Expedition Members

dutch
juan
pedro
bernardo
bruce
francisco
chino
chris
tony
marc

Chaperone

enrique

Instructors

erica
mandy

Ten students from the Harbor City Boys and Girls Club joined us for an unforgettable expedition to Yosemite's breathtaking Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne. After a day of acclimatization in Yosemite Valley, we were all anxious to escape the early summer crowds and get away to the High Country.

We set out from scenic Tuolomne Meadows for a five mile hike into the Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp, where we basecamped for the rest of the week.

Yosemite Institute's Research Coordinator Todd Newburger joined us for a day of aquatic biomonitoring on Wednesday. We discovered a diverse and plentiful number of sensitive macroinvertebrates, indicating that the Tuolomne River is very healthy! We sent that information on to the National Park Service to be added to their records to monitor the long-term health of the water in the High Sierra.

Thursday the group charged the challenging Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne River hike, completing it in just a day! 9 miles and almost 2000 feet in elevation change later, we pulled back into camp for our final evening, full of the memory of beautiful endless waterfalls, much laughter, and the strength that can only come from the mountains.

Highlights of the trip were the sightings of a rattlesnake, marmots, the river singing us to sleep at night, a full moon lighting our evenings, and a few very bold and curious black bears!