Our Washington II Washington trip is led by the friends and family of Emmanuel Durant, Jr., all of whom participate as unpaid volunteers.
Davy Rothbart
Founder
Ann Arbor, MI
Davy Rothbart is the creator of Found Magazine, a frequent contributor to the radio show This American Life, and author of The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas, a collection of stories. His work also appears in GQ, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. For many years he taught creative writing at Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan and coached basketball at Community High School in Ann Arbor. The 2010 Washington II Washington trip marked his fourth ascent of Mt. Washington; the 2011 trip will be his first visit to the Shenandoah Mountains .
Alexandra Gross
Founder
San Francisco, CA
Alexandra Gross is a Social Studies and English teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. Previously, she worked in the non-profit sector, helping to publicize civil rights issues in California and as an advocate for prisoners’ rights in Louisiana. The most difficult and rewarding hike she ever did was to Machu Picchu, in Peru.
Brandon Baugh
Trip Captain
Ann Arbor, MI
Brandon Baugh is a medical student at the University of Toledo College of Medicine. He is truly a medical student without borders. After completing his undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Michigan, he helped co-found the Youth With A Purpose mentorship program, which focuses on minority youth in Southeast Michigan. When he is not busy running around the hospital or working with teens he enjoys playing basketball and traveling around the world.
Jason Orfanon
Trip Captain & Videographer
Washington, D.C.
Jason Orfanon is a writer, photographer and filmmaker with a passion for people, nature, and adventure. His credits include projects for National Geographic Television, PBS, NPR, the Smithsonian Institution, and TruTV, as well as a variety of independent short films and features. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, he recently spent a month in Antarctica, documenting the wildlife, wild places, and modern-day adventurers that live and work one of the harshest and most remote places on the planet.
Cheryl Sanford
Trip Leader
Washington, D.C.
Cheryl Sanford is a poet, actress, and community activist, and the mother of Emmanuel Durant, Jr.
Erica Andrews
Trip Leader
Washington, D.C.
Erica Andrews is a supervisor for Giant Food Store remodels and a longtime friend of Emmanuel Durant. She loves to play basketball, loves to make people laugh, and is one half of the rap duo 9.19.
A.J. Wilhelm
Trip Leader & Photographer
New York, NY
A.J. Wilhelm is a freelance photographer and filmmaker whose work has been published by New York Magazine, The FADER, Washington Post, and National Geographic Books, among others. His work can be seen at: ajwilhelm.com
Rachel Dengiz
Trip Leader & Videographer
New York, NY
Rachel Dengiz is a filmmaker and producer based in New York City. She is currently development coordinator at Olive Productions, a New York-based film and TV production company owned by Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci. Rachel also collaborates on various independent film projects, most recently, as a producer and cinematographer on Overhaul, the first feature film from 21 Balloons Productions. She was also a co-director and producer on How We Survive, a documentary about the political punk band Rise Against. In the early 2000s, Rachel worked on the Jim Jarmusch films Coffee & Cigarettes and Broken Flowers.
Mike Forster Rothbart
Wilderness Expert & Photographer
Oneonta, NY
Mike Forster Rothbart is a photographer in upstate New York. He worked for many years at Farm & Wilderness Camp in Vermont, and has lived and hiked all over the map, including a North Pole research station, Tibet and Chernobyl. He once bought a 3-speed bike in India and biked for a few months across the country, only discovering after he started that he’d be riding upwind the whole way.
Elizabeth Kleene
Trip Captain
Portland, ME
Elizabeth Kleene is a visual artist hailing from Portland, Maine. Since completing her undergraduate degree at Rhode Island School of Design she’s worked as a muralist, scenic painter, and photo producer completing many large-scale mural commissions throughout New England including a two-story wall mural at University of New England’s Marine Science Center, and set backdrops for the Washington Opera and the Folger Shakespeare Theater. She’s an avid backpacker who’s spent many summer weekends exploring the White Mountain range.
James Molenda
Trip Captain
Brooklyn, NY
James Molenda is the Managing Editor of FOUND Magazine and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Maggie Smith
Trip Captain
Washington, D.C.
Maggie Smith is a cartographer at National Geographic magazine, a volunteer mechanic at The Bike House in Washington, D.C., and a fraternal twin! Hailing from the coast of Maine and the mountains of Vermont, she’s a lover of the outdoors who enjoys sharing her passion for nature and adventure with others. She spent three summers as a leader for Apogee Adventures, taking youth on biking, hiking and kayaking trips. Her bike has taken her as far as San Diego, and as near as the hills of Rock Creek Park.
