Yosemite 2007                           October 14 -19

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."    John Muir

			From the past...

Each year the seventh grade of, Barnhart School, travels Yosemite National Park.  The students participate in a fantastic outdoor learning experience.  Our days are filled with hiking, problem solving, learning about the early settlers of the valley, observing and better understanding the beautiful geologic formations, participating in stewardship projects and playing.  We spend long days out in the valley.  Our classroom is a place that many have not had a chance visit.  Hopefully by looking over our pictures and hearing stories from our participants you will catch the wanderlust and visit this place which many consider a magical valley. 

John Muir visited the valley in 1868, he wrote extensively about his travels in and around the valley proper.  "No temple made with hands can compare to Yosemite," and "Yosemite is the grandest of all special temples of nature.", are two of the early entries in his journal.  Pursuit of his love of science, especially geology, led him to propose how the ecosystem of the valley worked and  how Yosemite Valley and the regions geology was sculpted.  What he hypothesized was in stark contradiction to the head of the California Geological Survey, Whitney.  Muir postulated that glaciers had carved the valleys of the region, Whitney felt that a catastrophic event had caused the Valley to form.  Muir was a prolific writer who helped in the formation of Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park, as well as The Sierra Club.  

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." John Muir