Warren Yamashita

Warren Yamashita is a senior pursuing a B.A. in Biology as well as a B.A. in Philosophy. Warren was first introduced to the beauty nature had to offer in Boy Scouts as he went on short backpacking trips to the local Southern Californian mountains.  While the trips were often marked with complaints about how hard and grueling these trips were, little did he know that these trips were the start of a greater appreciation and love for the outdoors that he would develop in the years to come.  By the time he left high school he had ascended Mt. Whitney at roughly 14,000ft of elevation, trekked 30 miles through the Sierras, hiked up Japan’s Mt. Fugi, and co-led a senior trip with friends up Mt. San Gorgornio.

As he entered USC, guiding in SC Outfitters was just something he had to do.  Going into his third year as a guide he has led overnight backpacks up San Gorgornio, along the San Gabriel river, and up San Jacinto (x3).  He specializes in overnight backpacks and enjoys getting to know his participants on his trips.  What motivates him to guide is the joy he gets in sharing the beauty of nature with others for he believes that in the midst of our busy lives sometimes we just need to stop and get away.  He believes that backpacking is an activity where one can not only come to know nature better, but also an activity of getting to know oneself.  Warren also believes in environmental stewardship and stresses Leave No Trace principles on his trips.

Here are some of Warren’s favorite quotations:

“What kind of person am I? I’m happy to have a mistaken idea of mine proved wrong, and I’m happy to prove someone else’s mistaken ideas wrong, I’m certainly not less happy if I’m proved wrong than if I’ve proved someone else wrong, because, as I see it, I’ve got the best of it: there’s nothing worse than the state which I’ve been saved from, so that’s better for me than saving someone else. You see, there’s nothing worse for a person, in my opinion, than holding mistaken views about the matters we’re discussing at the moment.” -Socrates “Gorgias”

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”