Just head over to forum.scoutfitters.org

-Christine Sur

I have to admit; I have a very unique perspective on this. As the Community Support Director, my responsibility is to keep everything running smoothly because at the end of the day, none of us want to deal with all this “business stuff”. We as guides and you as members all want the same thing: spend more time chilling together, preferably outdoors in the wilderness. From our @scoutfitters.org email addresses to our Facebook page, all of our online tools help serve the mission: to let us better nurture the outdoor community we’re trying to create.

So, along those lines, I’m kind of hoping you noticed the new digs www.scoutfitters.org is showing off today. Together with the help of two other guides, Molly Barnes and Quinn Rohlf, we’ve been working incredibly hard over the past month on our brand spanking new WordPress website.

Over the past couple of semesters, we’ve been asking you what you liked about SC Outfitters and what annoyed the crap out of you. One of the things that we kept hearing was how much you liked our website.

On the other hand, SC Outfitters has been expanding exponentially over the last year. With a membership program and an expanded roster of trips, our website was simply unable to keep up with what we needed it to do. We could’ve made it work, but it would’ve been more complicated for both you as a participant, and for us as guides to maintain.

So with much celebration, we decided to move to better pastures, and this new site is the result. Some of the new features we hope you’ll like are:

• A cleaner design to make it easier for you to get all the information you need.
• A new Trips Page for you to bookmark and get an easy, visual way of seeing all the trips.
• Added support and help pages so you can find answers to the questions you have.
• More photos of the guides and the members that put a face to our community.
• A revamped The Blog with RSS Feed to keep you in the loop with the latest news.
• A new host to reduce our operating costs so more money can go to benefit our members.

And that’s not all! With midterm season going on right now, we couldn’t finish everything we wanted to do, but that doesn’t mean we’re done expanding the website. Let’s just say our members will have something to be very stoked about come next semester.

For now, we hope you like the look of our new online home. For the longest time, when people said how much they like our website, I’ve always responded, “I’m glad you love it. I actually hate my work.” Now, I’m happy to say how much I love what Molly Barnes, Quinn Rohlf, and I have created. We hope you’ll agree.

Thanks for reading, and remember to live for adventure!

Andy Chu
Founding Guide | Community Support Director | SC Outfitters

Lauren drove the USC van with impressive skill in the complete dark to the Marion Mountain Trailhead and we hit the trail at 1:45 am. We were rewarded with amazing views as well as a completely different and totally epic hiking experience. The moon was so bright that there was no need for headlamps and we ascended surrounded by the beauty and solitude of the outdoors. We lost the trail a few times but thanks to other hikers who used rocks to mark the trail we were able to find our way.

The sunrise was scheduled for 6:58am and at about 6:30am, we discovered we had taken a wrong turn and were on the other side of the impressive San Jacinto that we should have been. Because it was still dark and so close to the sunrise, we decided to not turn back and summit a nearby mountain, only 200ft shorter than San Jacinto. We were rewarded with amazing views of San Jacinto and the sunrise.

After being motivated by the cold and a delicious breakfast, we got back to the trailhead in the late morning and had a delicious lunch of pita and veggies on the way home.  Because of our hard hike (nearly 12 miles with 4500ft elevation gain) and lack of sleep, the drive home was rather quiet, as everyone slept.

Everyone on the trip was amazing and we all enjoyed the completely different experience hiking in the dark awarded.

Overall, the trip was a fantastic success – this guide can say with certainty that this was the best group of participants he’s ever had and the best trip he’s ever led with SC Outfitters.

‘Twas a fair morn which broke on the day of the great hunt. We two captains of the great vessel Sir Douglas Clifford the Second convened at the break of day to warm our minds to the great adventure before us. Silence fell between us as our day’s crew emerged, appearing as specters out of the dense fog. After granting various permissions (i.e. to come aboard, to speak freely to an officer of higher rank, to talk like a pirate) among them, each of the mateys shared their favorite type of yogurt, followed by the flightless bird which most caught their fancy. A revealing morning it proved to be! A heartier crew than Sarah, Victoria and Vince could ne’er be found cross all the seven seas.

