What could be better than getting out of the classroom and taking your students on a trip back in time in a beautiful mountain setting, complete with costumed living historians and loads of hands-on activities? Combining our local history and science, it’s sure to be a winner for you and your students—and we are less than a two-hour drive from most major metropolitan areas in Southern California!
DISCOVERY TRAIL
Welcome to Alpine! This course is a required introduction to your stay here. Led by your Trail Leader, you’ll get to explore our 46 wooded acres and participate in a variety of games and activities that will lead you into a clearer understanding of your relationship to our environment and your interaction with it.
MAKUALA TRIBAL ENCOUNTER
Five miles east of Alpine lies Rock Camp, an archaeological site that was inhabited several hundred years ago by the Yuhaviatam Indians (also known as the Serrano). Members of this tribe would spend their summers in the mountains foraging for food and hunting. Become an honorary member of Alpine’s Makuala tribe as you explore the lifestyle and culture of our local American Indians as well as others. Learn about medicinal and edible plants, crafts and ceremonies. Develop your hunting skills as you play games, throw a dart with an atlatl, and shoot archery. Examine the characteristics of animals local to our area through stories and activities. Make a pine needle brush, grind some acorns with a mano and metate, and learn some sign language inside a tipi!
BOWER'S HOLE RENDEZVOUS
A small group of colorful and eccentric men played a decisive role in the exploration and expansion of the West. Two of the most prominent, Jedediah Smith and Kit Carson, both led parties through the San Bernardino Mountains about ten miles west of Alpine. Explore the lifestyles of these and other bold adventurers as you participate in a rendezvous! Travel with your ‘brigade’ back in time to the early 1800’s when beaver pelts meant wealth to those willing to take the risks. Listen as a mountain man—(or woman!) demonstrates how to set a trap and examine some of the adaptations of nature’s most amazing engineer—the beaver! Learn to use a map and compass, build a shelter, and start a fire with flint and steel. See who can make a bulls-eye as you ‘throw the hawk’. Listen to some tall tales, watch a flintlock demonstration and join in the fun as you participate in a mountain man shooting match!
CLIPPER SAWMILL EXPERIENCE
In 1865 Daniel Huston operated the Clipper Saw Mill in Wild Rose Canyon, on the site of present-day Alpine. Join us as we explore what life might have been like back then. Fix up some grub over an open fire and learn how to properly use an axe and saw. Play some logger games and help out with the chores, like laundry and candle-makin’. Learn about rocks and minerals as you and your crew pan for gold like ol’ Bill Holcomb did just east of here in 1859. Use a key to identify local trees and gain a better understanding of forest management. Examine actual artifacts from the mill as you listen to stories from the journals of Joe Tyler, one of the early lumbermen who lived just down the road a’piece!
CLIMBING 101
Get introduced to the fantastic sport of rock-climbing on our 30’ tower. Learn how to use the proper equipment, safety practices, and then summit the peak on belay with our trained instructors. After that, fly through the forest like Peter Pan on our 500’ long zip-line!
HIGHER GROUNDS ROPES COURSE
Learn to work together as a team to accomplish a variety of challenges on our low elements/group initiative course. This excellent introduction to the high ropes fosters team-building, cooperation and communication. After this required experience, challenge your group on the high ropes course by climbing elements ranging from 30-100 feet in the pines! All participants wear safety gear and are belayed and instructed by trained professionals.
NOCTURNAL ADVENTURES
Experience Alpine after dark! Examine the adaptations of the animals of the night, utilize all five senses on a hike, and discover the night sky as we learn about stars and constellations. Folk dancing and a campfire are also a part of our evening program. We will do something different each night you are with us!
- Night Hike: animal adaptations, five senses
- Astronomy: stars, constellations, Greek mythology/skit
- Folk Night: Buckskin Bill skit, Folk dance/history
- Campfire: Skits, songs, s’moreos (s’mores made with oreos)
