Carl's Meadow Archives | Mountain Kids!

Week 10 – August 4-7, 2014: Wilderness Skills!

Monday, August 4: Lower Windsor Trail along Big Tesuque Creek

Rain and shine – we had it all this week! We started with a new venue for the summer. With rain eminent we decided on the lower end of the Windsor Trail along Big Tesuque Creek. The rain held off and we had a wonderfully cool hike up to a grove of enormous Ponderosa pines where we played in the creek. The Eagles developed a deep pool with a rock dam complete with hollow reed spigots! The rain finally found us about ten minutes from the vans.

Tuesday, August 5: Deer Creek/Grasshopper Canyon

Tuesday we listened to Ziggy read Stop and Stay Put, a book about how to prepare for a hike and what to do if you get lost. Then both the Owls and Eagles hiked up Deer Creek for a well deserved dip in the deep (yea monsoons) granite pools. The pools were cool but not freezing cold and we could have played in them for quite a while longer were it not for a good hike back needing some time.

Wednesday, August 6: Aspen Vista to top of the quad-chair lift via Carl’s Meadow.

Wednesday Dave read The Giving Tree before collecting dead yucca fronds for making cordage. It was a blue sky day for a trip up to high country. Owls frolicked in the headwaters of Rio en Medio up at the ski basin while the Eagles climbed up to the top of the Quad chair from Aspen Vista. Strawberries were abundant in the big meadow that is the top of the chair lift knoll. We worked on map and compass skills, plotted our route up through Carl’s meadow and counted contour lines to discover we had gained over a thousand feet in elevation!

Thursday, August 7: Ski Basin to Norski Trails via the Windsor Trail.

Thursday Rebecca led us in a discussion of what to pack for a day out using her own well stocked pack for an example. We then played a quick game of Mountain Lion, Lightning, and Bears, Oh my! Up the hill to the Windsor trail we went for our last day of 2014. Owls enjoyed the Rio en Medio meadow and the Eagles built shelters in the Norski environs. Popsicles brought by Shelly, Sam’s mom, awaited our return to celebrate another great summer of Mountain Kids! Thanks for a great season all!

Eagles are Animals! June 2-5, 2014 (7-11 year olds)

Hi Eagle Families! If you read (or just view) and ENJOY the BLOG, please let me know. Write a comment below, or send me a quick note. Feedback of any kind (constructive, of course!:) is also appreciated. Also, any of the images below can be enlarged and viewed as a slideshow by clicking on them. Enjoy! :~) Katie

Monday: We really took off this week! Before we flew to the mountains, we played games, we learned names, and made a group contract (rules about how to have fun)! We snacked and buddied, and then loaded up for our adventure at the Big T!

At first building forts, then playing games to build awareness of our presence in the forest. How to be quiet and sneaky like an animal (Fox Walk) while playing games like Capture the Flag and Camouflage. Then getting quiet to create sound maps to focus on all the natural sounds of the forest. Did anyone hear a stick crack? What could that be?

Tuesday the Rio en Medio waterfall was our goal. Before we set out we played a game where we learned and practiced various animal gaits. At circle we got to examine pelts and paws of various forest animals of New Mexico and ponder how certain traits helped them. Some kids drew animals using the Ed Emberly books.

The hike to the waterfall was challenging, but the reward is always great. It was hot, and the refreshing mountain waterfall makes you forget that in a hurry!

We learned a song called Bats Eat Bugs on Wednesday. It’s a great reminder that “Nothing out there wants to eat you, nothing out there wants to make you it’s meal!” We looked at Animal Skulls today and noticed how different features help animals survive.

We hiked up to Carls’ Meadow from Aspen Vista – a great place for lunch, a good game of Capture the Flag, and a Habitat Web Game. 🙂

Thursday: We were busy as little beavers today! We learned about Beaver adaptations and dressed up some unsuspecting children to illustrate them. We hiked along the Little T(esuque Creek) and tried our hand at beavering, a.k.a. dam making. It was hard to make the water stop completely, but we sure slowed it down, had fun, got dirty, and learned to work as a team in the process. I wonder how beavers need to work together to build their den? We played some (other) team building games and made scrolling animal stories. The End ~ of a(nother) (FUN!) week. 🙂