The Cave Dwellers carve, play and lead at Lookout Mountain 11/12/16

We didn’t accomplish everything we planned to do on Saturday. The beautiful waterfall tucked into the lower reaches of Lookout Mountain? Not happening. That epic game of Spider’s Web that is always in the back of our minds? A victim of other priorities. Sounds like the outing was a bit of a bust, no?

Au contrare! An outing design element employed by Boys Explorers Club mentors is known as the 50/50 rule. We plan for the entire day, but anticipate that 50% of that plan will be sacrificed to such factors as the weather and, more important, the inspiration of the group. We don’t want to turn a blind eye to the interests and motivations of the boys so we can check a box on our plan. The plan was: carving; Spider’s Web; Hungry Hungry Marten; waterfall. We carved and played many very fun rounds of Hungry Hungry Marten and came away fairly well pleased with ourselves.

We achieved another important objective on Saturday as well. The Cave Dwellers have lots of experience with Boys Explorers Club culture. It’s time for them to take on more responsibility and to enjoy the associated freedoms. So we made a change; the mentors selected the Tribal Elder, who then assigned jobs and led a discussion of our plan for the day (see above). These tasks are usually handled by a mentor. 

So, we layered up and off we went into the rain, looking for sticks that could be carved into digging sticks. We soon reached our “base camp” with materials on hand; while mentor Tim erected a tarp shelter, mentor Brian organized what turned out to be several fun games of Hungry Hungry Marten.

Steady rain for the first few hours of our day didn't dampen the Cave Dwellers' spirits. Here we get a look at our opening meeting, largely led by our Tribal Elder.

Searching for sticks appropriate for crafting digging sticks, which can be your best friend when nature calls.

What makes for a great Hungry, Hungry Marten location? A mix of natural cover and the fast access of the trail provided several strategic options for the "squirrels" trying to get to the tree protected by the Marten without being "eaten". In this case, the tree in the center of the photo, guarded by the Explorer in red, was excellent.

Thanks to mentor Tim's tarp shelter, we were able to duck out of the rain for some serious carving. 

Great technique! Note how he has good balance, his legs are spread wide to avoid accidental slip cuts, and he's focused on his cut. Awesome work.

The term "dry" is relative sometimes.

Not sure what's happening here, to be honest.

Oh, and several Explorers (and mentor Tim) had fun with a game called Ninja.

Our trail blazing Tribal Leader suffered a few bumps as he adjusted the mantel of leadership looking for the best fit. As our motto points out: We’re All Teachers And all learners! It’s not “ARE you smart?” but “HOW are you smart?” Everyone has much to share, and we're all "smart" in a variety of ways. We draw upon Multiple Intelligence Theory in all our wanderings. Mistakes are teachers too! He’s to be congratulated for embracing the challenge and setting the bar forhis peers.

Note: The mentors were prepared for some soul-searching discussion of last week’s election results. We were prepared to frame our discussion in the spirit of another of our mottos - Build Bridges Not Walls Which are we building in how we speak and act toward others? We endeavor to create a culture of kindness and respect. "Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up." –J. Jackson  However, the election wasn’t front of mind for the boys (as best we could ascertain) so we didn’t press it. 

Photos here. This outing completed our fall season. Remember, though, that we're now operating on a full school year schedule. So, please mark your calendars for Sunday, February 12, 2017 for our winter outing. Not sure of the location and other details yet. Watch for a note with winter and spring schedule and local information and check the Cave Dweller web page for updates. 

The Cave Dwellers Visit Their Namesake on the Rock Trail

On an overcast Sunday morning, the Cave Dwellers were united atop Chuckanut Mountain with a brilliant view of Bellingham Bay as the backdrop. Despite the lengthy drive up the re-vamped road, the view always makes it worth the trip, not to mention the incredible Rock Trail that was the whole reason for coming here in the first place. With some mentors ailing from illness, the Cave Dwellers got to meet a new mentor, Ethan, who would accompany them on their exploration of their namesake: CAVES! Having a new mentor along for the outing was a great opportunity for the Cave Dwellers to demonstrate what it means to be a member of the Boys Explorers Club. We had a lot in store for the day and before we hit the trail we discussed the game plan of searching for caves, playing games, and taking some time to revisit carving. Despite the cloud cover atop Chuckanut Mountain, looking down to the San Juans we could see sunlight breaking through ushering in the prospect of good things to come.

Best view ever for opening circle!

