By: Mollyann S.
Earth Day Adventures!
Wow, Earth Day clean-up was a blast! New Hope Assembly has been cleaning up the American River on Earth day for over 15 years. Due to COVID-19 our assembly streak of attendance was broken. This year was the first time in two years New Hope was able to participate again. I got to experience this amazing opportunity for the first time on Sunday, April 24, 2022. Elliana St.Clair, one of our newest members, also got to experience this extraordinary opportunity for the first time. Megan, Elliana, Ms.Ishizaki, Mr. Larson, and I met at our lodge in Auburn and got fueled up at Baked and Brewed Cafe®. We drove over to the American River Canyon while eating our delicious bagels. Once we arrived at our destination, we got signed in and headed over to the trail. Together we hiked the Clementine trail. We saw over 100 people who also showed up early in the morning to hike the trails and pick up trash. Speaking of, while we were cleaning up the trash on our trail, we learned about new plants and flowers from Ms.Ishizaki. The hike itself was beautiful. There were a lot of wildflowers and plants growing this season, not to mention the weather. Although it was a little breezy and cool in the morning, as the day went on it got warmer and very nice in the sun. We took a few group pictures and went to return our trash pickers and throw away the trash bag we had. After which we got to play a game. Megan, Ellianan, and I sorted through pictures of animals that could be found in the canyon and matched them with the skulls sitting out. Once we matched all the pictures we matched their scatt to the pictures and the skull. With a little extra help from Elliana, we finished the game and headed back over to the car. We met parents at Taco Tree® and had an amazing lunch. Hiking and picking up trash for a few hours can really work up an appetite! I enjoyed getting to do such an amazing thing for my community on Earth Day, especially with my amazing assembly and adults. I can not wait for next year to participate in this wonderful event again!
