Mentors woke up on Saturday feeling invigorated to have an outing in the rain. Explorers may have felt the same… or perhaps mild trepidation about spending the majority of the daylight hours in the wet and cold. However different our days started, it’s clear that we left the day feeling empowered by our commitment to stick it out together.
Once again, Nick volunteered as a mentor for the Raccoon Kits; he even rode his bike to meet all of us. Thanks for your dedication to this group and to the Boys Explorers Club, Nick!
Our day started off slowly, under the dryness of shelter, until everyone got used to the temperature. We also realized that the rain was not planning to stop, so we had no choice but to embrace it.
Suddenly, Nick transformed into a deer and Explorers channeled their inner cougar energy. Boys were quick to track that Nick-deer, eventually catching him. Then Greg, a mentor new to the Raccoon Kits this season, caught the deer-energy and Explorers soon tracked him down too. Lastly, Dave became a deer and led the boys up and down a hill behind the shelter. During these three rounds of “Cougar Stalks Deer,” boys learned two important lessons about the wet and cold.
The best way to understand the rain is to get in it: To let the drops fall on us. To embrace the weather and celebrate it outside with friends. To accept the grey clouds that keep our Pacific Northwest environment so green and full of life.
Lesson number two is that being active is one way of building up personal heat so that we can prolong our time out-of-walls. And more simply put, it’s fun playing stalking and chasing games regardless of the weather… so let’s play outside all year long!
We trekked deeper into forest and up a hill to a place where Explorers learned the basics of another favorite EC game called, “Spider’s Web.” We explained the rules of the game and began to play with Dave as spider and everyone else as flies. But, one-after-one, boys dropped like flies in a different way. This is when lesson three emerged: Cold. Many of us were soaked through. Our fingers were icicles. It was difficult to play because the elements finally demanded our attention and respect.
Some responded by eating a snack and drinking water. Others drank some hot honey water that mentors brought. And a handful of Explorers were interested in just holding the warm mug. One way to respond in cold weather is to refuel our bodies- they need a lot of energy to keep us warm. We took turns wringing out gloves and hats. Nick taught us the “shakeout” game to get blood moving to our extremities.
Then we hit the trail, knowing that actively hiking would warm us up. Greg led us to a good place for a Sit Spot. In staying quiet and not moving, the sit spot is a very important nature connection practice because we get more used to the flow of life around us… and the natural world gets used to our being there. We can listen to the birds’ teachings as they vie for territory or notice cool fungi growing in hidden crevices in symbiotic relationship with the surrounding trees. The sit spot is a practice we’ll revisit many times in our Explorers Club careers!
We finally reached the shelter and wrang out our clothes. We had closing meeting and ate our snacks. A couple of Explorers found that they were colder in the shelter because in de-layering, they released their body heat. Let’s remember to wring out our wet stuff but to find a balance of maintaining our heat too.
Be proud of your efforts, Raccoon Kits—you got the real story of what Explorers Club is about. This outing was a great foundation for nature connection! From the Sit Spot to Spider’s Web, you now join a legacy of Whatcom county boys who practice nature-connection and play fun forest games. And your ability to be out in the cold rainy autumn weather is a testament to your inner-strength. We mentors were inspired by your efforts and truly look forward to future explorations together!
Parents, thanks for your support of these Raccoon Kits and the BEC community. Please have a look at the photo gallery, but recognize that the pictures are mostly blurred because of the dark and wet :). See you next weekend!
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