The morning of Oct. 25 was part of a familiar Friday routine for Christina Salvin and her English 1A students: meeting in the Nob Hill parking lot, grabbing a bite to eat and coordinating car rides. All of it was in preparation for one of their frequent hikes at Pinnacles National Park.
Salvin is co-chair of Gavilan College’s English department and teaches multiple English classes. She’s been at Gavilan since 1998. After a fateful visit to Joshua Tree with a friend, Salvin fell in love with hiking. Since then, she’s centered it in her teaching.
“I’ve always integrated hiking into my classes,” Salvin said. “I 100% believe people are happier outside.”
Salvin said there has renewed interest in the hiking portion of her class since the pandemic. She asked one of her previous classes why they signed up, and a majority responded that their parents wanted them to take it so they would get outside more.
Gisel Villarreal is one of the students that stepped out of her comfort zone by taking Salvin’s class. A business major at Gavilan, Villareal is also a tutor for the writing center and English 1A. She’s taken multiple classes with Salvin and says the hikes challenge her by showing her things she wouldn’t normally see.
“I like the challenge,” Villarreal said. “I was finally able to do High Peaks last semester.”
Salvin works with park staff to lead the hikes, which also serve as lectures for the class. Students are encouraged to take field notes and pictures. The lectures cover topics including history, environmentalism, ecology and biology.
For the Oct. 25 hike, Pinnacles Cultural Resources Program Manager Timothy Babalis led the class through McCabe Canyon. Babalis focused on the human history of the canyon, which the Chalon tribe likely used as a seasonal hunting ground.
Babalis started the hike at an archaeological site indicating Indigenous hunting activity—an area covered in rock chips—which he identified as examples of ‘lithic scatter,’ the byproducts of Indigenous weapon-making. He also said that the ark hasn’t found any evidence of permanent dwellings.
“They likely never lived here permanently,” Babalis said, but “it’s a good place to hunt.”
As the hike continued, Salvin and Babalis pointed out various plants and trees. Pinnacles is home to two kinds of oak trees: valley oaks and coast live oaks. Both would have provided acorns, a staple of the Chalon diet. Students even learned to identify certain plants by their smell, like the pungent balsamic smell of vinegar weed dotting the ground, or the sweet-hay scent of coyote brush.
Then, the troupe came to a forested area thick with grassy bushes, which Babalis explained was all sedge. Sedge roots were among the materials the Chalon would have used for basket-making. The Chalon cultivated the grasses to make the roots straight so they could be woven more easily. Babalis said the intersection of resources have convinced park staff and archeologists that the Chalon likely cultivated McCabe Canyon.
“These things are all growing next to each other,” said Babalis, “We were still left with that feeling.”
Babalis led the class further to a bed of deer grasses, another staple resource for the Chalon. The lecture portion of the hike ended at the ‘Mother Oak,’ the name European settlers gave to a large oak tree in McCabe Canyon. The stop was a fitting end for a hike filled with exploration, inquiry and humor. Some students climbed the tree, found a fungus growth and passed a piece of it around.
Salvin started hiking at Pinnacles when she moved to Hollister in 2002. She believes the park is a local and national treasure, and envisions Hollister as a gateway to it. She structures the English 1A class around roughly 10 hikes there, culminating at the end of the semester in an essay advocating for something discovered on the hike. She said she’s shared three previous student essays with the park superintendent and staff.
“This class has definitely turned into activism,” she said.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The class begins the hike. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Tim Babalis (left) explains the history of the Chalon people to the class while students take field notes. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Salvin hands vinegar weed to student Victor Escobar to smell. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Salvin’s students photograph an Eagle. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Babalis and Salvin’s class pose for a picture in front of the ‘Mother Oak’. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Students feel the rough edges of the sedge plant. Babalis said the phrase “Sedges have edges” can help people remember how to identify the plant. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Student feel the rough edges of sedge. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Hector Cunningham smells coyote brush. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Babalis and students Emily Montilla and Alex Deleo examine the ‘Mother Oak’. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.“What are we discovering?” Salvin asks. “That this tree is really comfortable,” Jenalyn Argel responds. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Student’s field notes. Photo by Meghan Lee.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Student’s field notes. Photo by Meghan Lee.
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