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Updated 2015
For the parents
...Some 80 lucky seventh grade students from two Redwood City Middle Schools get
to go on a Grand Canyon Trek each May.
My Name is Fernando Montijo and I have volunteered to help on the trek for 20
years. The purpose of this site is to provide some details of the Trek, for parents
whose children are going on the Trek. My wife and I no longer volunteer as chaperones,
but I will keep this website online for future Trek parents to use.
More about the Trek...
The Trek is a science trip for 80 seventh graders from two Redwood City, CA middle schools.
About 16-20 adult chaperones and teachers accompany the students.
The adult volunteers include teachers, fire fighters, nurses.
The students who get to go are selected by their teachers.
They are chosen by a drawing from those that are eligible. Generally it is
those who are doing well enough to stand 10 days away from normal class and do what they
are told.
We do two types of camping on this Trek. 1. The normal type of camping at the south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park. 2. About 11 miles of backpacking to the Havasu campground. The backpackng hike is as much mentally as physically demanding. Most students will be 10 days without parents and should learn how to manage with only their friends and chaperones available. On the trek, every student is required to fill out a workbook designed to combine science education with the trip experience. Their teachers review the workbook on return. I call this trip 'Punishment for being good' but it is really a lot of fun. No walkmans, MP3 or disc players, cell phones, or radios are allowed to encourage verbal communication. The Havasu campground canyon is so narrow and steep that most cell phones can't get a signal. Students will be in a place where the only food available is what we bring with us, and where the nearest store is a two mile walk from our camp. Potable water and portable toilets are available. On the big hike, students are in unfamiliar country. They know it's an 11.5 mile hike but they don't know where the end is, or how close they are to it, and their energy is deminishing. The adults provide encouragement and support. Helping fellow students is definitely encouraged. There are more details about each day. Click on "Go to GCMAP" below.  |
Our trek leaders
...There have been several leaders of this Trek since it's start. I don't
have a picture of Ken Woody (Creator of the Trek). Keith Kadera is the
present leader.
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