We made haste to hoist the main sail and cast off from our berth. Our spirits were high as the wind whistled through our matted hair, making out on our journey at a clip of nearly forty knots. Equipped with cryptic map and erstwhile compass, the task before us was great indeed. First mate Sarah guided our vessel gallantly through the high seas until we were near our quarry. We dropped anchor on a desolate shore rich with signs of a dangerous, unfriendly native population. After a bit of poking around, alas! We discovered the object of our pursuit to be on the next island over. Back to Sir Douglas we rushed, our heads filled with dreams of diamonds and doubloons.

A short skip across the pond brought us to the next island, where we cast anchor and swung the boom. This island was thick with landlubbers and younglings’ birthday parties. Vince was sorely tempted to join the reveling bacchanals, but under threat of a harsh flogging he held his post. Skyward we hiked, coming at last to the yawning breach of a great cave hewn into the rock. Alas, the story of rich treasure must have escaped the mouth of a trusted sailor in some weary tavern or other, for lo and behold, another treasure seeker was already on site! Captain Nina knew a member of his crew from the days of old, and on this friendship we resolved not to spill each other’s blood, but we watched them with a wary eye!

To the hunt! Another look at the map brought us news of the treasure. It was sure to be somewhere along the hillside above the cave! We hacked our way through brambles and poison oak, scouring the hillside for some glint of a ruby-encrusted hilt or gold-handled chalice. One of our crew recognized a sign from the map on a rock perched on the hillside. “T+L” it read. The treasure was so close you could almost spend it! We put our mangled noses to the ground and searched as we’d never searched before, and ho! Treasure! A small chest was stashed underneath a rock. Our hearts beat with fiendish delight as Victoria cracked the lid, and our eyes lit upon the objects of our heart’s desire. A rusty penny. A movie ticket. A “buy X get 1 free” card, with one purchase stamped. Needless to say, the bottomless greed in the pit of our pirate souls was finally satisfied by the enormity of this booty. After several minutes of reverent inspection, we placed the precious chest back in its home, and tore ourselves away from the wonderful treasure.

After a quick meal to fuel our pirate appetites and stave off pirate scurvy, it was decided amongst the crew to take a pleasure trip to relax our tired muscles after the tense morning of treasure hunting. Griffith Park Observatory was the intended destination, to catch a glimpse of the stars and thereby navigate our way back to friendly harbors. A dash over white-capped waves brought us upon the great hulk, and we filed inside among landlubbers. We listened to a presentation on the workings of the moon and its effect on the tides, and tramped to the roof to look with delight upon the magnificent Los Angeles harbor spread before us.

As salty dogs know, all great treasure hunts must come to an end, as all journeys to distant shores must eventually find their way to a friendly harbor. Raising our anchor, we cast off from the observatory and made safe passage to our native berth. What an adventure! Our grandchildren will look upon this day as one of great pride, the day when five brave souls, in the face of every adversity, lit upon a magnificent, bedazzling treasure and lived to tell the tale. The bonds of friendship forged under such conditions are precious indeed. To our ship’s crew! We two captains would gladly sail to any shore with you three on the main sail, you will always find a bunk in our fo’c’sle. Until next time, may your waters be calm and your rum be plenty!

Once at the crag, we were able to get up three great routes ranging from levels 5.6 through 5.8. After demonstrating on the ground the process we used to ensure the safety of the anchors at the top (ERNESTA!), going over belaying commands and safety checks, our fearless participants set about their cure.

It worked like a charm! We had lots of fun spending quality time with the rock, each other, and in Mike & Jeremy’s case, a very accommodating tree.

Even though our day didn’t start out as planned, the marathon/karate tournament/clown party/whatever it was that crowded Pt. Dume that morning opened up a great opportunity for the participants to push themselves in unexpected ways and get some climbing experience at a really sick spot (props to Quinn for suggesting it!). We hope you all enjoyed it, I know we sure did!