I just re-read a ten-year-old post about Devin is Off.
He went into the wilderness with the California Conservation Corps famed elite Backcountry Trails Program. About midway through his stay, I hiked in and documented that trip here.
You can see how the dreadlocks had grown over the months in the bush in one of those photographs.
Devin now works full-time for the California Conservation Corps as a manager. This is the back of his business card:
Hard Work. Low Pay. Miserable Conditions and More. That’s the CCC for you.
Now, 10 years later, Devin has been chosen as one of the six Backcountry Trails Program supervisors. He will go out and do the same thing again, but this time as the leader of a team of 18 corps members. He got a coveted slot in Yosemite.
Of course, that means I get to hike into Yosemite to visit him and the team sometime this summer. He says that I’ll only be allowed to visit if I teach a weekend course as a visiting lecturer in some related subject. I am very much looking forward to that adventure.
If you want to learn more about the CCC Backcountry program, visit their website here.
Congrats to your son, and his contribution to both youth and the environment with his CCC work. It’s a noble endeavor! It was literally just minutes before that I had been perusing and highlighting my new AAA map of YOSEMITE Park! And I can, of course, see why it is a prime assignment for him. By the way, you and he both might like the book I’m reading. I am in the middle of Ansel Adams’ autobiography, a book I didn’t know existed until a few weeks ago when a Monterey Peninsula resident mentioned its existence. It is wonderful and extremely smooth reading. He was a good writer in addition to bring a great photographer — and he had a good editor, too. One of the early Chapters on his early adventures in Yosemite made me realize I needed a detailed map to follow the story. I’m past that Chapter now, and the rest of the story is both well written and fascinating reading. Obviously, your love or the outdoors and hiking has been a big influence on your son, so congrats for that! And I’m hoping to make make a return trip to Yosemite in the near future, inspired by the Adams anecdotes! Take care.
I will pass this on to him!