Volunteer, EMA, and staff mentors for Boys Explorers Club got together on a sunny, breezy morning to go on a tracking adventure! Volunteer Chris Byrd offered to share some tracking insight and knowledge with the program and we boarded Stubbs to head east on highway 542.
Before we tell the rest of the story, many thanks are in order!
BIG THANK YOU’s to Chris Byrd, Jonathan, and Mark for driving up from Snohomish to spend the day with us. For teaching us a small sliver of what you know and for guiding our exploration of the art of tracking, we are greatly beholden! We appreciate your time and energy to help us grow as men, and we will apply our experiences and learnings directly to the Explorers in the upcoming spring season.
And to all of the our adult volunteer mentors, those who joined us on Sunday (Mike and Brian) and those who weren’t able to attend (David, Jake, Finnegan, Nick, Jimmy, John, Frankie, Hal, Alex, Jon, Clint, Kes, Brandon, Kevin, Michael, and Tim) THANK YOU so much for dedicating your time to the program and to the Explorers who gain so much from your presence. This is a community program and you are vital contributors to its success.
That goes for you too, EMA/ Firestalkers! Kyle, Kyler, James, Asher, Tristan, Christian, Marcus, and Soren (and now, VV Nate). You have given so much as participants and volunteers of this program. Your presence has blazed the path for over 140 Explorers and the generations to come.
Though many folks quickly pass through Nugent’s Corner on the way to somewhere else, we actually parked right where the bridge meets the Nooksack River. And in this disturbed and noisy area, we found a Mecca for tracking. Turns out that amidst the thickets of invasive blackberry, scotchbroom, and reed cannarygrass is a crossroads of many different animal species, both native and non-native alike, which rely on the Nooksack for sustenance.
Chris, along with Mark and Jonathan, set up stations where groups of us analyzed and studied the various tracks. We got nose-to-nose with the dirt, wet sand, mud, dust, and other substrates that held the marks of those that traveled the land before us. We saw claws, paws, fingers, pads, trails, “negative spaces,” and other field characteristics that helped us to consider the short-list of animals to which they likely belonged.
We stepped back and assessed gait patterns to determine if the animals were walking, crawling, hopping, bounding, slithering. Another important aspect was to see if we could determine the direction in which the animals were moving. We might be able to build a story of what they were doing-- going to get food or water, moving to or from shelter or safe spaces, or exploring like we were.
The sun kept us warm, as we ate lunch and leisurely enjoyed the day together. After nearly four hours of studying and building community, however, our brains were saturated with knowledge and experience, and we had had enough. The sun eventually ducked behind thin grey clouds and the southwesterly wind picked up, bringing with it some cold air.
Driving back into town, the wind got stronger and we all looked forward to a quieter and drier Sunday afternoon... with a solid foundational experience of tracking imprinted in our lives :)
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