Yosemite Dispatches with Ron Kauk: Sacred Rok Summer

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.

Editor's note: Last December we started a new series, Yosemite Dispatches,with longtime Patagonia ambassador Ron Kauk. In his April dispatch, Ron described a new summer project called Sacred Rok. Today, Ron fills us in on how the summer went and how Sacred Rok affected the young people who visited Yosemite Valley, many for the first time. Stay tuned for more summer stories all this week on The Cleanest Line.

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.

[Ron Kauk watches the sun rise on another day in his Tuolumne Meadows camp. All photos courtesy of Sacred Rok]

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. [Note: This was originally written on Sept. 8, 2010.] 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.

–Ron Kauk

["Water goes through the ritual that it has performed for thousands of years – melting from the snow in the high country, running down the channels through the waterfalls into the valley, and flowing into the Central Valley giving life to the world below." Caption & video: Ron Kauk]

To read more about Ron's summer and the meaningful trips he and his partner Kenji hosted, visit the Sacred Rok news page. If you'd like to help support the non-profit mission of Sacred Rok, a $50 donation will send a youth to Yosemite for a day with Ron; an event that can be life changing. In return they will send you this Midnight Lightning inspired Sacred Rok tee (Adult sizes S, M, L, XL).

Here's Ron in 1978 when he made the first ascent of Midnight Lightning. Photo: Ron Kauk Collection.