The routines
Ticks, plants, creek and weather
We spend the day outside, so these four routines run every day.
Tick checks
Families put repellent on at home, and campers wear long pants, socks and closed shoes. Campers pair up for a buddy check at lunch and again before pickup, with a counselor beside each pair. If we find a tick, we remove it and tell you the same day.
Pants tucked into socks
Buddy checks at lunch and before pickup
A note home the same day
Plants we know
On the first morning we walk the trail and meet the plants along it, including poison ivy and stinging nettle. We draw them, and we walk around them. Campers touch only what a counselor has named, and no plant or berry goes in a mouth.
Leaves of three, we leave them
Looking, drawing and smelling only
Hands washed before lunch
Creek time
The creek is shallow and slow. Campers wear water shoes, a counselor stands in the water with them, and a camper who wades past their knees puts on a life jacket first. We watch the water level every morning and stay on the bank when it is high.
Water shoes on every foot
A counselor in the water
Life jackets past the knees
Storms, heat and cold
When we hear thunder, everyone goes to the pavilion and waits there until the sky has been quiet for thirty minutes. On hot days the trail blocks move into shade and the creek, and on cold mornings we start by walking.
The pavilion has a roof
Water breaks between blocks
A text home when the plan changes
The nature hut
A table of what we find
Under the eaves of the nature hut there is a table where campers lay out pinecones, leaves and seed pods, and sketch them before they go back outside. Nothing leaves the park with us.
We leave a place as we found it, and campers learn that rule before any other.
Field guides to borrow for the day
Journals and pencils provided
Questions about ticks or plants?
Call us before you register and we will talk through what your camper needs.