Growing the Gulch Community for over 99 years
This year, as I traveled the country hosting eight Regional Rendezvous celebrations ahead of our 100th anniversary next year, I kept encountering the same phenomenon: alumni from different decades, different states, different life paths, all connected by shared experiences and, remarkably often, by one man. From New York to Philadelphia to Denver to Indianapolis, where the Trek began in 1926 and where we held a Regional Rendezvous this fall, I connected with alumni spanning eight decades, and nearly all of them knew one person: Chet Kubit.
Chet attended the Indianapolis Rendezvous, and at 92 years old was as witty and loving as ever. He has spent nearly every summer at Cottonwood Gulch since 1965, including this year- 60 years of mentorship and magic tricks and honorable mischief. He has connected hundreds of young people to the natural world and taught us practical skills along the way. He is the most wide-reaching and long-lasting connector that Cottonwood Gulch has ever had.
But Chet would be the first to tell you that he’s not alone. At every rendezvous, I witnessed alumni serving as connectors in their own right: hosting gatherings, mentoring younger alumni, bringing their own children to the Gulch, and keeping the community alive in their own cities. This network of connection is what has sustained Cottonwood Gulch for a century.
Chet is a personal mentor of mine, someone I strive to emulate in many ways. At the Indianapolis Rendezvous, he said that “Cottonwood Gulch is just about the best thing to ever happen to me, and I am so glad that all of you are here with me.” The pages that follow show what we’ve accomplished this year and what’s possible when we stay connected to each other and to the land. We will be celebrating the centennial next August at Basecamp, and Chet plans to be there. I hope you’ll join us. And regardless of whether you can make it, thank you for being a part of this community.
DSB, Jordan Stone Executive Director
Chet at Basecamp with Jordan’s son, Rowan
Mountain Mahogany students
Mountain Mahogany students harvested apples at Bachechi Open Space
Guided by our Values:
4 components every trek, program and partnership encompasses at the Gulch
Immersive Outdoor Learning
pg 14-15
Escuela Del Sol, one of our longest school partnerships, brings 60 kids ages 6-12 to our Basecamp and the surrounding area every year. This spring they hiked Church Rock in Red Rock Park.
Environmental Stewardship
pg 12-13
Tech Leadership High School students dive into hands on learning through service work. Each semester they visit multiple sites and work on projects focused on environmental stewardship.
Connected Communities
pg 8-9
Leading up to our 100th year, we have hosted eight Regional Rendezvous events that connected Gulch community members from across the country and across generations.
Access and Belonging
pg 10-11
2025 Summer trekkers worked together to load the com. In one Paleontology trekker’s words...
“HERE I HAVE PURPOSE I HAVE A REASON TO PUSH THROUGH; A REASON TO WAKE UP, TIE MY SHOES AND WALK 10 MILES.”
-ANDRES, PALEO TREK 2025
Connected Communities
“THIS PLACE HAS MADE ME BELIEVE THAT COMMUNITY IS POSSIBLE”
- JODIE, SOUTHWEST ART TREK 2025
After 99 years, we are proud of a community made up of diverse cultures, multi-generational families, and trekkers from around the country and across the globe. This year has provided ample opportunities to further weave together an abundant tapestry of curious, adventurous, compassionate people that make up the Cottonwood Gulch family.
ED Jordan Stone traveled across the country, facilitating Regional Rendezvous events that reconnected community members to the Gulch.
Summer staff visit long-time Gulch partner and board member, Carrie House at their property on the Navajo Nation.
Our Fall Youth Conservation Corps Crew collaborated with multiple school groups this season. YCC crew leader Jess Karan tells us more.
