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

A weekend in one of the most magical places on Earth.

 

Our year of excursions always culminates with a weekend camping in Yosemite. A million moving parts and details make this trip the most daunting of all. The weather forecast threatened afternoon showers, but we were spared from any of that. We weren’t sure we’d be able to get all our teachers away from campus in the morning, but team DeJean came through, and all 55 of us got away Friday morning.

Since Mariposa Grove remains under construction, we were forced for the third year in a row to find an alternative for Friday. Tuolumne Grove, near Crane Flat, served as a worthy replacement. It’s got 25 Giant Sequoias, and just a 3-mile round trip, so that did the trick. We gazed up at the sentinels of the forest, and climbed on and through those that had fallen. It provided us a good opportunity to interact with the trees a way that was really good for our group.

We took our obligatory group shot at Tunnel View, and hung around long enough to watch a misty rainbow climb up Bridalveil Falls. Then it was on to Wawona to set up camp.

Nights are chilly in Wawona, but the morning sun, some hot chocolate, and a little more campfire got us going. We enjoyed an eggs & bacon breakfast, and headed down to the valley for the day’s adventure.

With most of the construction finished in the valley, we had no trouble finding parking (after last year’s misadventures), and we headed up the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls. Some kids power up the trail, and we have to hold them back. Others need more urging, or some sympathy, or some patience. We all learned a lesson about resilience and grit, as the slower kids, taking one step and a time, finally reached the top. We appreciated their model of perseverance that we all need to see once in a while.

Activities around camp included games, swimming the icy river, s’mores, glow sticks, or just hanging out in the hammocks. It was great to have some unstructured time to run around, explore the area, or just sit and talk.

Sunday morning was much slower paced. We slept in a bit, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, and started to pack up camp. We wandered down the river for a while, scrambled up and down the boulders, and skipped rocks across the water. We ended our time in camp with a circle where we shared our memories of the weekend, and some appreciations of each other.

All in all, it was another fantastic trip. It was a treat just to be together, but the fact that it was in the jewel of our national parks made it a true weekend to remember. Our media team sifted through hundreds of stills, and hours of video from the three days, and worked quickly to get a video put together. Feel free to check it out below.

So many folks to thank–from the chaperones who give their entire weekend, to those who finance the trip, those who help prep/pack/unpack, to those who pray and offer words of encouragement, and even to some who made homemade cookies for us to enjoy far from home. We are grateful for each one who had a part in this.

Our final trip to the Oakland Ice Center is already upon us, and all the year-end activities are stacked up in the coming days. You’ll be hearing from us again soon! Thanks for reading!

Re-live all the sights, sounds, and memories here!

A fantastic hike along the coast to a most magical destination.

After last year’s experience, we were hesitant to go back to Alamere Falls. But we’d put it on the T-shirt, so we kinda had to try it one more time. We made a point of meeting and leaving earlier from the school, and it made a big difference.

We actually got the last parking spaces in the lot, which was great. (Later, we saw cars parked over a mile away down the road!) There was no line at the bathroom, and the kids were great hikers. As usual, we enjoyed all the little microclimates along the way–sweeping vistas down the cliffs, damp areas around ponds, shady rainforest areas, and more.

The shortcut scramble down the cliff to the falls was crowded, but not unmanageable. And although the tide was high, the sun was bright and warm, and it was nice to be around the spray from the falls. Several kids got all the way in. Others enjoyed chasing around on the beach, digging in the sand, or just relaxing in the sunshine.

The walk back to the cars is always a little slower, but clouds had moved in, providing us a little shade, and we were blessed with a wonderful tamale meal with cold drinks and cake in the parking lot. The day was such a positive experience–the way we remember it being, so maybe we’ll keep it for now.

Our year comes to a climax this month with our camping trip to Yosemite. Let us know if you’d like to join in the fun!

The smiles in this video… Such a fun time at the falls.

All of the usual great experiences, and a few special spring surprises… Our annual trip to Slide Ranch is such a rich, dynamic experience.  It’s hard to summarize such a full day into a couple paragraphs.  We’d encourage you to watch the video down at the bottom of the page to really get the whole experience. Coastal fog greeted us as we arrived in the morning.  After introductions and a quick orientation, the kids broke into smaller groups with their Slide Ranch guide.  Students rotate through several unique and special experiences through the day, including goat-milking, bread and butter -making, chicken feeding, organic garden sampling, and visits to the duck coop, and bee hives.  A few kids even got to make flower crowns! For the last several years, we have visited Slide Ranch in the fall.  But this year, it worked out to go in the spring.  With the spring season came the surprise of baby animals!  The little lambs and goats were pretty irresistible.  And of course the garden was booming, and the wildflowers were out in force. The Slide Ranch guides’ lessons and dialogue focus on sustainability and where our food comes from, which gives our students lots to think about, even beyond all the new things they get to do and try. After our program was finished, it was time for a quick hike in the hills, and then down to the beach.  Low tide gave us a chance to see some “lower” forms of life, like crabs and sea anemones.  We threw some rocks into the sea, and scrambled around in the sunshine until it was time to head back home. We have just a couple more trips to go this year, to Pt. Reyes and Yosemite, so the end is in view.  Let us know soon if you’re planning to be with us.  Again, we recommend the video if you have a few minutes.  Hope to connect with you all soon! So many more photos and videos from a full day. Click here to see the whole story!

Did we find snow? YES we did! (Eventually.) It’s been a dry winter. But we are grateful for north-facing slopes, and vendors who stash snow in the shade during the week, and spread it out on the slope for flatlanders like us to enjoy on a Saturday. Though it’s been raining and snowing more the past few weeks, February was a tenuous situation, and we caught what was at the time the last weekend of the season. As in the past few years, we were treated to a charter bus. Fifty of us geared up, all clad in our new ESCAPE Club apparel, and headed to the Sierras. But our day would not go as planned. We sat on the bus for an extra two hours as I-80 was reduced down to a one-lane road. Our kids persevered, however, and we kept the hope alive of seeing snow. We arrived at Kingvale close to 1pm, and it had a layer of snow as promised.  We quickly scarfed down our tamales, chips, and Mexican hot chocolate in the parking lot, and got in our time in on the slopes. The snow was icy, and thin. Not fluffy or light or powdery. And I don’t think one person cared. We had so much fun. Several, including parents, were in the snow for the first time. We didn’t spend as much time as we normally do sledding, but that’s just how the day went. We were grateful for what we had and what we got to do. Because we were fairly dry, we didn’t really need to spend much time changing clothes, and we were on to Auburn, and our regular stop at In-N-Out.   The state capitol was brilliant in white against the black night for our final stop, and we even got home on time. Kids were happy and tired, and we were glad for another adventure. Apologies again for the delay in reporting. We’re off to Slide Ranch (away from our normal November time), so hopefully our PR department gets its act together with a timely summary.  Thanks for reading, and thanks as always for your support. Sure, the photos are okay, but you won’t know the full glee and laughter without watching the video. We’ve had a little trouble with YouTube and artists’ copyright claims for this one. But we’re a non-profit-ish program, and I think it’s okay to enjoy. So we’ve created a workaround… Click it. #workaround