- Expedition: Mar 30 - Apr 4, 2014
- Dulce
- Turlock High School
- Yosemite National Park: Merced Grove Cabin
4-1-14
Today we were getting ready for our hike into the wilderness to find our cabin and it started snowing, snowflakes and they actually look like real snowflakes.
4-2-14 Wednesday
It’s amazing how us humans spend most of our free time watching T.V., going shopping, sleeping instead of making some time to come out in to the wilderness and learning how to have fun in nature and get away from all the technology and commodities of life. I feel very fortunate to have such a breathtaking park within a few miles from my home town. There is a huge amount of people that pay big amounts of money to get a view of this paradise, and I’m fortunate enough to just come for free for 6 adventurous days.
My perspective did not really change from what it was in the beginning. I expected the unimagined and so far that is what has happened. I’ve been loving all this snow; it’s been beautiful. I honestly wouldn’t desire to be anywhere else but here where I’m sitting, under a huge pine tree that is tilting from all the snow that has accumulated on its green drippy pine needles. Time here doesn’t just pass without one noticing; it seems to stop and let us contemplate the beauty of life itself. It’s a place where you can sit down and clear your mind of all worries.
Yesterday I got the luck to experience hiking while snowing which at first seemed a little crazy but then began an adventure. My friends and I got in to a neverending snowball fight that I really enjoyed because in Turlock all we ever get is rain and maybe hail but nothing as great as all this pillow-like snow that only accumulates by the minute. I love being out here, it helps me clear my mind and find answers within myself to my troubles. The beauty of all the individual things in this wonderful park are indescribable. They almost seem fake to the human eye. Everything in this park is simply incredible.
The art within this place can be seen by many but only understood by few. Living out in the backcountry truly helps one appreciate everything in life, the little things and the large things because everything, no matter what its size is, plays a huge role in building who we are today. This park has a lot of visible change as it has spiritual change. Not one day is the same in this amazing forest of life.
I never imagined to join a club that would help me learn so much about earth and myself. WildLink has truly impacted my life and way of living. It’s sad to know that this is my last winter expedition, but knowing that there is a lot of other opportunities to come back and keep learning ab out this amazing present land is great. I will keep coming back to Yosemite for camping and being in the backcountry because I truly love it, it’s nice to get away from all the electronics and get a feel of what it’s like to actually live life depending on yourself mentally, physically and emotionally rather than always depending on technology. I want to come back and bring family and friends to show them what true beauty within wilderness is. I want to join clubs and groups in which I can keep coming back to accumulate knowledge and experience from. All the experiences I have had thanks to WildLink have taught me things that I pass on to other such as preserving land, survival skills and the importance behind it all. Everything on this earth is connected in a way which can lead to destruction or preservation and that’s a choice we all have.
4-3-14
Welp today is the last day in this beautiful cabin, I don’t want to leave yet but at the same time I’m ready to go back and shower, sleep in my bed and eat real food. :D Today we went on the trail and stepped out of trail to purposely get lost to learn how to build shelter as if we were actually lost and had to depend on the shelter to survive. Ashley, Alex and Flapjack were part of my group and together we built a semi-roof/shelter with sticks and branches and tied them together with stringy branches and placed our rain jackets over the branches to create a waterproof shelter and got rated an 8 or 9 for it being waterproof. =) Then as we were on our way back my food slipped into the creek and made me be more cautious for the rest of the day. :P When we got to the cabin we met Lissie, a Yosemite park ranger that gave us a lot of fun facts about wilderness. One of my favorites was that 97% of Yosemite is wilderness. :) Then Jose, Dino, Zack, Brian, Jasmine, Audri, Jasmine, Ashley, and I had a snowball fight, round 2 from Tuesday with Audri, Ashley, Jose, Brian, and I got real intense. After that we asked Jack and Lissie who they thought had won and they said the girls! We then had the best gummy bears on earth (one tasted like watermelon, my fave!). Then we made s’mores! We told stories depending on the color of our gummie bears. It was a unique fun/yummy experience.
