Ed-ventures: Sort of like summer camp, but for grown-ups

SUSAN GARTNER and Marge Rachlin believe in investing in themselves, and as a result, they have accumulated a cornucopia of riches.

Gartner, of Chevy Chase, Md., and Rachlin, of Washington, D.C., aren’t sitting around counting money; instead, they’re drawing on a treasury of memories from numerous trips that combine nature education with adventure.

“A lot of people don’t think of universities, museums and nonprofits as vacation options, or even co-ops like REI, the sports outfitter,” says Rob Fulton, a biologist, educator and longtime resident manager of the Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx, Calif., on the northwestern edge of the Mojave National Preserve. The center is a field station of California State University and hosts classes, symposiums and research by more than 50 institutions, including early ground tests of Mars rovers.

For $290, I spent a weekend ed-venturing at the center -- soaking up the natural sciences and sleeping in a historic bunkhouse. In all, the experience was much like going to camp: We had scheduled activities and lived in communal facilities, mixing with congenial strangers, but the food was much better.

Lower-cost ed-ventures, like my extended learning class at Zzyzx, can also be found through nonprofits, such as the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy, or even state park associations such as Anza-Borrego. Shorter programs offered by botanical gardens are another option. UC Berkeley’s Jepson Herbarium, for instance, runs numerous overnight nature study workshops at wilderness reserves in Southern California and elsewhere in the state.

About two-dozen nonprofit institutes, loosely affiliated with U.S. national parks, also offer intensive natural science study programs, including the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park, Sequoia Field Institute in California, the Glacier Institute in Montana, Mesa Verde Institute and Rocky Mountain Field Seminars in Colorado. You can also be instructed and guided through national parks by most of the major organizers of eco-tours.

Ilona Popper of Shepherdstown, W.Va., who has taken several courses on wolves at the Yellowstone Institute, finds the educational atmosphere exhilarating. “The thing about these scientists is they love to answer questions,” she says. “My instructor made each of us feel special, as if we could ask anything.”

These two- to four-day field seminars, priced from $160 to $340, offer rustic shared cabins and a communal kitchen for an additional $25 a night.

For those with thicker wallets and a desire for more posh accommodations, options abound. They’re easy to find; they’re often global, more exotic and, for some, once-in-a-lifetime trips.

I found myself transported to unique bio-diverse areas as I leafed through glossy catalogs from the big nature tour providers, each infused with conservation ethos and scientific inquiry.

I could be floating down the Amazon with a naturalist from the Audubon Society, exploring habitats along tributaries; rubbing elbows with a celebrity scientist featured in National Geographic while hiking the rain and cloud forests of Costa Rica; parting the pampas grasses in Patagonia with an archeologist from the Smithsonian; or watching polar bears on an expedition in Hudson Bay, Canada, accompanied by a curator from the American Museum of Natural History. Such unparalleled access comes at a cost, often starting at more than $3,500 per person, double occupancy.

Instead, for my first educational foray, I chose the Desert Studies Center. “Natural and Cultural History of the Mojave National Preserve” took us from the classroom into the field, introducing us to the geology that defines the the regional landscape and to the lifecycles of desert flora and fauna.

The Desert Studies Center, off Interstate 15 near Baker, Calif., was once home to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Resort, the creation of radio evangelist Curtis “Doc” Springer, who was evicted from the land after 30 years. In 1976, Cal State began overhauling and expanding the facilities. But its retro styling remains, creating an unusual field station.

“Most people come here to expand their horizons, to pursue a passion or develop a hobby,” says Fulton, whose involvement with the center dates to his grad school days, when he volunteered on renovations.

From the majestic and eerie landscape of the Cima Volcanic Field to Kelso Dunes, Fulton had me exercising my gray cells with one fascinating yet simple fact after another.

Translating science for the layperson or someone with a budding interest or passion but no formal background is critical to the enthusiastic response that Fulton and other nature-study leaders receive.

“I always come home feeling rejuvenated and interested in exploring an area more,” says Gartner, an eco-minded traveler who has been on 16 ed-ventures in 20 years. “I enjoy spending time with interesting people who are like-minded, and Earthwatch Institute projects are a good investment in my mind. For me, it’s a better vacation than a tour.” Her journeys have taken her to Kenya and to the Shenandoah Mountains, to British Columbia and to Queensland, Australia, using vacations to work on conservation projects.

Rachlin’s passion is observing birds and wildflowers. “I don’t like to feel like a tourist, and I’m not a beach sitter,” she says. Rachlin has taken naturalist-led trips with International Expeditions and Lindblad Expeditions to the Galapagos Islands, the Gulf of California, Panama and Belize. “I read up on the natural history before I go anywhere, even memoirs or novels set there, so when I arrive, I can build on my feeling for the place.”

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travel@latimes.com

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Communing with nature

Here is a list of some of the places that offer educational experiences for travelers:

National and international

American Museum of Natural History Expeditions: www.amnhexpeditions.org.

Audubon Nature Odysseys: www.audubon.org/market/no

Earthwatch Institute: www.earthwatch.org

International Expeditions: www.ietravel.com

Lindblad Expeditions: www.expeditions.com

National Geographic Expeditions: www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com

REI Adventures: www.rei.com/adventures

Smithsonian Journeys: www.smithsonianjourneys.org

Yellowstone Institute:www.yellowstoneassociation.org/institute

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Regional

California State University’s Desert Studies Center hosts classes, fall and spring, costing: $185 to $290: biology.fullerton.edu/facilities/dsc/zzyzx.html

The class “Natural and Cultural History of the Mojave National Preserve” is sponsored by UC Riverside: www.extension.ucr.edu/sciences/ns/fns.html. (Go to “Classes Open to Enrollment,” then scroll down to Natural Sciences.)

The Joshua Tree Institute provides easy access to the more than two-dozen about 24 field study institutes associated with national park associations: www.joshuatree.org

Partners in Nature Education provides links to many regional organizations, including local chapters of the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the Anza-Borrego Institute, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, the San Bernardino County Museum and San Bernardino National Forest, and others: www.extension.ucr.edu/sciences/ns/pine.html

-- Rosie Dempsey