E.S.C.A.P.E. Club

A beautiful weekend in a truly iconic place

As always, Yosemite was a standout trip. Read on for a recap of the weekend, as well as information about this Saturday’s family/alumni picnic!

There were several things that made this trip a little different than previous years. For the first time we stayed in the valley at Housekeeping Camp. Parking in recent years has gotten increasingly more difficult, especially so when traveling with 10 vehicles. Staying at Housekeeping Camp let us walk or shuttle everywhere we needed to go. While setting up and sleeping in tents is a fun experience that we missed this year, it was amazing to be so close to everything on our itinerary. We also brought some ESCAPE alumni who are now in high school as interns. This group was AMAZING. As helpful as they could be at every turn, always jumping in with a great attitude. Cooking, serving, and cleaning up after meals was a breeze thanks to them.

On our first day, we visited Bridalveil Falls, El Capitan Meadow, and Tunnel View. This trio of sights was a beautiful introduction to the park and preview of the many waterfalls and vistas we’d encounter throughout the weekend. Once we got to our campsites, it was all hands on deck to get set up even without putting up tents. But with everyone pitching in it wasn’t long before we were settled in and dinner was cooking (smash burgers—delicious!).

Saturday’s big activity was to hike the Mist Trail. After a couple years in a row where finding parking was an hour long challenge, it was AMAZING to just hop on a shuttle.  The hike was beautiful as usual, and despite a few challenging portions students kept pushing until they made it to the top of Vernal Falls. Afterwards, we spent some time along the river near camp before having burritos for dinner. That night we took a short night hike over to the village store, listening to frogs and passing under Half Dome along the way.

On our final day, after a hot breakfast and packing up camp, we went over to Yosemite Falls and then walked to the new Exploration Center. There was a really cool exhibit on the history and evolution of climbing in the park. After that, we were back on the road for the long drive home.

There’s so many people who played an important role on this trip and without whom it wouldn’t be possible. Huge thanks to all the chaperones and drivers who helped during the actual weekend, the high schooler interns who really went above and beyond, all those who have donated money, time, energy throughout the year, and everyone who baked cookies for the trip. It all means so much!

And now, while we’re grateful for summer, it’s a little bittersweet this time around. When the ESCAPE club returned post pandemic in 2022, we expanded out of just DeJean Middle School to include Betty Reid Soskin Middle School. In February, however, we received the news that BRS will be closing at the end of this school year and merging with another school in the district. It’s been a sad time for the Soskin community. We’re optimistic though about starting the club at the new school, and of course continuing our mission of getting kids outdoors.

On a happier note, please join us on Saturday (June 13) for a ESCAPE Club reunion picnic! We’ll be at Alvarado Park (5755 McBryde Ave, Richmond) from 11-2 and would love to see you there. You can RSVP here or contact us with any questions. We’d love to see you there!

 

Check out the video if you have a few extra minutes!

Our March trips to Tilden and Pt. Reyes

We’ve had a fun spring with the ESCAPE club: steam train, lighthouse, spring wildflower blooms, and some amazing wildlife watching. Read on to hear about our last two regular trips of this school year!

For our first March trip we stayed extra local (didn’t even get on the highway!) and visited a handful of spots in Tilden Regional Park. It was a really beautiful spring day that started with a short hike and detour into the Tilden Little Farm. We got lucky with timing and happened upon a “Creature Feature” right as it was starting at the visitor center and students got to see and pet a tortoise. 

In the afternoon we went over to the botanic garden for a nature journaling session. Students spread throughout the garden, finding a spot sit and to sketch plants or insects. Even with everyone starting with a different art background and comfort around drawing, they were all were really engaged with the activity and produced some really beautiful artwork. After a few minutes, some continued their drawing while others looked for salamanders in the pond or explored the redwood trails. And finally to end the day we rode the Tilden Steam Train! So fun.

Late March took us to Pt. Reyes National Seashore for hiking and wildlife viewing. To start, we walked down the 300 steps to the lighthouse and back up, which feels a bit like training for Yosemite’s Mist Trail. The fog had made it so the visibility wasn’t great, but it does create a certain ambience. The sun started to come out as we ate lunch and then hiked Chimney Rock. Along the trail, there are spots where you can look down and see the elephant seals down below. And there was a special treat at the end of the trail: whale watching! Several gray whales splashed around as they passed through for their spring migration. After the hike, we walked down to the end of the Cypress Tree Tunnel before heading to the visitor center for a picnic and frisbee in the park. Overall, it was a beautiful day with a great group of kids.

