Volunteer of the month

How Don de Fremery learned to lead a hike

Chapter hike leader extraordinaire receives Club's Oliver Kehrlein Award for outstanding outing leadership

In 1972, when the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) put together a committee on trail use for its watershed lands, they knew just who to turn to. They asked Don de Fremery to be co-chair. This turned out to be a vital turning point for him. Though already chair of the Trails Committee for the Sierra Club's Mount Diablo Group, he was what he describes as only a casual hiker (hard to imagine for those who have gotten to know Don since then). Don and the other committee members pored over maps, meticulously scouted the area, and presented their recommendations. The lands were opened to the public for the first time, and a press conference was held. Molly Reeves, then chair of the Mount Diablo Group, saw Don's picture in the paper and suggested that he lead a hike on the first trail to be opened, the Rim Trail around Lafayette Reservoir. (Don himself came up with the name, when he noticed that the reservoir seems to sit in a coffee cup.)

"I said, `I've never led a hike before.' She said, `It's easy! I'm sure you'd love it.'" She promised to co-lead the hike but the night before called and said she had come down with the flu. "I think she was setting me up for this whole thing," he says half-jokingly. "I led [the hike], and I had so much fun, I thought, `I'll do this hike again,' and then later on I decided to do other hikes. It was something that just kind of came naturally to me."

The thousands of folks who have hiked with Don know how true this is. In the 35 years since that first hike, Don has led over 600 more and become one of the best-known and -respected hike leaders in the Bay Area. In acknowledgement of this extraordinary record of service, he is this year's recipient of the Sierra Club's top national honor for outing leadership, the Oliver Kehrlein Award.

One of Don's specialties has been designing and leading hikes for all levels of experience. From 1977 through 2002 he led a popular Beginner Hike Series, which included three progressively more difficult hikes. His warmth and congeniality put even the greenest hiker at ease. For example, Stephen Taylor, a Club member who has known Don since the early 1990s, notes how "he made a point to remember each person's name." Many participants went on to become avid hikers and - with Don's encouragement and mentoring - hike leaders themselves. Diane Smith, the outings coordinator for the Diablo Group, went on her first hike as a part of Don's beginner series. At the time she was a smoker and overweight. Without the "nurturing setting" that Don provided, she says, it is unlikely that she would have continued hiking. (For more of Diane's story, see July-August Yodeler, page 18). With Don's guidance Sharon Walters, who now serves on Save Mount Diablo's Board of Directors, also became a hike leader; she calls Don a "kind and inspirational mentor, generous with his knowledge, time, and encouragement."

At the other extreme was Don's single-day hike of the 31-mile East Bay Skyline Trail. (Don led or co-led this hike for 17 years). Anne Machung and Ron Rothbart, Sierra Club hike leaders who began hiking with Don over 20 years ago, call it "a hike that expanded participants' horizons: they couldn't imagine hiking 31 miles until they dared to do this hike." They also loved Don's 20-mile Ohlone Wilderness hike, and began leading it themselves, "doing it just the way he did it," or, they say, "in the Don de Fremery tradition."

Long-time regulars on Don's hikes reminisce about his special touches: the Certificates of Achievement that he handed out at the end of the Beginner Hike Series (along with a pack of maps for East Bay trails) and at the end of the more grueling hikes; the cooler full of refreshing drinks after each hike; the hard candy he passed out during the lunch break. At the start of a hike, Don always handed out detailed maps that he had drawn himself with bathroom locations, the lunch stop, points of interest, and relevant trail names. Some of these maps are still circulating. He also kept track of how many miles each participant had hiked with him each year and held a contest to determine who had hiked the most - the winner received a small prize and a plaque. Taylor points out, "This got a lot of people interested in hiking just to see how many miles of hiking they could complete."

Don is extremely knowledgeable about the history and landscape of the areas he hikes in; he is particularly passionate about wildflowers. Says Patricia Everall, a Club member who has attended numerous hikes with Don, "His love of the East Bay hills and their flora is infectious. Many of us, for example, have learned the names of the regional wildflowers that proliferate in the spring simply by hearing him repeatedly call them out as we passed them." Karen Jurasin has known and hiked with Don for about 25 years: "Don's good judgment, fine character, love of nature, knowledge of maps, terrain, pacing, and trip planning combine to create a leader who is respected, trusted, and admired by all. Everyone recommended his trips."

Don says that he did not start hiking regularly until after he served on the EBMUD committee, but hiking is in his blood. His father loved to hike and was chair of the Sierra Club Berkeley group in 1927, just three years after the group was founded. "He led a few hikes and was always going out hiking on the weekends." Adolescent pride kept Don from accompanying him most of the time, but Don does have fond memories of a High Sierra pack trip with his family when he was 10 along a portion of the John Muir Trail, which had just opened that year. For high-school graduation his father convinced him and some of his buddies to climb Mount Lyell in Yosemite Valley. "It was backpacking before the days of Kelty packs. It was pretty primitive. I had a Trapper Nelson pack, but my father just had a blanket that he rolled around his sleeping bag and threw over his back." Though they did not reach the summit - the group had to turn back due to dangerous conditions - they were "successful in having a good trip."

After that Don was hooked, but as a biochemistry student in an accelerated program at UC Berkeley, he rarely found time for his new interest. In college Don met his wife; they married the day after graduation. They took a camping honeymoon in the High Sierra, but they were unprepared for the early-season cold and wet. "It was unpleasant except that when we thought about it afterwards it was a lot of fun," he says with a grin.

