Exploring N Chuckanut Mountain and Arroyo Park

On our second exploration outing, the Barnacles worked on honing our exploring skills and safety awareness. We began our opening circle by reviewing trail safety and how to dress for success outdoors. We talked through layering clothes to stay warm and dry in anticipation of a wet chilly day. After assigning our jobs: TTTPP (Totally Terrific Toilet Paper Person), Knowledge Keeper, Leader of the Day, and Front and Back Scout, we headed up the trail to see what fall in the Chuckanuts had in store for us.

Licorice Fern on a Big Leaf Maple

On our first stop, we learned to identify Licorice Fern. Specifically, we wanted to make sure we could tell the difference between Licorice Fern and Sword Fern. Licorice Fern, we learned, takes advantage of the PNW's mild,wet winters to grow on mossy patches like those often found on Big Leaf Maples. We noted that unlike sword ferns, the leaves of the Licorice Fern are fully attached to the stem and only grow in single fronds rather than a cluster. Some Barnacles shared that they have tasted licorice root, the edible part of the plant historically utilized by Native Peoples for its medicinal properties. Since Explorers only eat plants if we are absolutely certain they are safe, we discussed the EC motto "Meet before you eat!" For now, we decided it best to ask a Mentor before eating anything while we improve our foraging skills.

Wesley and Kate "shake hands" with Licorice Fern

Our next stop along the way was a trail-side waterfall. We splashed around in the cold water and tried to make a mental map of the flow of water through Arroyo Park. Some of us even climbed up part of the fall! It was a good time to review S.T.O.P. (Stop,Think,Observe,Plan) to make sure we were climbing safely in slippery conditions.

From puddle jumping to splashing in waterfalls, 

the Barnacles don't mind getting wet!

Next, we stopped for lunch and free exploration time. Some of us waded in the creek...

Rock hopping under the bridge!

...while others took advantage of a natural tree fort created by a downed Cedar Tree. When it began to rain, we made sure to put our rain layers on and continued to play without minding a little precipitation.

How many Barnacles can you spot in this tree fort?

Our last stop along the way was to an open area perfect for learning another "Art of Camouflage" game. We learned to play Spider's Web, an absolute EC favorite. In this game, a Spider (one player) hides their food source (a bandanna) somewhere in the woods. It is the job of the flies (all other players) to capture the food source and bring it back to the spider's web without getting caught. But be careful! If the Spider sees you, it's back to the web until a fellow fly can give you a sly wave allowing you to sneak away.

Barnacles in search of the perfect Spider's Web location

After a successful game of Spider's Web- Flies won!- we headed back to the trail to make our return hike. We stopped once more at the waterfall to share some hot cocoa and warm up. With bellies full of cocoa and fingers rewarmed, we finished the remainder of the hike to the trail head. In keeping with EC tradition, we wrapped up our outing with  a closing circle to share our "Attitude of Gratitude" for the day. All in all, we agreed that it was a successful outing and that even the rain couldn't put a damper on our day, especially when we had hot cocoa to warm us back up!

For more photos from our outing, click here.