It’s been a busy busy few months, but we’re always grateful for the time spent outdoors. To top it all off, we were in Yosemite a couple weeks ago for our big end of year camping trip. That will be its own newsletter, so stay tuned for that! In the meantime, you can check out the videos from both of these trips below. As always, thanks for reading!

Check out our trip to Tilden!

And Pt. Reyes!

A tour of SF and a day in the snow

It’s been a busy 2026 so far for the ESCAPE club with a tour of SF in January and a snow day in February! We had some great trips during the winter months with great groups of kids. Read on to hear about San Francisco and Tahoe!

In January we made our way to San Francisco to tour the city. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, starting with a walk across the first part of the Golden Gate Bridge. We then went down to Fort Point situated at the base of the bridge. Last year, bad weather kept us from the rooftop and then closed down the fort entirely shortly after we arrived, so it was great to be able to explore the new exhibits and renovations. After that, we spent some time in the Presidio Field Station. This space is an active field station for scientists and researchers in the area and has huge natural history collections that students are able to interact with hands on.

Finally, it wouldn’t be San Francisco without traffic, but with a lot of detours both planned (Palace of Fine Arts and Lombard Street) and unplanned (streets blocked off) we made it to our final destination: ice skating! We might not be competing in the next winter Olympics but it was a lot of fun to skate around and watch kids improve quite a lot during our time on the rink. 

In February we went up to the Tahoe area for a day in the snow. Continuing the trend of beautiful weather during our trips this year, we had sunny blue skies and fairly warm weather. It was a sort of second try at the trip that went awry last year due to a bus issue, and this time we successfully made it to the Clair Tappaan Lodge. It was a new experience to have home base be at a ski lodge, and it was great to have a warm and cozy space throughout the day! 

We partnered with Headwaters Science Institute for a snow science lesson where students learned how researchers study climate and analyze the snow in the region. After the science lesson, we had a hot spaghetti and meatballs lunch indoors courtesy of one of the chaperones. 

In the afternoon, there was time for some sledding and playing in the snow. It wasn’t the best snow year that we’ve experienced – the sledding was bumpy and the snowballs icy – but students still had fun and did all typical snow activities. Lots of sledding, snowball battles, and snowman-making! Finally, we hit our usual spots of In-N-Out and the state capitol on the way home. Long but fun day!

March is bringing a couple more trips before our end of year trip to Yosemite, so keep an eye out for a recap of our last trips. There’s videos below if you have a few minutes!

San Francisco ’25 – ’26

Snow ’25 – ’26

Environmental education at a coastal ranch for our first trip of the school year!

We’re back! The ESCAPE Club has officially kicked off with a return to Slide Ranch. This farm has so many cool sustainability-focused things to see and do, and it was a fun way to learn about where food comes from with a great group of students and chaperones. We had a really nice time exploring the various spaces and trying new things, especially tasting so much fresh food throughout the day (sour sorrel? Unsurprisingly, very sour).

We started the day learning to milk goats (a brave few even tasting the fresh milk!) before breaking into smaller groups. In the garden, we saw, touched, smelled and tasted the many different vegetables and flowers growing in the hillside beds before cooking a small snack of bread and cheese from scratch. Some gathered herbs from the garden to add to theirs. So cool to share a meal that we created with our own hands! Then in the chicken coop, students got to pet and feed chickens before petting various goats and sheep in the barn.

After a picnic lunch, we made our way to the bone grove, filled with bones of all sizes from small rodents to whale ribs and vertebrae. It’s fun to try to figure out what type of animal the different skeleton pieces came from. Then as the sun was finally emerging we hiked down to the tidepools and spent some time near the water before wrapping up our day and heading home.

It’s great to be back outside with students, and we hope that wherever you are you find some pockets of nature to spend time in. Looking ahead into this year, there’s a lot of fun trips to be had and we’ll keep you updated on all our excursions. As always, thank you so much for your endless support through kind words and well-wishes.

And, of course, this program couldn’t run without the financial support. We are grateful for donations of any amount, and this money goes directly to funding student trips. You can donate in several ways:

• via the EdFund (tax-deductible and employer matchable!). Be sure to choose ESCAPE Club in the dropdown menu.
• via PayPal: link HERE
• write a check to DeJean Middle School
• send a check directly to John

Thank you for following along! We appreciate your support! 

Check out the video if you have a few extra minutes!