- Expedition: Aug 1-6, 2015
- West Fresno Family Resource Center
- Yosemite National Park: Poly Dome Lake
West Fresno Family Resource Center brought youth to the WildLink program for the very first time! None of the participants had visited Yosemite before, despite its close proximity to home. Along the way, they learned all kinds of things - about themselves, about national wilderness, and about teamwork. The group loved skipping rocks, playing Bippity Bop Bop ("Squirt!" "Heyyyy!"), sitting around the campfire, and eating delicious food.
In the students' own words...
August 4, 2015
It’s a cold summer day at Poly Dome Lake. I feel the breeze of the cold air brushing on my face. I see a beautiful view of the mountains and of the wilderness. I see the lake flowing in a slow fashion. It looks marvelous. The experience of Yosemite National Park is great. You can go in always on your electronics to be a full life wilderness explorer. Smelling the fresh cold air of Yosemite, being outside in one’s body and it’s really nice to sit on these nice an beautiful rocks just to think. The campfire is great especially if you’re accompanied by friends and family and the Yosemite rangers. What I would hope before we head back into Fresno is for us to see some wildlife animals in person.
Hiking along the Murphy Creek trail.
Relaxing at their base camp at Poly Dome Lake.
Learning from Wilderness Ranger Jess.
August 5, 2015
As we walk up the long, hot and tiring trail, we find a beautiful rock with many minerals. As we examine it, we find out that it is quartz. There are many of those rocks and they come in many colors. As we take our break from walking up this steep mountain, we see lots of wildlife. I see a pretty big bee, nothing like the ones in Fresno. This bee is black with two yellow stripes on its body. I will have to ask the naturalists to see what kind of bee it is. It flew right by my face and startled me.
This is about challenges so I’m guessing that my greatest challenge was leading the group up here but having to slow down because everyone was getting tired. I wasn’t tired on the way up here.
-“Ipod”
Finding treasure among the ashes?
Views along the trail.
“Although your vision may seem unclear or hazy, it is you who determines your vision.” –Kevin
“We may leave this park and never see it again. But the love in our hearts for the park will never disappear.” -Avondre
Giving back to the park by cleaning ashes and trash out of old fire rings.
Doing what humans have been doing for thousands of years.
August 5, 2015
We are at a really high point in the mountains. We finally made it after a long and agonizing walk. It was a really long walk but we finally made it. We just got finished with our lunch. It was a good lunch. Yesterday wasn’t as bad as today but today hopefully we can take a dip in the lake when we get back to the camp. This week went by fast. I remember not too long ago when we were back at the cabins. Yesterday the group did a team game where the mentors put the bottles of water outside of a circle. We were successful but it was challenging. I say it was fun to me and I liked the dinner. It was mac-and-cheese and it was really good. Tomorrow we will be going home. This week was fun but I can’t wait to head back home.
A well-earned view!
Group hug!
Beautiful sights in Yosemite wilderness.
Break by the lake.
Poly Dome Lake in all its splendor