Camping

Here's an idea... lets do an 8th grade optional overnight camping trip to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Felton from Thursday afternoon (9/27) to Friday morning. Since we don't have a class FT coordinator to do this, and it is not one of the "normal" field trips, it will take coordination efforts from many of us in order to work. I think that by 8th grade we've had enough DCS-FT experience that we can pull this off! We'll need parents to volunteer to drive and stay. The park doesn't have a group site, so parents would have to reserve a site online ($35) and have a group of kids (theirs and/or others) camp at their site. We'll do the hiking and game activities as a big group though. I'm thinking that as parents volunteer to come, I'll enter those names (and available seats) onto the left column below. I'll enter names of kids who want to come on the right, and we can match up those two lists. Could be confusing, could be smooth!

Updates:

1. We have purchased sites 29 (yay Jenny), 37 (yay Robin), and 34 (yay me). That will be enough for 24 people, which is probably just about right.

2. Money: kids need to bring about $10 so that they can buy dinner. We'll "charge" $10 per kid to cover the cost of campsite reimbursement, evening snacks, and (light) breakfast stuff, and possible parking fees for the day use area.

QnA:

1. What should I pack? There is a packing list embedded into this page, just below the itinerary. Let me know if you can think of things that I've forgotten to include on that list.

2. Who should bring tents, sleeping pads, &/or tarps? Everyone should have a sleeping pad -- makes the night's sleep much better. According to the spreadsheet, there are 16 people who have tents, so obviously not everyone needs to bring one. If we have two tents at each site, that should be just fine. Some of us will probably be sleeping outside under the stars as well.

3. In what groups are the kids placed at campsites and sleeping arrangements? Once we have a finalized list of kids attending, I'll try to figure this out. The campsites are all 3 right next to each other, so there is really no big reason to formally distinguish who is where, except for parent-supervision purposes. Obviously, tents will be of same gender.

4. What about money? Kids should bring $6 to $10 in order to pay for their own dinner in Felton. They can group up to buy a pizza, or they can go to the taqueria, or they can go to Safeway for a sandwich (or other deli item). Parents should write a check to DCS for $10 and put it in the envelope by the door of room 25. That will pay for campsites, entrance fees, snacks, and breakfast.

5. Can I still "sign up"? Well, as of Monday 9/17, we have 24 people going, and 3 camp spots at 8 each. If we get one more camp spot, we can continue to add people. Anyone want to get the spot (reserveamerica.com, site #30 at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park)?

6. What about medications? We will have the usual medications procedures in place, so you can five them to us (adults). To increase responsibility/autonomy, please have the student remind me (Mr. Heumann) to get the meds -- or they can just keep them themselves if the student and parents are ok with that.

7. 6

Proposed Itinerary:

Thursday:

2:05 Get organized at DCS, load cars, depart

2:50 Arrive HCR campground, check in, find sites, set up tents (only)

3:15 Hike Eagle Creek trail to river then to the nature center and loop trail

(shuttle cars to the day use parking area)

5:00 Drive to Felton and get early dinner (taqueria, pizza, deli, or cafe)

5:20 Eat & play at Covered Bridge Park

6:00 Back to campsite, finish unpacking

6:30 Sunset hike to observation tower and back

7:30 Free time

8:30 Campfire, smores, stories, etc

10:00 Bed

Friday:

7:30 Early wake up if you want a shower

8:00 All wake, quick breakfast, clean up and pack up

8:20 Drive to DCS

9:20 Arrive DCS, go to P2 class

I'm going to meet with the 18 overnight kids during lunch about a week before the trip, and give them a packing list and itinerary (above). I can set the stage, but it will be up to them to make it all play out in the best way possible. I really want to foster an atmosphere of "empowered autonomy" in the kids this year and so I will invest in their ability to take care of themselves and each other -- with somewhat of a safety net, of course.

I want us to do a one way hike from Graham Hill Campground down to the San Lorenzo river on Thursday afternoon, before dinner. I'll have 2 parents come with me (Robin and ???) and the kids on the (1 hour) hike and have the other two shuttle cars to the other end of the trail (hwy 9 day use entrance to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park). From there we'll go to dinner in town.

I'm going to buy some snacks and water bottles for the "hike", but please mention to the parents of overnighters that they should help their kids get (and pack) extra snack foods for various times. Happy belly, dry feet, happy camper.