Yosemite Field Trip

Trip Journal - 2008

Sunday, March 16, 2008

"When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge."

Tuli Kupferberg

Our week at Yosemite was an experience where all of our patterns are broken:

where we sleep, who we see in the morning, those that we eat with,

our classroom space, our classmates and teachers,

our friends and adult helpers,

our daily view and the night sky.

All of us struggle, enjoy, and come back with new outlook.

We have many people to thank to make these experiences possible. First I want to thank the parents of the students. You made sacrifices to fund the trip, help your children with packing, come to meetings, and trust us to keep your children safe. Secondly, we had several teachers accompany us on the trip. All the teachers worked very hard to prepare plans for substitutes who we should also thank. We had parents who spent a week of their valuable vacation to spent it with kids that are not their own. In fact they may have one spoken a couple of sentences with their own kids. We had four adults who don't even have students at CMS in 8th grade and still spent their week with us. All of the adults not only spent the day with the students but then had several hours of work in the evening to read and comment on journals. The days were long, but rewarding.

I want to thank several parents who worked with me before we left for the trip. Karol Smith was our database entry master. She also worked with Judy Diamond on the first copying jobs. Felicia Lu spent several hours copying forms so we had medical information close at hand, and Cathy Young and many other adults manned the phones for our return.

The office staff, Terri, Julie and Dana kept track with our list of students coming and going and helped get parents up to Yosemite if they needed to go in the middle of the week.

The trip planning and preparation starts in October. Susan Holtzapple not only worries about all 200+ students like her own but she spends several hours reading over medical forms and preparing for meetings. Her experience and expertice is invaluable to all of us. Barbara Wooley is a full time teacher and also finds time to coordinate the contracts, buses and many other things so that I don't have to. Our principal, Kara Butler, and many others at the district office were very supportive as we worked to develop alternatives so that most students could go.

For all of these people, I share this last thought:

"The true meaning of life

is to plant trees,

under whose shade

you do not expect to sit."

---Nelson Henderson

Thursday, March 13, 2008.

I had two busy days out on the trail both Wednesday and today. On Wednesday I hiked with the Coyotes on their challenge hike beyond Mirror Lake up the Snow Creek Switchbacks adjacent to Tenaya Creek. We had the most beautiful lunch spot with a fabulous view as we sat beside/in a section of rocks with a spring pouring down about 100 feet above us. Many students said that they had seen rock gardens somethink like this in people's yards, but nothing this beautiful. Also, it was created just by natural means without a landscape designer. What an inspiration!

The weather continues to warm and last night and today we had steady rain from about 3:00 am Thursday until 12:00 noon. That didn't stop anyone. We just donned our ponchos and went out on our way. Today I accompanied the Black Bears on their ski day at Badger Pass. At 8:00 this morning we had 60 people leave for Badger and 60 leave for Crane Flat. Four hiking groups went skiing today. The rain was a bit of an annoyance, but the kids and I quickly adapted. We ate under a stand of trees after about a 1.5 trek up Glacier Point Road, played in meadow and eventually returned to the lodge to catch our 2:00 bus. The day ended with a final snow ball "disturbance" as the rain cleared from Badger Pass. The ride back was quiet with a few students sleeping. All the other groups are returning as I type.

Tonight we have our culminating evening program filled with fun skits and games -- one of the highlights of the trip.

We continue to stay on schedule and we hope for good weather tomorrow afternoon when we leave at 3:00.

Be prepared for your phone call from the phone tree tomorrow evening.

I have had two wonderful days with the children. It is something to witness their person growth as individuals and as a team. It makes all the work worth while.

Signing out for 2008.

Mary Enright

Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

This morning the second rotation packed their bags and took the bus up to Crane Flat. With the help of expert management, Mrs. Verissimo, everyone was out of their room with keys checked in, breakfast eaten and waiting for the bus promptly at 8:00. The first rotation brought the buses back to the valley and they are hiking to various valley destinations. I saw one group on the trail just minutes ago, and everyone was smiling and cheerful. They were enjoying their lunch near a meadow with a bobcat in the distance. WOW! Sure beats the Quad.

Yesterday's activities went off without problems. Most groups returned to the village around 3:30, and still had energy to play outside their cabins. The night's activities varied from early evening hikes, to a program on glaciers. We had a couple of exciting events in the evening when a small yearling black bear made his way to a garbage can that was ajar near the Curry Village Pavillion. The YI security supervised the exodus of the bear and the kids watched safely from a distance. A few students enjoyed an extra night hike in the meadow near the village to get a peak at Saturn and three of its moons with Mr. Kurtz' telescope. On the way we studied the Orion constellation, the name sake of three hiking groups (Orion, Rigel, and Betelgeuse with its close neighbor, Sirius). The YI instructors had discussed the constellation during the day, and they then took a closer look in the evening. If the sky permits we will have the scope up this evening for more students.

The health of the students is in general improving. A few students were coming off a flu-like illness and now it seems that everyone is pretty close to 100%. (Knock on wood.) We are happy to report that even some students who were sick on Sunday have managed to recover and make the trip up. We are again at full capacity.

The day's continue to be as beautiful as ever. In the Awahnee meadow most of the snow is gone, but that is only because it has many hours of sunlight. Shady areas are still experiencing winter. The prediction for the week is a steady run of 60's during the day and high twenties at night. The kids are well prepared and don't even seem to notice. :-)

Check the Emergency Contact Info, if you need to reach us.

Signing off....(1:16 pm)

Mrs Enright

March 10, 2008

We awoke this morning to a clear sky and the dim light in the valley in the early morning. Curry Village, on the eastern end of the valley, is quite shady and chilly in the evening and in the morning. Snow is piled in several locations in excess of three feet and there is an accumulation of about 2-feet that is packed in Curry Village itself. You can see from the picture of the amphitheater that only the top of the seats of the benches is visible. The students are enjoying the snowing, icy environment even though in places it is a bit muddy. Today’s forecast is for the mid-sixties during the day and the high twenties in the evening under sunny skies. Curry Village stays closer to 40 during the day.
The trip was uneventful and we arrived on time to unpack and get ready for our dinner. We enjoyed an evening hike to the auditorium near the visitor center for a beautiful film on Yosemite and a short orientation lecture. We walked back underneath the beautiful night sky, quickly took care of evening duties and the camp was quiet by 10:30. We are fortunate to have some very respectful students on the trip.
Many students were awake this morning before the 6:30 wake up, and a line had formed about 30 students long for they opened for breakfast at 7:00. They are both anxious and hungry. We met the Yosemite Institute instructors and they gave a thorough check of all equipment before they left for their day’s hikes. Some groups will be hiking the length of the valley from El Capitan back to Curry Village, some are taking other specific hikes to special locations like the “Spider Caves”. This evening some groups will attend a seminar on Glaciers after a hike to the auditorium and others will enjoy a night hike. We plan to set up the telescope this evening for our first viewing of some of the highlights of the night sky. The day will be filled with fun and new activities for all.
All kids went hiking this morning; we didn’t have anyone stay back due to illness. There are a couple we are watching closely, and they have two adults hiking with them in case they need to make an early return.
Everyone is having a fabulous time

Sincerely,

Mrs. Enright