This has been the season of water.  I can’t ever remember seeing so much water flowing.  And it’s remarkable when you have the time to be in nature and consider what it’s saying.  What does it mean to be human, being born into this world and continuing to age and to grow.

Observing these realities continues to promote my own education – marveling and humbled by the flow of nature, living in the Tuolumne campground all summer long, constantly exposed to these elements – wind, cloud, rain, early morning fires, and observing sunrises with the Tuolumne river flowing just a few hundred feet away.  I’ve been sleeping on the ground in the same spot for the fifth summer in a row.  The trees and the boulder feel closer, like family members next to you, and the respect that I have for them has grown because of this fact of sharing this space, which continues to bring me into the context of sense of place and the indigenous reality that all of us carry in our DNA.

From all these unique spots high in the Sierra the Tuolumne River flows into Hetch Hetchy in one direction, or down the Merced River in the other.  As the water flows down and gets trapped in dams and diverted into canals and aqueducts, its message also gets clogged and lost.  We don’t know what rocks it touched, what canyons it shaped, what waterfalls it created. We are connected by this history, but we have lost its meaning.

Life for me in Yosemite is about migrating with the earth’s rotation.  This summer felt so short because the campground in Tuolumne opened late due to the snow.  Already, the earth’s movement has asserted itself, and the changing season has taken me back down to 2,000 feet in El Portal, where I’m observing the Merced River that continues to drain out the water from the higher country.  I find myself sitting with the fire already going with winter wanting to show up early.

It’s fun to reflect on the past summer and the 12 foster youth that came up to the Tuolumne camp.  It felt really great to be with them, a lot of laughter and visiting and exploring Tuolumne Meadows, and lots of good food prepared by Katie.  It inspires us to come up with a language of what we mean by education nature’s way, and the three years we have been involved with this. In the third year of bringing Merced youths to Yosemite through Sacred Rok, one reflection is this: “What’s wrong with us humans?  Can’t we listen to what these young people are saying?”  My connections with them have been an incredible inspiration to me.

What the Sacred Rok youth are telling me is the power of our “relations.”  I say this in the indigenous sense of the Miwok elders who use the term relations: every act has a relation to the land and to the elements of water, sun, wind, animals, plant life and kin.  At Sacred Rok, our key is to restore the balance and harmony of the relations that have been knocked way off base by our society with its metrics of productivity and accountability and class structure.  It’s almost like the dams that block the flow of the water down the rivers.  We are trying to facilitate the kids coming back up the stream to connect to the life source. Society tries to train the kids to understand, master and manage nature, rather than to educate them to honor and learn from our relations.

Every time a Sacred Rok youth steps into a river, touches a rock, appreciates a sunset, and honors the earth, we are learning from their actions and marveling at the power of that ceremony.  The instructions are written in nature, and we are becoming more literate at deciphering what is written with every passing experience.

In all of this, Yosemite occupies a special place.  Our relations with nature are influenced by the specific spots where the experiences occur, not just at any old spot.  For me as a climber, I consider it a privilege to have had so much time in Yosemite, which influenced the way in which my relations have developed over a very long time.

Our goal is to have continuous relations for the youth from the Merced area to develop, as well, over a very long time.  I came to Yosemite at age 14, and now it’s been 40 years, and I’m still learning how to honor the wisdom of nature.  The goal of Sacred Rok is to continue to learn, connecting Yosemite to Merced, and providing a long-term base for the students with whom relations have developed.  We hope to be a life-long base from which life foundations are formed.

David Tyack is a professor at Stanford who thinks and writes about the history of education. He has written lots of books about what public schools mean to a democratic society, the values that they convey, the place of citizenship.

David has mentored hundreds of students who have gone on to important jobs in education. For someone who’s done so much in life, he’s incredibly humble and grounded in the reality of humanity and the earth.

David is now retired from his position at Stanford, but he has continued in his role as a teacher. He came to visit last month, accompanied by Kenji who wanted to bring back some early memories and to connect him with Sacred Rok.

David said that he first came to Yosemite in 1948. Back then, David was a student in Massachusetts, and he hitchhiked out here on the summer between high school and college to work on Blister Rust Control for the Civilian Conservation Corps with the Forest Service. He worked off of Tioga Pass Road, which at that time was just a small dirt road. I marveled in meeting someone who’s been here so long ago, and appreciated connecting to his wisdom. The west drew him. Although raised and educated in the east, David hitchhiked back to California the following year to pick fruit in Loomis, and then he taught in Oregon and at Stanford. He loves the mountains, adventure, and the experience of being with people.

Kenji had planned on coming up with David to enjoy the rushing water, but they hadn’t planned on a rainy weekend in early June. They came anyway, and we were rewarded by a hike around the valley floor in constant soaking rain. Although David is not the kind of hiker he used to be, he’s still strong and has the enthusiasm of a kid plus the wisdom of his years. The valley was crowded despite the rain, but we still found a quiet spot that was sheltered from the rain under the trees. We sat and enjoyed some snacks and a good conversation.

We talked about trees, and about what nature has meant to his life – the experiences, the metaphors, and the friendships. After all these years of teaching at Stanford and the academic wisdom he has shared, he said that what so many students remember most about him were the hikes and the bike rides that they took. What I most appreciated was the intertwining of our two very different lives – mine as a lifelong climber and student of the ways of nature, and David’s as a respected scholar and also a student of nature.

What David says about education is so profound and almost serves as a motto for Sacred Rok. In discussing a book “Tinkering toward Utopia” that he wrote with his good friend Larry Cuban, he said: “For goodness sake, let’s stop talking about the financial value of education and talk instead about human capital, about schools helping to create people who are fully developed as human beings and as democratic citizens.”

