On a cold and cloudy Saturday morning, the Gray Wolf Pups
met up for their final outing of the fall season at Cascades Montessori. With a
bit of goofing off at drop off, the mentors rallied everyone for an opening
circle to discuss the day. Reflecting on our seasonal focus of Tracking and
Bird Language we front-loaded our opportunity to get out on the Nooksack River
to test our skills. Before we could head out, the mentors had the boys help
with our bus safety check; popping the hood, monitoring fluids, checking tire
pressure, and more. With our maintenance walk-through finished, it was time to
load up, buckle in, and hit the road.
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| Crossing a side channel to get to the main river |
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| Playing on the bouncy log |
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| Jelly Fungus aka Witches Butter growing on some driftwood |
Cruising out along Mt Baker Highway we traveled beside the
mighty Nooksack, following it upstream as we pushed east towards its
headwaters. With the Deming Homestead Eagle Preserve offering limited river
access due to an impassible swollen side channel, we pushed further east
finding a promising pull out that offered quick access to the river. Unloading,
we gathered up our gear and made our way across a smaller side stream in search
of the main channel of the Nooksack. Pushing through patches of young Willow
and Alder we broke through the brush to a bend in the river offering expansive
views of the surrounding landscape and a backdrop of foothills dusted in snow.
With a chilly breeze nipping at us to keep moving we spread out and explored
the area in search of tracks, but ultimately finding a bouncy log and some good
sticks to play with.
After some solid exploration, we gathered to focus on our
tracking skills. Today we had a great opportunity to delve into the world of
plaster casting. Despite the scarcity of fresh animal tracks, we decided we
didn’t need any animals to leave tracks when we could make our very own!
Spreading out on the landscape we broke into small groups that created unique
tracks ranging from a Gray Wolf tracks, to beaver tracks, to giant chicken
tracks! Even though we didn’t get to delve into the intricacies of trailing
wild animals, we had a lot of fun and got to flex our creativity muscles.
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| Learning about plaster casting |
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| Putting our new knowledge to the test |
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| Mixing plaster with water to a "pancake batter" consistency |
Finishing up the day, we cleaned up our plaster casting
materials, ate some food, and rallied together to play a few rounds of games
like Hungry, Hungry Martin and Incoming. Despite the change in location, lack
of fresh animal tracks, and the chilly weather, the Gray Wolf Pups showed
adaptability and a playful spirit to make the best of the day. We learned a bit
about tracking and the basics of plaster casting, but most of all we were out
in a wild place. The Nooksack River boasts a multitude of wildlife and sheer
grandeur that is just simply hard to find in town. Getting the Gray Wolf Pups
out onto a wild landscape just felt right. Watching as the Explorers scampered
over log jams of Cedar and Doug Fir, snow-dusted foothills setting the backdrop
and the sunshine breaking through the cloud cover, it warmed the mentor’s
hearts to know the Gary Wolf Pups were exactly where they needed to be that
day. As always, this outing left us all eager to count down the days until the
next time this group reunites this winter for whatever adventures our next
outing has in store.
Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing
here!
