California Expedition: August 2007

The CCF expedition to California left Scottish soil towards the end of the summer holiday.

The first morning we woke up to San Francisco's famous fog, and sailed across the bay to the infamous Alcatraz Island. After the audio tour we made our way back to the mainland for a guided tour by Merchistonian John Benzie who used to work for the Transamerica Company.

The following day we set off for Yosemite national park. We camped at a surprisingly well equipped camp ground just outside the park. The next few days we used to train ourselves for the 5 day trek later in the trip, by doing some day hikes, climbing to various peaks around Yosemite, where we were treated to some breathtaking views of half dome and El Capitan. At the top of one particular peak, we were greeted by an over-friendly bear, who was kind enough to pose for pictures.

After our time in Yosemite we drove to the Tuolomne River for the start of our rafting trip. Unfortunately our swash-buckling adventures couldn't last forever, and we moved to the trail head at King's Canyon national park for our 5 day trek. The plan was to walk the Rae lakes loop, climbing to the highest point at 12000ft on the 4th day. The canyon offered equally spectacular views with hills stretching a far as the eye could see. Unfortunately our chef, Miss Godfrey, developed an injury from carrying her pack and turned back on the second day. At the end of the 5 days a well rested miss Godfrey greeted us as we passed the rangers station at the bottom of the trail. Most of us slept on the journey to LA.

LA was luxury compared to the tents we were used to. We ventured to Disney the following day, and spent a day in the parks where all our dreams did indeed come true as the next day we crossed the border into Tijuana Mexico (see photo) for a change of cultural scene, before we flew back to Scotland the next day.

Thanks go to Mr Silk, Miss Godfrey and Dr Russell for accompanying us on the trip and Mr Hambling for organising it.

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