Sydney portrait
  • Expedition: Apr 3-8, 2016
  • Sydney
  • Kingsburg High School
  • Yosemite National Park: Hetch Hetchy

4/4/16: Day Before Trip
Hello Future Sydney! Today was a very exciting day. First, I woke up, got ready and the group (crew) got together and went to breakfast. the food here is AMAZING!! It's an all you can eat buffet and the food is so good. I had french toast, eggs (not very good), hash browns, and some fruit. the best!! After we got together and started getting all our backpacking stuff from WildLink. Good thing because I hardly brought anything. the bags weighed about 30-35 lbs. Our leaders Jack (girl) and Alejandro are really cool and I already know this trip will be fun with them. After we got al our stuff, we ate lunch on our bandannas. But before we ate we said what we were thankful for. I think that's really cool because it's kinda like praying, but it's not. I still pray after.

Sydney Group Selfie

4/5/16
Good Morning! It's 4/6/16 but I forgot to write yesterday because I was so tired from the 6 mile hike. Oh man that was a challenge. Yesterday morning Nana woke up at 5 to take a shower and woke me too. :l I already took a shower, so yeah. :( :) But she woke me up and you know me, once I'm woken up I can't go back to sleep. So was up til 5, finished repacking my bag. Everyone got together to go eat (very good) and after we loaded the vans up with everything, drove to Hetch Hetchy. I got so sick on the way over there. After we got to our spot and said Bye! to Mrs. Olsen and Mr. Peterson. And a real Park Ranger got to come with us! She is really cool and nice. When everyone got together, Jack asked if anyone would like to be the leader. No one raised their hand for 5 seconds. So I volunteered. The smallest girl is going to lead! Respect. So we head off and man the backpacks really hurt my hips. I was really hurting on my hips and have bruises. So for the 1st mile everything was good. Jack told me I was a really good leader and was helping me become a better one. :) Sara (senior) I was talking to for the 1st 3 miles. Always saw her at school but never talked to. She's a really cool person and funny. Got to know her and others. On the 3 mile, the unathletic ones were having a really hard time. My pace was really fast and I started leaving people behind. :( Sorry. I have a problem with that. Ii want to go my all, but I'm more in shape than everyone (Track and ATA/XMA) so we stopped for lunch and had tortillas with salami and cheese. I read outloud a quote from the "quote" book. It said basically this, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Jack was impressed by me. After lunch, the person in the back and I switched so I was in the back. I got to talk with the park ranger really good. Asked her how she started. These last 3 miles were hard! My hips were hurting so much. Nana and Rita were struggling but I helped motivate them. Finally! We got to camp. Everyone is so tired and it was getting dark out. The awesome person I am, I helped out all the tents up. After that the group got together (seome) and played Uno with the deck of cards I got. Good job, Sydney! Dinner time comes and they made Mac n Cheese so good! After dinner, the leaders were talking about the Universe giving to us. I really didn't like that. I am a growing Christian and I do NOT believe in some mountain. "I look up to the mountain. Does my strength come from the mountain? No, my strength comes from GOD, who made heavens and the earth...and the mountains!" Love that quote from For King and Country. Good night. Zzzzz.

Sydney Bridge

4/6/16
Good Morning!
I slept really good last night. Got a little hot but hey better than cold. So I'm up writing yesterdays and I see 2 deer! So cool. They were really close and cute and so right now I'm the onlyu one up and I'm sitting on a rock by a small creek. Man, it's so beautiful and bliss. :) Getting to experience the beautiful creation that God has made first hand. I love it!...I'm back! So Naomi just left. :( But I got to talk to her really well. She showed us what she does job wise and got to ask her a lot of stuff about her job. So now the leaders are having us write/draw in our journals about this trip so far.

Sydney Nana

Why I challenge myself
I look very young
I'm 5 foot, weight 105 and 5 months away from being considered an adult
I chose challenge myself because I'm not just doing one thing
I challenge myself because I'm tired when people think I'm the damsel in distress
I challenge myself through many things: school, fitness and sports, faith, hip and spine to one degree
I push myself to the limits to see how much I can do. Become a stronger person/independent
Yes I'm small, but my heart is huge

Sydney Smiles
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