The Alevins' First Overnight at Racehorse Falls

The Alevin Explorers arrived at Cascades Montessori in a whirlwind of energy and immediately started a Fir Cone war. Looking about the mentors were unsure that the group was ready for the responsibility of an overnight. Loading up onto the bus we waved our goodbyes and were off.

Arriving at Racehorse Falls the group was anxious to pull their packs off the bus, but the mentors held the group, reminding them we needed to focus on the We before the Me. Heading down the path to the falls the group navigated over a massive log jam and wondered how they would carry the group gear over the obstacles.

Hiking along the creek the boys found a perfect site that could fit five tents and raced back to the bus to grab the group gear. Feeling their hunger they struggled to set up the awkward tents and quickly learned that their desired tent locations might not have been the greatest place to drive in tent stakes, and that a rain fly needs to be taunt in order to work. When our tents were at last pitched we ate lunch by Racehorse Creek and settled into the land.

The boys asked the mentors if they were fine to freely explore and the mentors encouraged the group to make a plan for the day. They reminisced on their last summer’s backpacks performing backcountry living tasks in the fading light. The group circled up and decided to head up to the falls to freely explore until mid-day and then head back to camp to get all logistics in order.

Hiking up to the falls the group turned over rocks finding all types of fossils revealing palm frawns and sticks embedded in the shale.

On January 5, 2009 a ‘pineapple express’ storm smashed into the Pacific Northwest from the subtropical Pacific and began delivering a deluge of rain and warm temperatures to the deeply snow-covered foothills of Whatcom County. The accumulation of water in the saturated snow and heavy runoff resulted in hundreds of debris flows and slope failures across the region. The largest landslide occurred on the afternoon of January 7th in the Racehorse Creek drainage. Unlike virtually all other landslides associated with this weather event, the Racehorse Creek landslide involved deep bedrock failure, releasing around 500,000 cubic meters of rock (akin to more than 20,000 dump-truck loads of rock and timber). The slide left behind a 90-foot-high vertical wall crosscutting bedding planes in Chuckanut Formation sandstone and shale.

Debris from the rockslide tumbled 800 feet down to the south valley wall of Racehorse Creek and temporarily dammed the stream. Two debris flow slurries were spawned at the base of the landslide; these entered Racehorse Creek below the debris dam. A flood of water, ice, rocks, and logs scoured the channel of Racehorse Creek and left a slew of fossils and debris in it wake.

Reaching the waterfall the group marveled at the horseshoe like shape of the riverbed and the cascading falls. The boys climbed and explored to their hearts content and decided that the overcast day did not lend itself towards a swim in the pool below the creek.

After making the push back to camp the boys scattered and it was time to bring some focus to the rest of our day. Circling up we appointed a tribal elder, who with the groups help, determined that we had five tasks to complete before night fall: setting up a kitchen, digging a sump, getting our smellables in order, harvesting water for dinner and drinking, and clearing a fire pit as well as harvesting dry Cedar off the river bank. Once the tasks were delegated the mentors sat back a waited for the group to engage.

All in all we would say the boys efforts were quite varied, but over the course of three hours they managed to get it all done. Calling the group together a few of our appointed chefs got dinner going and revisited stove usage and kitchen safety. The mentors reminded the group that a campout is quite different from a day outing. On day outings we play quite rough and there is a real need to scale back on overnights because of our proximity to definitive care.

Circling up we gave some thanks and ate our delicious “thanksgiving meal”. About half-way through dinner the boys started to feel rain. It is a gift to get out on the land with boys who are so in tuned with the natural world. Immediately the boys ran back to their tents, grabbed their rain layers, zipped up their rain fly’s, and got their gear in order. It’s moments like these that let the mentors know that the boys are ready for bigger adventures.

Once our dishes were washed and our kitchen was put away the group worked to split the strait grained Cedar we had harvested to create a tinder bundle for our fire. Leaving it up to the group the

Alevin were able to get the fire going with a flint and steal. We circled up around the fire it to work on some skills. Coal-blowing is a technique used to make anything from spoons and bowls to dugout canoes. Taking small coals out of the fire the boys pressed them against the Cedar blanks gently blowing and igniting the wood. Moving the coal away the boys scraped out the charred wood, leaving a depression that would make the scoop part of their spoon.

After some focused skills work the mentors asked the group to put away their projects and bring their focus inwards towards the fire. The mentors explained that this upcoming year would be one of transition for the group, and when it came to a close in June 2017 the boys would no longer be the Alevin group but instead would transition into the Four Shields program.