This fall, the Gulch offered its first-ever Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) job training program designed specifically for New Mexican young adults interested in working outdoors. This crew call the greater Albuquerque area home, and will complete job and life skills training alongside hands-on conservation work and outdoor education. The crew will work across Bernalillo County; sites include Bachechi Open Space, Tijeras Creek, Sabino Canyon Open Space, and the Gutierrez-Hubbell House. What makes Cottonwood Gulch’s Fall YCC unique is its focus on environmental education, with each crew member researching, planning, and delivering a lesson to each other and younger students about a topic of interest in the natural world. The rich syllabus of peer-to-peer instruction includes caves, insect adaptations, toads, turtles, herbal medicine, the Rio Grande, and low-impact camping practices!
Unlike our summer YCC, this crew is based at Bachechi Open Space. A partnership dating back many years, CGE often brings school groups to Bachechi. This fall, Amy Biehl High School, Tech Leadership High School, and Mountain Mahogany Community School have all connected with YCC members through Gulch programming and service work. By shadowing and supporting CGE field educators on these programs, YCC crew members got to learn about classroom management in the outdoors, how to teach local ecology to different age groups, and the importance of collaborating with classroom teachers. YCC crew members taught students how to participate in the conservation and restoration work they engage in daily, explaining its importance and highlighting tool safety (who knows about Blood Bubbles?).
Connecting YCC crew members with students sparked curious conversations about outdoor careers. Though CGE’s crews are 18+, many YCCs around New Mexico employ folks as young as 15, so older students who enjoy the work are exposed to summer opportunities they didn’t realize were possible.
“It was so cool to see students explore the natural world,” remarked YCC crew member Avalon. Another crew member, Cleo, recounted bonding with a student over her passion for opossums, finding that despite being 10 years apart in age, they shared an innate curiosity towards nature. Hopefully, some of these school students will find themselves in YCC programs after graduation and might even find themselves back at the Gulch as trekkers and staff in the years to come. ---Jess Karan
YCC crew member Julianna demonstrates to Mountain Mahogany students how to safely use loppers.
cross cut logs in the Black Range of the Gila.
Access and Belonging
SCHOLARSHIPS BY LOCATION
16.7% NM (NOT ABQ)
16.7% US (NOT NM)
53% of trekkers received some form of financial support, either Pick your Price Tuition or a Scholarship we gave over $180,000 in financial support to summer trekkers
Summer Programs Director, Cass Landrum, shares with us some of her experiences from this year’s summer treks.
I have never encountered a program with a history so rooted in friendship, curiosity and acceptance. The more I am witness to these things unfolding at the Gulch, the more grateful I am that we have been able to run programs that host lifelong friendships for decades.
This summer I was witness to a deep friendship building between a trekker who had never left Albuquerque and one who had never left the Northeast. I watched these two teens grow their trust in each other as they navigated new experiences and artistic explorations. While Irene Notah, grandaughter of Tom Henio, led a weaving workshop, they sat close to each other, sharing stories of their unique pasts and laughing at inside jokes as they wove their handspun wool into a blanket.
We work hard to continue the legacy of recruiting adventurous youth who have yet to lay their hearts or eyes on the expanses of the southwest. We have built quality connections with schools here in Albuquerque and in the Houston area- connecting with school leaders to find students that would really benefit from our programs. This year, we have given over $180,000 in scholarships, primarily to families in Albuquerque and New Mexico.
As we start planning our 100th year, we are continuing with local partnerships, providing scholarships and a Pick your Price tuition model for our summer programs. We will strive to cultivate spaces for youth to feel connected, to feel cherished and to feel the magic that comes with the Gulch.
--- Cass Landrum
Two Wild Country Trek trekkers assist each other during a river crossing.
Environmental Stewardship
Community Education Coordinator, Brad Jeffrey, describes Mark Armijo Charter School’s YCC program and their visit to Basecamp
10th and 11th grade students from Mark Armijo Academy Charter School came out to Basecamp this summer to cap off their school summer YCC program. This is the second year running this program, so it was exciting to have both returning students and new ones for this season’s trek. We spent time exploring Basecamp; learning about the local forest and creekbed ecosystems, and worked on stewardship projects that help maintain these systems. We learned about local history and culture by participating in Basecamp Cottonwood activities led by CGE summer staff and educators. Students learned outdoor skills, including wilderness risk management, and outdoor navigation. The week culminated with students learning how to plan, design, and execute a stewardship project: building one-rock dams in Sawyer Creek to restore the Cottonwood populations. On the final day, the team taught our Outfit Trekkers how to plan and build their own one-rock dam. These projects and leadership opportunities will have lasting impacts on Basecamp and surrounding environments, and offer skills and experiences focused in the outdoors to students. Peer to peer learning, connecting and reconnecting to place, and building up community are all integral practices of environmental stewardship. We look forward to working with MAACS students for years to come.
