More than two months since summer camp, Daredevil’s Club Explorers met at 100 Aker woods to rekindle their connections with the Boys Explorers Club stomping grounds. We had a long opening meeting in order to check in about the summer and strengthen the bonds among group members and mentors. How nice it was to gather together again after an extended time!
Though the outing called for us to revisit the Art of Shelter-building, the weather was not conducive for hunkering down and staying warm. Instead, we wanted to be vivacious in the last summer sunlight and got moving fast. We found out that Drew Butler was a mentor with the Alevin group and thought it would be a great idea to stalk him and that group! Being a year older, the Daredevil’s Club was convinced that they could sneak up easily without being detected.
Out went the shelter building skills and in came the beginnings of the Art of Navigation. Steve told the group that we had to travel northwest if we were to find the Alevin. We also tracked the sun and determined the four cardinal directions based on the time being nearly 1:15pm. Ask your Explorer(s) to tell you where the sun is at 1:15pm in western Washington. See if he/they can recall the reason for the time too.
At every junction, boys stopped. The front scout, Max, waited and the tribal elder, Solstice, asked for a group consensus about which way to go. Everyone had a different opinion and the arguing continued every time until the back scout, Jake, caught up with the group, pulled out his compass and gave us an accurate bearing. Or maybe Jake was in front and Max was back scout... those guys must be twins!
There are two important lessons here. First, if we need to stop at every junction and check the compass for the right direction in order to go the right way, then those 30-second breaks are worth it. Following the motto,Slow is Fast and Fast is Slow, our overall pace is faster if we don’t get lost. Despite stopping repeatedly, we made good time and ended up exactly where we were aiming.
Second, this mentor only understood the relevancy AFTER the outing. What a great idea to keep the back scout with the compass! Though it wasn’t planned, it is the perfect way to keep the group together. In order to move forward everyone, including the last person, must be present to the group process. And furthermore, this ensures that no one will get left behind and take the wrong trail. Well done, DDC!
A scouting party searched for the Alevin while some of us had lunch and watched many Bellingham Traverse participants make the wrong turn at a trail junction. The scouts arrived with the important information about the Alevin’s whereabouts; at last, Drew Butler would get ambushed!
We camouflaged our backpacks and headed toward our prey. This involved some false alarms and us spending ten minutes waiting in various sword fern patches. Trail runners continued to fly past us without realizing we were there… if we were cougars and they were deer, then I can promise that we would have had food for weeks :)
We started to surround the Alevin and realized that we had been too loud. They caught on to our stalking them and then they took to stalking us! Alas, the hunters became the hunted. When our new mentor, Greg, slithered under the sword fern next to me I knew that the jig was up and our ambush had backfired.
Daredevil’s Club and Alevin Explorers made a circle and introduced themselves. Some boys found new connections in schoolmates who are Explorers but in a different group. We also mentioned how our next outings are both service; though the times are staggered we will be working side-by-side in our restoration efforts next outing at Connelly Creek on October 13.
While these connections were being made, however, Drew was off in search for Broadleaf Plantain (Plantago major) as a remedy for wasp stings that one of the Alevin endured while stalking us. In the end, we never did see Drew. Our plans completely changed, just like in the beginning of the day when we decided to forgo the art of shelter-building in order to pursue the arts of navigation and stealth. Don’t worry DDC, you’ll have a chance to get those shelter skills during the Showdown later in the season.
Explorers, thank you for going with inspiration today and reading the weather to determine the outing. You are more and more stepping into the power that is within you! Parents, thank you for your support of these boys and this program. We appreciate knowing your families and strengthening our community together.
As usual, please check out the (very few) pictures in the Daredevil’s Club photo gallery. Enjoy the onset of fall. We’ll see you next month!
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