Petaluma Profile: Petaluma nurse leads cross country camping trips for kids

For most of us, the idea of taking several months off from work is a big deal, and a potentially costly one. But for Petaluma’s Holly Hamm, a registered nurse and fitness aficionado, when she began imagining a globe-hopping adventure with her kids several years ago, the decision was relatively easy.

“I realized at one point that our time with our kids is really so short,” Hamm explained. “I thought that taking four months off to take a hiking trip with them around the world was a very small thing compared to the experience and memories to last a lifetime.”

And with that notion, in 2018, Hamm did request a leave of absence, embarking on an epic backpacking trip with her boys to Europe, North Africa, Japan and Thailand. All of it, she said, was to give them a grander view of the planet, a wider perspective of the world, and some seriously expanded life experience.

“One of the most memorable hikes was along the Camino de Santiago in Spain,” she recalled. “We spent two weeks exploring and experienced a wonderful festival, the Festa major Santa Tecla in Sitges. The locals had crafted these huge dragons that spit out fireworks everywhere. The locals would take it as a mark of pride as they danced with the dragons and got burn holes in their clothes.”

In Thailand, Hamm’s boys were fascinated by the Lantern Festival in Chang Mai, where hundreds of candle-lit paper balloons are lifted into the sky.

Growing up in Livermore, Hamm moved to San Diego to attend San Diego State University, where she earned a degree in outdoor recreation. She then decided to become an emergency medical technician and rode in ambulances for six years.

“I kind of burned out on being an EMT, so in 1995, life brought me to Sonoma State University, where I got my nursing degree,” she said.

Hamm worked as a nurse for nine years in Petaluma, but she found herself thinking of working with children, and possibly combining that with her passion for the outdoors.

“I’ve been a lifelong advocate of the outdoors,” she said. “My first memory of hiking and camping was when my dad took me to Yosemite when I was very young, especially Tuolumne Meadows.”

Residing in Petaluma has rekindled her love of the outdoors.

“Living in Petaluma reminded me so much of where I grew up,” Hamm noted. “The small-town feel, with the wonderful people here, and that the town is surrounded by nature and its closeness to the ocean, the redwoods, and everywhere else that I love.”

During Hamm’s world trip hiatus, coupled with her fondness for nature and working with children, she struck upon the idea of creating a similar, journey-based experience for kids, ages 8-16, and unfamiliar with the outdoors.

“I thought that bringing children on a multi-day hiking and camping trip would be a great connecting point with nature, personal growth, and outdoor experience,” she explained. So, in 2019, she created “Out n’ About Adventures.”

Advertising with local magazines and on Petaluma-based Facebook groups, Hamm signed up her first two clients in 2019, taking then to Emigrant Wilderness on the Crabtree Trail for a four-day three-night trip.

“We taught the ‘Leave no trace’ philosophy, basic map/compass training, first aid, and camp cooking,” she said. “My second outing had five kids, and they had an absolutely terrific time.”

Hamm remembers that during the pandemic, orientation meetings were conducted with social distancing and masks on. But as they embarked on their adventure, the masks came off, and Hamm was delighted to see the kids, “being kids again with their masks off. They were having such a terrific time, especially swimming. The kids encouraged each other and bonded really closely when they took turns diving off a rock into a deep pool. They were so supportive of each other and so kind.”

By 2021, the next group of clients became nine kids going to 5 Lakes Basin. Parents began to ask about attending trips as well, so Hamm sponsored a women’s camping trip.

”I always hire co-guides so that the ratio of grownups to kids was appropriate for supervision levels,“ she said. “This was also a big transformation time for me. I realized I could do just about anything I wanted and took me out of my routine. I learned how to SCUBA dive a few years ago, and I’d like to incorporate this into a future group activity.”

These days, Hamm looks forward to building more comprehensive outdoors trips, possibly even internationally, for future clients.

“My trips are completely unplugged — no phones, not even watches,” she pointed out. “I want them to be completely immersed in nature so they can reconnect and discover a new world.”