--- Brad Jeffrey
Summer staff visit long-time Gulch partner and board member, Carrie House at their property on the Navajo Nation.
Mark Armijo students working with Outfit to build a one-rock dam at Basecamp.
Every trek we run incorporates stewardship principles and intentional care of the land we visit, play, and learn on. From Leave No Trace principles in the backcountry to removing tumbleweeds at a wildlife refuge, we know the value that comes from youth getting their hands dirty and developing a connection to place.
Our partnerships with Tech Leadership High School and Gordon Bernell Community School focus on Environmental Stewardship projects throughout the semester. Students visit sites across the Albuquerque area to participate in service projects, spend meaningful time outdoors, and learn about the local representations of earth systems and what role students can play within them. These consistent site visits have propelled a connection to place and offered opportunities for youth to build up outdoor skills that have nothing to do with plugging into a screen.
“GOING ON THESE TRIPS HAS SHOWED ME IT’S IMPORTANT TO RECHARGE AND HAS CONNECTED ME TO NATURE MORE. I HAVE ALSO GOTTEN CLOSER TO MY CLASSMATES.”
-BETHANY, GBCS STUDENT
TLHS students watering native plants at Candelaria Nature Preserve. This is year 5 of the preserve’s restoration plan, and Tech students have been a part of it since the very beginning!
GBCS students getting into the weeds at Valle De Oro Urban Wildlife Refuge.
Immersive Outdoor Learning
Escuela Del Sol Montessori School is our longest standing school partnership. The first trip was in 2009, planned by then Gulch Executive Director, Jeff Zemsky, and EDS teacher Inga Tomlinson, among others. Inga culminated her last spring at EDS (for now!) with a Gulch Trek. We took a moment to chat with her about her experiences facilitating Immersive Outdoor Learning and collaborating with Cottonwood Gulch.
Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions: Share with us who you are, and your role working with the Gulch.
Inga Tomlinson: I’m Inga Tomlinson, I started working at Escuela in 2004 and have worked in several positions at the school, but always fully involved in both planning and attending treks.
CGE: Could you tell us a little bit about how this relationship formed?
Inga: Yes! Courtney Zemsky, Jeff Zemsky’s wife, worked at Escuela. Jeff was the Executive Director then, and Courtney knew that outdoor trips were a part of our (Escuela) curriculum. So we started talking, and although the Gulch had never worked with kids that young (and 60 of them!) we decided to try it. And it was a perfect fit! The Gulch became our outdoor classroom.
CGE: What made the Gulch such a good fit for Escuela?
Inga: The philosophy of the Gulch is very aligned with ours; the environmental stewardship, outdoor ethic, and the kids being involved in every step of the trip. The Gulch has our third year students (who have most likely gone previously to Basecamp) create an activity for the other students. There is a constant, rolling model of helping kids move through their day: being responsible for yourself and teaching others. And the Gulch trusts us and our students to take on that responsibility.
Our Montessori activities of “Daily Living” are fundamental to learning for our students, and those are very much like the Gulch’s “Details.” Learning how to pack a bag, how to listen to what we are eating that day and having gratitude for that meal and then cleaning up the mess hall- those are all fundamental to a very immersive experience. The rest of the world may call it “soft skills”- like how to work together, to be resilient and to be one in a community, but I have seen that those skills are essential for kids, and all people, to grow into healthy, mindful, and compassionate community members.
Inga, surrounded by students and staff at Basecamp, Spring 2025.
