On a clear, frigid, nor’easter morning, the Daredevil’s Club met at North Chuckanut Trailhead for a scouting outing! In Explorers’ Club Scouting refers to an exploration during which we travel, or traverse, from one place to another. It involves dedicated supporters who can drop us one place and pick us up at another. Thank you parents and partners of mentors who helped facilitate this experience!
This was the day when we learned about and practiced the motto, Dance to the beat of your own drummer. We played a game that involved dancing, so that Asher could learn everyone’s name and we could simultaneously realize the value of being different. Asher is a member of the Firestalkers group and also involved in the Explorers Mentoring Apprentice (EMA) program. He joined us for the day and added tremendously to the DDC’s experience.
We started our hike up the hill and enjoyed a small lunch break at a quiet bend in the trail. Of course we played Hide and then Incoming because the surroundings were perfect areas to camouflage. Ask your Explorer the difference between these two games.
As we hiked onwards, Asher taught many Explorers about licorice root. The root is a part of the Licorice Fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza) which is a native plant to the Pacific Northwest. Many Daredevil’s Club Explorers can recognize this plant and how to successfully and responsibly harvest it. Next time you are outdoors with your Explorer, please ask him to identify this plant and maybe you too can taste the sweetness that our environment has to offer!
A bit further up the trail, we dropped our packs, made a base camp, and played a wild game of Spiders Web. With two flags and two spiders it was a challenging round, and only teamwork could save the flies. Though the flies were the winners, all Explorers learned about the natural world by hiding and crawling around in the underbrush.
We gathered round and heard a story about a professor at Western who has gone legally blind, but now leads groups of “sighted” folks out in the woods and teaches them about birds and trees. He “sees” with his other senses and teaches others to see in this way. We discussed how important it is to have people with different ways of seeing and being in a group.
We then decided to experience a different way of seeing with a drum stalk. In this activity, blindfolded Explorers learn to see with their feet and trust their ears while scampering about slowly in the forest. The goal is to walk toward the drum beats they hear and to patiently study a landscape they can’t see. In the end their environmental awareness increases because they engage with the land with more than just their eyes. Apples awaited our arrival at the drum!
As Explorers figuratively danced to their own drum beats throughout the day, there were times of discord. But these proved invaluable experiences as we explored the theme of “escalation” and how to create a discourse of listening, compassion, and forgiveness. We are on the road to creating space for others to move to their own beats as well. And the words, “I’m sorry,” have become a part of the DDC culture.
As light faded into grey, our traverse ended with a sit spot by Arroyo Creek. For a couple minutes at the end of a long outing, Explorers had more time to hear their beat and connect it with the music of the natural world too. When we all got back together it was clear that the rhythms of nature, self, and community were running through us and that were open to hearing it. Our ending Circle of Thanks brought us back to the motto,Attitude of Gratitude.
Again, thanks parents and supporters for facilitating this traverse. And a big thank you to you Explorers for the courage to dance to your own beat and to accept the dances of others.
Please check out more images from this outing in the photo gallery. And be prepared for the next outing too! To get a richer understanding of Explorers’ Club and the themes that guide our activities please look at our mottos.
No comments:
Post a Comment