Guide Training to the EXTREME!

This weekend, Outback's newest set of guides went out on their Spring Quarter training retreat. Eager to have some back-woods fun, the guides drove up to the Laguna Mountains in search of a campsite. Unfortunately, they were met by mounds and mounds of snow. This meant that while they were able to run around in the pow pow for a while, they also had to to turn around and search for a lower location, afraid they might get stuck in a blizzard.

Hoping to find a site still in the mountains but at a lower elevation, they went to Cuyamaca State Park. As they turned into their campground, however, their van got stuck in snow. Not wanting to risk being buried overnight, the team was dug out and headed off to a polar-opposite climate: the desert.

Anza Borrego was the location the guides ended up in for the remainder of their trip. There the set up camp and spent the night, teaching experiential learning lessons, playing on a nearby swing set, and improving their overall team-building skills. They also made a heaping Dutch Oven of Lasagna, one of Outback's specialties.

The following day, the troupe hiked the Palm Canyon Trail to a gushing oasis where they saw frogs and swam in the cool, clear water of the river. Afterward, following an old Outback tradition, they zipped over to Julian to eat some well deserved, freshly made pie.

Having completed their training, experienced two extreme climates, re-routed plans gone haywire, and eaten Julian Apple Pie, the guides-in-training are now official Outback Guides. Look for these new warriors on our Spring Quarter trips starting this week!


Lost in the Desert: A Lesson to Us All

On Easter Sunday, Guillermo Pino, a prior UCSD student, went out camping near the Arroyo Tapiado mud caves in the Anza Borrego Desert with his family. Leaving his shoes and water behind, he walked into the desert by himself and was not seen again.

A search party has been trying to locate him for two weeks, however, unable to find his body, the search was called off this week.

Let this man's case be a lesson to us all. Never go out into the desert without copious amounts of water. A person needs to drink a gallon a day to survive and more if they are exerting themselves. Also, never travel alone in an area that is unfamiliar to you.

Always let someone know where you are headed when you go out on an adventure and use caution, even if you have been there a thousand times. It only takes one mistake for a disaster to happen.