Mendocino Session: Between Pacific Tides

Trip length: 8 days
Ages: 10 - 15
(see Enrollment page for current dates and tuition)

Our Mendocino session places us in the heart of an ecological wonderland, our own camp yards away from a sheltered beach cove. We rise twice before dawn and climb over a ridge to explore the rich intertidal invertebrate and algal life of the North Coast's world-class tidepools. Each year, curious seekers find new treasures: sea urchins, young abalone, octopi, brittle-stars.

We visit the spectacular landscape of the sand dunes and their strange ecology at the Ten Mile Dunes. We hike the coastal terraces of Jughandle Preserve up to up to a pigmy forest, where ancient, fully mature trees are shorter than some campers.

Beach games, soap-making and algae-drying highlight our in-camp activities. Due to the ecological abundance of the area, our Mendocino session frequently allows us to experiment with local foods: fried eel, nettle tea, mushrooms, and thimbleberry and huckleberry pies. We never know what new dishes campers will create!

This Camp Chrysalis session concludes with a canoe trip up the tidal Big River. In old redwood logging stands recently preserved by a citizen campaign, we learn first hand the impact of logging and the importance of preserving our natural heritage.