From WildLink student Johnny:

Monday

Didn’t quite expect much from our instructors from the start. I’ve done many camping trips with different instructors in which they ultimately just try to be superior than you and just give you commands. However, there was different feeling towards Mindy and Deepak. They presented themselves as instructors who were there to guide us and make sure that nothing got out of hand but at the same time they were real, something so difficult to find in someone nowadays, at least where I live. We went on a small hike around curry village, did some activities along the way, so far it’s looking good.

The group meets with park ranger Shelton Johnson.

Tuesday

We got our gear today in the morning and quite frankly I was nervous of hiking 5+ miles. Halfway through the hike the elevation affected me and on top of that I began to get blisters on my foot. I definitely began to struggle but I love the fact that everyone helped each other in a moment of struggle and having Mindy and Deepak motivated me and give me advice definitely helped me in arriving at the camp grounds. It was tough, but the difficulties and struggles brought us closer.

Wednesday

First morning after camping out. We have planned to hike up to cloud’s rest, we all seem pretty excited, pretty tired but nonetheless looking forward to the trip plus the stewardship project.

Thursday

What can I say, it’s the last day…Tomorrow we leave but today we depart from our instructors. I cannot believe how much two individuals grew on me in such a short amount of time. Being in the outdoors is an amazing experience, the trip is an adventure, the scenery is beautiful, and my group actually felt like family, I guess the concept of Ohana really did play a role in our trip. To be honest, I don’t want to leave, I don’t want to go back to the city, I want to stay…