Day at-a-glance
What the day looks like:
When booking a trek, we will decide on times and a destination, as well as what specifics your hiker will need to bring with them. I will arrive (sometimes with my dog Blue, if your hiker is comfortable with dogs), and we will set out for the trailhead.
For the drive, I include audiobooks, podcasts or music that you and your kids can choose from (as well as clay, drawing materials and fidgets).
For the hike, I bring lunches (PBJs, cheese sticks and other snacks), extra water, as well as first-aid kit and the necessary gear to respond to changes in weather (packing the ten essentials is part of “education”).
My goal is to provide kids with a minimum of five hours immersed in the outdoors. We will usually pick an endpoint (waterfall, vista, etc.) and have lunch there before turning back. I generally keep parents updated with photos as service allows.
Education, stewardship and adventure underscores the entire day, from take-off to return. More information on these three principles below!
My guarantee is that your hiker(s) will return home tired yet excited to tell about their adventure, with a bolstered sense of self-confidence in their ability to trek in wild places and an enthusiasm to get back on the trail soon.
Graham checks out the horses before ascending Iron Mountain, in Lake Oswego, OR.
Education
What your child will learn.
Oliver reads to our hiking crew about ravens from Feona Coen’s Curious Kids Nature Guide at Hole in the Wall Falls.
The four essentials for survival (water, shelter, fire, food), their importance and where to find them in nature, as well as the ten essentials for safe hiking.
How to read nature’s directions and warnings (for instance, the mossier side of trees generally face north and a dry wind makes for a colder hike).
Basic mindfulness: a clearer head makes for a safer and happier hike. This often just involves practicing mindful walking and eating, and listening in silence for a few minutes at different points throughout the hike.
“Notice we can hear fewer cars and more birds … notice the waterfall is louder … notice the sound of the wind.”
For our car ride to and from our destination, we listen to educational, science / nature podcasts for kids, such as BrainsOn, The Past and the Curious and Noisy by Nature. I also will play the occasional audio book - Roald Dahl is a kid and adult favorite (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Etc)!
https://www.brainson.org/
https://www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/
https://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/noisy-by-nature/
https://mysterydoug.com/
As park rules allow, we will also will occasionally build debris huts and bows and arrows, as well as collect edible berries and greens (black berries, salmon berries, wood sorrel).
Some Other Key Sources:
Survival in the Outdoors by Byron Dalrymple (1972)
The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs by Tristan Gooley (2014)
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zin (1994)
The Tracker by Tom Brown Jr. (1986)
Curious Kids: Exploring the Amazing Outdoors of the Pacific Northwest by Fiona Coen (2020)
Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest by Eugene Kozloff (1976)
https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/ten-essentials.html
1 Minute Mindfulness at the base of Hamilton Mountain.
Checking-in with our breath and five-senses makes it possible to experience nature more deeply, patiently, and happily.
Education
Otis identifies mushrooms growing on a nurse log at Guy W. Talbot State Park, in the Columbia River Gorge (above).
Jake raises a bow and arrow we made, under the peak of Mt. St. Helens on the trail to June Lake (left).
Stewardship
A Pacific Chorus Frog gently perches on Zander’s thumb before hopping off back into its habitat. Location: Smith & Bybee Wetlands Natural Area, September 2020
Taking care of ourselves and our environment.
As an extension of the educational aspect of Treks for Kids, hikers will naturally begin to notice more - and care more - about the environment we are hiking in. Hikers will recognize that humans have an enormous impact on their ecosystem, that future hiking depends on present conservation, and that every living thing in the forest deserves respect and consideration.
Concrete examples of stewardship include:
Confirming we have packed the hiking essentials, including enough food and water for everyone.
Packing out all of our trash.
Clearing fallen branches or tripping hazards from the trail.
Thanking park rangers for their hard work.
Sharing information about the trail with fellow hikers.
Acknowledging the native land on which many of our trails are built.
Hikers will also learn to recognize basic ecological processes, for example: noticing the half-eaten honey mushrooms that sprang from the nurse log overnight, and the cloven dear tracks in the mud by the log. Noticing the owl’s nest in the abandoned woodpeckers hole, in the trunk of a hollow Douglas Fur, half-burnt from last fall’s wildfire.
These practices of periodically noticing will help hikers identify their self as an integral part of the web of life.
Adventure
How to push yourself safely,
and revile in the outdoors.
Angels Rest Trail, Columbia River Gorge
Education and stewardship make real adventure possible. Hikers will learn that properly planning and packing for a hike make it easier and safer to access spontaneous, adventurous energy. Taking care of ourselves, and our environment makes future adventures possible. Safety remains our number-one priority on all hikes.
I choose hikes that are as free as possible from power lines, ski slopes and portable loud-speakers, and we show up early to beat the crowds. The logic here is simple: the health benefits of the outdoors - including the opportunity for adventure - is more capacious when nature is less interrupted. These destinations include:
Tamanawas Falls (Mt. Hood, Oregon)
Larch Mountain (Columbia Gorge, Oregon)
Dog Mountain (Columbia Gorge, Washington)
Hamilton Mountain (Columbia Gorge, Washington)
June Lake (Mt. St. Helens, Washington)
Silver Falls (Sublimity, Oregon)
This section could just as easily be called Empowerment. On the trail, hikers are encouraged to speak up and ask questions, to “take the lead,” and to pick which way to go at a fork (if the hike is a loop). Hikers learn to know their limits and hike within them, but to celebrate when they push themselves beyond an obstacle.
One of my favorite parts of this program is seeing a hikers’ self-confidence become built overtime, whether its becoming more social with other hikers on a trail, diving into an ice-cold swimming hole, or autonomously pushing their self to complete a rugged hike. Their joy of summiting a mountain and catching the view is undeniable, and the benefits provided to hiker at school and at home is immeasurable.
Dog Mountain