“YOU CANNOT GET TO TRUE ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP WITH CHILDREN WITHOUT HAVING ‘REPEATED EXPERIENCE.’”
-
INGA TOMLINSON
CGE: Why is it so essential for Escuela to have these treks occur every year? Inga: First, an immersive experience, one where you’re actually living and coexisting in nature for 48 hours or more, leaves an impression that is so much deeper than anything you could do in an indoor classroom. These treks help kids understand the why behind environmental stewardship. Secondly, treks provide an opportunity for kids to be away from home. My students feel so proud and accomplished when they finish a trek with the Gulch. They know they are responsible, mature and ready to conquer their fears. And finally, as kids grow older, we add a more challenging or special component to the trip for those older kids. So that creates something to look forward to, something to share with younger participants. We have had students become Gulch trekkers, Gulch staff, and even dive into environmental careers. So that goes to show the level of the impression that these trips leave on our students. They learn that they are a part of a system, a community, and that they’re deeply connected to each other and the land.
FY 2024-2025 School Partners:
Albuquerque High School • Amy Biehl Charter High School • Bandelier Elementary School • Cien Aguas International School • City of Albuquerque • Escuela Del Sol • Coral Community Charter School • First Nations Community HealthSource • Forest Stewards Youth Corps • Garfield STEM Magnet School • Gordon Bernell Charter School • Hózhó Academy • Journey Montessori • La Promesa Elementary • Mandela International Magnet School • Mark Armijo Academy Community School • Montclair Cooperative School • Monte Del Sol Charter School • The Montessori Elementary School • Montessori of the Rio Grande Elementary School • Mountain Mahogany Community School • Prairie School • Rio Grande School • South Valley Academy • Technology Leadership High School • Wild Rockies Field Institute • Zuni Youth Enrichment Program.
Escuela students using the road stove to cook breakfast sausages.
A Foundation for Our Future
An endowment is a permanent fund that provides long-term financial stability. Unlike annual donations that support immediate needs, endowment gifts are invested so that only a portion of the earnings is distributed each year while the principal continues to grow. This creates a sustainable funding source that supports our mission in perpetuity.
Despite distributing over $783K to support our programs over the past 19 years, our endowment has grown by 313% during that same period. This sustained growth, powered by generous gifts and prudent management, ensures we can plan confidently and maintain program quality even during challenging times—enabling us to serve young people for generations to come.
Endowment Growth 2006-2025
3,000,000
Endowment Value
2,000,000
1,000,000 $-
Outfit Trekkers shortly after their sunrise summit of Mt. Taylor.
$1,664,336
Gulch Numbers 2025
Total Operating Income
Trekking into the
Future Campaign Update
We are thrilled to announce that our “Trekking into the Future” planned giving campaign has already secured more than $5 million in pledges! This important campaign will help secure a second century of life-changing treks for thousands of young people. Whether through your will, trust, beneficiary designation, or other planned giving option, your gratitude for the Gulch can benefit future trekkers. Supporters who make this legacy gift become part of our Red Rocks Society.
To learn more about joining the Red Rocks Society or to inform us of a gift commitment you have already made, please contact Carrie Dalrymple, Director of Development, at (505) 248-0563 or carrie.dalrymple@cottonwoodgulch.org.