Part of this new Four Shields experience would be engaging in a process the mentors call Council. Council is simple; it is a time to openly and genuinely engage with one another. It is a time to share stories, wisdom, and to process. There are three rules of council: speak from the heart, listen from the heart, and get to the heart of the matter. The mentors explained to the group that life is a dance between the sacred and the profane. The group asked what profane was. The mentors explained that profane moments in our day were the times we spent playing games, making fun of each other for doing something silly, and the time spent squirreling. Council on the other hand is ancient and sacred.

Our focus in council for the evening would be two-fold. The first would be to remind the group of their opportunity to serve their younger BEC community as EMA’s. This is the work we do for our community and how we get outside of ourselves and give back. It is also a great way to reconnect with the loss of childhood that many of the Alevin are experiencing as their lives shift and change in middle school.

The second topic was regarding what our mentors call the cultivation of the scared male. The mentors asked the group what their experience in middle school was like and to reflect on how males treated each other in their day to day lives. Not surprisingly the group reflected that there was a lot of ego, disingenuous behavior, bullying, and engagement in a culture that promotes violence, assimilation, mistreatment of women, and power grabbing.

Our goal as mentors for the Alevin is transitioning them into arriving adults who are able to walk forward in life with genuineness, care, integrity, peace building, and a tool kit that helps them navigate what mentors call the cultural wilderness. One mentor shared a story from a middle school experience where he had to make an extremely tough decision that he didn’t feel he could go to his parents to help him make. He elaborated that life in the front country is a culture wilderness and often one that we wander alone or with our peers. The decisions and challenges we face in this wilderness are not always black and white, and it takes a great deal of strength and fortitude to navigate these hurdles with integrity and honor.

After Council the boys were exhausted and tired of holding the strong focus in the rain. The group settled into their tents and we listened to the sounds of the Coyotes in the distance and rainfall against our tents as we drifted off into sleep.

Waking the next morning we broke camp, made breakfast, and reignited our fire for another focused coal-blowing session. We spent the rest of the day on the creek exploring and ended our day with a nice long sit spot and a circle of thanks before heading back to the bus. We had every intention of swimming at the falls, but an event where a rock that was skipped carelessly ricocheted off a larger rock in the river hitting an Explorer in the ankle prevented us from navigating back up the creek. It was an important reminder of the scaling back that mentors mentioned in the previous day. Our mentors are extremely grateful for the time we spend out on the land with these boys and look forward to a great 2016-17 year with the Alevin Explorers.

For more picture from our overnight a Racehorse Falls please visit this photo album.

Alevin Exploring Racehorse Falls

Waiting.  Anticipating.  This is the state of mind that the Boys Explorers Club mentors live in as the spring season approaches.  What events have unfolded and shaped the lives of these boys we are waiting to see?  Starting with a journey out to Racehorse Falls is a fantastic way reunite and begin our Spring season. 

The Alevin were short four boys this outing, a testament to the busy lives that they lead.  We missed those who were absent, but we look forward to seeing you all at our next outing!  Our opening meeting was humming with energy.  There were so many stories to tell and much to catch up on.  Matt and Greg held a brief meeting and those explorers that had previously been to Racehorse Falls shared numerous bits of trail beta to the whole group.  We quickly boarded our faithful bus Stubbs and headed out.

Our bus ride provided the boys a chance to chat and catch up about the winter, we parked Stubbs piled out, and had our opening meeting. Mentors handed out jobs took an opportunity to refocus our eyes to the emergence of Spring.  Much like our explorers, plants in our forests are busting with energy after patiently waiting for the lengthening of daylight and a chance to bloom.

Following a brief discussion we headed out on a boot beaten path and into the lush forest festooned with moss and lichen.  Abruptly the trail met a huge logjam which we scrambled over and onto the large cobbled banks of Racehorse Creek.  Here the ground is littered with fossils of ancient plants.  Their forms are distinct enough to identify.  There were palm fronds, grasses, deciduous leaves and ferns.  Fossils were hiding in almost every rock.  The boys were lost in the pursuit of ancient plants and quickly a log became an impromptu museum.  Matt and Greg were also head down and marveling at the abundance of ancient plant life.

After looking at our fossils, the mentors led a discussion about the ethics of taking fossils.  Should we take from this place?  How many is too many?  What should our intentions be when we collect these things?  It was an interesting discussion and we agreed as a group that one or two taken with deep respect was appropriate.

The challenge of our outing was finding a suitable creek crossing.  The waters of Racehorse creek are shallow, but deep and swift enough to make wading a poor choice.  Fortunately a pair of Western Red Cedar trees were recruited by the stream and provided a narrow bridge across the cold water.  Matt gave the explorers a brief primer on keeping backpack straps unbuckled incase of fall into the creek and stepped lithely across the log to a point where he could assist the boys should they need an extra hand for balance.  One by one the boys mustered their concentration and carefully crossed the creek.  After a quick stop for a snack we charged upstream eventually finding the deer paths that were much more efficient that the ever narrowing bank.  At a broad gravel bar interspersed with Red Alder saplings and enormous tangles of splintered tree trunks we dropped our bags.

