updated: north cascades national park
newstart center in collaboration with earthcorps took a three-day, two-night camping trip to the peaceful tranquility of north cascades national park. i joined chaperoning as one of two staffs from the center. five youth (3 from my parks crew) and three members of earthcorps took charge in organizing the activities and agenda.
the drive to noca was approximately 2.5 hrs. the weather was lovely that day. we couldnt complain as the breeze reached thru the crevices of the window. everyone was excited. for a couple of the youth, this will be their first time camping.
after passing towns such as burlington, sedro-wolley, concrete, rockford and newhalem, we finally arrived at our destination. damn. its soooo quiet here. reminds me of one of those towns where hollywood would come to shoot a horror flick!
so ... the park ranger came in to introduce us about the park. she spoke about the rich history of the area, informed us on proper camping etiquettes & answer questions. like the youth, i too got bored real fast to the lecture. we came here to run around, dammit!
after the snoozer talk, we finally did our first activity, hiking. the trail was called the riverloop. fairly simple hike bc the elevation was relatively flat for much of the 2 miles. what was amazing was the water. color is turquoise & glacier ice cold. we came back to the car to finally set up our tents.
we finished putting up the tents with no trouble. the other half proceeded to unpack all the foods in preparation for cooking dinner. the meal consisted of hamburgers, hotdogs, tofu wings, salads, chips, etc. half of the people there were vegans! and ps, im not one of them.
we told campfire stories and played games that night before we did our night hike. we drove into newhalem, a dinky town built for dam builders eons ago. we parked at city center and hiked towards the suspension bridge and into the forest. leading the pack was erin (one of four erins) just using one flashlight. the youth, being naturally scared of the dark and of "monsters" in the forest had to hold hands as we trekked. it was kinda dangerous though. i was a bit surprise that no one got injured due to the big boulders and rocks in our path.
my most memorable part of the 3-day trip had to be the stargazing. after that night hike, we all stopped on the long suspension bridge to lay down and stare out in the sky. right under us were the soothing soft sounds of the water. what more to make this occasion more perfect? (maybe having a special lady there besides you) ... :: sigh ::
exhausted. we got back to our tents around 1130pm. i crashed.
day 2. yawns. we got up at 730 am! how ridiculous is that? prepared our breakfast, made our lunch and did our morning exercises and off we went to the north cascades learning institute. there, we met up with 6 other adults. our purpose of being: to do our service project.
the first shift saw a group collect seeds. another team had to remove non-native plants/weeds, which included me. i didnt mind at all bc in the backdrop was the beautiful waters of the skagit river and diablo dam. this dam actually is responsible for providing 30% electricity to all of the city of seattle. though the bees made its presence here, the stronger force that took me away was the strength of the wind. wooo ... again, i wish i could share this experience with a special lady.
we had lunch. i took pictures of the youth on the dock and the mountains.
second shift began with one group hiking up a trail to collect duff (dont ask me what this is). the rest continued with the weeding. i was with the duff collectors. the sweltering heat got to me. i was very unproductive but its okay, the others covered my slack. afterwards, we got buckets of fresh water at a nearby creek to water the plants there at the campus.
3pm arrived and our service project came to a wrap. after group fotos and goodbyes, we left to our campsite to recover. i played some 13 for push-ups. i napped for a bit before dinner time came around.
we gathered around the campfire to cook smores as our stomach filled from dinner. mmm, smores. we played mafia. we told ghost stories and boy, that was a baaaaaaaad idea. why? bc all the youth got spoofed. and what made matters worst (drum rolls), was our encounter with ... a wild coyote!
no joke. so we were playing games tp be interupted by erin's calm voice to tell us that "there is something lurking out in the forest." i looked into her eyes when she said that and i was terrified by her expression. she told everyone to be calm and to group together. do not make any sudden movements or start screaming. the coyote was circling us slowly from a distance of about 30 feet. the kids can see his shining eyes. i just tried to avoid any eye contact. for 10 minutes (but felt like forever), we projected our flashlight towards the animal to scare it away. he eventually left, all of us still shook from the experience. that night, no one fell asleep until hours later.
day 3. most of us had a poor nights rest. we didnt have much plan for today but another hiking trip, however, the weather fogg and gloomy skies forced its cancellation. instead, we enjoyed our lunch and some ultimate frisbee and soccer in good ol' concrete (yes, thats a name of a town).
