Our sixth-annual Summer Immersion trip journeys through the enchanted Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains, a vast and rugged range stretching from the coastal redwood forests to the slopes of the Cascades. In the 1850s, the lives of the native inhabitants of this region were upended by a gold rush and the miners and settlers who flooded the region.
Now rural and remote, the pursuit of minerals, timber, and water for irrigation still strains the ecological and social fabric of the Klamath. It is a land of geological wonder: pyramids of red rock supporting a botanical diversity unmatched in the West. It is a place of cultural complexity, shaped by back-to-the-land utopians, libertarian separatists, the US Forest Service, legends of Bigfoot, and the tribes and transplants that fiercely defend this place.
Participants in Water and Gold will travel together for a month of backcountry excursions, backpacking and car-camping, sharing meals and making art. A broad curriculum of readings and activities, visiting presenters and site visits, will support individual artistic response in any media. The structure is intimate and engaging, shaped to catalyze creative breakthroughs and lifelong friendships. This course is intended for those without any prior backcountry experience as well as seasoned campers. Students have the option of taking the course for three transferable college credits for an additional fee (graduate or undergraduate).
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