sierraclub.org - sierra magazine - july/august 2012 - lost, with teenagers
I was leading a three-day backpacking trip in Mountain Home State Forest in the Southern Sierra Nevada with fellow Inner City Outings leader Dante Bui. We had 13 high school students, topo maps, and compasses—but we left the GPS at home. —Dave Fujiyama
ASK THE EXPERT
Nicole Veltre is a teacher and a longtime leader for Inner City Outings in Baltimore, Maryland.
"You'd think that city kids used to hearing gunshots outside their window would feel safe in the outdoors, but it's way scarier than what they are used to. You don't need to take kids into extremes or environments totally opposite of what they are used to. We build up slowly, with little things, like using a campstove on a dayhike."
Illustrations by Koren Shadmi