Admiring the sandstone cliffs

Cruising down the trail in search of caves

Once we hit the trail the massive sandstone cliff faces and steep stairs forced us to slow down and appreciate the beauty of the landscape. Water droplets pitter pattering down the mossy rock faces generated a subtle auditory backdrop that was overcome by the laughing and hollering of Explorers as we played games of HIDE!, journeyed alongside the cliffs, and eventually discovered a series of caves. Clamoring inside, boys took turns sheltering inside the deep sandstone caverns and got in touch with their inner Cave Dweller. After the excitement of the caves wore off, our explorations carried over into the surrounding landscape; deep valleys of dense Sword Fern, giant boulders covered in moss and Licorice Fern, and plenty more.

Clamoring into caves

Almost there!

Cave Dwellers in their natural habitat

Next in line for the day was games! Circling up the Cave Dwellers showed off their group decision making skills to Ethan who was thoroughly impressed at the group’s ability to collaborate, compromise, and come to a consensus on how to spend the rest of our day. We decided to jump right into an expansive game of Spider’s Web followed by a quick carving session before pick up. The game of Spider’s Web was a great time to crawl through Sword Fern, work together as a team, and overcome a persistent Spider to win after nearly an hour of intense nature play. Afterwards the group debriefed and this time they impressed Tim with how grateful they were to one another for the great game. Everyone thanked the Spider for how well he played and the Spider couldn’t say enough about how he appreciated the tough, yet fair, competition of the flies who persevered and eventually overcame. Going back a few years, this group would have been quick to get in an argument over the rules or fairness, but today they showed just how much they had grown both as individuals, and also as a group.

Adventuring over boulders

Admiring the expansive valley

Harvesting Licorice Fern

With the end of our outing drawing near, we hustled back up the trail and found a good clearing off trail to re-visit carving. A quick review of safe carving practices, a discussion about different types of wood and their properties, and we spread out for a brief carving session. Despite dealing with a challenging wood in Big Leaf Maple, the boys all demonstrated patience, skill, and a deepened comprehension in the basics of carving as they worked on carving cylindrical, tapered, chopsticks. But before we could get very far it was time for closing circle. Again, Ethan was impressed by the genuine, thoughtful statements of gratitude that each Cave Dweller shared as we passed around the apple slices. Again, demonstrating a depth of character and compassion, the Cave Dwellers left the mentors proud of how much they have grown over the years. This group is truly coming into their own now and it shows in a multitude of ways. With another outing coming up next weekend, we can’t wait to get back out exploring with this incredible group of Explorers! 

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our album here!

Sharing our Spider's Web stories and congratulating one another on a good game

Practicing our carving skills

The sun even came out to warm us as we worked on our chop sticks

BEC: Cave Dwellers traverse Padden and Connelly creeks 9/17/16

Each spring and fall, the Boys Explorers Club groups meet at the Connelly Creek service site to work to restore a section of Happy Valley Park that was used as a garbage dump for a time and that was (and, to an extent, still is) overrun by invasive, non-native plants. This abuse of the land degrades the creek that runs alongside the park, so we've been working for several years to remove Himalayan Blackberry and beat back the Reed Canary Grass that has crowded out the healthy flora along the creek. It's good work, as is obvious when you look at before and after pictures. There's more to be done, but we're making steady progress (motto: slow is fast and fast is slow).

This comes to mind because for our outing last Saturday we traversed Padden Creek from Bellingham Bay to the Connelly Creek service site (Connelly Creek feeds into Padden Creek). We mimicked the salmon that formerly traveled up the creek in greater numbers than do today, and that we hope will find their way back again in greater numbers in the not-to-distant future. Along the way, we spent time examining and discussing the daylighting project completed last year by the City of Bellingham to replace the section of the creek that had been diverted into a tunnel many years ago with an open air stream bed that will be a big part of restoring the salmon run. We thought about how our work and the city's project are complementary projects, and indeed how all things are connected (motto). When the salmon figure out they have their stream back, they'll swim up to the newly restored section of Connelly Creek! How great is that? 

We began at the beginning by checking out the estuary where Padden Creek empties into Bellingham Bay. Estuaries are critical ecosystems in which life thrives as in no other habitat. The brackish water where fresh and salt water meet and mix teems with life. For salmon, it is the place where they spend time adjusting to and from salt water, a process called smoltification.

Just like that, fall made an appearance for our outing. As we gathered, the wind gusted and it rained heavily. We were wet throughout the morning, but caught a break when the afternoon proved drier if not sunny.

Padden Creek runs through Fairhaven Park, where we took a break from our focus on its importance for the salmon to explore a little.

Oh yeah. We also played games in the park. Luckily, the rain eased enough for us to shed a layer or two.

The park shelter provided a dry spot for lunch. Several boys were unable to join us for this outing, but finding a lunch buddy was still a piece of cake...or a cheese stick, I guess.

The floor in the shelter was just slick enough for an impromptu game of drag the mentor....

