Coloma, California

Today is my recovery day after a 3 day, 2 night field trip with 73 4th graders. I'm not going to get into the teacher aspect of the field trip (not the hours planning, gathering permission & medical forms, the shopping, the prepping, or the calling homes of bad behaviors & sick kids needing to leave early, nor my frustrations as what I felt as an educator) but I would focus on the adventure side of it. 

I'm not going to go into the program much because do you really need to know that I sat through meetings and half hour lessons? No, unless you want information on the program itself, then by all means visit Coloma Outdoor Discovery School (which is a great program and if you are a teacher, please consider attending). 

American River

My grandparents lived up in gold country for a while, but that's the extent of my experience with it. I learned about the California Gold Rush in school but that's about it.

Sometimes, we take our own backyards for granted. I've been to San Francisco a bunch of times, Sacramento & LA too. Because places like that are close by, it doesn't seem like a big deal to go there, but for someone who isn't from this area of California, it is a big deal. 

So today, my adventure will be about Coloma, which is a 2 hour bus ride away, in between Placerville (aka Hangtown) and Sacramento.

original location

If you aren't familiar with the history of the California Gold Rush, here it is in a nutshell: John Sutter set up Sutter's Mill in Coloma and while there James Marshall was in the American River, saw something, reached down and pulled out a gold nugget in 1848. Word spread (President Polk said to go check it out) and people flocked to California in the thousands hoping to strike it rich in 1849 (hence the 49ers). Mostly, they didn't. It was lawless and dangerous. The native people and the environment suffered as well.

So, onto Coloma today.

You can visit the original site of Sutter's Mill in a park that was established to preserve the history and the area. Sites offer troughs of river water and silt to go gold panning and you can still find gold in the river, however don't get too excited, it's not going to make you rich or pad your wallets.

mountain lion prints

My first day there, I spent at the camp. There are bunkhouses for the students and parent chaperones and cabins for the teachers. It's located right on the river. You have to cross a narrow bridge that is only room for pedestrians and one car. The bridge was built in the 1930s and while the cement was drying, a mountain lion decided to take a look around and left it's paw prints behind for us to see almost 90 years later. 

The program for the children was great, they baked corn bread over a fire, panned for gold and we ended the night with a hoe-down. The temperature had dropped around 40 degrees and I hadn't been cold like that in a while. I should say chilled because I had my Akiak jacket and was warm enough but my face was cold.

spot on the river

Despite my knowing the schedule, I didn't know what to expect as far as everything else. Sure, on paper I could tell you about it but having never been there, the vibe caught me by surprise. It reminded me of my time in Alaska, showing up for a training and having to check out my surroundings, being totally out of my element...which actually feels like my element now. The excitement, the unknown, the nature....I felt totally comfortable and ready to enjoy myself. 

I had to share a cabin with another teacher. I let her have the bedroom and I took the futon in the living room. It was cold but I had brought my Alaskan sleeping bag, which is normally too hot for me, and a comforter. I spread open my sleeping bag as a base and slept with the comforter. I was cozy and warm the whole trip. Score!

we're hikin'!

The second day was the big hiking day. Breakfast was cold! Some kids chose to go gold panning despite their fingers going numb. I decided to wait. There are all these places to check out in the valley, including a museum. I missed out on the valley stuff because of a sick student who needed my care (no complaints, that's part of my job and I'd rather I be there with my student than someone else) but I caught up to a group to hike up to the ridge.

I need to take a moment to talk about how people label hikes. This hike was labeled "moderate". It was heavily suggested that I go on this hike. Moderate to a plus size person should be taken as "difficult" because it was a difficult hike for me and for one other asthmatic student who attempted it. The inclines were steep in some parts and even going downhill hurt my toes. The view was truly impressive but honestly, I expected my breath to be taken away, and it was, just not from the view...more the getting there.

Granted, the pace was set up for children so there were many breaks. Just when I thought I was going to legit have a heart attack on that trail, the group stopped and I had a chance to catch my breath. Luckily, one of the dads in my group was a paramedic so I figured he'd step in and help me in case I got in really bad shape. He ended up helping the asthmatic who was struggling. I was glad he was there.

stairs in a forest

Moderate my ass.

I didn't break down. The students helped me, even if they never knew it. Because it wasn't easy for them either. Or weird things would happen like dropping a water bottle and it shattering so I would share my water with them, or being terrified of getting a tick or touching poison oak. I couldn't break down, they needed me.

So I carried on. I completed the hike and wanted to take a huge moment for myself when it was done but the naturalist was still teaching the kids and they needed to listen to her. Me chanting, "I DID IT! I DID IT!" wasn't appropriate.

By the way, the naturalists working with the children were phenomenal. Seriously top notch.

After dinner, we got to listen to a Native American speaker who was amazing. 

It wasn't as cold the second night but we were all exhausted so maybe we were too tired to feel the chill.

panning for gold

I tried my hand at panning for gold the next morning. My hands got cold (mostly my thumbs) and I didn't find anything. The kids were having a blast, many children I didn't know were coming up to me to correct my technique and show me how it's really done. Next year, I'm going to bring a gold necklace and throw it in my pan saying, "Look what I found!!" Instead, I announced that I couldn't find any gold and that the gold rush was officially over. One of the dads gave me a pretty good sized nugget he found and as I was transferring it to a student, I dropped it, never to be found again, much to the horror of the surrounding children. But let's face it, that's so typical of something I would do.

You'd think a 2 hour bus ride would be horrible but both rides went by pretty quickly and my students were really well behaved on the bus. 

It was quite the adventure. If I teach 4th grade again next year (and there's no reason to think I won't be) I think I'll avoid the hike and play around more in the valley. But overall, it was a very successful field trip and adventure. 

Miss Ruark at the top of the ridge