The Rite of Passage trip is a trip that the seventh grade class takes every year. This year we went to Slide Ranch on the coast, we started at Mount Tamalpais. The ranch is right on the ocean with amazing views of the cliffs. We started at the Mount Tam lookout and hiked about 10 miles to Slide Ranch. While we were there we milked goats, went to the beach, and looked at the sunset. I enjoyed making memories with my friends and overall the experience was great. The trip took place from the 12th to the 15th of March and we stayed at Slide Ranch for a total of three days.
The class teachers that attended the trip were Andrew Elson and Jenelle Ferhart. Our chaperones were Craig Obedzinski, Paul Valente, Garet Mason, and Chris Coolidge. I got to learn a lot about nature, and making friends with other people that I usually don’t hang out with. Throughout the trip I also learned to milk goats, and take care of animals.
As soon as we got there, we were all very tired and set up tents immediately. We had to haul all our sleeping supplies, food, and bags over from where the van was, which was a ten-minute long walk. Then the staff members of Slide Ranch came over and gave us a run down on the ranch, and what we would be doing over the next couple days. The first night we got there, dinner was pasta, prepared by Jason Faircloth and Jenna Tricarico. The wind got so intense that our tent almost blew over in the night. Much to our surprise, other people’s tents did blow over.
On day two, in the morning we walked down to the cliffs after breakfast, where we caught little crabs in the tidepool. We got to milk goats, and everyone enjoyed it. I was the fifth person to do it and I had never done it before, but it was very fun. After that, we went to eat lunch that we had prepared ourselves. We got to make sandwiches in the morning after breakfast on our own. After lunch, we explored the garden and got to plant some vegetables with the staff. In the garden, we picked vegetables that we wanted to make into a wrap and ate them.
On the last day, we hiked to Muir Beach lookout then down to Muir Beach. There we played football in the harsh wind and other people were sitting in the sand and enjoying the ocean. The whole trip was really fun. Hiking, milking goats, the tidepools, eating, trying to sleep, and going to the beach was an amazing experience. I enjoyed it because the whole class got to go out into the wild off-campus and everyone got to experience something new. Being there with friends was a big part of it, laughing, talking, hanging out, being with new people made the trip way more fun. I will never forget this trip and all of the memories my friends and I made.