High Adventure / Rugged E Staff 2013
Despite growing up in Massachusetts, my Dad would always tell me stories about his summers going to Emerald Bay in the 70s. These had never been much more than funny stories and recollections about cliff diving, canoeing on the ocean, and wild hogs sneaking into his tent at night – all wildly different from the forested hills of New England my troop and I were used to camping in.
It wasn’t until completing my BSA Guard certification my senior year of high school that I had the idea of throwing out a wild card application to Emerald Bay. To my surprise, it was the last week of the application window, and although I applied for Waterfront, I was told they had an open position for High Adventure.
Fast forward to that summer and I was crossing the country for what ended up being the most fun and fulfilling summer of my life. I still look back in envy of the weekly summits of Silver Mountain, bike trips to Little Harbor, and war canoe trips to Cabrillo Beach with the rest of the Rugged E crew.
These days I am back on the East Coast, living in New Jersey with my newly-wed wife, Kate.
Funnily enough, I reconnected a bit with Emerald Bay through a former colleague, (current EBA Board Member) Scott Nussbaum, while working in NYC.
Getting out camping and exploring the wilderness is obviously much more difficult these days versus when I was a scout, so in my spare time I have picked up landscape photography as a hobby to reconnect with nature a bit.
I was also lucky enough to visit Catalina Island again this past May, and already have future trips in mind to revisit EB and hike the Trans Catalina Trail.
