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This morning after games and clay, we gathered up to learn about Pictograph stories. We started by “reading” a Native American story that was made with pictographs. It was fun to guess what the pictures meant, and when we read it in words, we realized we were pretty close! While we ate snack, we came up with our own Mountain Kids! pictograph story, by each adding one sentence and 1-3 pictures. It was fun and we were glad that the story had a happy ending!

Then we went to Mountain Kids! base camp where we were planning to make paint with the rocks we had collected and try our hand at archery. We all gathered round the fire pit, sang some songs and played a game before Katie demonstrated how to make paint with our colorful rocks. It was quite fun and relaxing to grind up the rocks using the “manos and matates” and then sift and make paint.  We each made a different color and then painted our own special pot or a rock.

Archery was a great challenge for everyone. Morgan carefully instructed each of the kids on how to be safe on an archery range and how to shoot a bow and arrow. Hitting the target alone was a great achievement! We learned how skilled the ancient peoples must have been and gained a lot more respect for their lifestyle.

After lunch, some tried out the slack line and others climbed trees then we played Mountain Lion-Deer Chase in the forest which was exciting and fun, running through the forest, sneaking and hiding. Afterward, Morgan taught us a fun game called Zip Zap Zop! when it started to rain hard enough that we took cover under the portal.

Back at Alto Park, we played Park Ranger for even longer than we should have because we were having so much fun! Thanks all, today was a splendid day for Mountain Kids!

~ written by Page Bancroft

Tuesday was enjoyable and very informative for everyone! We had a calm morning of making clay sculptures, playing a few games, a snack, and then started on our journey to Pecos National Monument.

Pecos is impeccably beautiful, and contains the history of the Native Americans, Spanish settlers, and a Civil war site.  Amazing! Though it was hot, there were lovely clouds all day long that provided perfect relief!

We went through the main trail and stopped at every point to read, talk, and listen to the speculations and facts about the area. We learned what a descendant is, what a kiva is, and what the ancient people who used to live there were like. It was fascinating to climb into the Kiva and see the ruins and the old church built by the Franciscan monks.

After hiking the trail, we had the great treat of watching a very short film about Pecos and its history over the last few thousand years. Then we fully explored the museum and noticed many wonderful objects and beautiful art. 

We finished up our last bits of food in some nice shade and listened to a Native American story. Then into the van we went, listening to James and The Giant Peach all the way home. Arriving back at Alto Park we played Park Ranger until everyone had to go home. What a sweet day outdoors for all!

~ written by Page Bancroft

Our second week of Wonders of Water took us to the Norski Trails, the Big T, Deer Creek, the Little Tesuque, Nambe Falls, and White Water Rafting on the Rio Grande for the Beavers!  It was an event and water filled week with lots of learning and fun for both groups.

Here are a few of the highlights: we made a cloud in a bottle as a way to learn about condensation and the water cycle.  We made sunprints which was a great way to look more closely at the nature around us, and fun to do in the river.  We did an activity called the Web of Life where we each represented an animal, plant, or element and made connections with each other by throwing a ball of wool around the circle.  It ended up in a tangled web, illustrating clearly the interconnections of our web of life, including the importance of water to everything.  I was super-impressed with the kids focus and interest during this activity, and the connections they readily made with each other.

We did a lot of hiking and playing games and found a little time to sit quietly in nature. We braved the cold water at Nambe Falls, and survived the heat of late June! What a great week of watery fun and learning all around.

Enjoy the photos of both groups from the week below!

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Our Wonders of Water theme began very appropriately with the sprinklers going on at drop-off time on Monday morning. It was wet and provided a good opportunity to talk about the best time to water your garden or grass!

The first day we went to the Ski Basin where we had a blast playing in the river and exploring the mountain without (much) snow, and so many people.  It is fun to you have it to ourselves and see what lies under the snow.

The older campers decided to call themselves the Beavers for this session – a good choice given that we were studying the Beaver’s physical adaptations to survive in it’s environment the following day. Ezra and Grace very gracefully dressed up as Beavers for us to demonstrate.  Thank you, Grace and Ezra! It is always entertaining to illustrate these concepts!

The younger campers decided that they would call themselves the Whales. While this may seem strange, since New Mexico has no whales, we talked aobut how New Mexico was once part of an ancient ocean where many prehistoric sea creatures (including whales) once swam!

