Trekker Profiles

BY: BRAD JEFFREY

Jill Markovitz went on Prairie Trek (Group 3) in 1990-1991, where she discovered her passion for art, photography and the Southwest. She went on to earn a degree in art education from the University of New Mexico and a Master's of Fine Art in Photography from UMass, Amherst. Jill is the founder and director of Philly Art Center, a creative hub for studio learning across the Philadelphia region.

How did you find out about Cottonwood Gulch?

Indirectly, through Ellie Macneale Elkinton.

What are some of your favorite experiences with the Gulch? There are just so many experiences, memories like snapshots… the flutter of a forest of aspen leaves before a storm, the enormity of the view from the peak of Mt. Sneffels, the feeling of connectedness to the past while standing in the Grand Kiva of Casa Rinconada. A standout experience and probably one of the most important was in 1990, my first year as a trekker. Our group leader, Nate Lord, saw that I took an interest in photography. He lent me his SLR camera and I took it on every hike and backpacking trip that entire summer. I was astounded by his trust in me. I had a ton of black and white film that the Gulch gave me and I shot every frame and learned how to develop it in the old dark room. I just fell in love with photography to the point where I pursued it for my MFA. But equally important, Nate valued me as capable and responsible so that I learned to recognize these qualities in myself. By the end of my second summer, I won the Silver Buckle “for doing my own job best and helping others most.” I still have the buckle! That ethic of responsibility to myself, my peers, and my community has really stuck with me.

Were there other important lessons you learned?

I learned the value of wilderness; that it needs to be protected. I learned a lot about conservation, and the importance of balancing resource development with other needs. And of course, I learned a ton of great campfire songs!

What is something you learned or discovered about yourself?

After the first summer, I started pursuing leadership opportunities at school, this was 11th grade. I was more confident in my abilities and started to chart my own path. I went to a competitive Quaker boarding school, so my decision to go to the University of New Mexico was a different kind of college choice than my peers were making. In 2004, I opened Philly Art Center out of a 300 square foot space. Now, I’ve got three locations and have had thousands of artists come through our studios. We’re one of the largest independent educational programs in Philadelphia. I learned how to take measured risk at the Gulch and that’s given me confidence, ever after, in life and business.

What is unique about Cottonwood Gulch?

There are a lot of outdoor programs out there now, but I think what sets the Gulch apart is the human relationships they’ve built over time. For me, one of the most important gifts the Gulch gave me was a relationship with [former Board Member] Irene Notah, Grandfather Tom Henio’s youngest daughter. Her daughter, Antoinette and I became friends at the Gulch. When I was still in high school, Irene invited me to stay with her and her family and I spent a month with them. Later, Antoinette and I lived together when we were both in school in Albuquerque. And even later, I went back and shot my MFA thesis in and around their home. When I went back to NM in the summer of 2019, one of my first stops was to meet Irene and Antoinette at the Gallup Flea Market. How else, does a nice Jewish girl from Philly become lifelong friends with a Navajo family from Arizona if not for Cottonwood Gulch?

Does the Gulch continue to play a role in your life?

Sure, and the Gulch has a way that keeps you coming back. I went to a local Gulch reunion, thinking that my son and I would like to do a Family Trek. And that’s when I met my partner and his family. There’s something about Gulch people. We care about our communities and our families and the world. I think it comes back to being out in nature, but also being part of a group that has to eat and pack a com and all the other things that go into making a group function on the road or in Basecamp. You can’t have the spectacular hikes and amazing memories without doing KP and G and L. For me, that job is running a business that employs over 30 people and it’s also keeping our blended family of six going. We all have our own Gulch stories and connections. My son, in a few more years, will have his. The Gulch will continue to tie us together to each other and to families across the US and the world.

BY: BRAD JEFFREY

Clara Bewley served as a Basecamp naturalist in 2018-2019, halfway through college, where she re-discovered her passion for geology. She went on to earn her B.S. in Geology at the Colorado School of Mines, and is currently carving out a career path in the natural sciences in the outdoor classroom.

How did you find out about Cottonwood Gulch?

I was in college, playing softball, and I was in the mood to get into the Southwest, and literally googled “Southwest geology camp” and the Gulch was the first thing to pop up. I applied and just went with it. Since the Gulch is pretty small, it tends to be a word-of-mouth thing, but I found it!

What is your favorite memory with the Gulch?

I have a couple. One of them that’s really vivid was my first summer, toward the end of staff training, the sky was super, super clear, and there were five or six of us who went out and laid in the driveway up to the mess hall. I remember how you can see everything – the Milky Way, a million stars, like the sky was falling in on us. That summer, I went out on a couple of treks, and Paleo Trek was my first real experience, having not been a trekker previously. Our first day on the road, near Ghost Ranch, we saw the Coelophysis quarry and camped near Abiquiu. All of the trekkers were starting to get along well, and once we were on the road, everything ran smoothly. We had big thunderstorms with vivid sunsets, and ended our days with peach toss.

When you were here, what is something you learned or discovered about the outdoors?

In college, I had fallen into a routine of (indoor) quantitative work. Being at the Gulch, I started to re-discover the little things that I really loved about geology and nature, and re-connect with the things that made me fall in love with geology in the first place. At the Gulch, you have time to notice a lot of the smaller, more personal things without other distractions.

What is something you learned or discovered about yourself?

With the Gulch being such a small community, it re-defined what I look for in inter-personal relationships, and finding an authentic way to connect with people.

What made you come back?

