Educational Field Trips, Sequoia Natural History Association

Youth Exploring Wilderness Inside & Out
Date: Tuesday - Sunday, June 3 - 8, 2008
Instructor: Courtney Laurell and Savannah Boiano
Price: $356 (member price $310)

Backpacking creates great connections, beginning with one’s self. We’re inviting teenage girls to join us for a beginning backpack focused on building backcountry skills, confidence in new situations, and learning about our National Park’s cultural and ecological histories. Each day we’ll have new physical challenges while we explore into broad vistas. Imagine sleeping under the stars, laughing at ourselves, meeting physical and intellectual challenges as a team, and living in the great outdoors!
Price includes: food, NPS wilderness permit, bear canisters, and shared campsite for arrival day.
Age range: 14 - 17
Difficulty level: Strenuous - an experience that is about physical activity; hiking over five miles per day with elevation gain over 1,000 feet.

Note: By registering for a Sequoia Field Institute program, you acknowledge having read and accepted the Release and Waiver of Liability Form. Please note any comments in the "Comment/Suggestions" box when checking out. Once we receive your payment, a confirmation and detailed itinerary will be mailed to you.

SNHA Member $310

Non-Member $356

Natural History of the Tablelands
Date: Thursday - Sunday, June 19 - 22, 2008
Instructor: Jim Warner
Price: $173 (member price $150)

Stretch your legs and mind as we climb the highest "mountain" close to Lodgepole, as we scale this 11,485' peak just east of one of the busiest areas of these parks. Participants will backpack about seven miles to a site above Pear Lake, camp two nights in one site, and day-hike into the wondrous gardens of the alpine Tablelands.

This seminar will require participants to be sufficiently fit to hike up to 7 miles a day cross-country over very steep, rocky, and uneven terrain, carrying a full backpack. Participants are to meet on Thursday evening at a pre-determined campsite in the Lodgepole campground. Each will provide their own personal equipment and food for this hike.
Age range: 16 and up.
Difficulty level: Strenuous - an experience that is about physical activity; hiking over five miles per day with elevation gain over 1,000 feet.

SNHA Member $150

Non-Member $173

Join us for a culinary tour of Sequoia National Park. On your tour, you and your travel partners will get frontcountry and backcountry cooking tips from the Executive Chef of the Wuksachi Lodge and Bearpaw Meadow High Sierra Camp. When we’re not picking up tips of the trade, we’ll be hiking trails exploring the local flora, fauna, geology, and cultural history of the high Sierra. Prime your taste buds, get ready for backcountry starry skies, and compelling days on the trail.
Price includes: cooking demonstration classes, naturalist guide, and two-nights stay at Bearpaw High Sierra Camp with meals. Price is based upon double occupancy. Please call for other pricing options.
Age range: 16 and up

SNHA Member $575

Non-Member $661

Hockett Meadows to Farewell Gap
Date: Thursday - Monday, July 10 -14, 2008
Instructor: Jim Warner
Price: $225 (member price $195)

The Hockett Plateau is one of the lesser known areas of the Sequoia National Park, yet holds some spectacular scenery and marvelous history. Hike with Jim through this area and out of the south end of Sequoia, then back into the park over Farewell Gap.

Participants must be physically fit, able to carry a full backpack up to 10 miles a day over steep, rocky trails. Each participant will provide their own equipment and food (rental equipment is available at many sporting goods stores). A checklist of recommended items will be furnished.
Price includes: shared campsites the first night.
Age range: 16 and up.
Difficulty level: Strenuous - an experience that is about physical activity; hiking over five miles per day with elevation gain over 1,000 feet.

Note: By registering for a Sequoia Field Institute program, you acknowledge having read and accepted the Release and Waiver of Liability Form. Please note any comments in the "Comment/Suggestions" box when checking out. Once we receive your payment, a confirmation and detailed itinerary will be mailed to you.

SNHA Member $195

Non-Member $225

The Mineral King area of Sequoia National Park is a remote high mountain valley surrounded by colorful peaks. This 3 day backpack adventure will explore the high lake basins, passes and peaks up to 11,000’ around Eagle, Mosquito, and Mineral Lakes. Hiking distances average 7 miles per day, with an elevation gain of 2,000’ on the first day. After hiking a cross-country route to Upper Mosquito Lake Basin we will establish our “base camp” and shed our packs so that we can enjoy the next two days hiking over steep and rocky terrain, exploring the passes and peaks around Eagle and Mineral Lakes, without the heavy weight on our backs! We will break out the map and compass to sharpen our route finding skills, as well as learn about the controversial history of Mineral King. Participants are strongly encouraged to spend July 10^th at a campground in Mineral King so as to acclimate.
Age range: 16 and up.
Difficulty level: Strenuous - an experience that is about physical activity; hiking over five miles per day with elevation gain over 1,000 feet.

Teens in the Wilderness
Date: Sunday - Sunday, July 13 - 20, 2008
Instructor: Petit Pinson, Stephanie Strickland
Price: $455 (member price $395)

Wilderness backpacking adventure! We have five spaces available for 14 -17 year olds with prior backpacking experience. Discover the wonders of Mineral King’s lakes, meadows, and passes on this seven-day journey into the wild. We will connect with the natural world as we explore flora and fauna, navigation and wilderness skills, and who we are in these wild places. Explore your CORE!