Matt led the explorers up to the falls while Greg prepared for a brief skills lesson on fire.  The boys and Matt reveled in the magic and power of the cascading water, and after a brief stay returned to the gravel bar where Greg was waiting to share some fire knowledge.  The river’s abundant supply of large cedar logs made fire making materials very easy to obtain.  Greg briefly demonstrated how to properly baton splits of cedar into smaller and smaller pieces.  With a small pruning saw and a knife we transformed a huge splinter of cedar into beautiful firewood.  Greg also demonstrated using his knife to shave paper-thin curls of wood off of a cedar stick and create “feather sticks”.  By now the weather had shifted and a steady rain was falling.  With the help of a little stick of “fat wood”, Greg was able to start a small fire with the sparks cast from a ferrocium rod (often incorrectly called a flint and steel).

We basked in crackling cheer of our very small fire and discussed the fire journey ahead of the explorers.  We extinguished the fire and scattered the soggy ashes so that like the deer we could disappear back into the forest.   Mustering all of our focus we doggedly hiked back to stubs executing another flawless stream crossing.  Once at Stubbs we circled for our closing meeting and gave thanks for another chance to be together and share these rich experiences in wild places.

Thank you Alevin Explorers for another fantastic outing.  What a tremendous way to begin a season exploring together!  Another thank you to you Parents, we certainly could not do this important work without your support!

Exploring with the Alevin Explorers' Summer Camp

It is always a significant challenge to try to encapsulate a single exploration in an outing report. When that outing report is attempting to encompass an entire week’s journey, the writer's task becomes so impossible that one can only surrender that foolish aim. Instead, the inspiration comes to provide vignettes or snapshots; to supply the parents with a pointillist picture and allow your minds to connect the dots.

We know that too often the boys come home from a very full and powerful outing and all the parents get in summary is something to the effect of, “it was good.”  Let It Be Known that it was more than good: it was a full life experience, with laughter and tears, cheers and fears, connection and growth. Everyone embraced the Explorers’ Club motto ofstretch your edge.

We poked around the 100 Aker Wood, following our curiosity as it took us down strange paths filled with mysterious bugs, crazy-looking mushrooms, primitive shelters, slugs and snails, nettles, mystery birds, games, teachable moments, and towering trees. Explorers learned how to identify different trees by sight, smell, and touch, and then through games. We learned a little more about how the animals navigate the woods by getting down and crawling around on their level. We introduce the game of Spider's Web, and Explorers’ Club favorite, and then moved on for some fun navigation skills. We navigated the woods, and navigated our own group culture at the same time.

At Bakerview Beach, a chilly beginning turned into an epically beautiful day. We navigated the great logs washed up by the Nooksack, gathered up our courage to cross the cold currents and explore the vast expanse of the mud flats. The mud coated our faces and made for a great sliding material. We touched on the art of carving, learned about knotweed, cattails, fort building, and the art of beach exploration. We found the “Earthkeeper’s Lair” and explored this magical space till it was nearlytime to go home.

Whatcom Falls Park offered the power of a tracking deer, taking new trails, a great waterfall, clambering over and climbing between massive boulders, discovering crayfish, and finding out what lies beneath the bridge we've so often traveled upon. We investigated the pond, jumped in the water, learned about concentric rings, practiced Fox feet, and played a new game called Ripple through the Forest.

Teddy bear traverse gave us the chance to get some hiking in. We played a very challenging game of camouflage gauntlet, discovered how to move quietly, how to paint mud all over our faces, and learned a little bit more about devil’s club.  The trail to Teddy Bear Cove was filled with berries, imagination, and some good teaching points on awareness. Of course there were plenty of games. The final destination is one of Bellingham's gems.  Worth many visits!

The final day at Racehorse Falls offered the amazement of fossils! A vast expanse of water gave us the challenge of learning how to cross well, trust our feet, and explore with more confidence. Fossils everywhere, interesting plants, and a giant waterfall upstream provided for a wonderful day. This place is worth seeing, and we highly recommend that parents start your own Explorers club and get out there! You will not regret it.

Thanks so much to all the Explorers for your willingness to explore your world, to cultivate your senses of connection and service, and to have fun while doing it. You made this a wonderful week. Much thanks to all the parents for all of your support!

Be sure to check out pics of the outings in our Summer Photo Gallery.