Blue Channel, Author at Deer Hill Expeditions

Preparing your Class for their 8th Grade Trip, and for High School

Blue Channel — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 21:33:58 +0000

A Deer Hill expedition provides a group of students with a culminating experience that concludes their grade school years together, while also giving them a glimpse into what it takes to meet the future. I knew this outdoor adventure would offer my students an opportunity to experience the beauty of nature firsthand without the distractions of technology and media saturation. Those goals were high on my list as their class teacher. But to be perfectly honest, my top priority was to test my students’ social/emotional muscles as much as their physical ones.

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The Petroglyph | Full Circle

Blue Channel — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 17:25:30 +0000

"When I started at Deer Hill Expeditions three years ago, Doug Capelin and I talked about the eventuality of our earliest participants coming to the point in their lives when their own children would be of age to attend. It seems that time has come. So far this year, three of Deer Hill's earliest adventurers have registered their children for a Summer Expedition us. Bronwen Kahn (July '85, July '86, June '88, July '88), Christina Altman (Holovach when she attended Deer Hill--July '86), and Elizabeth Kettyle (June '88, July '89). Even as the Deer Hill Circle expands, it remains close to the heart.

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The Petroglyph | Spring Returns

Blue Channel — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 07:19:39 +0000

At age 16, my parents suggested I embark on an experiential education adventure. They saw me spending too much time on the phone, idly chatting with friends, and my general lack of motivation and direction. My grades were just okay, and as a cross-country and track runner, I came in mid-pack during races. My parents saw average, and they were right. I was not living at my potential. After two weeks in the wilderness with a group of strangers, I returned home a different person. My grades became straight A’s and I won my races.

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The Petroglyph | Reflections of a Visiting Alumna

Blue Channel — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 07:19:39 +0000

Do you know that feeling when you get home from a life-changing trip, and you try to share your experience with your family and friends, hoping they can somehow relate? How do you find the right words to describe all that you saw, and did, and felt? Well, that’s how it was for me last spring when my classmates from Marin Waldorf School and I returned from an incredible 10-day Deer Hill field trip through the American Southwest.

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The Petroglyph | A New Year Begins

Blue Channel — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 06:42:46 +0000

Happy New Year! Snowier than recent years, the dream of a “White Christmas” was very much a reality at Deer Hill this winter (for those who celebrated the holiday), with the promise of more to come. Hopefully, all this snow will set us up for consistent good flows on the rivers this spring and summer. Looking beyond the winter wonderland outside, 2016 brings another year of great expeditions in the Southwest and Costa Rica.

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The Petroglyph | Work at Deer Hill in 2016

Blue Channel — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 05:43:22 +0000

Deer Hill begins filling positions for Field Staff and Interns in in the fall of each year. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. Administrative positions are announced as openings become available. Applications are submitted online. Follow the links below for more information and to apply for the position that interests you. If you have questions about working at Deer Hill, please contact the Staff Manager at staff@deerhillexpeditions.com.

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Gold King Mine and the San Juan River

Blue Channel — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 01:03:10 +0000

On August 5, 2015, mining wastewater from the closed Gold King Mine was accidentally released into the Animas River while undergoing maintenance to reinforce containment of mine tailings. The spill attracted national attention, and raised legitimate concerns for the many recreationalists, outfitters and environmental protection advocates in the area. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (UDEQ), among other agencies, began monitoring the incident immediately. The Animas River flows into the San Juan River, where Deer Hill and many other outfitters, operate. We have been watching the situation closely, reading available reports, and attending meetings with the agencies monitoring the area’s rivers.

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The Petroglyph | Connection Not Connectivity

Blue Channel — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 04:24:34 +0000

Autumn’s crisp, chilled air has wended its way down from the mountains, gilding the aspen leaves along its way, leaving its first kiss of snow on the peaks in the La Plata Range just east of Basecamp. Our thoughts tend toward sentimental reveries, our tastes toward spiced tea. The Holiday Season has just risen into view; plans to visit friends and family will soon take form. Those who are dear to our hearts rise to mind, and we long to be in touch with them, to fuel that connection. The culture at Deer Hill is based on connection with friends and family. Everyone here understands the strength of relationships forged in the wilderness or through the effort put into reaching a collective goal. In today’s world of ‘connectivity’ our relationships are so often mediated by the screens of our smartphones, but it’s the human connection behind those screens we crave, and something that many of us find with Deer Hill.

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The Petroglyph | The Past is a Prologue

Blue Channel — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 21:20:51 +0000

You don’t have to be at treeline now to wake up to a cool morning; we find ourselves on the descending arc of summer. All of this season’s summer expeditions at Deer Hill have begun, many have ended, only a few left to return. By the time you read this, even they will have come back to Basecamp, cleaned up their gear, and bid farewell over hamburgers in the fading sunlight of their final night together as a group. And then it’s the return home: as you wake in your comfortable bed, you replay moments from the field; faces fleeting across your mind, you recall the jokes and games from the trail, and hold, if only for a second, the ephemeral memories of the challenges you met. So you face a new challenge now: to weave the beauty of the alpine tundra in wildflower season into the rank humidity of the locker room, the serenity of sunset on Utah’s redrock sandstone into the bustle between classes, the warmth and tenderness of Circle with your service host into the cold anonymity of city streets.

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