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Late September marked the end of the season for Yosemite’s California Conservation Corps crews. Through the CCC program, which our donors have supported for nearly two decades, young adults (age 18-25) spend several months immersed in the park, living in the wilderness, working on trail restoration projects and learning from experts in a variety of fields.

We know that CCC participants transform trails – they repair damage from rockfalls and winter weather, create drainage features to help prevent erosion, use dry stone masonry to build sturdy steps and walls, and more. But how does time spent on the trails transform them?

On June 6, our project coordinator met up with some of this year’s CCC crew members in Foresta, just before they headed into the wilderness. He saw them again at Camp Mather (near Hetch Hetchy) on September 21, as their season, which included 106 days of backcountry trail work, came to a close.

Each time, he snapped photos and asked the participants to share one word that described their mental state. Here’s what they said.

Rick (Hometown: Gardena, CA)Dana (Hometown: Vero Beach, FL)Gabriel (Hometown: Fergus Falls, MN)Robyn (Hometown: Auburn, CA)

Harrison (Hometown: Pomona, CA)Jessica (Hometown: Upland, CA)Kalvin (Hometown: Beltsville, MD)Jaime (Hometown: Neptune, NJ)Dan (Hometown: Santa Cruz, CA)Corinne (Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO)Robert (Hometown: Los Gatos, CA)

Generous gifts from Yosemite fans like you make this transformative program possible! Our thanks go out to our donors for supporting a trail restoration and youth programs in the park, and to The North Face Explore Fund, which provided funding for the 2016 CCC crew that worked in the Tuolumne River watershed.