I just really loved it, it’s such a beautiful place, you get to see so many cool things, connect with the students and the staff who are there with you, and I just fell in love with it my first summer out there. I like how you referred to the kids as students, which really shows the educator in you. One thing about the Gulch is you get to experience teaching with a bunch of different age groups. I had done some tutoring and coaching before, but the Gulch really gives you the opportunity to understand how kids of different age groups function, what they need at the community level, what’s going to keep them entertained, and how they learn to interact with one another.

How did your time with the Gulch impact your life today?

It made me more open to the possibility to take an alternative approach to my career. I found myself indoors at a corporate office, repaying student loans. My time at the Gulch helped me notice that when I get closer to that goal, there are other options.

What is unique about Cottonwood Gulch?

It gives you the space to create your own experience. You can develop relationships, and explore those things that are interesting or important to you.

Do you have any advice for future trekkers?

Be open to different experiences and different people, and it’s okay to be uncomfortable if you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen next. A beautiful thing about the Gulch is being unplugged, and being forced to be really in the moment. You start to develop a lot of skills you can rely on, like problem solving skills, or finding what you need emotionally within yourself and your community.

Why are experiences like the Gulch important?

A lot of the things that you do at the Gulch are purely for the purpose of self-exploration, re-discovering things you were interested in but then life just gets too busy. I think it’s really important to take time and slow down, and then you can start to reflect on some of the experience you’ve had or are having, and the Gulch provides the space for that. I had the time to see something, think about it, and really be curious about it, versus being taught about it from a textbook.

Semester in the Southwest Learn, grow, and gain valuable skills while having the time of your life in a small community.

Spend 84 days on the adventure of a lifetime, working on a project in a discipline of your choosing, and wandering the unforgettable wilderness of the Southwest. Be part of a community dedicated to personal growth, learning, and cultural understanding. Investigate the impact of climate change on the Southwest and explore the issues surrounding environmental and social justice. Explore the "big W" Wilderness of deserts and mountains, frontcountry campgrounds, out of the way towns, and everything in between. Interested? Get in touch with Tori at enrollment@ cottonwoodgulch.org for more information

95th Anniversary, Virtual Edition, August 22nd, 2021 More Info Coming Soon

2021 marks our 95th anniversary, and we will be hosting a virtual celebration on August 22nd! Keep an eye on your email and Gulch social media for more information and the chance to register online.

We wish we could see you for a large in-person gathering this year, but given the unknowns surrounding the pandemic, we are not confident enough to plan a large gathering this summer (300 people attended the last reunion). However, we have tentative plans for a "96th Reunion" celebration at Basecamp in 2022. And, of course, 2026 marks our 100th anniversary, so mark your calendars for that!

Joint Fundraiser with Chizh for Cheii Help Us Reduce Fire Risk at Basecamp While Helping Our Neighbors

Later this spring, we will be sending you something else in the mail: a request to help us raise money for one project with two goals. We have been partnering with Chizh for Cheii, a Gallup-based organization that is removing excess wood from the Gulch property and delivering the wood to Navajo elders who use it for warmth and cooking. This reduces the fire risk at Basecamp while providing an essential benefit for our neighbors. Your donations will allow us to purchase a trailer and continue supporting this joint effort.

BY: MARNIE REHN

and arboretum areas in the park.

Another exciting endeavor is to get online with the GIS Interactive Mapping of the Open Space landscape. Our intern, Mia Jesperson-Chavez and Austin Kessler will support our efforts in this task. We hope this enhances our online recognition and allows the Gulch another opportunity to show up in dynamic ways in partnership with Bernalillo County. It can also provide our school programs and SIWI programs a way to engage with us locally, in digital form for now, and with hope, in-person and on-site in the future.

Bachechi Education Center continues to remain closed to the public but we continue to keep a presence online with both our Speaker Series events and the Digital Nature Pack activities that are part of our Sunday Family Funday events each weekend! In 2020 our speaker series events were all live streamed through our Bachechi Open Space Facebook page.

This endeavor gave us a wider exposure and drew in new participants from the Albuquerque region and beyond. But, it was almost impossible to gather contact information this way as we were unable to easily track who was viewing the stream. The videos remain on the Facebook page and we can watch the view count grow over time, but it hasn’t allowed us to also grow our contact list. So, in 2021, we are using social media and various avenues to advertise the events, through Bernalillo County’s new GOV Delivery system is one example. This way we collect contact info from registrations and are holding the events in Zoom so we can have direct contact with participants in real-time conversational format.

Our program lineup features Gulch staff as well as local community experts and collaborative organizations; and this summer the vision is to get Bachechi engaged in the Backyard Refuge program. We will focus many speaker events on the process we undertake of making the land here at Bachechi a Backyard Refuge Certified location. We are adding wildlife habitat improvements to the already established, but somewhat fallow pollinator garden

Thanks to our Donors

To our beloved donors: For the gifts you’ve shared, for your financial support, and for the memories that keep us going, we thank you. Our annual fall appeal raised over $200,000, essential support that allows us to:

• Provide scholarships for summer trekkers • Purchase camping equipment for trekkers and groups that can’t afford it • Keep our infrastructure in great shape, so we are ready for a return to in-person programming • Add solar panels to the QM Building at Basecamp • Support our school programs, both virtual and in person (our teacher partners thank you, too!) • Help our neighbors, like Chizh for Cheii, who supply firewood for elders on the Navajo Nation • Expand our endowment • Adapt our programs to align with current COVID practices and state regulations

A complete list of our donors will be featured in the upcoming fall newsletter. Thank you for keeping the memories alive, and keep on trekking. Yours truly, Cottonwood Gulch Staff and Board