The next day, as we were talking about our hike and our conversation about trees, he said he’d like to share poem that he wrote several years back about trees, and about their strength and their fragility. And he said we could share it in our newsletter.

Girdling

Bristlecone pines cling to chalk cliffs expecting
fire to scatter seed over charred ground.

Redwoods shoot their green sprouts up dark canyons
toward the filtered sun.

Trees have gifts for living.

But girdle the tree and cut the cambium’s ever-circling flow,
and dead it will stand, erect awhile in central core, but
browning from decay.

This is how we feel about kids, with a gift for living, yet much of society is like girdling, suffocating the natural flow. David did share that he wrote this not with kids in mind, but about human relationships and love as well. David is not afraid to talk about love, its power and fragility, and about healing from suffering.

Later in the month, I participated in the annual spiritual camp in our Yosemite native circles, which always brings me back to the basics. The experience of people working together in our camp to honor and to connect to our life source and the powers of healing in the sweat lodge every morning and evening helped me consider our participation and responsibility as caretakers of the land. The songs that we sing are about nature and its ceremony. This went on from Monday to Friday, with the last day being the bear dance ceremony that brings people from all over the country.

The park rangers kept coming to give us daily reports of the potential of flooding in Yosemite Valley, which seemed like the outside world from the perspective of our camp. Curiously enough, just outside was also the world of Camp 4, where so many years of my youth as a climber were spent, as I’ve shared with you about Midnight Lightning and other climbs. Camp 4 was my high school, and now next door I’m in my university, continuing to learn to be human, now with indigenous perspective and knowledge about the reality of nature as our life source.

I so appreciated simply being under the trees at the spiritual camp, participating with the native elders and acknowledging that this is where people have been taking in the beauty for thousands of years, cultivating the richness of the wisdom and balance of knowing how to work together as a community.

It was special, too, having the conversations with David, the elder of his community of scholars with an understanding of the meaning of education, surrounded by these same trees. As these two experiences came together for me this past month, I could especially feel the force of rushing water that is the pulse of the earth. Kenji and I continue to reflect on what it means for Sacred Rok to bring kids from Merced, and how we can connect them to this community of nature and its power for healing.

Thanks to everyone for their donations and contributions, at this time it is what is keeping us going. Let’s keep working together!

At this time of year when the snowpack is melting and flowing down the walls of Yosemite, it give me a sense of the earth. Water is the pulse of the earth, that continues the life cycles. These are part of what I call “my relations.” Earlier this month the guys from Planada came back up for the first time this year. It’s been great to have on-going trips with them to help our story of Education Nature’s Way. One of the first things they asked was “When can we fill our water bottles at the spring?” Going to the spring has been a great thing to experience with them, so it was our first stop.

What’s fun about getting together is we don’t necessarily have a plan. I think it is good to enter into Yosemite with an open mind, allowing for what may happen naturally. Being spring time, of course we wanted to check the water falls. So, we headed up the Vernal Fall trail with no expectation as to how far we might go. Along the way we took our time to visit and rest here and there. The guys stayed motivated to keep going and we ended up on top of Nevada Fall, where we found snow. It was the first time for some of the guys to experience snow in the mountains.

We’ve been together four or five times now and I feel like we move together well. We are always respecting each other and taking care of the reality to watch our step in an environment where there can be big drop offs and slippery granite at times. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from our group how we can continue to build our reality by learning from nature.

By taking our time to enjoy and move with this natural pace we seem more connected to the moment rather than just trying to get to the top of the falls. Like we’ve said before this is an on-going opportunity to learn from the kids – how they find their own rhythm in nature, meaning truly being on nature time.

Without a doubt the healing powers of nature are real. Yosemite and all the natural world have always been our guide to the possibility of survival and well- being. Sacred Rok is committed to this way of nature as the teacher – Something we all need. But at this time, in such a technological world that pushes our youth at an unnatural pace, it is vital for their development. Finding a solid foundation with the earth is a way to learn to respect life.

Thanks for your on-going support and donations. Let’s keep working together!

A heavy storm passed through our mountains at the end of last March. It was a Sunday evening and it had been snowing pretty heavily for a few hours when the electricity went off. It was real quiet, as it is here when it snows. And soon it all began. Our big oaks were being stressed by heavy wet snow. Unable to hold the weight, big limbs started to creek then snap and Kaboom! Hitting whatever was in its way. The mood became one of “Uh oh, this is really intimidating.” Because within a few minutes the same creaking, cracking, Kaboom! echoed through the neighborhood, even at times shaking the cabin. After a long night of no sleep, I stoked up the fire before the first light, made some coffee and anticipated what it might look like and what had happened around our community.

As the light came I stepped out to a changed world. I knew Katie’s cabin out back had been hit, I just wasn’t sure how bad it was. The first thing I saw was the little greenhouse nailed by a limb. Katie’s cabin was covered by a tree but miraculously unharmed. Across the street my neighbor’s had been hit by a huge oak that was now laying on his house. As I continued making my way through town I saw trees down everywhere, blocking all the roads and hanging on power lines. The power was out and the phones were down. We had no way to drive away and widow makers hung over our heads. Life became simple, back to the basics, really fast. It was all about helping each other –sharing, supporting, working together. This went on for eight days.

It was a big experience to sharpen the reality to not only the power of nature but also to the power we have as a community. I realized how my wood stove is a priceless friend and how simple the need for food, water and shelter are. It seems so important to bring this into our education, becoming stronger and less dependent on things we might not really need but want.