Thank you to our Donors
Cottonwood
($5,000 and up)
Martin and Else Berman
Betsy and John Bloch
Thomas and Michele Davidson
Peter and Joan Fortune
Douglas
Fir
($1,000-$2,499)
Don Billings
William Donald
Jameson and Priscilla French
Amy Golodetz and Gregory Leech
Tracy and Henry Hooper
Thomas Hyde
Theresa Kavanaugh and John Lienhard
Marjorie Kittle and David Williams
Lucy Kluckhohn Jones
William and Deborah Korol
James and Robert Kresberg
Charitable Foundation
Alice Lesney
Margaret Macneale and Gary Cohen
Teresa and John Mayer
Richard and Judy McGinnis
Garret Meyer
Wendy Morgan
Scott Pierce, III
Kathleen and Thomas Schrader
The Franklin Conklin Foundation
Ponderosa
($2,500-$4,999)
Laurence Barker
Theodore Chase
Lee and Ann Farnham
Tom Hecht and Susan Korrick
Ellen Madden and Jordan Stone
Charlotte and Peter Merrell
Michael and Michele Nathan
Lynn and Jorgen Overgaard
Sue and Jack Oviatt
Robert Robinson III
Stephen Sedam and Virginia Weiss
Steven Stogel and Cheryl Melinda Allen
Barbara and Elwood Stone
Austin Troy and Sheryl Glubok
William Eveleigh
Amanda Favis and Luther Light
Randy Freeman
Martha Gearhart
Carol Gebauer
Thomas and Eleanor Elkinton
Douglas Erwin
Lida and Michael Exstein
Lucy French
Nancy Gehlbach
Matthew Grayson
Gregg Henry and Wenda Trevathan
Toby Herbst
Hooper Foundation
Laurie and Nancy Hooper
Margery Howe
Dan and Kelli Howie
Jefferson Johnson
Leon and Judith Jones
Bruce Kluckhohn
Elizabeth Sherwood Kubie
Millie and Michael LaFontaine
Roy Langenberg
Linda Lilienfield Boyce
Molly and Richard Madden
Stephen Mazur
William Mendelsohn
William Milius
Buck O’Herin
Wenda Pace
Denice and David Ross
Margaret Shaklee and Hillis Howie
Sarah Jane and Michael Grossbard
Maura Harway and Richard Mark
Jeffrey Johnson
Barbara and Jay Kittle
Lewis Koch
Catherine Koons-Hubbard and John Hubbard
Roy Korn
Trammell Lacey
John Laing
Richard Moog and Patricia Martin
Anne Louise and Leonard Oliphant
Dan Forer
Howard Geoghegan
Anna Getty and Scott Oster
Andrew Gilmour and Carol Hansen
Steven and Barbara Glicksman
Marion and Michael Goodkind
Leslie Gordon
Luke Gullickson
Melissa Hagstrum and Eric Blinman
Eleanor Hartgerink and Michael Huvane
Robert Haskell
Ellen and Martin Herbordt
Paul Herring
John and Eve Hilgenberg
Sam Hitz
Paxton Hyde
Mark and Judith Jeffrey
Jan Eric Juterbock
Alexander Rozin and Wendy Voet
Lee and Richard Schultz
Rhiannon Simpler
Joanne and John Smale
Jason Smith
Colin and Sally Towner
Mark and Julia Ikai Van Noppen
Gregory Zimet and Lynne Sturm
Juniper
($100-$499)
The Shanley Family Foundation
Robin Torrence
Joseph Traugott
Ted Uihlein
Ann Vonnegut-Frieling and Christopher Von Frieling
John and Paula Wehmiller
Jane and Sapir Weiss
Thierry Wilbrandt
Ann and Robert Zemsky
Piñon ($500-$999)
Peter Abrons
William Alschuler
Monty Billings
Hugh Camitta and Louise Snyder
Robert Cory
John DeKlyen
Leslie Katz
Michael and Kathleen Krall
Jesse Kramer
Susan and Raymond Kwasnick
Daniel LaCosse
Peter LaFontaine
Jason Lang and Kathryn Crampton
Kent Lathrop
William Lazarus
Sam Leichtling
Kenneth Leonard
Luther Allen
Charles Bachechi
Barbara Bennett Berger
Henry and Carole Berman
Susan Black
Susan Buchsbaum
John Burns
Alberto Cacopardo
Vertrees Canby
Richard and Patricia Chute
Terry and Barbara Collier
Janet Coursey
Paul Cowden
Jeff DeBellis
