Falcons Called To The Wild

Grab your walking stick and your North Face! The CB community has recommendations on where to experience mother nature at its finest.

In order to fulfill their adventurous needs, CB students often take trips with their family or friends to experience the local and not so local hiking trails.. Do Christian Brothers students wear North Face for looks or do some actually enjoy exploring our great state? The Talon went to see how and where Christian Brothers students and faculty hike in their free time.

Our community is lucky to located in one of the world’s greatest locations to hike just a drive away.

Bailey Heng (’15) likes to head up North and spend quality time with her family.

“I frequently hike up in Lake Tahoe — I like Mt. Tallac,” she says. “I go up there every summer with my family — it’s a tradition.”

Some other favorite places to hike for CB students include Mt. Shasta, Point Reyes, Lassen Volcanic National Park, the Lost Coast, the famous Redwoods and Muir Woods.

Some individuals participate in extracurriculars outside of school such as Boy Scouts. These boys frequently explore the wilderness.

“I to hike in the Sierra Nevadas,” says Life Scout Max Crimmins (’15). “My favorite is Pyramid Peak because you can get a great view of Tahoe and Sacramento. ”

Places like Pyramid Peak offer spectacular views of the Sacramento area and beyond, that can only be seen in person and can’t be found else where.

Avid hiker and mountain enthusiast Louis Heinzer (’15) explains that his favorite place to hike is Yosemite.

” I’ve only hiked there a few times, but there is a beautiful redwood forest and I like big trees. ”

Students aren’t the only active outdoor people in the CB community — teachers like to get out and explore too.

A Montana native, Ms. Kelly Safford has hiked a lot and done a lot of backpacking in her life.
“[My husband and I] have a place up in Tahoe, so I love to go up to Desolation Wilderness and hike up there, which is up on the west side of Tahoe.”

But her exciting outdoorsy life doesn’t end there. Her and her husband love the mountains and enjoy hiking often.

“I’ve done a month long backing trip and hiked through the Himalayas and Pakistan,” she shares. “I’ve hiked in the east coast,  Argentina, Ecuador, pretty much anywhere we go, we hike and we even lived in Brazil for a while and hiked there too.”

There are a lot of places around to hike that aren’t quite as difficult. One in particular is Ms. Safford’s favorite day hike.

“Locally my favorite would have to be Echo Lakes,” she says. “It is a great hike that is fairly easy. It’s about 12 miles and is an awesome day hike.”

Give technology a rest, Falcons. Get out and explore nature — it has more to offer than you think.