My absence from blogging for the past few days was because I was an instructor at an Adventure Camp for 8-15 year olds. My session included hiking, wildlife identification and nature awareness. It was a lot of fun, if not quite what I’d planned. The kids seemed to be having a lot of fun, though how much they actually learned is up for some debate.
I had 3 different groups of kids and took each for about a 2-mile hike down the mountain at Roundtop. There, we walked along an old woods road along Beaver Creek and then hiked back up the mountain to the camp. By the third trip up the hill, in what was by then 90 degree heat, I was ready for the day to end!
I’d dutifully started each hike with a list of what to take when hiking and a tally of what not to do in the woods. Some of my instructions, like being quiet so we’ll see more, didn’t make it past the first 100 yards. The kids really weren’t interested in things they couldn’t touch—like birds. Seeing four species of ferns really or even a very pretty little wildflower wasn’t up their alley either.
But, things like picking raspberries, now that was okay in their book. The only real problem is that the raspberries are just now ripening and there weren’t always enough to go around. So, despite my pleas to only pick the black ones, I soon was besieged by one child after another holding up a single, pathetic-looking raspberry in various stages of unripeness and asking me if this one was okay to eat. Eventually, we passed enough raspberry bushes that every child was able to taste at least one ripe one.
We did find some fun things along our walk that the kids were thrilled with. Unlike the deer and the birds, a box turtle was simply too slow to be able to hide until my little armies were past. Poor turtle was handed from child to child, turned over (again despite my pleas) and inspected thoroughly before being reluctantly released. Turtle was long gone by the time the next group walked through the same spot.
One group discovered a small salamander, an
Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander. I hope the poor thing survived. It was discovered under a rock and passed from child to child and eventually dropped, though not stepped on. The species is (fortunately) abundant and tends to be more terrestrial than the average salamander.
Assorted frogs leapt into the ponds in terror whenever one of my roving tribes neared. Usually the frogs de-camped long before I could identify them. One counselor caught a black snake that was about 4-5 feet long, and the kids all got to touch that, which was a big deal. Insects of any species, if they were of an unusual color and could be captured, were objects of much enthusiasm. Dragonflies were only of passing interest, as they were colorful enough but couldn’t be caught.
All in all it was a fun experience, though I wish the kids were a bit more, um, focused. I can’t honestly say they really learned much, though most of them seemed to be having fun. In three weeks I get to do it all over again. I just hope the mountain recovers by then.
Summer mornings can be lovely times. Before the heat of the day withers plants and people alike, before the air fills with humidity, before thunderstorms send me scurrying inside, before all that are the mornings.
Now that Adventure Camp is over until mid-July, my daily routine of walks around the forest is getting back to normal. I’m already surprised at the difference just a few days away has made. After the spring wildflowers finished their blooms, I had a week or so before the summer wildflowers started. For that week, few blooms were in evidence, and the landscape seemed an unremitting green. This week, I have new blooms and new colors again!
My absence from blogging for the past few days was because I was an instructor at an Adventure Camp for 8-15 year olds. My session included hiking, wildlife identification and nature awareness. It was a lot of fun, if not quite what I’d planned. The kids seemed to be having a lot of fun, though how much they actually learned is up for some debate.
Expect no blogging here for a day or so. I'll be offline and teaching nature awareness and hiking to kids at an Adventure Camp for a bit. I'll be back by Monday at the latestwith stories from how that all went, as well as the latest news and ruminations from the cabin.
New summer flowers are beginning to bloom around me. The spring ones are gone, and summer’s blooms are just getting going. Today’s photo is a purple blooming raspberry (also known as purple flowering raspberry and thimbleberry). The flowers are very showy, aren’t they? Showier than the fruit will be, actually. I think the maple-shaped leaves are very pretty, too. The plant is actually a member of the rose family (rubus odorous). The fruits aren’t usually eaten as they are extremely seedy, though they have a nice flavor with a bit of a tang. The berries won’t be ripe until the end of August or so.
Purple Ironweed, also known as wild butterfly weed, is starting to bloom. One of the reasons I like ironweed is that simply when it blooms. In the first blush of spring, lots of tiny and pretty things are blooming, but not ironweed. Perhaps the plant "knows" it can't compete with those blooms. Right now, wild blooming things are in shorter supply than they were earlier in the season. Oh, the daisies and brown-eyed susans are out, but they are sun-loving, edge-of-the-woods dwellers. Ironweed prefers moister, darker areas, like the shady side of a ditch.
I know many people actually like summer, but for me it’s simply the dull time between spring and fall migration Oh, I can find some interesting things to enjoy about it—the arrival and growth of new baby birds, for one. The house might actually get straightened up to some extent in this lull time, but mostly I am waiting for the first migrants to head south again.