Tony and Margaret Link
Charles Lowenhaupt
Elizabeth Lowenhaupt and Cristopher Carman
Geraldine and Max Markovitz
Thomas Maxam
Barbara Merrell
Trudy Mirza
Peter Drescher
Tom and Eleanor Ewing
Jeffrey and Mary Ann Fisher
Mollie Flanigan
Tona and Kent Mortensen
Yordanka Nedyalkova and Peter Koeppel
Lisa and Jarret Pearl
John Pechette
John Pfaltz
Saba Presley
Jed Rakoff
Todd and Dena Rakoff
William and Megan Rhodehamel
Mieka Ritsema
Diane and George Robinson
Ann Dannenberg Rosen
Mike Salmanson and Tobi Zemsky
Julia and Brent Samter
William and Susan Schwartz
Norton Starr
Deborah Swartz and Mark Elson
The McKee Foundation
Bryson Thompson
Samantha Tidmore
Rachel Timmons and Brian Gottlieb
Benjamin Tobias
Kathryn Tout
Mark Udall and Maggie Fox
John Ullman and Irene Namkung
Kate Van Arman and Jamie Kopsala
Louise Waldstein and Marvin Martin
Maryam Weidner and Bruce McKinney
Lawrence Weisberg and Rebecca Johnson
Katherine Wells-Wheeler
Adam Welman and Kate Macneale
Gregory Wood and Linda Van Ligten
Holly Young
Jeff Zalusky and Katy Wheaton
Jeff and Courtney Zemsky
Aspen ($1-$99)
Colette Atkins
Tori and Matthew Baker-White
Seth Battis
Callie Beauchamp and Tish Ramirez
David Biller and Diane Mason
Cynthia Bishop
James Boone and Susan Ruth
Jeffrey Buchsbaum
Sarah Caldwell and Nicholas Mattison
David Cater and Alissa Priebe
Laura and Benson Chang
Adam Clayman and Caroline Heffron
Cornelia Emlen
Maureen Feely and George Kohl
This list represents donors to Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. If your name or organization’s name does not appear here, please contact us. Thank you for your support!
Drs. Kurt and Summer Ferreira
Dan Freedman and Mary Anne Hess
Nathan Goldberg
Margaret Govoni and Brian Kasch
Grace Hansen-Gilmour
Carrie House
Linda Huffer and Ryan Danley
Cheryl and Tyler Kent
Kirsten Lee and Richard Farmer
David Levine
Sara Levine
Veronica and Russell Ligon
David Marks and Roberta Tovey
Wendy Maynard
Phillip and Linda Miller
Carrie and Seth Powell
Jenny Price
Melissa Remmy and Chris Schrader
Alice Hyde Lesney
Beal Hyde
Catherine Turner
Chester Kubit
Danila Oder
Elizabeth and Nick Ruedig
Kezia Toth and Joshua Miner
Earl Trevathan
Doug Erwin
Red Rocks Society Members
Lucy French
Lucy Kluckhohn Jones
Lynn Overgaard
Margaret Macneale and Gary Cohen
Marjorie Kittle and David Williams
Eleanor and Thomas Elkinton
Ellen Madden and Jordan Stone
Ervand and Judie Peterson
Gerald Ross
Greg Barker and Jane Chipman
Henry and Tracy Hooper
Jameson and Priscilla French
John and Betsy Bloch
Joseph Traugott
Laurence Barker
Leslie Gordon
Michael Hays
Molly and Richard Madden
Neil and Ellen Macneale
Paxton Hyde
Richard and Judy McGinnis
Stephen Sedam and Virginia Weiss
Susan Buchsbaum
Toby Herbst
Thomas Hyde
Wenda Trevathan and Gregg Henry
William and Deborah Korol
9223 4th St NW
Albuquerque, NM 87114
2026 marks 100 years of Cottonwood Gulch treks. We are thrilled to host our 100th Anniversary Reunion next summer at the Cottonwood Gulch Basecamp. Registration for this event will open on our website early 2026. Mark your calendars and join us in celebration!
If you would like to stay on top of Gulch news, please consider signing up for our email newsletter. You can go to our website at cottonwoodgulch.org to learn more and subscribe.