New to me was the labyrinth not far from the shelter. The boys examined the star at its center and followed its maze-like pattern. A hidden gem in Fairhaven Park! 

While examining the city's daylighting project, we realized that just behind the creek was the Bellingham Co-housing community, so we talked a bit about responsible resource use and the role of an approach such as co-housing, or car sharing and the like might play in decreasing a person's impact on the land.






We finished our hike at the Connelly Creek service site where the boys were relieved to hear we weren't going to haul bark and dig out blackberry roots! Here's hoping they also were impressed by the complementary projects designed to improve the salmon run.

We took more pictures, of course. Enjoy! We next meet on Saturday, October 15th, from 10:00 'til 3:00. We'll be exploring the Rock Trail, which you'll get to via Cleator Road. This will be a significant outing for the Cave Dwellers, as a highlight of the hike is the caves in the side of the rocks to be examined. If memory serves, six explorers in a cave is the record. Outing details here.

Cleator Rd closed? No prob. - the Cave Dwellers explore Clayton Beach instead! 5/22/16

We began blindfolded and finished up as the incoming tide threatened to soak our circle of thanks. Sure, we didn't get to go to the Rock Trail, but the Cave Dwellers didn't let that stop their fun. Spider's Web, a serious discussion of vandalism, beach exploration, carving practice and games - check out our packed 5/22/16 Clayton Beach outing!

It's true. We blindfolded your Explorers when we sent them out on a sit spot to begin our Clayton Beach outing last Sunday. When you remove sight, hearing is often heightened. And since we wanted to focus on bird language, we decided blindfolds would help the boys listen for the five voices of birds - song, companion calling, aggression, juvenile begging, and alarm. We followed that quiet moment with a game of Spider's Web.

Before heading off to the beach, we talked about the recently tagged graffiti on the beach rocks. The boys were quick to pick up on positive activism as a healthy way to deal with this sorrowful situation. Know that several of the boys would like to volunteer with a cleanup crew, should one materialize (Turn Problems into Possibilities - Mottos). 

The Cave Dwellers were eager to carve. Mentor Tim demonstrated safe knife use and even showed a few techniques to save time and improve the finished product. Our motto for this is Safety First. Click here to review our safe carving video.

Wiggly creature - click to watch 

The tide was low when we arrived, making for nice beach combing. EMA Jordan led an exploration of sea life such as this Sand Dollar...(I'm pretty sure that's his hand!). Motto - Lose Your Mind and Come to Your Senses.

Blindfolded again! This time one Explorer sits surrounded by rivals intent on stealing his treasure (Sand Dollar) while he has to detect their creeping approach using only his power of hearing. This game rewards stealth and focused listening.

It wouldn't be a Clayton Beach outing without some serious rock scrambling. Our earlier discussion of the graffiti seemed to cushion the shock factor for most of the boys. 

Poof! There goes Spring! The mentors perceive a growing affiliation within the Cave Dwellers, providing a foundation for increasing self-reliance and nature connection through fun, engaging outdoor activities. That is certainly our hope and objective. 

We look forward to seeing you in the Fall (and, perhaps, over the Summer). Click here for the rest of the photos from our outing. 

BEC: The Cave Dwellers listen for bird language at Squires Lake

Spring is sprung; the grass is riz. 

I wonder where the boidies is. 

The boid is on the wing. 

Don’t be absoid; the wing is on the boid.

Afraid I can’t take credit for that piece of fine poetry (although I do hail from Brooklyn, and the poem is apparently sometimes called the Brooklyn (or Bronx) National Anthem…note the accent - “boid” rather than bird). Regardless, it springs to mind (pardon the pun) as I reflect on the Cave Dwellers’ outing on Sunday. It was a fine spring day indeed as we started up the short climb to Squires Lake. 

Relating bird calls heard during our sit spot

The poem also relates because the Cave Dwellers’ skills focus for this season is tracking and, wait for it - bird language! So, after handing out jobs, the mentors launched right into a sit spot with a request that the boys listen for bird chatter. And, despite the fact that I asked them to do that within spitting distance of a small waterfall that dominated the aural scene, several boys returned to our circle relating what they’d heard from the trees and skies. The mentors incorporated their reports into an introduction to the five “voices” of bird language - Song, Companion Calling, Juvenile Begging, Aggression and Alarm. Click here for more information on this fascinating topic. 

A different approach, this idea of having a sit spot early in the outing. Of late, I’ve been planning them for toward the end of the outing so the boys can reflect on what had occurred that day. A decent idea, but time often slips away and we lose this valuable “Core Routine”. So, this time we tried doing it early. It went well.

