The Jumping Mice hike the Rock Trail to Lost Lake

A significant aspect of what Explorers Club mentors emphasize, especially for the younger boys such as the Jumping Mice, involves paying attention. We encourage them to tune in as we walk through the forest. Hear that bird chatter? Does one call sound different from another? 

Your boys are learning about the five different bird languages - Song, Juvenile Begging, Companion Calling, Aggression and Alarm. Paying attention to the differences in calls can be important in the wild. For instance, noticing an alarm call from the trees could alert you to the presence of the predator you're tracking (or avoiding!).

Bird language and tracking are complementary pursuits. Hearing a bird call or noticing scarring on a tree should prompt us to ask a few key tracking questions:

• What happened here?
• What does that tell me?
• What does that teach me?

These are the elements we're working on with the Jumping Mice this season. Sunday's outing offered the mentors opportunities to introduce and discuss these points, and in the best way possible. Rather than listening to me talk, the land was the teacher. 

Our exploration of the Rock Trail began at its highest point It quickly winds around to the east side of the mountain and heads down along some amazing rock formations which are, at a few points, penetrated by caves. These caves are growing very rapidly (in geologic time) in a process described here. As far as the Jumping Mice were concerned, of course, they were cool to explore and to see how many boys could fit into each one (Sunday's record: six boys and one mentor). 

As we headed further down toward Lost Lake, we found ourselves noticing places where animals might set up a den or stalk prey. Around Lost Lake, we explored what could be the world's biggest root ball and, thanks to our sharpened observation skills, noticed scat that, with the help of mentor Jedidiah, we determined was evidence of a Snowshoe Hare which was probably watching us as we played.

Mastering observation on the trail has many benefits in everyday life. In a few years, we'll ask your Explorers to expand the scope of their observation, attention and tracking to many more aspects of their lives. At this age, it can be a challenge to just notice that someone else is speaking so as not to interrupt in one's eagerness to share some nugget. We start where they are and hope to guide them toward being authentic men. One step at a time. 

Check here for all the photos from our Rock Trail outing.

Time to switch to our seasonal service work. Next outing: 

Sunday, May 7th, 9:30am-1:30pm

Service: BEC Connelly Creek Restoration Site, Happy Valley Park

The Jumping Mice pivot to the Two Dollar Trail: find and learn unplanned stuff! 1/21/17

Saturday’s Jumping Mice outing to the Rock Trail became the JM outing on the Two Dollar Trail thanks to Cleator Road being closed due to snow/ice. True to the spirit of Boys Explorers Club, we worked to Turn Problems into Possibilities and embarked on what turned out to be a great outing! 

After a few minutes orienting ourselves to our location in the Chuckanuts, our small group of intrepid Explorers started excitedly up the trail in search of Fragrance Lake, promised in just 1.7 miles. It wasn’t long before they showed an aptitude for our skill for the winter/spring — tracking and bird language. One of our number was perceptive enough to notice a purple spot on the side of the trail and immediately realized the color was out of place: a foundational tracking behavior involves noticing contrast — when something is different or out of place. 

What our Explorer had picked out was a colony of Springtails, amazing little creatures that can leap astounding distances relative to their diminutive size. Of course, once we were aware and interested, we found several colonies along the trail. Cool find!

Next it was the mentors’ turn to show their stuff. An important mentoring skill is the ability to ditch your plan when your charges light up with a childhood passion. As we took a short rest break further up the trail, mentor Jedidiah picked up a few sticks and started working on making an Atlatl (yeah, I didn’t know what that was either….). The boys were immediately entranced and wanted to try one and/or to make their own. That wasn’t in the plan, but Jedidiah had clearly tapped into a child passion, so we went with it. You’ll notice that most of the photos involved atlatls and primitive rock tools. 

Our planned game of Spider’s Web was delayed as they worked on their tools. Note the intensity of their expressions in the photos. 

Hard to see, but there are many (thousands?) Springtails in a colony. The boys are trying to get these hexapods (6 legs) to jump on their hands.

Don't forget to look up! We were treated to a partial halo (also known as a Sundog, apparently) around the sun. Here's more about these exciting sky phenomena - Sundog

The Jumping Mice worked hard on this outing. It's interesting what can happen when kids connect with nature. 

Sharpening sticks; fashioning Atlatls; creating tools from stone

Mentor Jedidiah holding court

We never made it to Fragrance Lake. When it occurred to us that we’d better get moving if we were going to make it, the boys talked it over and decided to scrap that goal for more time to work on their atlatls and stone tools. It’s unfortunate that several boys were unable to join us; it was a special outing. And, of course, we also didn’t make it to the Rock Trail. I’ll put that on the schedule for the fall. It’s a very cool trail.

Our next outing, Feb. 26 from 2:00 ’til 7:00 pm at Larrabee St. Park, also holds the promise of a great time. We plan to make a fire for the last hour or so and share food and drink with guests your Explorers invite to join us. More information coming as we get closer. The rest of the photos and a video or two from Saturday’s outings here.