The Deming Homestead Eagle Park is described by Whatcom County parks as, “Fields and forests edge the North Fork Nooksack River surrounding the park. Sunny picnic tables invite a leisurely break any time of the year, but the greatest attraction occurs from December through March, as majestic bald eagles congregate here to feast on spawned salmon.” It’s also a great spot to work on tracking and just getting lost in the natural environment.
However, we woke on Saturday to a forecast of hazardous road conditions, so the mentors decided to forego our planned visit to Deming and stay close to town rather than venture out the Mount Baker Highway. Instead, we hopped into Merkle, one of Wild Whatcom’s two trusty buses, and headed to the Lost Lake/Clayton Beach trailhead to begin our hunt for snow in the Chuckanuts.
There was no sign of snow along the Interurban trail as we started up toward Fragrance Lake, but we were hopeful. In fact, hope turned to confidence when we encountered a former Girls Explorers Club mentor coming down the trail. She informed us that there was indeed snow at higher elevation. Energized by this “intel”, our pace quickened. It’s a steep hill, though, and soon we stopped for a rest, lunch and exploration break.
We pondered whether this would be a good spot to play Spider’s Web, but decided to press on in search of the elusive snow. About half way to Fragrance Lake there’s a spur to a lookout. We elected to follow this path for the view and in the belief that it might provide an excellent Spider’s Web location. The view was nice but a surfeit of downed trees precluded playing the game. Oh, and still no snow. And it was getting to be time to consider reversing course so as to be at the trailhead at the appointed time.
So, to review: no eagles, no snow, no game.
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| The Fragrance Lake trail has some pretty steep spots. It's a good idea to take a breather every little while. As we say in Explorers Club, "Fast is slow and slow is fast". |
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| Here's our rest/lunch/exploration spot. Well, more than just this "nurse rock", of course, but the boys were quick to climb atop.... |
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| ...and just as quick to explore these moss-covered boulders. |
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| You can still see hints of what the old growth forests were like, with massive trees, boulders and streams coexisting in a natural symphony. Beautiful. |
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| Mini-grand canyons were meant to be leapt across, wouldn't you say? Check out the video below for a better appreciation of this activity. |
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| Foggy, but still awesome. |
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| Finally, our long awaited game of Spider's Web. |
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| Here's a first...the spider won! Ask your Explorer how that happens. |
Interestingly, the boys weren’t deterred by the repeated failures. They called Hide! several times, explored when given the opportunity, and chatted as usual.
It wasn’t the plan for the day, but what we mostly wound up doing was wandering — getting lost in the moment and the location. This is actually something we strive for in Explorers Club, so we embraced it as we headed down the hill. Without consciously deciding, we fell into the EC motto to Be Here Now, which helped us as we returned to our lunch spot and organized that elusive Spider’s Web game.
As expressed by the motto It’s All Part of It, we accepted the frustration of our repeated foundering and kept our perspective. Sure, the snow gave us the slip (the only snow play took place in the parking lots at either end of the bus ride) and we saw not one eagle, but we were with friends in the splendid Chuckanut Mountains - so much for which to be thankful.
You won’t be surprised to learn that there are more photos.
The Barred Owls meet again on January 22. Here’s the club’s updated page for details. Have a peaceful holiday.
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