Daredevil's Club, Storm Wolves, and Barred Owls Help Clean Up Connelly Creek

Meeting at our new park and ride drop-off location the Daredevil’s Club were finally all present for their last service outing as a group. With plenty of sunshine to accompany us, we walked over to the service site to take inventory of what had been done by previous groups, what was left to do today, and how we would make the most of our time. We also talked about the importance of setting a good precedent for the younger groups, and leading by example and emphasizing safe tool usage, proper technique, and strong work ethic. At first it took the group a little while to get going, but after taking a quick snack break and drinking down some water the Daredevil’s kicked it into gear and got down to business.

As the Daredevil’s Club finished constructing a make-shift fence around a recently discovered bees nest the next group, the Storm Wolves, arrived. After taking some time to walk through the service site with the Daredevil’s Club the Storm Wolves had no hesitation and jumped right into cutting back the blackberries and digging up root balls. It was great to see these two groups get together after both groups found plenty of enjoyment discovering one another’s shelters during previous explorations this season. Each group continued developing the other’s shelter, one at Galbraith and the other at Clayton Beach, and created some pretty impressive structures despite having never met the other group (until now!). As the outing progressed the groups intermingled and found that they actually had quite a bit in common. Watching the Daredevil’s Club working alongside the Storm Wolves, the mentors took note of their maturity and impressive role modeling. Coming from a group that can sometimes get side-tracked with goofiness, these older Explorer’s really stepped up today and were very impressive.

While the Daredevil’s Club and Storm Wolves were making solid progress, everything was kicked up a notch when the Barred Owls showed up. After getting a demonstration on proper tool usage from the Storm Wolves they get right to work. Talk about a bunch of motivated Explorers! Half of the group took on the extensive bramble of Himalayan Blackberry that has been choking out a willow grove for years while the other half grabbed shovels, began digging up blackberry root balls, and clearing out an old drainage ditch. This by no means is easy work and the whole day the mentors never heard a peep of complaining out of any of the Explorers.

With lots of solid work getting done the service site began to transform. The once tall Reed Canary Grass lay flat, stomped down by Explorer’s feet. The ground churned from shovels digging up massive clumps of blackberry root. The willow grove once choked out by blackberry finally stretching out to absorb the sunshine that was previously getting all sucked up by the broad leaves on the climbing vines of blackberry. Despite not having any mulch today, the site has been prepped for the next group to get a thick layer of mulch down. Vast tunnels have been slashed through the massive blackberry bramble allowing the Explorers to divide and conquer the remaining patches the formidable thorny plant. Not only did these boys fill numerous garbage bags full of Himalayan Blackberry, but they did a great job of taking the next step towards really establishing the natural stability of the Connelly Creek service site.

With the Padden Creek Daylighting Project well underway downstream all of our hard work is suddenly taking on a new perspective. Not only are we working towards eradicating invasive species alongside Connelly Creek, creating natural habitat with native species,  and developing a self-sustaining native habitat, but we are creating a piece to the proverbial puzzle. With salmon able to swim up Padden Creek for the first time in in over a century the Explorers are creating an optimum habitat for them to return to Connelly Creek to spawn and continue their prolific and dynamic influence on our region. For now it may seem like hacking at blackberry and shoveling mulch, but the impact these boys are having on their community is one that will last for years to come. One of the Explorers on this outing actually mentioned this and said he dreams of one day being able to pull a salmon out of Connelly Creek with his hands. Now that is a vision we can all appreciate and thanks to all the hard work from the Daredevil’s Club, Storm Wolves, and Barred Owls that dream may one day become a reality. 

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

BEC: Spring, 2016; Barred Owls 2/28 - Rock Trail

No shortage of rocks

The Rock Trail trailhead was shrouded in fog on Saturday morning when Steve and Brian met the Branch Hoppers for their outing. So, when Conor and Brian arrived on Sunday morning, we were surprised at the difference a day can make. In fact, we had to shout over the energetic wind during our opening meeting. Fortunately, as we had anticipated, the wind abated to almost calm once we ventured down the trail. 

Lest we get ahead of ourselves... introductions. The group has been together for several seasons, but change happens and we saw that in three new faces as we gathered: Mentor Conor rejoined us after volunteering on our Teddy Bear traverse and Henry and Jaxon filled spots vacated by explorers who resolved their schedule conflicts in favor of other activities. Though new to our cohort, these boys have had experience with Explorers Club through Summer and Winter outings, so their assimilation into the group was very quick indeed!

....or stairs!

Introductions, jobs and a review of the particular hazards of this exciting trail addressed, we struck out onto the trail. The Rock Trail is relatively new, having been completed in 2014, thanks to the efforts of members of the Washington Trails Association. Less than 2 miles long, it more than makes up for its modest length with an array of awesome geology captured in the large chuckanut sandstone formations and boulders the size of jitney buses. The immense energy released when the earth’s plates move, registered at times as earthquakes and creating mountains, valleys and the like, is not lost on the explorers. Of course, the cool caves found in the cliffs tend to dominate their short-term interest! You can learn more about the geology about which we marveled here. And, learn more about the Washington Trails Association here.

The trail itself is steep, as evidenced by the multiple sets of stair steps built into the hillside right at

the beginning of the hike.  The mentors heard more than a few tongue-in-cheek comments about elevators from explorers on the way back up.

Not an optical illusion

After our initial descent, we encountered the sandstone walls for the first time. It feels like you’re walking next to an office building; the rock wall rises that dramatically. And there are even windows! Well, caves, but that’s even better! The day’s record was six explorers in the largest cave (unverified claim - I personally counted 5 at one point, but wasn’t privy to the sixth). The development of the caves occurs on a very different timeline than the geologic refashioning pace we’re accustomed to contemplating. Had you taken a photograph of the face of the rock wall the day your explorer was born and compared it to those in our photo gallery from Sunday’s outing, you’d readily see differences! The caves are growing before our eyes, the result of algae interacting with the course stone. This is a whole different sense of energy; the quiet, persistent action and reaction that goes on around us every day without our notice. Follow this link for more about how the caves form (the same article as the geology link above).

Further down (literally - down), the Rock Trail intersects with the Lost Lake trail. Following that trail around the lake opens up to very different adventures - the lake, a waterfall, pools of mud this time of year, and more. While still on the Rock Trail, though, the group gathered in a circle and our Tribal Elder led us in a process to decide whether to explore ahead or reverse course back up the Rock Trail. The unanimous sentiment was for returning to the caves to explore more and play games. About face!

We had to get creative for our games

The natural space to plays our games is not among the wondrous aspects of the Rock Trail, as we soon discovered. Spider’s Web would be very difficult in the steep terrain. Ditto Hide! without our usual ferns and bushes for cover. The Barred Owls are nothing if not creative, however. We decided to try a few games that don’t require as much expansiveness or as many hiding spots. Eagle Eye was a questionable fit in that it has similar characteristics to Hide! We tried it a few times; it’ll work better on our next outing. We also tried Where’s My Egg, which would work pretty well on the trail itself, but no-one knew all the rules. Again, we’ll do better next time. We managed a short game of Spider’s Web in the trees at the top of the trail. The wind was still blowing, but not as hard as at the start. 

Fear not - we located his head

Sunday was a day marked by new faces, a new group name (Barred Owls - we dropped the “et” denoting young), and a new trail. That’s a lot for one day. It was also significant for the energy that was apparent: wind, geology and explorers all demonstrated notable energy!

Brian and Conor will do our best to manage the changes and match the growing energy and interests of this dynamic group of boys. Click for more photos from our outing.