The curious thing is that this had all started on the first day of Spring. Eventually the weather cleared, the roads opened and the phones came back on. A call came through from our Native Elder and I was soon gathering willow for a sweat lodge. It was time to rebuild the one that had been used for many years. It is always an honor to be asked to help our elders. In the dark, literally, for days  it was like coming out into the light as we started bending the poles into the shape of the lodge. Once again we were working together, for the benefit of everyone and in a sacred and respectful way.

For three nights people came from all different directions to share in the spring ceremony; which is the time for renewal. The fourth day was the ancient Bear Dance ceremony in the roundhouse at Yosemite Valley – where once again people come from all around to appreciate life, promote healing and simply be together in a community. For me this brings everything together – that’s why we say “To All Our Relations,” referring to Earth, plant life, rocks, water, animal life. It is an honoring of the sacred reality of our universal connection.

In nature’s way everything is talking and we just need to remember how to listen and respect. The trees that fell around El Portal were a reminder, once again, that we all live here together and are counting on each other; that’s our job. In my mind that’s why Sacred Rok exists, to help our youth and ourselves to remember how to work together and take responsibility to respect life.

As we look forward to the youth returning this season, we are in a fund-raising mode. We were fortunate to receive word this month about a new grant from Clifbar, which will support trips with some of our Merced youth. It is really appreciated at a time when the agencies we work with are facing severe funding cuts. At this time, in exchange for a donation,  we would like to offer our Scared Rok T-shirt along with a photograph ,taken by me, from Tuolumne Meadows that represent the magic and beauty of these mountains, as well as a memory of climbing up the center of that dome at age 14 with my brother Mitch who was 16 at the time. Your donation will be used to help bring kids to Tuolumne Meadows this summer.

A $50 donation gives you the choice of either a T-shirt (S, M, L, XL) or a matted photograph.

A $75 donation gets you both!

Click here for a tax deductible donation through PayPal.

As we continue to delve into the world of youth in this new millennium, it is amazing to see how fast-paced life is, especially with technology. Only 35 years ago, I used to ride my bike 10 miles from my house in San Carlos to an area called Jasper Ridge, where my life as a climber began. Just a few weeks ago, I returned there for the first time since. The area is now closed off to the public and is on Stanford property.

(c) 2011 Dan Quinn

Jasper Ridge is a biological preserve. It’s part of Stanford’s program to conserve, study, and appreciate nature in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It is tightly protected with restricted access — for research and education as they say. After I kept needling him to get me in there, Kenji asked a friend of his, Dan Quinn, who volunteers as a docent and is an avid photographer (some of his pictures are here). Dan was psyched to let us in, but also wanted to get the best light as a photographer, that magical time of sunrise. This visit, before dawn on a cold morning a couple of weeks ago, was very special to me, for Jasper Ridge is where my education began. Maybe I can say I was educated at Stanford!

(c) 2011 Dan Quinn

We met Dan at the gate to Jasper Ridge at 6:30 sharp, as early as we were allowed. We drove to a parking spot, and hiked through the  oak trees east toward the emerging light as we looked for an outcrop of sandstone rock. I felt a mixture of emotions as I experienced the smell and sounds, and the sight of the place. The bay trees smelled exactly as I remembered. The shape of the sandstone boulders, the mosses on the trees and the rocks all looked like they’d been waiting – well, I guess they had been there for thousands of years. This all sparked memories so strong about the preciousness of life, it made me think of connections to the Sacred Rok youth, as I was now experiencing a place that was part of my own youth.

I realized how important this place was for my development. Of course with my youthful enthusiasm it was more about bouldering and climbing. The 35-foot crack was a test-piece that two or three of us close friends found as a kind of initiation. And many times, I would be there alone as my imagination would soar, moving up the vertical boulders and hanging on these holds, pulling myself into another world. To come back to this area and put my hands on these holds gives me the profound realization that as I was touching the holds, they were touching me – a kind of connection of belonging that so many of our kids crave. This is what is shaping our gatherings as we bring our kids to Yosemite.

(c) 2011 Dan Quinn

It was still first light, we continued finding our way through the boulders to this special spot on top of the ridge. Along the way, we passed by a beautifully-shaped sandstone boulders that had been used by the first Ohlone people for grinding acorn, reminding me of the connection with what I see all over Yosemite. As a youth, we would just walk by, not putting too much thought into it, we were so focused on climbing, but now as we walked by these rocks I realize that it had a lot more to it, a nurturing spirit, and obviously that was why the people would choose to be here.

When we got to the boulder near the top of the hill, I noticed the whirling sound coming from the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC). I turned to Kenji and said that sounded just like it did 37 years ago, kind of annoying, but part of the landscape now. Amazingly enough it’s the sound of all the high energy particle experiments that have been going on all these years!

Arriving at the top of the ridge to the main boulder where we climbed on, I reached up and touched the first hold, which was instantly familiar, a flood of thoughts and feelings came up through the last 37 years of moving on rocks all over the world, meeting all of these people. It was as though I had come back to shake hands with the wise old man that gave me the energy or understanding about myself. My journey started here. I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude and appreciation, for the wisdom of this rock and this place as I acknowledged the simplicity of practicing in this beautiful environment. It was also a connection to the sincerity of being. It is these kinds of experiences that we want to bring to the youth to connect in their own way just by being themselves, inspired from such an environment as Yosemite.

