1990s Fourth Grade Bicycle Trips to View Wuchumna Yokuts Indian Settlement Area

Twenty-three years ago I began teaching fourth grade in Woodlake, CA with Suzanne Bidwell, Donna Frasier, Karen Redfield, and Edna Ikerd.  This trip was one of the traditions they established, and I lucked into.  I've seen Wuchumna spelled both Wu and Wa, so if someone knows the real correct way to spell it, they can write in and inform me!

The pictures won’t win any awards, but when I post them on FB, people recognize their tia or tio (aunt or uncle), and other family members, and it’s a lot of fun.   Aren’t they adorable?

The pictures show the last bike trip we took before the helmet law for bicyclists went into effect around 1993 or 1994.

The goal was to get to location that hadn’t been disturbed by settlement, where a tribe of the Wuchumna Indians, a sub-tribe of  Yokuts Indians, lived in this area.  The Yokuts, yes the ‘s’ is part of the name, was one of the largest tribes in North America.  Food was plentiful, nutritious and easy to gather or hunt.  However, not even missionaries or Spanish soldiers ventured this far east more than once or twice.  Thomas Davis from South Carolina and his friends, Thomas Fowler and Jim Fisher discovered this area in 1853.

Kids enjoyed walking through a sort-of-cave and looking at the paintings left by the Wuchumna.

The owner of this property, who is in his 80s, remembers seeing them down by Cottonwood Creek.  It’s dry most of the year.  It probably was then, too.

Gary Davis can probably tell you about another time when his five-year-old daughter and I got stranded up on this rock, and he had to climb up and rescue us.  These kids didn't have as much problem getting down, but they didn't have to be lifted from ledge to ledge to get there.

Wuchumna women harvested the many oak trees in the area. Women of all ages sat around the large grinding rock and ground acorns.  You can tell who sat where by the size of the holes in the rocks.  Grandmas had very deep holes.  You can clearly see the deep hole on the back right.

Too soon it was time to bike back to school.

Drivers followed in trucks or vans to pick up stray bikes and bikers that broke down along the way.

I biked behind them taking pictures and hoping that no one would have problems.  And no one did.  :)