On Wednesday we went to the Santa Fe Watershed with our wonderful guide, Rich Schrader from the Santa Fe Watershed Association and Riversource. We looked for aquatic macro-intvertebrates in the Santa Fe river, (that’s a fancy way of saying water bugs!) It was fun to use nets to find these little creatures in the river, and then find and identify them using hand lenses. It’s interesting to learn that the presence, or absence, of these creatures tells us if the water is good, clean, healthy water.  We are lucky to have a clean and healthy water source from our mountain snowpack!

On Thursday, we went to the Rio en Medio, one of our favorite locations, especially on a hot summer’s day! We got to find and identify poison ivy and hike along the cool, shady river. The Beavers headed up to the waterfall, and then went beyond it to explore some some smaller waterfalls and do Sit Spots, quiet time in nature. 🙂 Sometimes hard for kids, but also an incredibly rich experience to introduce to children.

The Whales made it to a beautiful spot by the Rio en Medio with huge Ponderosa Pines and a nice place for games. We played in the river, ate lunch, and then played some games. Our C.I.T. (Counselor-in-Training) Skyler led us in a fun game with sticks and numbers which required good observation skills to solve the puzzle. We then moved onto practicing our sneaking skills by learning how to “Fox Walk.” Then using the Fox Walk to play “Firekeeper” which requires sneaking up on a blindfolded fire keeper without being heard. A challenging and fun game! We finished the day with a story and packed up to hike back along, and through, the river.

What a great week of watery adventures the Beaver and Whales had, learning about and loving water!

Enjoy the slideshow of the Beavers (8-12 year olds) below. The Whales (5-7 year olds) slideshow is above.

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On our overnight the kids built their own shelters and slept in them. The excitement for of this task was truly reflected in the amazing structures they built. The dedication, teamwork and effort was inspiring to be a part of.

That night we started our fire by bow drill  – Katie and Ezra demonstrated, and then the campers had the opportunity to try.  Some of the girls wanted to try it using the teamwork approach, which was great!  Once we had the fire going (after Ezra cranked out a coal) we made campfire nachos, yum! Our feast continued with corn on the cob, cooked in the fire, sausages and s’mores.

After feeding ourselves, we sang and played games and laughed around the fire until we could not stay awake any longer.  The short walk to our shelters was fun in the dark, and everyone settled down quickly for an evening in our shelters.

The week and the campout were a blast, even if we didn’t sleep too much!

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The Wolves joined the Chuckwallas on Monday at Norski for some fort building fun and everyone learned how to make fire with a bow drill from Ezra. Throughout the week we incorporated wilderness skills, such as the 5 W’s, what to do if you get lost and what to bring on a hike. On Tuesday, we headed further down the trail to continue work on forts we had stared the previous week. The tent caterpillars were back and the kids had fun making hotels for them. Wednesday morning we were surprised by the sprinklers at Alto Park, but the campers had fun running through them.  We spent the day at the Ski Basin exploring Easy Street without much snow on it ~ well, there were still a few small patches to play with! The week wrapped up with a trip to Deer Creek, where the water and shade provided a welcome relief from the summer’s heat. Page shared lots about the uses of plants that we saw along the trail.

At Deer Creek the Chuckwallas made it past the 5th pool, (which is an adventure on it’s own)! Yet again we witnessed the same determination, teamwork and effort as the kids took the lead in making it past the third pool. The mission took planning, innovation, inner strength, and trust. Every single camper accepted the challenge and conquered it.

Camper quote, at Deer Creek, by Melia: “After this I will be one step closer to enlightenment.”

Overall, it was a fantastic week!

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Our two weeks of Forts & Forests at Mountain Kids! was an incredible journey of exploring, engineering, team building, and discovering all of our individual capabilities. Along the way we learned and practiced important survival skills such as finding the directions, making shelter for different scenarios, watching for/ understanding weather and wilderness safety, signaling for help, and starting a fire without matches by hand/bow drill.

I am beyond impressed with the Mountain Kids!  The maturity, thoughtfulness, respect, and unique skills/talents of each camper has really shown through; allowing us to accomplish and discover some really amazing things in nature. ~  Morgan, affectionately known as “Morgie”

Below, I caught up with the Chuckwallas at the Big T to grab a portrait for each camper and some group shots, and Morgan and Ezra shared some action shots for the blog. Enjoy! ~ Katie

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I also got to hang out for our end of day Circle time, which was so sweet. I love to hear what the kids have to say about the week and what they learned.  You can see that they bring a good amount of humor and also pride when they are speaking to the group.  I love to witness the growth happening each week at camp. ~ Katie

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Ezra teaching fire making with a hand drill

Mud henna tattoos!