Kenji asked if this place was how I remembered it, and I said it was as I remember it, even more. He recalled his own experience some years ago when he went back to a “bug tree” that he used to explore when he was a kid in Kamakura, Japan. He remembered the incredibly generous and mysterious tree that was always filled with different beetles and insects, which he’d climb and catch and put into his live cage. Some of his scientific curiosity started there, watching the way bugs moved, finding eggs and trying to hatch them, figuring out what they’d eat. He’d remembered over the years that huge tree with long branches that he’d venture out on to catch bugs. When he went back as an adult, it revived his same sense of wonder and curiosity, the excitement of discovery, but he was also startled at how small the tree was, that somehow the tree had grown in his imagination over the years. But he had the same sense of appreciation for the early memories planted in experience that begins life’s journey.

From the boulder, we descended back down to the other side of the formation, where we found the 35-foot beautiful hand crack that was slightly overhanging. Again, there was this curious overwhelming sense of connection and appreciation.

The contrast to what I did the night before was quite interesting. I had come to the Bay Area to present at a fundraiser at Planet Granite for the Access Fund to “Save Jailhouse Rock” along with my friend Jimmy Thornburg. It was fun and I appreciated seeing all the people at this modern venue. I marveled at the hundreds of people working on climbs in the gym. It’s really an incredible facility, the amount of effort that went into building it, and the amazing energy of the people it has gathered. People of all ages, and even an 8-year old girl who I’m told has a rare talent. I wonder how different things are between my enthusiasm that started at Jasper Ridge and the enthusiasm of the gym. I’d love to work on the bridge between the indoor and the outdoor world.

When I got back home to El Portal, I happened to notice a classic little book that Malcolm Margolin wrote, called “The Ohlone Way”. I’m not even sure where I got the book, but it caught my attention because of the connection to Jasper Ridge. I really appreciated the way that the book talked about respect, equality, support — words to inspire us as we look for how to create a healthy community, through the simplicity of being with one another, creating good relationships.

(c) 2011 Dan Quinn

I realized from Jasper Ridge how this place shaped the course of my life. It made me understand the importance of the environment we are in as youth, and how it nurtures us. It was there that I learned the art of practicing, as a way of development. It started the imagination that took me all around the world, and to this day it fuels my appreciation of visiting the familiar climbs in Yosemite practicing the art of practice. The hold that I appreciate every day began with the appreciation of the hold in Jasper Ridge.

(c) 2011 Dan Quinn

Our Sacred Rok youth, like all youth, have an abundance of energy, and it is our job to facilitate this energy in a positive direction. They already know how to respond to the right things, as I did to the holds at Jasper Ridge. Given the chance, like all of us, we can evoke our senses through the simplicity of respect and equality as we look for the harmony and balance between heart and mind.

The winter started out with a strong punch of storms lasting through December leaving the valley snow-covered and quiet. We had a great lunch reunion in Merced with the foster kids a few weeks ago. It was a wonderful experience to see the kids and their smiling faces again and to recognize the relationships we have built. And everyone was excited about the plans for coming back to Yosemite this year. Now, in this month of January with it’s warm and sunny weather I’ve been out climbing for weeks.

It never ceases to amaze me how good it feels to be climbing in the presence of this place. It continues to inspire me how much there is to learn while moving up these cliffs. I truly feel that the symbolic lessons learned while climbing are significant and of great value to the “so-called” daily life — skills that can bring calmness, responsibility, and awareness. It’s of great interest to me to consider our story of climbing as a way to strengthen ourselves and the next generation to the reality of climbing in nature. Stopping occasionally on ledges, I can turn and face the river. It gives me time to observe the flow.

I had been looking at the river for many days now and my attention was drawn to how the water moves, how the bubbles pool between the rapids, and how it suggested the rhythm of the flow. I took this observation to heart and decided to move that way inside myself as I continued up the rock. These are inspiring experiences that continue to promote the connection and communication with the story of nature.

Even though it’s January, the good weather has brought out more climbers to the cliffs on the weekend. Interestingly enough there were some students from Stanford I’d met last year when Kenji and I did a presentation for the Stanford Alpine Club. One young woman tutors youth in East Palo Alto, and we talked about the value of bringing nature to kids. I think it’s great that young people who have studied at places like Stanford still understand the value and importance of learning from nature and sharing that with youth.

Our conversation was passionate about how lucky we were to be in this canyon. We acknowledged the river, the sunlight and the shadows in the cliffs, and it seemed that we were inspired by the possibilities of collaborating in some way; we discussed getting together with Kenji to continue this conversation.

Speaking of more conversations, at the end of the next day as I was walking down from the rock I met two people. Quickly it came up in our conversation that they were from UC Merced, which caught my attention because Kenji has been bouncing back and forth between Stanford and UC Merced. As we shared our mutual stoke about climbing it opened up our imaginations to the privilege of being in this canyon. We acknowledged the conditions of other places in the world where people don’t have such opportunities.

In our conversation, they mentioned that they would like to have a climbing wall at UC Merced. There was something about discussing this idea while standing in the profound beauty of this place — the sound of the water, the light on the cliffs, imagining how we could bring this inspiration indoors to a climbing wall. It was exciting to think about how great it could be to have a climbing wall at UC Merced that could ultimately be more about the benefit to the overall conditioning and health in a more mind, body, spirit approach to life in the essence of our climbing roots; not necessarily focused in competition and numbers or extremes.

I keep considering that conversation because it gives me the opportunity to contemplate the meaning of climbing and the idea of a climbing wall. Kenji tells me of the many conversations he had while helping to start UC Merced, especially about how the university has become a symbol of the beauty of human knowledge, a modern-day cathedral to celebrate humanity. I think of climbing in a similar way, where we can promote the true spirit of climbing and its connection to nature. In the same way that a zen temple garden encapsulates nature, why can’t climbing gyms work to capture more of the benefit that was revealed in the conversation with the UC Merced kids – as an antidote to some of the cruel conditions of the 21^st century.

