If you would have seen this Centaurus group at the beginning of the semester, you never would have thought they’d end up friends, let alone the close-knit, always-joking group that they have become. This cast of characters has a set of distinct personalities that could have come straight from a John Hughes movie. Their bonds with each other solidified over a weekend backpacking experience at Cal-Wood Education Center that was a lot more fun than Saturday detention.

After stuffing their packs full of huge amounts of cold weather layers and group gear, the cast adjusted their packs and hiked two and a half miles in to a backcountry site decorated with bleached animal bones. Despite the heavy loads, and thanks to the expert pack-fitting experience of trip leader Jared, the group stayed positive and arrived before they knew it.

Shaking off the impending after-lunch brain fog, the cast embarked on a trifecta of adventure—mica mine, camouflage and waterfall. The mica mine was magical. The whole group could fit inside the small cave and flash their headlamp beams at the sparkling walls. Sam emerged with glitter in his floof (hair), probably because Kira kept sneaking up on him and sprinkling him with fairy dust. He had enough sparkly stuff that he probably was glittering under his graduation cap two weeks later.

Later on at the waterfall, James and Sam rolled up their pants and waded in the icy pool below. The rest of the crew, including the other James, were totally chill without the cold water. Just sitting beside the spring waterfall and enjoying some solitude was the highlight of the trip for a lot of the students and staff.

When night fell, the students prepared to prevent any potential bear encounters with an epic bear bag using the Pacific Crest Trail method, after enjoying some ubiquitous s’mores and a game of “I See a Line” around the fire they built as a team. The next day the cast of characters did some more bonding and team-building while harvesting over 250 trees to use in their action project. Stay tuned for that sequel – Rotten Tomatoes gives it 100% on their Tomatometer!

Written by Centaurus High School CAP Instructor Erin Angel

See more photos from the trip here!