Patton's Convergence
It was all sort of organic, and I’m not just talking broccoli.
I’d initially puzzled over how to offer a Winter Camping Weekend trip, what with Michael not getting back from an east coast conference until 1 am Saturday morning and Patton’s Cabin (my intended hike-to target) probably being reserved for freshmen completing their first Ridge Ride. But things tend to iron themselves out when the desire is basic: get away from school and work for a day and a night, explore the rocks and hills and riverbed, eat supper around a campfire, watch the stars go from not-there to vague possibilities to bright, real things. And finally, to tuck into your sleeping bag with a belly full of s’mores.
Soon enough (Michael having chosen an adventure with horses, kids, and spouse over sleep), we had a full complement: three freshmen on deck to fulfill their Pucker Up Point requirement on the way home, another who was game to take a second horse trip, one who just wanted to get out of Dodge on foot, a senior in the same category, and two of his classmates who’d matriculated as sophomores and had never horse camped. On to Patton’s, then--Thacher’s rustic little hide-away inholding in the Sespe Wilderness.
Thirty-six hours before blast-off, an email from Liam, a junior: Hey, Ms. Mully: Peter wants to run from campus to Patton’s and I want to mountain bike over the Ridge. May we join you? We’ll bring our own food.
Come on along! Plenty of food.
Another ping, the night before, from Brian, the Director of the Outdoor Program: Hi, Joy. I’m taking Thomas up to Mt. Piños for some turns in the snow on Saturday morning; could he and I come into Patton’s for the night by bike? We’ll bring our own food.
Come on along! Plenty of food.
In the end, fourteen converged on the old Sespe homestead. The students came from all over the world: Miami (Santi), San Diego (Talia), Queensland (Liam), Marin (Peter, Thomas), Dhahran (Tyler), Chicago (TJ), South San Francisco (Julian), Vail (Dylan), Ojai (Maddy), Shenzhen (Sara)--plus two faculty with deep New England roots and one a 7th generation Californian--all of us soaking in the February sunshine and then the starshine, eating heartily, ringing our songs and laughter down the canyon, and waking to a new day with fresh Thacher oranges for breakfast and with the particular satisfaction of having gone to sleep among those we now knew a little better or treasured a little more--“united by a good and kind feeling that made us, perhaps, better than we are.”*
Come on along! Plenty of food--for body and soul. A banquet.
*from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamozov and on a plaque in the Boswell Library at The Thacher School
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A college preparatory boarding school for grades 9-12
Notice of nondiscriminatory policy as to students: The Thacher School admits students of any race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other School-administered programs.