As a college-graduation gift, his father gave Don a life membership in the Sierra Club. It was a while, though, before Don became active. In 1968 the family (by then Don and his wife had two children) moved from Berkeley to Contra Costa County. "We saw a notice that several hikes were being led in our general area and thought, `That's a wonderful opportunity to find out what the area's like!'" The Mount Diablo Group had just formed in 1970 and was looking for new members, in particular, someone to advocate for trails. Don expressed an interest in joining the Trails Committee and was immediately appointed chair. "I was the only person on the committee as it turns out."

Once he became a hike leader, Don realized that by introducing people to lands they hadn't seen before, he was advancing the cause of conservation. "Many things that [the Sierra Club] opposed were defeated by public ballot. Maybe I contributed," he says modestly. Seth Adams, the director of land programs for Save Mount Diablo, has worked with Don for 20 years and has no doubt about the difference he has made. "John Muir and Don de Fremery have a thing or two in common. Muir wrote of the wild places and took people to see them. Don has taken thousands of people to see threatened lands `up close and personal'. Both men recognized that unless you know what is at stake, and have a personal involvement, you're less likely to get involved in conservation."

For Don a part of this effort has been recruiting hikers not just to lead hikes but to take on other leadership roles in the Sierra Club. With Don's encouragement, Gary Rogers ran for a position on the Executive Committee of the Mount Diablo Group and wound up serving for six years. His story is a common one: "It's hard to say `no' to Don, so I said `yes.' Don is a top-notch recruiter."

Don also leads by example. Along with hike leading and trail advocacy, he served 25 years on the Chapter Schedule Committee and 22 years on the Executive Committee of the Mount Diablo Group and has been involved in numerous other committees and projects.

He has worked tirelessly for a myriad of other local conservation groups as well. He has been a significant presence in Save Mount Diablo as a member of the board for the past 15 years. He's also served on the Land Committee and Map Subcommittee as well as leading hikes and helping to organize the Spring and Autumn on Diablo schedules. He served on the board of the Mount Diablo Interpretative Association from 1992 to 1998 and as chair of its Map Committee, helping design several editions of the trail map for Mount Diablo State Park. At different points, he has been president, secretary, and treasurer of the East Bay Area Trails Council. He's been a boardmember of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council and served on its Contra Costa Central Committee and Multi-Use Committee.

Don has been a vital liaison among organizations, sometimes even among groups that have historically been at odds, such as hikers and mountain bikers. A strong proponent of multiple-use trails, he even led a joint East Bay Area Trails Council and Sierra Club hike and bike series to show that hikers and mountain bikers could get along. According to Michael Kelley, secretary for the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, Don "fully understands and advocates the need [for] all trail users to become constituents in our family of trail enthusiasts."

Trail advocacy has been one of Don's steady priorities. He has worked on land acquisition, trail development, and trail maintenance. In 1991 - 92 he helped determine the elevations of all trail junctions, staging areas, and stream crossings in the Del Valle park, Ohlone Wilderness, Sunol Wilderness, and Mission Peak Preserve, information which is now part of the Ohlone Wilderness trail permit. Adams says that Don "single-handedly has probably taken a bigger role in trail advocacy than any other volunteer in the East Bay."

After 25 years working for the Department of Agriculture, Don retired in 1979. He enjoyed a brief second career as a tax preparer, and then permanently retired in 1989; this meant more time to read and play bridge, and also to increase his volunteer work to nearly full-time. Only recently has he scaled back on his commitments. He no longer leads hikes, but continues to hike and explore on his own and with friends. He is still on the Board of Directors of Save Mount Diablo, and he enjoys car-camping trips with friends to the desert Southwest a few times a year.

"If I were to single out the most outstanding grassroots-level leader I have known in the Sierra Club, it would undoubtedly be Don de Fremery," says long-time Club member Robert H. Smith. Those who "have hiked and worked with Don in Club activities speak of him with something akin to awe."

Don de Fremery has indeed learned how to lead a hike.

To see the official presentation to Don of the Oliver Kehrlein Award, come to the Club's annual National Awards Banquet on Sat., Sep. 29, at the Crowne-Plaza Hotel, 480 Sutter St. in San Francisco (no-host bar - 6:00 pm, dinner - 7:00). Tickets are $45 and may be reserved through Joshua Ruschhaupt at:

Executive Office
85 Second St.
San Francisco, CA 94105.

Enclose a SASE for mailed tickets; otherwise, they will be held for pick-up at a registration desk on the day of the banquet. For more information contact: joshua.ruschhaupt -at- sierraclub.org or (415) 977-5675.

Also in celebration of Don's award, the Mount Diablo Group is sponsoring an informal picnic on Sun., Oct. 7, at 12:30 pm at the Lakeview picnic area, off Wildcat Canyon Road in Tilden Park. Food will be provided and all are welcome, but please RSVP to dianesmith1776 -at- sbcglobal.net by Wed., Oct. 3, if you are planning to attend. (Bring camp chair to sit in.) For an optional pre-picnic hike at 10 am, meet at Inspiration Point, off Wildcat Canyon Road.

Wendy Becktold

 

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© 2007 San Francisco Sierra Club Yodeler