J
onar Rodrigo knows from personal experience: the mountains can change your life. Growing up in High- land Park, just south of Pasadena, the only national parks he knew were the ones he heard about on TV. “Like Yellowstone or Yosemite,” Rodrigo remembers. “Those places seemed like they weren’t for me be- cause—as a Filipino kid from the city—I didn’t fit the description of the typical park visitor.”
But he did spend plenty of time in the outdoors. Rodrigo’s
father, a 27-year Navy veteran, had once dreamed of becoming a forest ranger. On weekends, the whole family would pile into the car to visit what Rodrigo later learned was Angeles National Forest. “One of my earliest memories of the San Gabriels is driving along State Route 2 to look at the snow— a very L.A. wilderness experience,” he recalls. In the mountains, Rodrigo felt energized and connected to something bigger. It was a feeling he rarely had in the classroom—and a marked counterpoint to the gang violence and crime he saw in his neighborhood. “I learned life lessons: be happy with what you have, make do with what is available, take time to breathe in the fresh air and enjoy your surround- ings, and always strive to be your best,” Rodrigo says. “They’re some of my most vivid memories.”
Those early teachings carried Rodrigo through a rocky ado- lescence. Today, he’s an urban outreach coordinator with the Forest Service, providing leadership training and paid outdoor work to local youth. “I spend more time at my old high school now than when I was a student,” Rodrigo jokes. “If I had these opportunities growing up, I might not have gotten expelled.” In the classroom, Rodrigo’s first task is to remind city kids that they live next to one of the most spectacular national forests in the country. “One of the first questions I always ask
Brenda Kyle, niece Viviana, and nephews Angel (left) and Vicente.
is, ‘Tell me which national park or national forest is closest to where you live,’” Rodrigo says. “Most kids name a local park like Griffith Park. How can we get our future leaders to care about a place they’re so unfamiliar with?” The answer can be as simple as taking them there, says Rodrigo. Once on the trail, the students come alive. “I’ve per- sonally witnessed youth who seemed to have no direction in life take on challenges they never thought possible,” Rodrigo recounts. “They set a personal goal and they’re able to raise not only their grades, but their self-esteem.”
It’s hard to visit the San Gabriel Mountains and not feel moved in some way. The smell of the white sage, the sound of a red-tailed hawk beating the air with its wings, the view from Henninger Flats of the Los Angeles basin sprawled out 2,600 feet below—these moments are powerful. But for all of their majesty, the mountains also serve practi- cal purpose. For Brenda Kyle, they’re a great place to take her niece and nephews. On a hike in Eaton Canyon, Vicente, age 7, scouts for interesting rocks while Viviana and Angel, both age 6, examine animal tracks. “I teach them the English name, the Spanish name, and the Tongva name,” says Kyle. “We talk about how the native cultures used each plant for food or medicine.” If Brenda has her way, these kids will grow up thinking of the San Gabriels as the boundless adventure just outside their door.
“One time they told me they wanted to touch the moun- tain, so we went up behind the meadow and they just kept running and running until there was nowhere for them to run,” says Kyle. “They were wondering where the mountain went. I said, ‘Think real hard. We saw it. We went closer.’ Then it dawned on them: we’re here.”
58 · LAND&PEOPLE · SPRING/SUMMER 2016
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