UCLA Hiking Club explores SoCal one mountain at a time

Dried-up riverbeds and withered flora littered the first few miles of the Fish Canyon Narrows hiking path. As a few dozen members of the The Hiking Club at UCLA navigated the trail and entered the shadier regions of the mountain, the group chanced upon small pools of clear mountain water.

While a few members of the club decided to push on, some students lingered behind to enjoy the cool rushing waters of the river.

This past weekend, the club went on a trip to Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve and to Fish Canyon Narrows – a 10-mile-long hike. Feeling refreshed from their dip in the pools, the students got back on the trail and hurried ahead after the rest of the hiking group.

There are about 1,200 members in the student organization, which travels to places such as Chiquito Falls and Mt. Baden-Powell and other trails in the backcountry of Southern California.

The student organization was founded by UCLA alumnus Seth Wing and his fellow geography students in 2010, said William Leibzon, a UCLA alumnus who helped found the club.

The Hiking Club started with a small base of dedicated hikers. But membership has increased rapidly since the start of this school year, said Jocelyn Bailey, a third-year bioengineering student and co-leader of the club. She attributed the increase to more frequent and better quality hiking trips. Also, members who enjoy their trips invite their friends to the next excursion, increasing the hiking community, she added.

“It’s a really fun group of people and they find trails I would never know about or be able to get to otherwise,” said Chloe Adler, a second-year international development student.

Adler was introduced to the club by her friend Antonio Chubretovic, a fourth-year linguistics student who is from Chile.

Chubretovic said that he went on hikes frequently with friends and family in Chile and that motivated him to find a hiking-related organization when he arrived at UCLA.

A few of the club’s members said that a trip to Echo Mountain in April was their most memorable hiking experience with the group.

The surrounding canyons of Echo Mountain reflect and amplify the sounds made through an echo contraption at the top of the mountain.

“We got to the top and did the UCLA 8-Clap cheer through the megaphone and heard it resounding throughout the mountain,” Adler said. “It was a fun team-building experience.”

For a few other members, Mount Baldy was the peak of their hiking experience. Several members from the expanding club trekked a trail that stretches for 11.3 miles and has an elevation gain of 3,900 feet.

“It was one of the hardest and most rewarding hikes we’ve ever done,” Bailey said. “Progress was slow because of the large group, but the view from the top was amazing.”

Mount Baldy was the most strenuous hike she has ever been on, said Agnese Babini, a fourth-year art history student.

“It was really difficult because of the great elevation gain and the steep slopes. I’m not a good hiker but the others waited for me,” Babini said. “I still kept going because I really wanted to see what I could do. I wanted to try.”

As a founding member, Leibzon sees the club as a way to meet people who are interested in nature.

“I think what makes this club great is the different interactions you can get with every hike,” Leibzon said. “Each hike sees a different composition of people so the experience is always new.”