Thanks for your continued support and interest in Sacred Rok as we go into the new year committed to our vision of helping, healing and mending our world!

In looking back over the year, I feel immensely privileged to have had so many meaningful and positive experiences in sharing with the youth what I have come to call the ceremony of nature. This may sound a bit exaggerated but living in the realm of such beauty and reality of the natural world, it’s just how I feel.

As we pass the winter solstice, and the angle of the earth’s rotation begins to swing our northern half into ever so slightly longer days, I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work on this project with such a diverse group of people involved with Sacred Rok. Life continues to unfold in ways that inspire me to deeply reflect on my relationship with Yosemite, coming as a youth and always looking for the next challenge – from the next boulder problem to the next wall and adventures beyond in the Himalayas.

It feels like Sacred Rok for me has become a climb of a lifetime, putting together everything from my adult life to build on and expand into the reality of being human and continuing to stay connected to the lessons of nature. So I sit here, in my cabin in El Portal listening to the rain, pausing and contemplating the possibilities that nature brings to youth, and imagining how to build healthy communities.

I’ve had some good conversations with my friend Kenji recently about what this all means. He feels like he misses out on a lot by not having as much time to spend with Sacred Rok as he would like, joining me occasionally in the ceremonies of nature with the kids, helping me with the newsletter stories and constructing our narrative. We are so different in the paths we have taken to Sacred Rok, but share the view and uniqueness of what we are trying to accomplish.

As an education professor at Stanford working to understand and fix problems of educating our youth, Kenji has reached a point in his career where this maturity, so to speak, is making him much sought after, to do more with his knowledge and experience to help school districts and government policies.

Yet he thinks that sitting in a small community center in Planada, talking and reflecting on our experiences in nature with Oswaldo (one of the Sacred Rok kids), as we did last Monday holds great meaning, even richer and deeper than changing government policies. He’s learning new things, and feels the need to do more, to more deeply understand how we learn. He even mentioned the Planada kids at one of his public lectures recently at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington, using this experience to point out how we need to broaden our concept of what it means to be educated.

Kenji and I also had the chance to visit later that week at the annual Christmas gathering of friends of the Yosemite Conservancy at the Log Cabin in the Presidio in San Francisco. That was an event filled with the luminaries of the philanthropic world, a veritable “Who’s Who” of active supporters of Yosemite. As we mingled and enjoyed the good food and drinks, we were struck by the contrast in the worlds, having just been in Planada a couple of days earlier. I had gone that day to Planada from my climbing dojo in Yosemite – another big contrast – and now here we were in the elite world of San Francisco philanthropy. What does this all mean?

We feel that we have a unique story going on and a diverse collaboration of people that form Sacred Rok. We want to keep focus on the fact that true change comes from the power of the individual in the presence of a teacher — nature. We look to nature to release the clarity of our innate senses. As Ueshiba sensei wrote in the Art of Peace about Aikido: “The only cure for materialism is the cleansing of the six senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind). If the senses are clogged, ones’ perception is stifled. The more it is stifled, the more contaminated the senses become. This creates disorder in the world, and that is the greatest evil of all. Polish the heart, free the six senses and let them function without obstruction, and your entire body and soul will glow.”

To help us share this vision with you, our friend Francisco Mendoza from the Planada group produced a short video – in watching it, we hope that you feel as inspired as we do.

It continues to be an honor to share these thoughts and experiences with you.

Ron Kauk

Here is an update and summary from our Chair of the Board, Nancy Goodban.

Dear Friends of Sacred Rok:

As 2010 comes to a close, I wanted to thank you for your support of Sacred Rok. We have been in operation as a non-profit now for a year and a half, and in this short time we have connected with youth from the Merced area through a variety of partnerships, allowing what Ron calls “the ceremony of nature” to take place in Yosemite. These are kids who otherwise might not have access to the healing powers of nature, and so we are very proud of our accomplishments.

In 2010, Ron led ten trips — 3 day trips for Probation youth, 3 day trips for Planada kids, 2 camping trips for Probation youth, and 2 camping trips for foster youth. The best moments have come in listening to the water, taking in expansive views of the high Sierras, or encountering a Mountain King snake. In the presence of natural beauty, we appreciate the power of slowing down and having the time to recognize the senses, clearing them out in order to gain balance.

At the same time, we built our infrastructure through our website and this newsletter. We completed the administrative basics: our tax exempt status, financial reports and insurance. The Merced County Human Services Agency provided customized training to our volunteers and staff regarding the emotional and behavioral impacts of child abuse, mandatory child abuse reporting, sexual harassment prevention, domestic violence, and bullying. We adopted anti-abuse, harassment, and bullying policies for adults and youth participants, as well as other basic policies including background checks and confidentiality.

We reached out to the outdoor industry and were grateful to receive cash or equipment donations from the Clif Bar Family Foundation, Patagonia, The California Endowment, Kleen Kanteen, Camelback, Kelty, Sierra Designs, North Face, REI, and Slumberjack. Ron gave educational presentations including at the Stanford University Alpine Club and to REI staff at Yosemite National Park as well as to several REI venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. And of course, many of you have contributed generously, for which we are extremely grateful.

We have developed a curriculum which outlines our philosophy, approach, and activities including learning outcomes and objectives as well as a logic model.