Price includes: transportation from Three Rivers to Mineral King trailhead and back, two nights campground fees for Mineral King, use of camping gear (except sleeping bags & pads), food, pizza dinner for participant and one adult, and bear canister rental.
Age range: 14 - 17
Difficulty level: Strenuous - an experience that is about physical activity; hiking over five miles per day with elevation gain over 1,000 feet.

Note: By registering for a Sequoia Field Institute program, you acknowledge having read and accepted the Release and Waiver of Liability Form. Please note any comments in the "Comment/Suggestions" box when checking out. Once we receive your payment, a confirmation and detailed itinerary will be mailed to you.

SNHA Member $395

Non-Member $455

Women in the Wilderness
Date: Thursday - Sunday, July 24 - 27, 2008
Instructor: Petit Pinson, Stephanie Strickland
Price: $259 (member price $225)

Set yourself free! Sleep under the stars in the magical beauty of the Sierras. Enjoy the solitude of the wilderness while learning new skills (or refreshing old ones), exploring, writing, and stretching your mind and body with other adventurous women. Bring your friends, daughters, granddaughters....beginners welcome (minimum age is 15). This is your chance to howl at the moon! Join us for a wonderful Women in the Wilderness weekend.
Price includes: meals, tents, stoves, cookware, water filters.
Age range: 15 and up.
Difficulty level: Easy to moderate, hiking under five miles with moderate elevation gain less than 1,000 feet.

Siberian Outpost

Date: Wednesday - Wednesday, July 30 - August 6, 2008
Instructor: Jim Warner
Price: $370 (member price $322)

This very strenuous backpacking adventure starts in the Inyo National Forest at Horseshoe Meadow, near the extreme southeast corner of Sequoia National Park, at 10,000’. We will acclimate for a day, hiking in this area, before entering the Park and hiking into one of the most magical meadows in these parks. The Siberian Outpost, around 11,000’, will be our day-hiking area for the third day, before hiking up into the Mitre Basin to Sky Blue Lake. Returning to Soldier Lake for a night, the next day we then hike to the Army Pass area and up to the summit of Mt. Langley at 14,047’. We’ll descend New Army Pass to one of the Cottonwood Lakes for the night, and then hike out to Horseshoe Meadow and home the following morning.

Price includes: guiding, natural history journal, shared campsite at Horseshoe Meadow, National Forest permit, and National Park permit.

Age range: 16 and up
Difficulty level: Very strenuous - you must be in top shape, for possible long mileage, off-trail travel, steep gradients, high elevation, etc.

Exploring the Elizabeth Pass/Coppermine Area
Date: Thursday - Wednesday, August 21 - 27, 2008
Instructor: Jim Warner
Price: $313 (member price $272)

Don your backpack to hike into an impressive sub range of the Sierra Nevada: the Great Western Divide. Along the High Sierra trail your guide, Jim Warner, will introduce you to historic characters like William B. Wallace, early judge, prospector, and explorer of the area. You’ll move from the edge of one of the most famous groves of giant sequoias in the world to the subalpine world of tiny wildflowers, expansive skies, and breathtaking geology. Rarely backpacked, the stories and ecology of the area are not to be missed!

Participants must be physically fit, able to carry a full backpack up to 10 miles a day over steep, rocky trails. Each will provide their own equipment and food (rental equipment is available at many sporting goods stores). A checklist of recommended items will be furnished.
Price includes: shared campsites the first night.
Age range: 16 and up.
Difficulty level: Very strenuous - you must be in top shape, for possible long mileage, off-trail travel, steep gradients, high elevation, etc.

Note: By registering for a Sequoia Field Institute program, you acknowledge having read and accepted the Release and Waiver of Liability Form. Please note any comments in the "Comment/Suggestions" box when checking out. Once we receive your payment, a confirmation and detailed itinerary will be mailed to you.

SNHA Member $272

Non-Member $313

To Whitney Country: High Sierra Trail Adventure

Date: Thursday - Sunday, August 21 - 31, 2008
Instructor: Randy Coffman
Price: $431 (member price $375)

Grand Vistas, spectacular lakes, sheer granite cliffs, ancient trees, wildflowers, birds, wildlife all the way to the top of the Sierra, and even a “hot tub” await the participants of this seminar in the high country of the nation’s second National Park.

The High Sierra Trail is one of the easier and most spectacular of the trans-Sierra trails. Even so, it is over 70 miles in length and traverses two major passes, Kaweah Gap at 10,700’ and Trail Crest at 13,480’, and drops to 6,700’ where it meets the Kern River.

Many visitors to the Park yearn to cross the mountains on foot, yet don’t have someone to go with them or are unable to work out the logistics to return to their vehicles. Travel with a small group along this spectacular trail and learn from an experienced guide about the history and natural beauty of the mountains as you journey through this natural wonder.

Price includes: shared camp sites at the beginning of the trip, NPS wilderness permit. Backpacking equipment available for rental.

Age range: 16 and up.
Difficulty level: Strenuous - an experience that is about physical activity; hiking over five miles per day with elevation gain over 1,000 feet.

SNHA Member $375

Non-Member $431

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