Yosemite Blog

Last update!  

All photos have now been uploaded!  Thanks for a great trip Eagles!

Friday, October 10th

12:51pm

Hi Eagles!  We are just leaving our lunch stop in Fresno and the GPS puts us at Stelle at 4:20pm.  We will see you in a few hours!

8:30am

Good morning!  We just packed up and loaded the bus and are on our way!  I will update you once we are in Fresno with our ETA!  Please check back around noon to see what time you should 

Thursday, October 9th

10:00pm

What a great last day!  Mrs. Palmer's group headed into the East Vally (Tenaya Valley) where they did their challenge hike.  The Valley floor is at 4,000 feet and they climbed up to 5,666 ft to a majestic view of Half Dome and reached the lower side of Basket Dome.  They really rocked their challenge hike today!

Mr. Mena's group took a shuttle to El Capitan meadow where they walked to the lookout to see Bridal Falls.  In the meadow they did watercolors and a mineral classification lesson.  They ended their day on trail with a meaningful reflection on the trip!

Ms. Kargari's group walked to the grass meadow of the Awahanee for  team building/collaboration games.  They then walked to Lower Yosemite Falls for three different waterfalls.  The traversed boulders and crawled through a rock cave.  The ended their day on trail skipping rocks in the stream and having some river time.

Night program tonight was a camp fire where groups made skits about their favorite memories from the trip and had a moment of gratitude. 

The wifi has been pretty bad so the rest of the pictures will be uploaded later this weekend when I have better service!  Please check the blog tomorrow morning and afternoon to see what our ETA at ACS is!

9:30am

Good morning Eagle families!  This morning has been the coldest yet but thankfully we have the warm heaters in our room.  Students had a warm breakfast and got their gear ready for the last day on trail!  We are moving a little slower today but you could tell the kids were excited when they met up with their NatureBridge educators!  Today's night program is outside so I won't be able to upload pictures tonight. I will upload them tomorrow once we are back home with better cell service and wifi.  Check in later tonight for our last daily update!

Wednesday, October 8th

8:40pm

Today was a big day!  Each group went on a different adventure that was challenging and educational! 

Ms. Palmer's group created a human timeline to mark an event in time that was important/influential in their lives.  They then learned about the Buffalo Soldiers who were one contingent of the army assigned to protect the parks from misuse and build trails.  they predated the national park service.  They then had some river time and team building at Yosemite Lower Falls students.

Ms. Kargari's group did their challenge hike where they hiked up to Vernal Falls.  They luckd out with being able to walk the Mist Trail when we heard it was closed.  The group was led by "essence leaders" (each memeber of the group wrote down qualities about themselves and the group got to guess who it was) they then lead the trail group for a portion of the hike.  They had lunch at the top of the falls and culminated the long hike with a writing reflection prompt.

Mr. Mena's group also completed their challenge hike to day where they hiked up to lower Yosemite Falls.  Students then took the Columbia trail to the first overlook where the views were amazing!  Students had some more river time (a fan favorite) where they played the appreciation game and thanks game to others.

We are currently at night program with a very competitive game of Yosemite Trivia. We will then head back to camp to get some rest before our last day on trail.

9:35am

It's another beautiful morning here in Curry Village.  The sun is already peaking through and its going to be a great day!  Students were a little bit sleepy this morning but breakfast helped wake us up.  Groups just left for the day's adventures.  I'm working uploading photos but right now it says the upload will take 70 hours with this wifi haha so thank you for your patience, we really appreciate it!  Check in later tonight to hear about what students got up to on trail!

Tuesday, October 7th

6:00pm

Having a little bit of an earlier update today!  Students are currently enjoying a Mediterranean meal for dinner before we get ready for our night program out; night time activities.  Today groups had another fun day!  One group went to El Capitan area and heard a story called Two Bear Cubs which is a Miwak legend about El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.  Another group did some beautiful water colors of El Capitan.  Our third group went to Yosemite Falls and explored around the spider caves and had some river time where students got to play in the river for a little bit.  

The best part of this trip so far is watching the kids discover how fun screen-free time can be!  They have been playing cards, making up games, talking to each other, and even learning the joys of how to use a payphone!  It is really amazing to see how creative they can be without a cell phone in their hands!

Pictures will be a bit delayed today as night program isn't where the good wifi is. Stay tuned!  Thank you for your patience!

9:30am

Good morning Eagle families!  Student woke up after a restful night, had a yummy breakfast, and are excited for the day!  Students just headed out with their instructors for another day on trail!  The weather is absolutely beautiful and we couldn't be more excited! Check back in later tonight to see what our groups got up to today!

Monday, October 6th

10:00pm

Our three groups had an adventure filled day out on trail.  There was team building, a visit to the bear caves (named for the shape and not because it is a bear's house), and an ecology lesson where students learned about finding different organisms.  Students also learned about the legend of the face on half dome and discovered a bedrock mortar used by the Yosemite natives, the Awahneeche, who pounded acorns into flour.  Students reflected in their journals on the day before coming back for some free time to shower and visit the store. For dinner we had an Asian themed night of teriyaki chicken, rice, and veggies.  We ended our day at night program where students taught each other the seven rules of outdoor ethics through skits and discussion.  All students are in bed for some much needed rest so we can have another amazing day tomorrow!

9:30am

And we are off!  Students woke up this morning excited and ready to have our first full day out on trail!  We had a great breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and a fan favorite...cereal! We filled up our water bottles, grabbed some snacks, and are now in morning meeting with our NatureBridge educators.  They are going over the safety protocols on trail and what students can expect this week.  Each student is responsible for carrying a part of the lunch that they will have today.  Check back in later for more photos (if wifi allows) and an update about what we did on trail today!

Sunday, October 5th 

9:50pm

What an eventful day! We made it to beautiful Yosemite Valley!  Once we arrived, students got an orientation to camp and then we got to move into our tent cabins that will be our home for the next week.  We then walked over to the dining hall where we will be having all of our breakfasts and lunches.  Tonight's dinner was taco night and the churros were a big hit!  After dinner, we walked to our night program where we learned a little about what we will be doing this week and about the importance of bear boxes and how they became a staple of Yosemite Valley.   The weather has been great so fingers crossed it stays that way!  Tomorrow we meet with our NatureBridge instructors and go out for our  first full day of trail!  I'll update tomorrow when I can!

6:20pm

We have made it!  We are currently at dinner and then heading to our night program!  I'll update later tonight about our journey and (depending on wifi) I will upload a few pictures from today.  Stay tuned!