Teacher Hikes Mountains — and Writes a Comic Book

Castro Valley High teacher Matt Johanson has hiked all over the west coast, including Mt. San Gorgonio.

After School Lessons: CV High Journalism teacher Matt Johanson and students created a comic book, “After School Lessons,” featuring incoming seniors Kai Riley as Batman and Sophia DeMiguel as Bobbi, the “bad girl” villain. In it, Batman comes to Castro Valley to inspire students.

Now that school is back in session, you may wonder what teachers do during their time off. For Castro Valley High Journalism/Social Studies teacher Matt Johanson it's hiking, including the 2,650-mile Pacific Coast Trail (PCT).

Johanson didn’t walk all those miles in one summer. In fact, he says, “Start to finish, I did the trip over 26 years.” 

The trail, which runs through mountain ranges from Canada to Mexico, is a popular but arduous trek. (Approximately one million people hike portions of the trail annually.) During his usual teaching years, Johanson did pieces of it every summer.  But he decided to take the 2022-23 school year off to complete the parts he hadn’t finished. 

“In my year off, I did about 80 percent of the trail. The best thing about the PCT is the people you meet there. In 2022 I was out 11 weeks and covered 1,300 miles. In 2023 I hiked 800 miles, which took me about eight weeks,” he says.  

Johanson actually did most of the hike by himself. His brother Dan and cousin Andy accompanied him for some of it. Other than that, he met other hikers along the route and camped with them or by himself.  He documented the trip in a series of articles for Adventure Sports Journal, which may be read online at adventuresportsjournal.com.  

Johanson returned to the classroom last fall for the 2023-24 school year.  

This past summer he hiked ten mountains— some challenging and some fairly easy. These include the Palisades group of mountains in California, where he made progress toward conquering our state’s “14ers”  which are 15 mountains over 14,000 feet tall. He has now finished 13 of the 15, having done six of them this year. Friends accompanied him on some of these hikes. 

Johanson has written several books about hiking, focusing on Yosemite National Park, the Sierra, Mt. Shasta, and California summits that can be done in a day. He takes most of the pictures for these books himself. 

Johanson has also written books about the San Francisco Giants and recently tried a new format – a comic book featuring fantastic artwork and Castro Valley landmarks. In it, Batman visits our town to inspire students — and maybe teach them a lesson or two.

“I call it ‘After School Lessons’ and did it with the help of students,” Johanson says. “I’m going to print up copies and give them to whoever wants them.”   

Incoming seniors are featured in the comic book, including Kai Riley as Batman and Sophia DeMiguel as Bobbi, the “bad girl” villain. The students posed for photos which Johanson edited and “cartoonized.” The final draft may be viewed online at  issuu.com/sierrasplendor.  

Johanson has been at Castro Valley High for 26 years. He advises the award-winning “Olympian” student newspaper and says he’s fortunate to work with our students. 

“I’ve got a terrific job. I love the students and feel privileged to work with the kids of our community,” he says.

One highlight for his students happened right before COVID. At one of Gavin Newsom’s 2018 campaign events, a student asked if he’d interview their class if he won the election. The cameras were rolling, so Newsom could hardly say no. He laughed, agreed, won the election, and followed through. In January 2020 the students got a 20-minute video interview with the governor of California at the State Capitol— a rare privilege for high schoolers. 

“Teaching Journalism class is really special,” says Johanson. “We get to work on interesting and meaningful projects together. We put out seven print editions per year and have big plans to use video. We’re hoping to have a regular show on our YouTube channel.”

The Castro Valley High Olympian newspaper may be viewed online at cvhsolympian.com/, including the interviews with Newsom.  

Johanson’s books and essays may be found by searching his name on publication and bookselling websites, including Amazon.   More information is available on his LinkedIn profile.