Sacred Rok

Sacred Rok is a Yosemite based non-profit dedicated to getting youth into nature to experience it for themselves. Yosemite-based Education Nature's Way

04/21/2026

We go to the same places but they're never the same and always beautiful. and
collaboration - what an honor to share

03/24/2026

Hall days blessing for all

03/09/2026

A day trip with Atwater High School where the kids led us up to Ribbon Falls on an exceptionally beautiful day. It was a great reminder how liberating and educational it is for the kids to be themselves, exerting themselves physically, challenging themselves mentally and overall connecting to the beauty of Yosemite. It's always good to be together knowing there is no other place we'd rather be. rok

11/26/2025

Supporting Youth in Nature and Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time - Giving Tuesday 2025

Help Us Keep Our Youth Connected to Nature

Like thousands of nonprofits, we use , the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, as our biggest fundraiser - a counter balance to the intense focus on consumerism seen in Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

https://sacredrok.networkforgood.com/projects/265494-giving-tuesday-2025

Our goal is to support our nature-based youth mentoring programs in Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra with Atwater High School, Bishop Middle School Continuation Day class, Big Pine 6th grade class, Keith Bright Juvenile High, Long Beach High School, CASA from San Francisco and Merced.

We build and maintain nature connections with our youth through various activities like: hiking, climbing, camping, back packing, lake swimming and paddle boarding, stewardship work with the Yosemite National Park Service and and gardening work with the Bishop Paiute Tribe. Additionally, through art and culturally relevant activities with C5 Studio in Bishop we are bringing our youth together through conversations, journaling, reflections and storytelling about how to connect to the natural world around us and explore its depths.

The Sacred Rok model is all about meaningful and longterm relationships. We are seeking funding to support our ongoing relationships with our youth. Our programs are free to the youth participants and the funding we seek would go directly to cover costs of running trips: insurance, transportation, food, park fees, gear/equipment.

The outdoor experiences we facilitate have such a longstanding and deep impact on the youth. In their own words youth have shards their feelings from som of our experiences:

"I never imagined it to be such an amazing experience but they proved me wrong."

"I loved the entire experience. We went to some very cool spots & hiked like the waterfall when we first got into the park. I learned so much about nature!"

" My favorite part of the experience was swimming, as well as seeing a different side to nature that I don’t feel can be seen elsewhere."

With your help, together we can further our commitment to supporting these youth build their nature connections and in finding their own unique voices. Please consider donating this holiday season.

With Respect,

Ron Kauk, Executive Director

Katie Lambert, Chief Operating Officer

11/21/2025

A great day connecting to the reality of nature with Atwater High School. One youth shared, "When I come here my stress goes away and my mind clears." supporting the healing power of nature.

10/14/2025

We recently hosted a day trip in Yosemite Valley with . When Ron asked the youth and their advocate “What did you come up here for?”
The youth responded with, “To be in reality.”

Once again the youth show us in their own way what we have been saying and promoting all along, that Sacred Rok is about going into nature to experience the reality of being human.

09/17/2025

We are back with the Jill Kinmont Boothe School. It’s truly a unique experience to spend the school day on the trail to Education Nature’s Way.

08/26/2025

With funding support from the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation (www.mammothfoundation.org) , Sacred Rok was able to fulfill it’s summer Nature Quest programming with over 20 youth and mentors in the Eastern Sierra and Yosemite National Park on a series of day and overnight trips. It is through grants and donations that we are able to offer these experiences to our youth and we are honored to continue to have these experiences as move into our 17th year of

08/12/2025

Our second summer in Tuolumne with board member ’s students from the Non-Categorical Special Day Class of the Long Beach Unified School District High School. Once again we are grateful and honored to facilitate with our groups and we are continually inspired by our youth and the experiences they are having and sharing with us.

We share with you their own words:

“There are moments in life when the world feels too small, when the very air seems to press in around you, leaving you gasping, searching for an exit that isn't there. Before Yosemite, I found myself in such a space - a mental maze, a quiet
claustrophobia that muffled the light and tightened the breath. It was a feeling of being adrift, confined, somehow lost within the confines of my own thoughts, like a ship in a bottle, unable to truly sail.
Then, like a whispered promise carried on a distant wind, Yosemite called. And stepping into her vast embrace was like shedding a heavy cloak. they breathed, inviting me to breathe with them.
The roar of waterfalls became a symphony,
my mind truly unfurled, expanding beyond all limits, bathed in a healing balm nature alone possesses. The air, crisp and deep, became a breath of liberation. And the souls who shared this journey - a sweet,
charming constellation of kindred spirits - wove a tapestry of caring, making every heart feel utterly safe and loved. Katie's food, a delicious alchemy, nourished body and soul with every thoughtfully prepared bite, while Ron's presence, a steady, compassionate anchor, offered the profound, unconditional warmth of family, a true home found amidst the wilderness.
The river's embrace, a glacial kiss, shocked then cleansed, a crisp, invigorating hymn sung by the cold,”

07/10/2025

We also held another day trip recently with our Sky Pilot Program which has been going on over the last three summers. Some of the participants have been involved with us since before the Sky Pilot Program, coming from the Big Pine middle school, with the majority of the youth in this group having attended at least 25 trips with Sacred Rok.

As the adults, we are having an incredible experience as we observe our youth - some who were at first mildly terrified to walk across a creek that was at most a foot deep to our recent trip to Tuolumne hiking up the front-side of Lembert Dome - their progress in very inspiring.

This proved once again that with adult supervision that provides care, patience and respect we can achieve something that didn’t seem possible.

As we’ve said before, us human beings are no different than nature - we need nurturing through water, sunlight, and rich soil to grow into a healthy contribution for the world.

Education Nature’s Way is absolutely one of the most important things for understanding what it means to be human in relationship to our mental, physical and spiritual health.

Sacred Rok, always respecting the intelligence of nature and understanding the need for balance.
-Ron Kauk

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves" - Chief Seattle

Address

Yosemite Village, CA
95389

Telephone

+12094092524

Website

https://sacredrok.networkforgood.com/projects/61467-givingtuesday-2018-invest-in-our-shared-future

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