INSTRUCTORS:

Kristin Malone

Barb Miranda

Sara
"The mountains can be reached in all seasons. They offer a fighting challenge to heart, soul and mind, both in summer and winter. If througout time the youth of the nation accept the challenge the mountains offer, they will keep alive in our people the spirit of adventure. That spirit is a measure of the vitality of both nations and men. A people who climb the ridges and sleep under the stars in high mountain meadows, who enter the forest and scale peaks, who explore glaciers and walk ridges buried deep in snow -- these people will give their country some of the indomitable spirit of the mountains."

-- William O. Douglas

If I were to change something in the world...
I would change it in a way so that it would be as clean and beautiful as Yosemite.

Sara:
Nickname: Curly
Adjectives: Self-motivated, Diligent worker, Calm person.
Two people who inspire you: my mom and teacher from Le Grand High Mr. Martinez.
What is one thing you want to do this week?
Throughout this week I will like to write. Not just write, but let my feelings go and write about the freedom of nature.
What is one thing you want to do in your life?
In my life, in the future, I want to come and live in Yosemite or near, somewhere where it is quiet.
Favorite food: Enchiladas
Favorite movie: "The Land Before Time"
Favorite place: Out in the country near trees, animals, streams, grass, etc.

Monday 6, 2003
I have taken a good and warm shower. We are having breakfast at 7:00 a.m.

I have met Chris and Chistin. They are two teachers with the motivated heart and mind of leaders. They will be with us the whole day. We will be hiking. Barbara Miranda will also come with us in this hike.

We are now in the hike, we all stop in front of this beautiful mountain. We are playing a game for them to learn our names and so we could learn theirs. "cool so far mad dogging ah ah ahuhuh"

"How are the wild places relevant to California?"

Wilderness is like the trunk of the world. The carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, producers, consumers and decomposers are all the branches of that natural trunk. We all depend on it. Just by listening to the water rush with a virulent force through the unmovable rocks gives you the feeling of strength from the bottom of your heart. You look up and there are mountains surrounding you, that you long to reach for. However when you start something you must finish it. I feel like a rock, I feel like a tree. I feel like a bird flying free.

There are many obstacles, but many adventures to live, when I really think about it when I'm in Yosemite, the heart of the Sierra Nevada, I feel like a bug with the heart and the brain the size of a mountain. Wilderness is fun, beautiful, adventurous and educational. However it can be your motivation and inspiration through life. Even though it's all of the above this is a place from where we could learn fromthe diversity of living organisms and not just that, but we get to know ourselves. We have many obstacles, fears and doubts in our hike through the Sierra Nevada. These hikes are somehow related to the chances and paths we should chose in life, they are not going to be easy but with strength we are all going to succeed.

So as the branches of the tree we must protected and care for it as long as we live.

Wednesday 8, 2003
We can always relate ourselves and our surroundings with a tree. A tree can produce food for you and also gives you shade, a tree is a home for many animals. A tree is not just a tree. A tree is the example of freedom throughout the world. Like I've probably said before, the trunk is what gives safety and life to the branches, the trunk in our life can be our parents. They are the trunks that will keep us high above from harm, and until us the branches grow old enough and break off; that trunk will always be there for us.