About Dijukno?

About Dijukno?

Dijukno Dijukno? was started as postings on Facebook sharing things I have learned early on since I began hiking in July 2010?

   I would like to begin this description by clarifying some things, beginning with my nickname.  I was given the nickname Kool Breeze from a softball teammate in the East Bay of California.  She was calling me Kool Breeze so I finally asked why she was calling me that.  She responded with,  “because you are bright as sunshine with a Colgate® smile”. Needless to say, I loved the nickname as well as the description and took ownership of it right away.  This is important, because you will see Robyn Kool Breeze on my social networking sites.  I found I had to include my first name so others didn’t think I was a spammer.  I like to have fun more than most so I’m a major goofball when on the trail.  I wear a pink cowgirl hat, and have bling on my backpack including flowers and Tinkerbell.

   I started Dijukno when I was extremely fit. I started hiking in the summer of 2010 after a friend of mine was driving to my area to join the Sacramento Hiking Meet Up Group for a walk in Folsom, CA.  We met at a Round Table Pizza for the lunch buffet prior to joining the group.  The group was leaving as we pulled up so we missed them. We had to make our own walk.  When I returned home, I found this group and joined it.  My first hike was Echo Peak in the amazing Sierra Nevada mountains.  When I signed up for the Mt. Shasta event I was asked what my hiking level was.  I was not sure what my hiking level was, because I had just started hiking.  To be honest, I didn’t even know what or how difficult Mt. Shasta was; after having grown up in the softball world.  I had to do an extremely challenging two peak shuttle hike in the Sierra Nevada. The first hike was Pyramid Peak and ending with Ralston Peak to Camp Sacramento.  It was pretty easy for me like I was like a kid in a large playground.  The leader told me I had “double qualified” to climb Mt. Shasta with the group in September 2010.

The Mt. Shasta event was an overnight event, I had to rely upon someone lending me backpacking gear to participate.  An amazing guy who was a leader in my group was kind enough to lend me the gear and drive me there.  We rented our gear when we arrived a day earlier than the others. We camped in a dispersed campground near the Bunny Flat trailhead.  I summited Mt. Shasta on my very first attempt and was told that I was now considered an “elite” hiker and was asked to organize hikes.  I quickly discovered the group's politics, ego, and drama so I started my own group that following October.

   I wanted this new group to be the largest and most fun group in Northern California. Expansion could lead to a sister group in Southern California because I am different, and really fun to hike with.  Things became complicated because I was still organizing hikes with another group at the same time.

  

   I was playing softball one Saturday when received a text message. The message stated that the photo’s I had posted to the group site was against “Leave No Trace” principles and would be removed.  The photos were taken while I was doing the “Grand Walk” which begins near the Cliff House restaurant in San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge and back.  Someone had written Kool Breeze on some stairs we had to climb during the hike.  I saw the photo opportunity and felt it was a fun photo to take.

   After a bit of research I found a free "Leave No Trace" awareness course on a site. I took the time to learn about "Leave No Trace", took the test, and received a certificate.  I was pretty excited about this so I probed the site for more information and found a Leave No Trace trainer course.  My perspective at this point and time was that if I had to deal with more drama about this I would become a State Advocate.  I am now a Leave No Trace Trainer.

   Since becoming a Leave No Trace Trainer and running my own group, I was gaining sponsors and donations that allowed me to network.  I became a member of Leave No Trace, Tahoe Rim Trail Association, and Pacific Crest Trail Association.  I was able to pay for Guide Training, and a Wilderness First Aid course for the Tahoe Rim Trail Association taught by Nols.  I volunteered on a 7 day trail project with the Trail Gorilla’s and the Back Country Horsemen of California Eastern Sierra Unit that allowed me to become a Trail Gorilla.  I have attended a Pacific Crest Trail “Trail Skills College” to learn basic trail maintenance and drainage.

   I had learned so much in such a short period of time from other experienced hikers, and networking with these other associations that I should start posting on the facebook page.  I started to attract my hiking friends and others in the community to my group.  I started posting things that I felt were interesting while using the approach of facebook and twitter keeping the information short and to the point without a lot of fluff.  I decided to begin each posting with “Dijukno”.  I was getting great responses from my readers.  I made the decision to provide accurate information so they would trust my content right away.  One of my hiking friends posted that they were climbing Mt. Shasta and they found them continuously saying Dijukno?……Dijukno?......Dijukno?  It was that moment I realized that I may have something interesting to share on a broader scale. I purchased the domain name dijukno.com, copied and pasted my facebook postings in September 2011 quickly getting favorable responses from them, and my outdoor community.  I had to learn to clean it up to make the pages more professional looking and other things to reach out to the world.  

  I am currently working on adding content little by little, and seeking co-authors or guests who would like to share their knowledge of the outdoors.

Robyn Kool Breeze

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