The Board has also identified the value of having an identified site for camping and other activities. We are working with youth who are at or near maturity, and want to provide a safe haven for them to return to at any time. Our vision is a small facility on several acres in or near Yosemite, where young people can come at any time once they have graduated from foster care or Probation. We are not sure how to make this happen, but are exploring various options – and your good ideas would be much appreciated.

Finally, please help us by considering the purchase of our first product line – Ron’s Midnight Lightning T-shirt, which we will provide for a donation of $50 or more. We produced it in collaboration with good friend and designer Jeremy Collins, and it is made from organic cotton. It would make a nice gift for a climber friend of yours, and help support a good cause.

http://sacredrok.org/get-involved/sacred-rok-t-shirt/

Thanks, and may 2011 bring peace to the world and happiness to you and your loved ones.

Nancy Goodban

Chair of the Board

And now a few words from our cook:

A year and a half ago, when Sacred Rok was gearing up for it’s first camping trip with the youth from HSA Merced they were in need of a cook and someone to manage the camp. Through a series of conversations and shared ideas it was decided that I would take reigns has Camp Chef/Camp Manager.

We wanted to bring the kids to our table; to share our meals with them and our appreciation for the communion food allows for us to have. Part of the idea was to use as much locally grown, organic goods we could find and to share with the youth some understanding about where the food we were eating came from and why it is not only beneficial to our bodies to eat good food but also to the environment.

Sacred Rok is a creative collaboration of a diverse group of people and I wanted to continue the theme of diversity into the food. We have a great advantage living in Yosemite in that the Central Valley rests only 60 miles away, allowing access to an array of locally grown and harvested goods. The youth we interact with all reside in the Central Valley and I found this to be a wonderful opportunity for them to see what amazing bounty grows there amongst them.

While much of the farming in the Valley is large-scale, mono-cultured growing there are quite a bit of small, family operated farms offering a nice assortment of organic fruits, vegetables, legumes and honey. These were and will continue to be some of Sacred Rok’s best choices for delicious, nutritious fare. Wild onion and Watercress grow natively in Yosemite and the High Sierra and these were used quite often in my cooking. There were a few times while out on their walks that the kids would harvest these things for us, with the amazement that we could eat what the nature was growing right there.

It was while sharing food with these kids that I started to connect with them on a very basic human level. As we cooked, ate, and cleaned up with each other we shared stories and laughed. Soon they would ask about what we were eating; we talked about where the food came from, what was in it, how I made it and most importantly what was for dessert. Through these shared meals we started to form a trust with one-another, we started to form a community.

In working with the youth through Sacred Rok I aim to continue to connect with them by providing healthy meals in which they take part of by helping with the preparation and by engaging with them in conversation about where our food comes from. In these conversations I hope to shed light on the value of food and the value of taking care of our Earth so that it can continue to provide for us. In this sharing I hope to inspire creativity for Sacred Rok and in these youth, deepening our connection with one-another.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Katie Lambert

Sacred Rok is grateful for the support of the California Endowment, through the Building Healthy Communities Collaborative in Merced, for funding to support the Planada trips.

Driving from Merced to Yosemite, you go through a small town called Planada; interestingly enough, it’s the last town before you leave the Central Valley. Most people who drive through it hardly take notice, including myself, unless getting gas or a taco from Ramon’s taco truck parked in the lot next to El Campo Market. I have driven through it hundreds of times, always curious about who lives here.
This past month, we had a couple of day trips with some youths from Planada, thanks to an introduction by our board member, Lamar Henderson. He introduced me to Martín Díaz and Francisco Mendoza who run a program at El Centro, a community center there.
Martín grew up in Huron, a community similar to Planada in many ways, and identifies with the kids as being similar to him. He went from there to UC Berkeley where some of his classes were larger than his high school. And after graduating from “Cal” , he came back to the Central Valley as a community organizer, and runs El Centro.
Francisco grew up in Merced, took lots of Advanced Placement courses at Merced High, and went to San Jose State to major in chemical engineering. But philosophy caught his interest, and he transferred to Fresno State where there is a strong philosophy program. He graduated from there and was planning to go to the Peace Corps to get some international experience. He found a job posting, though, with El Centro, and ended up taking that and, as he said, “I am doing Peace Corps work in my own back yard.”

The kids from Planada are really cool. Oscar, Joey and Eric are in 8th grade. Oswaldo and Daniel (Joey’s brother) are in 10th grade and attend high school in Le Grand (Planada is too small to have a high school). They are the core of the boys in the after-school program at El Centro that Martín and Francisco run. They are a really close unit, with activities after school that keep them occupied and out of trouble.
So, the Planada group has been up here with me twice on day trips – once in Yosemite Valley, and once in Tuolumne Meadows. And they love it for the opportunity to explore around in such beauty and find places that they didn’t know existed.
We were in Tuolumne Meadows just last week, as the place was making its magical turn from fall to winter. Kenji came with us, so there were 9 of us. We met at the El Portal store, and went on to Tuolumne. On the way I showed them a secret spring that very few know about, right off the road. We all filled our bottles there and acknowledged how much life this spring was creating. Filling our quart bottles in mere seconds we tried to calculate how many thousands of gallons were flowing by the minute, the hour and even the day; an interesting opportunity to work into our classroom of nature through observation and appreciation. Our next stop was the west side of Tenaya Lake. It was a partially overcast day, but that did not prevent the guys from wading out in the water to the first set of exposed rocks.