Tracking Squires Lake wildlife

With our new awareness of our feathered friends fresh in our minds, we set out around the lake toward the beaver pond at the south end. Before long, we found ourselves in game mode. A few games of Hide! to get the stealth meter surging and we were ready for Spider’s Web. Unfortunately, as it turned out, Spider’s Web was not ready for us. Our first attempt was under way about 15 minutes when our spider was alerted to the fact that we were playing on private property, not the park land we assumed we were occupying. A little embarrassing, perhaps, but also an opportunity to model for the boys one of our values as represented by our mottos - “Walk Your Talk”. The motto focuses on acting with integrity, on letting that quiet voice inside be your guide to doing the right thing. So mentor Brian had a brief conversation with the property owner, explained that we were unaware we were on her property, apologized and led a retreat to find a more suitable location. 

Along the way, we stopped to examine the wildlife in the lake. Well, some of it was wild - the garter snake the boys found, however, was quite dead. Not so for the frogs, tadpoles and chattering birds we observed. Squires Lake is a natural wonderland that rewards those who take the time to slow down to take it in. 

The lure of a complete game of Spider’s Web drew us back off-trail (in the park this time) and down a short but steep embankment. What appeared at first glance to be a good Spider’s Web course proved to be anything but after we examined the area more closely and discovered multiple areas of standing water. I guess the drop in the level of the land should’ve tipped up off to the likely presence of water. 

Poor creature - dead!

This was another opportunity to put a time-honored Explorers Club motto into action - “Turn problems into possibilities” - what may look like a problem can transform into a possibility. So the mentors introduced a new game (not sure of the name) that involves a blindfolded explorer who has a “prize” to protect. When other forest creatures (explorers) attempt to creep close enough to steal the prize, the protector listens for signs of their approach and points to the source of the sounds. It is eye-opening to see how well a boy can listen when he can’t see and he has something of (perceived) value to protect. In fact, none of the boys was able to capture the prize. 

Connecting with nature and group-mates

More significant than the outcome of the game to me was the way the Cave Dwellers handled the disappointment of not playing their favorite game. They were resilient; they were flexible; they were understanding and open to trying something new and different. All signs of individual and group maturation. This group has been together for several seasons now; they appear to get along well and can rally as a group to make the most of their situation. You should be proud of your explorer.

We have more photos here. Our next meeting is a service outing at Connelly Creek on Saturday, May 14th, from 10:30-2:30pm. Note the new drop-off/pick-up location described on the group’s site here.

First outing of the season! Check. Steep hike and clouds? Check. Mud and games of Spider's Web? Check, check.

The Cave Dwellers kicked off their Spring Season at Pine and Cedar lake. On a typical overcast spring day basking in the tall oaks and pines all around them, the boys gathered in bountiful energy! After a brief introduction and meeting the new Mentor, Bobby, the Cave Dwellers scurried into the woods. 

We could tell spring was upon us. All our senses were aware of the smells, sights and the feel of the mud below our feet. The beautiful and aptly named salmon berry is just starting to show it's bright pink flowers. Nature has just started the rinse cycle of mother nature's washing machine and before we know it will be ready to dry out in the summer heat. 

This season the boys are studying the art of tracking and bird language. Spider's web is in fact a great way to embody what it is like to be an animal traveling through the landscape in the pursuit for food and ultimately survival, or maybe that's just our excuse to play it all the time! (If you do not know the rules, ask your explorer, it's a favorite) Bobby was chosen as the spider in a challenging spot for the fly's. After finding more mud then the food source it was time for a snack for the mind and the body. 

Tracking how creatures navigate through the landscape has always been part of life. From finding the paths of Buffaloes to getting to the nearest Starbucks, we navigate our landscapes everyday and invariably leave signs and behavioral patterns in our wake! After talking about tracking and how we can use keen observation to follow any creatures navigation through the landscape it was time for an activity. This awesome group is starting to learn the more time it takes for the mentors to speak the less time there is for games. Our activity plan was for our EMA (Explorers Mentor Apprentice) to run with a stick dragging behind up the trail. After giving him a head start and he was out of sight, the rest of the team would then follow that track and find him! Simple and easy? Not so much. The trail was hard packed and didn't show tracks, there were rocks and also many other  tracks. This provided a great learning opportunity. Imagine that stick was your food source, your family is relying on you to track it through many difficult terrains. The mentors and boys are excited to continue to learn this art and teach it!

We concluded our day with an intense game of  Hungry, Hungry Martin. This was a great opportunity to let go of the deeper focus required for tracking and just get lost in play. Our hike down was wonderful, just us on the trail and so many stories to share. On a day learning about tracking I was left thinking about how trails, man made or those left by our animal friends, always lead us exactly where we need to go. To a lake, to a peak, to a shower or to someone who we want to tell everything about our wonderful day to. 

Keep on Exploring! Happy trails. 

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our day here!