January 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 41

Adams Pack Station on a Saturday
morning. After parking, we quickly headed toward the Gabrielino
Trail and started to make our way to
Sturtevant Falls. I couldn't help but
wonder, as we made our way to the
trail, why it took me so long to visit the San Gabriel Mountains. Until
a couple years ago, my dad was the
only one in our family who drove,
and because of his long work hours,
we didn't have the opportunity to
take a family trip to the mountains.
The closest we'd come to the San
Gabriel Mountains was Montebello,
so even traveling on the 210 Freeway
was somewhat unfamiliar to me. I
also thought about why I never took
a school fieldtrip and how I lost an
opportunity to learn more about such
an important part of the environment. Time, money, resources and a
lack of knowledge all contributed to
not knowing more about the San Gabriel Mountains.
Now that I'm older, I understand
that the San Gabriel Mountains were
always available to me, but I just
didn't have the resources to access
them. I hope that we can do better
to make sure everyone has the ability to visit the San Gabriel Mountains - especially children who see
the mountains every day and have a
deep desire to explore them. When
President Obama dedicated the San
Gabriel Mountains National Monument in 2014, he stated that " Too
many children...especially children
of color, don't have access to parks
where they can run free, breathe
fresh air, experience nature and
learn about their environment. This
is an issue of social justice. " The
San Gabriel Mountains serve a very
large city, and it is important that
everyone - especially underserved
communities - be given the oppor

Nancy Negrete (in red cap), accompanied by her sister Araceli Negrete (second from
left) and friends Rosalie Andrade (far left) and Arantxa Gallegos (far right), are pictured
in front of Sturtevant Falls in the San Gabriel Mountains.

tunity and resources to learn and
have fun in the mountains.
While hiking toward the Falls, I
didn't see any signs indicating I was
within the boundaries of the San
Gabriel Mountains National Monument. One of my main goals was
to visit the National Monument and
I hope that Congress will soon act
to expand the National Monument
boundaries - making it easier and
more accessible for anyone to get to.
On our way home, I told my sister that this was such a great trip
to plan. Hiking the beginning of
the Gabrielino Trail and ending up

at the Sturtevant Falls was a very
beautiful experience, and I hope to
inspire others from my community
to take more trips to the San Gabriel
Mountains. I told my sister that one
of my fondest memories of seeing
the mountains every day was the
snow-covered peaks. If winter ever
comes to Los Angeles, I hope that
on my next trip, I'll visit the National Monument with the rest of my
family so that we can all experience
a little bit of snow.
Nancy Negrete is a Program Associate at
The City Project and a graduate of Wellesley
College (nnegrete@cityprojectca.org).

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Parks & Recreation

January 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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