This will be long...

In the Mountains, there you feel free. T.S. Eliot

What Humbugs we are, who pretent to live for Beauty, and never see the Dawn! Logan Pearsall Smith

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. Henry David Thoreau

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. Rachel Carson

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Lao Tzu

The sun is the epitome of benevolence – it is life giving and warmth giving and happiness giving, and to it we owe our thanksgiving. Jessi Lane Adams

You shall, above all things, be glad and young. Cummings


Serious stuff.

Today I had the most amazing day. I thought I couldn’t top that day where the girl told me she’d remember that day forever, and then I decided to give three kid’s programs in a day.

This morning I woke up and solidified my Jr. Ranger plans. I gathered my bandana for Bat and Moth, got my cards for Animal Animal!, and donned my waist high green pants. I took my pre-program ten minutes to commune, readying myself to be nature’s voice.

No, that’s wrong. I’m not her voice. I just show the kids how to hear her own voice. We practice the skills we need to hear nature’s voice.

My first program was at 10. We started with some high energy games so that they learned that they can trust me with their time: it will be worth it. Then we relaxed a little and sat by a stream where we counted sounds. It was amazing to see a four year old intently listening for sounds, eyes closed, excitingly whispering to their parent each time they heard a new one. We had a short reflection time where we talked about the senses and then I deemed them official Junior Rangers. Program #1 seemed a success.

Program #2: I became quite nervous when, as I approached the cub scout camp, I saw one of the kids making questionable sounds with his armpit. When I came up, the leader rallied the troops and we all introduced ourselves. I immediately impressed them by (somehow!) learning their names right off the bat. Then we played the same two games that I did with the younger kids earlier. I had 7 scouts, ages between 6 and 10. After the two games we hit the trail. Their leader had planned the whole 1.5 mile trail for them, so I just added it to my program and got the practice. It was fantastic. After talking about one or two things on the trail, we played Sounds again. Each scout sat along the trail and intently listened. After, they excitingly shared what they had heard. The stream, the wind, a bird, a motorcycle, people talking, a car; “peace and quiet.” We stopped along the trail a few times, talking about old evidence of logging, tasting licorice fern and salmon berry, smelling Indian plum, feeling the moss and bark.
So basically this hike was incredible. These boys completely trusted me and were amazing watchers of nature. As soon as we had finished Sounds, as they were excited about birds, about four Creepers flew to a nearby tree. We were able to quietly watch as they crept up the trees, different from any other birds they had seen. The boys walked quietly, helping each other see them, and anxiously waited for me to tell them what kind of bird it was. I shared that I was so pleased; we had been such good watchers that the birds trusted that we just wanted to watch them and not harm them. “How cool is that?!”

We saw two garter snakes…an animal we had talked about earlier in our game. We found some neat plants and trees. Of course, the trail was long and a few started to get tired. As we climbed up a steep part, one of the boys audibly shared his exhaustion. I asked him if he trusted me and he said yes and I said it is worth it. And so he kept right up, asking and answering questions and watching.

I always like to remind myself, and therefore everyone I am with, that nature is not just in front of us. When we go hiking, we tend to think we are headed somewhere…to the top of the mountain, to the lake, to our campsite. At a couple of good resting points, I asked the boys to turn around. Suddenly, what had been a steeply inclined path became a huge forest valley. They were excited to show me the trail far below that we had walked on, and the snag that we had walked by with the woodpecker holes and the huge tree that started aaaalll the way down there and grew aaalll the way above our heads. As Don would say, “too cool.”

We made it to the top. Finding a group camp tent circle, we sat in a circle and played Sounds again. This time we heard the wind, birds, and absolute quiet.

I then wanted to try something. These seven boys had trusted me on the trail. They had followed from the excited stage to the physical and peaceful stages, and I hoped they would follow me to reflection. I pulled out some note cards with quotes like the ones above. I asked if anyone wanted to read something for me. The youngest shot his hand up, and so read, “In the mountains, there you feel free.”

“What does that mean?”

“That means that the air is fresh.”
“That means that in the forest, the animals don’t have rules.”

When I asked if we wanted to read another, eager hands shot up volunteering. We continued to have some really neat discussions, and they continued to ask for more cards…we discussed all of those quotes at the beginning of this entry.

I repeat, there were seven cub scouts ages six through ten. And I had them in the forest, asking me for Rachel Carson and Thoreau quotes. We decided that we need to take care of nature and that we are guests, and that she knows what’s best. We learned about the summer solstice and that the sun is part of nature we can admire too. I was reminded of the amazing intelligence of children, and the power of this incredible environment.

My third program was striking too, and I have been writing for quite some time, and I thank you for reading this far. I am still on fire from today, and am excited to document. I hope to go back and rework this for my personal memories, but I want to get it all out right now. Program #3: I had a good mix of kids; we played the same two games, and everyone was eager to do both. I then took them over to the salmon stream and we felt the water and talked about the smooth rocks. Then we found two tiny fish and suddenly my story of the importance of the river made sense.

We all gathered around a Douglas Fir and felt the thick, protective bark. Then we ran to the Maple and felt the Maple bark, and then the Alder. We talked about which one would be the best protection in a fire, and then I told the mouse story of the Douglas Fir cone. We reflected on the senses once again, and listed all the things we had seen, smelled, tasted, heard, and touched.

This evening I helped Ranger Edd with a Campfire program, and three quarters of the audience were kids and their parents who wanted to come back. I sat with some of the girls, and at the end we played guitar and sang some campfire songs. I was invited back to a campsite and spent time getting to know the parents and talking about the program and in general, teaching kids about nature. It was wonderful to have some company, some mom/aunt-like figures that I am seriously lacking out here.

Having kids run up to you to hug you after you have known them for forty five minutes is quite an experience. Having parents offer you a place to stay if you’re ever in their neck of the woods because you impacted their child so much is quite touching. Being able to recount these stories to another ranger and see him get the chills that you do…I just have no words and all the words at the same time.

I was told later that the kids went back to their campsites and talked seriously about how they were Rangers now and they had to take care of the park.

I remember the glint in her eye when I winked at Isabella during the campfire program, and the bounding skip of the girls that came up to say goodnight. I remember cub scout Todd coming up to me perfectly seriously: “I think we all have to tell you something: thank you.”

Most of all, I remember the group of boys, beseeching me to give them another nature quote so that they could talk about what it means to them. And when one of my junior rangers, when feeling the bark of the Douglas Fir tree, told us to “look up!” Suddenly I had ten children circled around the great Fir tree, realizing how small we all were compared to the 200 foot giant. “we are like ants.” one said. “we are so tiny.”

“We saw a fishy!” 5 years old

“I am just so excited I want to run all the way down the trail.” 9 years old

“Will I see you tomorrow?” 8 years old



“You shall above all things, be glad and young.” Cummings