We then took a hike to the other end of the lake. Moving along the trail, in no rush at all, the boys continued to take notice of their surroundings, everything and anything that caught their attention. At one point, Oswaldo spotted an empty soda can on the water’s edge down a fairly steep gully, and he went down to pick it up. Further down the trail I pointed out a climb across the lake on Polly Dome that I had done early in my youth. It was on the last day of a class with the Yosemite Mountain School, and I have such great memories of what that climb meant to me. And I really appreciated the potential of what Yosemite could do for these guys.

We continued down the trail to the other end of the lake; it was windy and cold so we went on to my volunteer campsite at the Tuolumne Meadows campground, where we could enjoy the lunch that Kenji prepared and have a fire. At the campground we went about exploring the river, where some of the guys got in the water despite the chill in the air. It was fun to watch them and know that they could come back to the fire and warm up. Although it was already mid-afternoon, they were eager to keep going, so we hopped in our cars and went to Pothole Dome area and hiked along the river as it began its descent towards the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. All along the way there was a lot of excited chatter, fueled by enthusiasm that they were going to dive in the river where they had seen me in the movie, Return to Balance: A Climber’s Journey.

They were also excited connecting with Kenji, asking him how to say all sorts of different things in Japanese. They were making all kinds of trilingual jokes between English, Spanish and Japanese, some not fit to print. As Kenji told me later, he appreciated one guy who said: “ It’s great to be bilingual and make these jokes. I really feel sorry for people who can’t appreciate bilingual jokes.”

We eventually made it down to the cascades. The sun was occasionally showing and there was a breeze that kept things cold. But, they all got in the river anyway. I marveled at their stoke to play in the water, despite the cool air and overcast day. Oscar’s exuberance could be heard throughout the area, maybe to the annoyance of a couple trying to enjoy the solitude – there really was no one around except for us and them. After a lot of shivering and drying off, we walked back as the sun got very low.

This time Martín, Francisco and I suggested we walk back in silence so that we could all listen to the sounds of nature. You could hear the water, the wind, and the crunching of footsteps. You could see the day’s last light hitting the peaks all around us.

We got to a point where the river turned right, opening back up to the meadow. Martín and Francisco handed the boys some notepads and pens, and asked if they would write and picture what they experienced that day. They spent quite a bit of time writing, until it was almost too dark to see. They then asked if they would share it with the group. Here are a few things that they wrote:

“I’ve learned a lot about nature. I heard the wind blowing, the birds chirping… and also got to experience a lot of new things. This is a one of the greatest place I’ve never been before… and going without technology for a while is not that bad…”

“I love when we walk in silence. You see everything in a whole other way. You pay attention to the things you could not hear before, because of a person talking. This Saturday I missed out on three parties, but I had forgotten all about them because of this wonderful place…I love the spring water Ron showed us…it’s so fresh, I can feel it going down my throat.”

“Today was another day without technology… I enjoyed all the peace and quietness… Just listening to nature talk, getting your mind off of every problem at home or at school. We picked up trash on our way, something good for nature.”

The next day, Kenji and I went on a hike out to Dewey Point to get a view of the Valley, and to reflect on our experience. Some weather had moved in, so there was mist and occasional light rain. The forest along the meadow had different smells that got Kenji’s attention; some pungent, some sweet. We noticed some colorful-looking mushrooms popping out of the ground with markings that looked like something had taken a bite off the top. The moss was looking particularly vibrant and green. Our senses of smell and sight opened up into a youthful enthusiasm, reminding us of what the kids the day before were experiencing. We had a sense of freedom, and in freedom imagination can soar to infinite possibilities.

Arriving at the edge of the rim a few miles down, we encountered a view of the misty valley. I was awestruck even with the familiarity that I had built over my many years, looking at the place from thousands of angles in all different weather conditions. The panoramic scenery that Yosemite offered at that moment stood in contrast to the microcosmic experiences that we had with the kids along pockets in the Tuolumne River the day before. Each carries a different kind of medicine, and teaches us about life.

What a different reality we had introduced to our Planada group, and what a lesson being in nature, and in particular being in Yosemite had taught us. We are all looking for healing in some way that allows us to balance ourselves. Anyone with an open mind can learn the lessons of nature, and my job is to facilitate and help in the opening of the imagination and senses. We also confirmed that we are really about building sustained relationships between the triangle of the kids, us and nature. So, our curriculum is nature, and nature is learned from the inside-out, not imposed from an outside authority. And our strategy is to enable the building of long-term relationships, not to provide a quick-fix experience. That is how simple it is, like I’ve always felt about climbing – it’s about learning the fundamentals to navigate your environment with respect, responsibility, while at the same time having serious fun.

Sacred Rok is grateful for the support of the California Endowment, through the Building Healthy Communities Collaborative in Merced, for funding to support the Planada trips.

On top of Lembert Dome.

It’s been a nice summer.   Sacred Rok had four camping trips, two in Yosemite Valley in May and June and two at Tuolumne Meadows in July and August.

On our last trip, we had seven teens from Merced County foster care.   We camped at Tuolumne Meadows Campground.  I got to share, with those from the group who got up early, my ritual of greeting the sun with my campfire.  It was good to see Rafael smiling and enjoying the fire and the sunrise, something that he might not forget for a long time.

Every day we took a hike or walk, and had a chance to swim in the river.  We hiked up Lembert Dome, we walked by Pothole Dome to the river, and we walked to Cathedral Lakes.  We also walked over to Soda Springs where the kids tasted the soda water.  They were fascinated by the mineral taste, and the tiny carbonated bubbles rising from the reddish stone.

