REDWOOD NEEDLES
REDWOOD NEEDLESPresented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES
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• Founding member of Redwood Chapter Sierra Club and Sonoma Group Sierra Club, 1957• Nattkemper Trail Hood Mountain Regional Park built by Sierra Club, 1982-1985, named after him
• 1st Outings Chair of Sonoma Group ,a position, he held for 27 years
• Outings Leader for Redwood Chapter for 33 years
• 1st editor of the Sonoma Group Newsletter called Redwood Chips
• Helped with construction of Bob Whiting Trail, a memorial to a Sierra Club outings leader, 1963-64, in Howarth Park.
By Len Swenson, Sonoma Group
Clark Nattkemper, founder of both the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter and Sonoma Group, died recently. He was both an environmental leader and outings enthusiast. In his Biology teaching career at Santa Rosa Junior College, he led generations of students to the wonders of nature both in and out of the classroom.
Whenever possible, he was on some trail often as a trail blazer. There is probably no other person in Sonoma County that is as familiar with nearly every acre, as Clark. He was constantly trail blazing as an active hiker, long after most of us would be in a wheel chair. And his trekking took him to many remote places, not only in Sonoma County but also the Himalayas, far west China and many other countries.
Fortunately for us, he photographed many of his experiences and presented many outstanding slide shows to our Group. He was always available and helpful to others in whatever way he could be. This Sierra Club champion will be missed by all who knew him.
By Carol Vellutini, Redwood Chapter Outings Chair
Our beloved former Outings Chair died May 22. Clark was special to everyone he met. After joining the Sierra Club in 1982, Clark became my mentor. I met him while volunteering to build the Nattkemper Trail connecting Sugarloaf State Park to Hood Mountain Regional Park. I didn't know what I was in for! The trail was difficult to build, traversing steep hillsides and solid rock. We worked until 1985 on that trail. One group worked down the trail and another worked up the trail. Where the two groups met, we drove a golden railroad spike behind a tree to mark the spot. We had a glorious party that day to celebrate four years of hard work.
Other outing leaders during the 60's included Bob Whiting, Al Whitney, John Dooley, Norman Simpson, Eleanor Guilford, Connie Menzies, Don Tibbits, Clyde Wise, Bob Stephens, Harry Tranmer, Isabel Parkinson, and Maurice Wood. I soon found out about their special outings: the day after Thanksgiving campout to the Pinnacles; New Years Day hike to the top of Mt St. Helena via the north route; 4th of July backpack to Budd Lake; yearly polenta feed at Armstrong Grove compliments of Mike and Paul Spaletta; treks to Tuolumne Meadows; car camping at Salt Point Ranch (before it was a park); Stevenson Monument to Anguin hike over the Palisades; Mt. St. John hike; Pt Reyes most anytime; Trinity Alps, Marble Mountains and Yolla Bolly backpack trips; numerous water trips on most of the rivers; hikes out to the Red Slide and Austin Creek; Bennett Peak Hikes with a wiener roast at Walker's Lake; hikes on big Rock Ridge; Baja trips; Cache Creek trips; Estero Americana kayak trips; Pole Mountain hikes; Lost Coast Backpack trips with his professor friends from SRJC; just to name a few!
Clark did not let any grass grow under his feet! Clark led the yearly two work parties to Benson Hut with his friend Ken Thatcher. Wood was cut for the winter and Clark would always have the water brigade bring up water from the spring far down the mountain.
Then there were the winter trips. Clark and his buddies would go snow camping and he led Sierra Club snowshoe trips to all the huts. Moonlight snowshoeing under the stars after dinner was magical. Our chapter was known as the snowshoe chapter because we went on snowshoe trips long after others were going in on skis. The orientation for the winter trips would be held at Clark's house. One night Clark was sitting next to me on the couch. It was 1984. He said he thought he had been Outings Chair long enough (he must have been 70) and thought it was time for someone else to take over. Despite my resistance, Clark sweet-talked me into taking over that responsibility.
Clark had property at Bodega Bay and each year he would have campouts for his friends at "Camp Briza". There were hikes to Bodega Head, kite flying, tide pooling, tempura with Nori for breakfast, car shuttles to Russian Gulch for a hike to Jenner and stories by night campfires.
In 1985 Clark was guest speaker at the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. He presented a wonderful slide show titled "Hidden Kingdoms of Nepal" or the "Three Old Men". Clark and two other retired professors Harry Tranmer and Dick Thatcher (cumulative age of 210 years) were among the first to be let into the provinces of Lang Tang, Ganeish Himal, and Manaslu. Their remarkable trek enabled them to become closely acquainted with the Nepalese people.
Although I will miss Clark, he will always be with me. I will remember his twinkling eyes and wide smile; line dancing with him and others at Estero Americano to celebrate hiking there with CoastWalk; getting lost in the chaparral because "this was the way out"; taking care of the old Palisades Trail, and his old white Navy hat.
By Don Emblen
He was as tough as the boot leather he wore out
on stony trails up and down the Sierras;
sensitive as the tiny belly flowers
jeweling the floor of the Mohave;
in love with the sea
and the shore it washes clean two times a day;
in love with purity of sky
above any patch the developers hadn't found;
in love with earth forms - islands, knolls, promontories,
cirques in the mountain side, moraines,
the flats, the peaks, the reefs,
the V's made by creeks down savory slopes,
tidal inlets, hidden lakes, sweeps of desert;
and all that goes with every place -
white-tailed deer, bark beetles, toyon berries,
button sage that, with a little water, will revive
a man on a long journey; woodpeckers
looping from oak to oak, kingfishers
looping across the hometown creek,
seals, sand-fleas, rattlesnakes, otters,
the dragonfly perched on the end of his fishing rod,
the rainbow trout wondering whether or not to bite
Where does it stop?
He learned that it doesn't.
Nor did he - he just moved on:
explorer of continents and vacant lots,
forever learning, looking, asking,
prying into the mystery of being -
blossoms, bugs, icebergs, meadows, whales, volcanoes -
and bringing back what he found to his mate,
his children, his many decades of students,
showing them all why we must know
the problems of the crow on a backyard fence
as thoroughly as we would understand
tectonic plates and how they shape the continents.
Stubborn defender of Bodega Head,
protector of the Coast Walk where
generations yet to come
will follow him into discovery.
His strength, his faith - same thing? -
underlay his every day,
like an aquifer, quietly there,
refreshing, nourishing the place
and everyone who walked the ups and downs with him.
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