Courtney portrait
  • Expedition: Mar 28 - Apr 2, 2010
  • Courtney
  • Crenshaw and Dorsey HS
  • Yosemite National Park
Courtney

Being here in Yosemite with all these different people and different changes of scenery has been a life changing experience. I had my first experience with snow in all the 15 years of my life…For the first time also, I got to stay in a cabin. I felt just like Abraham Lincoln. Six Crenshaw kids and seven Dorsey kids, who would have thought? Everyone here is like family to me now. I never in my life thought that I could get to or find myself in such a beautiful place. You can actually see the stars at night, a very beautiful sight. Sometimes I wonder how my life would be if I never came to Yosemite and the Merced Grove cabin. I never saw a bear, but I did see pawprints. I regret nothing.

Wilderness is…cooking your own food, seeing the stars, being able to use "that public restroom", laughing in the dark trying to find light and looking and smelling bad:) The Wilderness does have value. It's so much to see that many people sadly can't, don't or choose not to see. The beauty out here is unheard of. Going back to this cool Black Park Ranger Shelton Johnson: I was in awe just like him when I came here, it was to the point where my neck started to hurt because you can't stop looking up, you don't want to look down. This experience, being here with Dorshaw, was awesome.

Courtney Courtney
WildLink is a proud partner of the National Park Service, National Forest Service, and Nature Bridge.