11/03/15 Steve Acuff

My last entry was in Bajia de Los Angeles in Baja California, Mexico. I wrote about how I had no idea about anything relating to sea kayaking but was thrown into it anyways and learned quickly. Well, I was put in a similar situation in Joshua Tree National Park in California just yesterday. I had been pestering Jeff for the last few weeks about teaching me how to rock climb. Since Yosemite and talking to climbers there, I have had the urge to try and learn this extreme skill. I finally got my chance. Josh, Meaghan and I had the privilege of breaking off from the group and learning the trade from Jeff who has done quite a bit of climbing in his day. We packed our bags full of ropes, webbing and other climbing gear and headed out to the rocks. Before we were allowed to climb we went over every piece of gear and different knots so we wouldn’t fall to gruesome deaths when we finally tried climbing. Double fishermen’s, figure eight follow through, hexes, bolts and cams were all gone over in detail. With all these tools we then learned to set anchors which would be our lifelines and security while climbing. We learned techniques of building the anchors and went over acronyms that would serve as a mental checklist to ensure the anchors were set properly, securely and safely. Then we built our own anchors on top of a small cliff and set our ropes. We were to test each other’s skills and Josh was first to test my anchor. As he started to rappel down the cliff I wished him luck and prayed that I had listened well to Jeff’s teachings. Of course I had listened and been taught well and Josh made it safely to the bottom. Now it was time to climb. It’s not easy but you’d be surprised how you can stick to a rock wall and how little of hand and footholds you need to climb. I was immediately hooked and want to learn and try much more. I’ve learned yet another skill on ECOEE and added yet another passion.

11/2/15 Trent Grossman

Normally when I write in this journal I try and come up with a creative way of expressing how I am feeling. Or at very least an entertaining story from our travels. This is not going to be one of those journals. This journal is being written by a long two day seriously lacking of sleep. I find myself feeling very weary on the floor of the Starbucks and have been loitering all day long. From beginning to end I have been plugging away at the pile of homework that I have been avoiding all seamster long. This feeling can be discouraging and cause frustrations within myself. Despite these last weeks being anxiety riddled I am still grateful for the experience I have had and the feeling is cause by my own foolishness. At the beginning of this whole experience I had my instructor and many former ECOEE students tell me how much of a challenge it was going to be. I did not understand at this moment what it was like to live in the growing zone. I probably still do not have a solid understanding of that but it sure as heck feels like it. I am eager for the time where I can smile again with what I am doing. Guess what else? At the end of the day I am not going to have to debrief my feelings to a group of individuals. As a reminder this is being written by a sleep deprived person, so if you made it to the end of this entry thanks for staying tuned.
-Trent

11/1/15 Raquel Leal

Today is a brand new day and as hard it is to believe, ECOEE is almost over. I am pretty excited to get to go back to have the opportunity to do my own thing. I have lots of goals that I want to fulfill after this strenuous trip. I want to hangout with my mamasita way more, as well as my brother. I know I have been missing out on quite some things, and I do not know how our instructor does this ever year. I cannot wrap my head around how he manages to be away from... I am not at all one bit regretting coming on this trip just regretting not taking advantage of precious time doing homework. Although I am super behind in my homework assignments I still have some strange hope that everything is going to be okay. My procrastination is taking over at the moment and it is not a great feeling, currently at Joshua Tree National Park and doing homework instead of climbing with my other fellow ECOEE mates makes me feel even worse. I want to leave this trip with a better mindset in life as well as academics. I cannot continuously keep on making the same mistakes throughout my life...things need to change! I want to believe that anything is possible as long as I have a vision. You know what they say "When you're running on empty... you are usually not." At times I truly feel hopeless and do not know what to do. At times I feel as though, that I have not been stepping up as much as I should have or could have. It is almost the end and the keeps popping into my head, and I cannot help but looking forward to that. It seems really hard to focus on the right now, present timing I am very focused on the future as well as where I am going to end up after this trip. Distractions are all over the place, and my wandering mind just keeps going to space, next semester, space, my dog, and my bed. That seems to be the hardest thing to do at the moment and I hate it so much. I do not regret anything that has happened, because everything happens for a reason and I am willing to accept whatever comes in my direction.  

10/28/15 Meaghan Mason

10/28/15

I woke up this morning at 5:45 a.m. when a fellow tribe member quietly moved over to tell me that there was a sea turtle laying her eggs on the beach. I think it was the best send off I could have hoped for and I am so grateful to have been able to see it especially after learning just how rare of an occurrence it actually is. Today marks the end of our sea kayaking portion of the expedition. For me it is a bittersweet ending, I am excited to get back to casa Azul and for the climbing and backpacking portion of the trip that lie ahead, but at the same time I will miss the early morning paddles with the sun slowly rising over the water and the nights spent under the moon and stars listening to the tides come in. I will miss many things about Bahia de los Angeles but hopefully someday I will be able to come back.

                                                                                                                  Meaghan Mason

10/26/2015 Josh Samuels

October 26^th, 2015

            I awoke at 6:47am, noticing the two instructors were packed and gone. Knowing that we were here for a full day of classes, I presumed they were off nearby enjoying time without our company, probably at the volcano. After packing my things and eating breakfast, I was told to grab 2 water bottles, my whistle, ground cloth, and some sunscreen. I assumed we were in for a day of risk management first aid practice. Oh boy! Was I in for a surprise? Today, we were doing a solo. Four hours in an insolated spot all by yourself. As Acuff and Caleb separated us out into our spots, we all began this experience differently. Kyle built a sundial to know when it was over and how many more minutes he had left. Trent stripped naked and shaded himself in stones before drawing and sketching. Bobby wanted to bring the heat so he stayed in the sun the whole four hours. I hung my ground cloth like a tent, shading myself from the sun. Lying on my sleeping pad I could feel a great breeze through my valley that kept me very cool.

This solo was for reflection of what we need to do individually for what we want our life to be. For myself I have realized that graduate school is not for me. I have much to learn, and many classes to take but not at a university, not yet at least. The rest of the hot sunny day was spent eating and water activates. A few people went hiking, other snorkeling. I went crab catching with two sticks. I was catching small, medium, and even large crabs. After wandering the beach yesterday looking through the trash that had washed up I found a crab cage. I began to fill this cage to see how many I could catch. This cage I filled with crabs before dinner, though since we were not here to harvest from the land we could not kill and eat them. Instead we had tacos. But just saying, crab tacos would have been amazing. Tomorrow is our last full day out here in the bay, the next day we paddle in back to Casa Azul.

            The saying don’t blink really applies the older you become. Day seventy-three out of one hundred and thirteen. I know I blinked and this trip is gone.

Joshua M. Samuels