- Expedition: Feb 19-24, 2006
- Merced High School - Richard Iglehart Memorial Expedition
- Sierra National Forest: Hite Cove
Students from Merced High School in Merced, California, came together for a beautiful WildLink week, which included some great snow time in a wintry Yosemite Valley as well as a spring-like exploration of a warm and sunny Hite Cove in the Sierra National Forest. This is a particularly special expedition because it is carried out in honor of Richard Iglehart, whose loved ones have established the Iglehart Wilderness Foundation in his memory. As has become a tradition with the Richard Iglehart Memorial Expeditions, the spirit in which this expedition is supported lent it a special intensity and energy. WildLink would like to thank the Iglehart Wilderness Foundation for increasing their support of the program this year to two expeditions.
Some of the highlights included a beautiful hike up to the Hite Cove Ridge; finding bear tracks in the mud; helping with the Hite Cove Photomonitoring Project; donning waders and optivisors for a snowy and icy aquatic biomonitoring session on Illilouette Creek (which is part of a Yosemite Institute collaborative research project with UC Merced); and learning some great new songs from WildLink instructor Catherine. It was a week of firsts for many of us: first time to climb a mountain, touch snow, go camping, and to be in Wilderness.
Thank you to all of you for a wonderful week; may this be the first of many adventures you enjoy in the Wilderness in the years to come!
