July 7, 2019

           I made it through the night! It was such a wonderful experience to be woken up by the sunlight and the birds chirping. The morning was so crisp, and the scenery made it a million times more perfect. My tent buddies and I were awoken at six thirty in the morning by Dr. Black. After a few comments about how we slept through our first night, we stood up and got ready to head out for the day. We went to the common area where we started our breakfast. Today, I was extremely lucky for Monet, she had caffeine. I was able to make myself a strong cup of coffee that I ended up mixing hot cocoa powder in to add some form of sugar. I was also able to witness a fire being started this morning by Brandon and Briseida. After we got breakfast out of the way, we were told to pack our lunches because we were going to head up to the Camp Chaparral campsites to volunteer a few of our hours.

Once we packed our food into the RV we were paired off into three groups. We were tasked to set up three trail cameras around in specific areas where we wanted to record animal spotting. My team was named “Gearbears” by one of the Yakama Nation High school boys named Zeke. The Gearbears, wanted to set out bait to see if we could catch any animals eating them throughout the forest. We drove out about thirty minutes into the deeper part of the forest. I was honestly so in awe of the young men in my group their knowledge of these lands made me feel extremely happy for them. I was happy that they knew where they came from and that they had many childhood memories in these beautiful woods. I was able to speak to one of the Yakama Nation members named Alexa, a fourteen-year-old girl who taught me so much within the short time that I got to spend with her. Alexa taught me how to say bear in Sahaptien language, “Anahai.” She also taught me how to say deer in her language, “Yamush.” I was extremely happy to learn more about her culture and I did not take it lightly. She expressed to me that taking or plucking the flowers from these lands is not allowed and that it would be bad luck for the person who took the flowers from the place.

On our drive back we were able to place our last trail camera in a location by two outhouses closer to our campsite. When we returned, we were able to pack up really quick and start heading to Camp Chaparral. Upon our arrival, we walked into the small kitchen area that had the commons in it. I was finally able to plug in my phone, thank the Lord! After chowing down my lunch, I started writing my blog for the past two day. We ended up leaving the camp and came to our campsite. We dipped in the river. Just as we were starting to get more relaxed, we were asked to return and go back to the campsite and volunteer. We split into two groups, one that was working on the pine needles and the others were asked to unload the semi that had school supplies for the children. We went to work, complained and had fun. A group headed back to the campsite to start dinner.

After dinner we were able to finally SHOWER! A huge luxury that I will not take for granted when we get back home. Once we showered, we headed back to campsite where we sat around the fire and started to talk about our day. After that circle, the circle got a little more intimate with just a few students and Yakama Nation members. That is when I took the liberty to ask about their tribe’s stories. Monet, Noah, and Sloane were very gracious enough to share certain stories with the small group. A few hours later, it was time for bed. We walked over to our tents where we spoke for another few minutes and turned out the lights.

Life Lesson:

Remember that the young people have much to teach you.