we got back to seattle around 330 pm. first thing i did when i return to the center: check e-mail ;) i truly can't live w/o computers!
the drive to noca was approximately 2.5 hrs. the weather was lovely that day. we couldnt complain as the breeze reached thru the crevices of the window. everyone was excited. for a couple of the youth, this will be their first time camping.
after passing towns such as burlington, sedro-wolley, concrete, rockford and newhalem, we finally arrived at our destination. damn. its soooo quiet here. reminds me of one of those towns where hollywood would come to shoot a horror flick!
so ... the park ranger came in to introduce us about the park. she spoke about the rich history of the area, informed us on proper camping etiquettes & answer questions. like the youth, i too got bored real fast to the lecture. we came here to run around, dammit!
after the snoozer talk, we finally did our first activity, hiking. the trail was called the riverloop. fairly simple hike bc the elevation was relatively flat for much of the 2 miles. what was amazing was the water. color is turquoise & glacier ice cold. we came back to the car to finally set up our tents.
we finished putting up the tents with no trouble. the other half proceeded to unpack all the foods in preparation for cooking dinner. the meal consisted of hamburgers, hotdogs, tofu wings, salads, chips, etc. half of the people there were vegans! and ps, im not one of them.
we told campfire stories and played games that night before we did our night hike. we drove into newhalem, a dinky town built for dam builders eons ago. we parked at city center and hiked towards the suspension bridge and into the forest. leading the pack was erin (one of four erins) just using one flashlight. the youth, being naturally scared of the dark and of "monsters" in the forest had to hold hands as we trekked. it was kinda dangerous though. i was a bit surprise that no one got injured due to the big boulders and rocks in our path.
my most memorable part of the 3-day trip had to be the stargazing. after that night hike, we all stopped on the long suspension bridge to lay down and stare out in the sky. right under us were the soothing soft sounds of the water. what more to make this occasion more perfect? (maybe having a special lady there besides you) ... :: sigh ::
exhausted. we got back to our tents around 1130pm. i crashed.
day 2. yawns. we got up at 730 am! how ridiculous is that? prepared our breakfast, made our lunch and did our morning exercises and off we went to the north cascades learning institute. there, we met up with 6 other adults. our purpose of being: to do our service project.
the first shift saw a group collect seeds. another team had to remove non-native plants/weeds, which included me. i didnt mind at all bc in the backdrop was the beautiful waters of the skagit river and diablo dam. this dam actually is responsible for providing 30% electricity to all of the city of seattle. though the bees made its presence here, the stronger force that took me away was the strength of the wind. wooo ... again, i wish i could share this experience with a special lady.
we had lunch. i took pictures of the youth on the dock and the mountains.
second shift began with one group hiking up a trail to collect duff (dont ask me what this is). the rest continued with the weeding. i was with the duff collectors. the sweltering heat got to me. i was very unproductive but its okay, the others covered my slack. afterwards, we got buckets of fresh water at a nearby creek to water the plants there at the campus.
3pm arrived and our service project came to a wrap. after group fotos and goodbyes, we left to our campsite to recover. i played some 13 for push-ups. i napped for a bit before dinner time came around.
we gathered around the campfire to cook smores as our stomach filled from dinner. mmm, smores. we played mafia. we told ghost stories and boy, that was a baaaaaaaad idea. why? bc all the youth got spoofed. and what made matters worst (drum rolls), was our encounter with ... a wild coyote!
no joke. so we were playing games tp be interupted by erin's calm voice to tell us that "there is something lurking out in the forest." i looked into her eyes when she said that and i was terrified by her expression. she told everyone to be calm and to group together. do not make any sudden movements or start screaming. the coyote was circling us slowly from a distance of about 30 feet. the kids can see his shining eyes. i just tried to avoid any eye contact. for 10 minutes (but felt like forever), we projected our flashlight towards the animal to scare it away. he eventually left, all of us still shook from the experience. that night, no one fell asleep until hours later.
day 3. most of us had a poor nights rest. we didnt have much plan for today but another hiking trip, however, the weather fogg and gloomy skies forced its cancellation. instead, we enjoyed our lunch and some ultimate frisbee and soccer in good ol' concrete (yes, thats a name of a town).
we got back to seattle around 330 pm. first thing i did when i return to the center: check e-mail ;) i truly can't live w/o computers!
