You can’t keep up with Wilderness Club. This semester they have already gone on four hikes this semester with no intention of slowing down under the leadership of juniors Zoe Kinder and Jade Wagner, and club advisor of four years: Christopher Smith.
The club presidents, Wagner and Kinder, keep the club active by hosting frequent hikes around the Central Coast. Wilderness Club has gone hiking at Salmon Creek Falls, Three Bridges, Madonna Mountain, and Reservoir Canyon, with an average of 15 attendees for each hike. Kinder sees a bright future with more events ahead:
“I feel like a lot of people will get more interested in it because we are going to have a big camping trip,” Kinder said. This took place on Dec 7th, 2024 at the Morro Bay State Park campgrounds.
Smith has seen the club change throughout the years: “I was asked to be the club advisor coming out of COVID and it was pretty small, just a few people, then the second year but then it started to grow. I found it kind of goes in waves. So it started strong, and then it kind of had some trouble, and then it starts strong again and it has trouble. This year's been going really well.”
Wilderness Club has not always thrived. At the end of the 2023-2024 school year the Wilderness Club was on the verge of collapse with a future of merging with the Beach Clean up Club, but before the change could be made, Kinder stepped up to save the club.
“It was fading, it wasn’t really a club anymore, and I wanted to revive it,” Kinder said. She went to history teacher Smith and science teacher Daniel Diaz to ask for one more chance to save it. She succeeded and so far Wilderness Club has been unstoppable.
A large part of the appeal of Wilderness Club is the social connections made during the activities in nature away from technology. Kinder explained how hiking can be a great way to get to know new people without the awkwardness that might usually come along with it.
This sentiment is expressed by junior, Pippin Came, “My favorite part about the club is how being out in nature creates an open social environment to connect with people.”
Join Wilderness Club on Tuesdays: Lunch A in room 103 and Lunch B in Room 1025 to learn about upcoming hikes, camping trips, and to meet some new people while enjoying nature.
BY: Brian Arndt