Longtime Angeles Chapter outings leader Frances "Sparky" Sotcher is the recipient of the 2015 Madelyn Pyeatt Award, honoring a Sierra Club member who has made outstanding contributions through working with youth. Sotcher has been leading Sierra Club outings for 45 years, and has been an ICO (Inspiring Connections Outdoors -- formerly Inner City outings) leader for nearly 30. We spoke with Sotcher recently about her long association with Angeles Chapter Outings and ICO.
What was your first connection with the Sierra Club?
My not-yet-husband introduced me to backpacking during our courtship and I loved it. In 1967, when our children were seven and five years old, we wanted to take them backpacking, but I was too nervous to do it just with my husband so we signed up for a Sierra Club base camp trip. It was a delightful experience, and our children had a great time at the base camp. We walked in carrying just our daypacks, and mules carried the rest of the load. We joined the Club to go on that trip.
What initially got you interested in ICO?
In 1986, a friend who was involved with Inner City Outings, Jane Rosenthal, invited me to a meeting and I signed on as a volunteer. I had so much fun leading the kids that I immediately signed on as an ICO leader. Most of the hikes I've led have been for 30 or fewer students, but lately we've been having larger groups with up to 60 youngsters, accompanied by four leaders.
Had you been a Sierra Club Outings leader prior to getting involved with ICO?
Oh yes, I've been an active Sierra Club Outings leader since 1970, when I went on a hike with Jill Swift, who was working to protect the Santa Monica Mountains. I joined the Angeles Chapter's Santa Monica Mountains Task Force, started taking hikes with them, and took the necessary training to become a certified Sierra Club Outings leader. I got deeply involved with the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force by leading outings. The largest hike I've ever led was during that time. Two of us had signed up as leaders, and 100 people showed up at each of the two designated carpool meeting spots. Fortunately, some other Sierra Club leaders had just come along to go hiking, so we marshalled their help and took the whole group into the mountains. As a result of the task force's work we saved about half of the Santa Monicas as a series of national, state, and county parks that were all strung together. At the time I became involved, the City of Los Angeles was planning to develop city parks, but with roads and parking lots and athletic facilities. We were in favor of keeping as much of the mountains as possible natural and wild, and that's what we ended up accomplishing. I worked very hard for that task force.
Did you get out into nature as a child? Is that partly what inspired you to be an outings leader?
No. My mother liked to camp, but my father, who was English, from London, would have nothing to do with it. My dad's idea of roughing it was staying at a motel. My mother got me involved with girl scouts and scouting camp, and we took walks around the city, to get ice cream and such. My first backpacking trip was when I met my husband-to-be. We did a lot of backpacking as a couple and later as a family, mostly in the Sierra Nevada. I also remember the thrill of discovering the Sespe Wilderness near Ojai, California; it was close enough to Los Angeles that we could easily go for just the weekend. There were nice steams to swim in and big rocks to jump off into the water.
What makes ICO so special, for young participants and leaders alike? Can you share a couple of highlights over your years as an ICO leader?
One thing is that we're not only introducing students to the out of doors; we're also introducing their teachers and their parents. Often they're the ones who are most curious about coming back, and so many times students have asked me if they can come back with their families. Many families regularly go picnicking, but going out on the trail into the wilderness is a unique experience for them. I love leading hikes for kids K-4th grade. The kids have so much fun rolling down grassy slopes, or finding a fallen tree, walking along it, and then jumping off the end of it. It's also gratifying to witness the satisfaction that youngsters feel when they've done something like descend steep, rocky terrain successfully. I try to get the teachers and parents not to hold the students' hands, but to let them do it themselves. No participant ever has to attempt something they don't want to, but once they decide to do it, I feel it's better for them to accomplish it on their own. It's more of a learning experience than if someone helps them up and down. Sometimes it's hard for the mothers to let go of their child's hand, though.
I remember one young boy who was walking on a very narrow trail crossing a steep slope, and he was afraid that he would fall off the trail. I walked with him and talked him through it, without physically helping him, and eventually he made it. He was so pleased and all smiles, and the next thing you know he was telling a third-grader how easy it was. Most of the youngsters whom I lead on trips are encountering wild nature for the first time -- the outdoor areas at their schools are usually concrete and very small. I enjoy being a leader because I have eager students right on my heel, talking and asking me what they are seeing, and expressing wonder at being outdoors.
Another wonderful experience I recall was when we took a group of 16- to 26-year olds, all former gang members who had previously been incarcerated, out into the mountains. They were now in a program downtown where they were learning to cook and sell baked goods at farmer's markets and developing work skills and training that would help them get jobs. We connected with some of their teachers and took them out hiking -- these were all big, strapping, tattooed men. And what was so gratifying was the way they really opened up to us as leaders and shared their stories about how they'd gotten on the wrong track but how much they appreciated being able to participate in the ICO program. That evening, a friend we encountered on the trail called me somewhat incredulously and asked, "Who were you hiking with?" They were obviously a rough bunch, but they were so sweet and appreciative of the opportunity to go hiking, and many of them said they looked forward to doing it again.
On my 70th birthday I put out the word to my friends that I was collecting 70 new and used backpacks to loan to students taking hikes with ICO. And sure enough, I did collect 70, and ten years later I'm still leading trips and loaning them to students to use on my hikes. Sometimes we give out 15 backpacks so everyone can carry their own lunch and water -- just one more way to build independence and self-reliance.
What would you say to others who are considering getting involved with ICO?
I think that ICO's new name, Inspiring Connections Outdoors, is so terrific. I tell people we are inspiring youngsters who will keep seeking connections outdoors and many of them will then bring their families to the parks. So often I hear youngsters say, "This is the funnest trip I've ever been on!"