At Soda Springs, one camper filled an extra canteen to take home for her foster mom to drink.  On our last night around the campfire, Juan shared that he learned something about how people are scared of water and nature.  He recounted that when he bent down to fill his water bottle at Soda Springs, there was a family nearby who watched him in shock.  They couldn’t believe that he would actually drink water straight from the spring.  It made him realize how distant people are from nature.

It meant a lot to me to hear Juan say, at the campfire circle on our last night, that this trip had been the highlight of his life.  It’s been a pretty amazing time for me, too.  The experiences we had with the youths were both ordinary and extraordinary, and that’s the beauty of it.  In these days of the commercial promotion of extreme experiences, it’s great to realize that calmness and connecting to our indigenous nature is where it’s at.  That is the extraordinary.

The kids loved the chance to slow down and learn about nature their own way, by experiencing it.  They loved the food – Katie’s egg and bacon sandwiches for breakfast on a cold morning, or banana pancakes, all made with care and love.  Slowing down, walking, swimming, sunning, breathing, eating – all such ordinary experiences — truly amazing when you have the chance to appreciate the experience, opening our senses to let nature be the healer.

I want to think of ways in which the appreciation of these episodic moments can be extended and continued to create the being – that is a long-term challenge that we face even as we enjoy and are thankful for the ceremonies of nature that the kids experience on our trips.

This week, the weather in Tuolumne turned cold.  The fall weather brings with it a reflective time, a respect for the change of seasons.  With the experiences of this past year, Sacred Rok is now starting to mature.  We have a nice cadre of young people with whom I have cultivated friendships that I hope will continue to grow.  Leading up to next summer, I will have day trips with small groups coming up from Merced, continuing to develop our appreciation of education, nature’s way.

At the same time, we are working on the inherent tension between our way of doing with the external expectations of being clearer about objectives, curriculum, and teaching.  We believe that structure often works against natural discovery and connecting the experiences to the soul.  Sacred Rok for me is an on-going experiment in how these elements of learning and living can be woven together to inspire a deeper understanding of being human and our responsibility to the earth.

Tuolumne

Amazingly, in my past 36 years, not a single summer has gone without experiencing the magic of Tuolumne Meadows. For the last several years, I’ve been camping right next to the river. From the viewpoint that I have at the camp, many natural elements come into play that allow me to reflect on and appreciate my sense of belonging.

Camp has enhanced my own thoughts about connecting to the realities of nature. On most mornings, I wake up before the sun and build a fire. I sit at the camp table, make coffee while enjoying the comfort of the fire, simply observing the changing light bringing in the new day. This has become a profound experience which was inspired by my friend Corbin Harney, a Shoshone elder who passed away a couple of years ago. I visited him a few times at Tecopa Hot Springs where he had a healing center. Every morning he would do this – go out and make his fire before the light, and sing songs with his drum and bring in the new day as the sun rose.

I am realizing while watching these sunrises myself that this is a powerful time of day to acknowledge the beauty of the world we live in, and how it’s taking care of us. In a way, I feel I am finding my personal connectedness that seems to give me more energy and a stronger foundation to what it means to be human. It’s difficult to put such feelings and emotions into words, but these are some of the challenges we address at Sacred Rok.

Starting next week, I am going to get to share this experience with some of the Sacred Rok youths from Merced who will be at this camp, and I am excited about the opportunity. Four guys from probation will be coming up next week, and the following week, we will have a dozen boys and girls from foster care. Katie will be the camp manager, and for the foster kids trip, Nancy and Kenji will take their family summer vacation up here with us to help out.

The river is still flowing pretty fast. The wet winter put quite a snowpack up there, adding to the Lyell Glacier which hopefully will help it survive a bit longer in this period of global warming. The water here is amazing — so near the source of the flow, part of the natural cycle of water moving through mother earth. This water that flows right by the camp, coming from the snowpack that was created by the winter storms from the Pacific, continues down Tuolumne Canyon. The water flows into the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, and is piped to the Crystal Springs Reservoir right through Redwood City where I grew up. I grew up drinking this very water that flows by me, reminding me of the great cycle of life.

In many ways, I was not that different from the Sacred Rok kids, never feeling like formal schooling was right for me, which is how I came to choose the path of education through nature, exploring its laws and order. This is also why I so enjoy connecting these young people to the meaning of the great circle of water. I am thankful for all that water provides us, and treat it with respect, every sip I take, every note I hear of the harmony that the river plays as it flows by me 24 hours a day.

My other ritual I want to share with them is the fire I make every morning as I appreciate the sunrise. From the campsite, the sun rises across the river. The metal campfire ring serves as a kind of instrument that allows me to mark the movement of the sun. It rises noticeably further to the south as the summer days go by, so that if I were to notch a mark, it would form a kind of sundial. I was talking about this with Kenji, and we marveled at how we were performing a microcosm of enormous human tributes to the sun, such as the Mayan pyramids of Chitzen Iza and Stonehenge. Between the changes in the arc of the sun and the flow of the water, we have a clock of nature that teaches us valuable lessons. We have to listen for those lessons, with awe.

Up in Tuolumne, I get to go visit old climbs and boulders, and I never tire of them. I might even say that the more familiar I become, the more I appreciate not only the beauty of the area but the continuing education that it brings. Each climb makes my body adjust differently, influences my breathing, shifts my psyche in a unique way. These are the new dimensions of climbing to me. Because the season in Tuolumne is so short, I appreciate these meditative moments even more.

From all these seasons and opportunities to move into some kind of harmony with the place, I see the parallels with our explorations with Sacred Rok on the philosophical plane, something that I hope to share with you in the coming months. I will not be getting these kids into climbing for a while yet, but I look forward to getting our natural curriculum to them through walk, talk, and time.