The Roosevelt Elk Calves met up at Lookout Mountain for
their final outing of the fall season. On a drizzly day, it was a perfect
setting for the Explorers to finish up their season focused on shelter building.
Hitting the trail after an opening circle, we trekked along the trail in search
of a good location to build a shelter. Arriving at a hillside of small conifers
the boys jumped right into free play scrambling around the hillside. We got
together to revisit what to look for when selecting a shelter location; flat
ground, abundant building resources, and potentially some canopy cover if
you’re lucky. Realizing our current location wasn’t ideal, we ate some food,
packed up, and headed out in search of a new location.
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| Opening circle, deciding how to spend our outing |
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| Creating the skeleton of the shelter |
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| Gathering shelter building materials |
Backtracking with a renewed focus on finding a location that
fit all our requirements we got back onto the trail and headed out. The mentors noticed the boys getting back into “hike”
mode with blinders on, cruising down the trail at a fast pace. We made sure to
slow down, take the blinders off, and start looking around taking in our surroundings
and viewing the landscape through the lens of shelter building. Shortly after
slowing down, we found a prime location to set up shop and get down to
business. The mentors took a step back and let the Roosevelt Elk Calves work
together as a group to collaborate and make a group decision on where to build
their shelter. They showed tremendous cooperation working together to come to a
consensus that everyone agreed upon. Next they decided on what type of shelter
to build, and got to work. Gathering a bunch of young Alders that had fallen down
in the wind, the boys engineered a leverage system using two trees in close
proximity to wedge the long, skinny alders in between and torque to the side
and snap the lengthy building materials down to a more manageable size. Their
ingenuity and ability to work together dividing up tasks was rather impressive
for a group of ten and eleven year old boys. It was truly a testament to all
the time this group has spent together over the years. After the primary
structure of the shelter was up, the mentors felt good about the progress and
transitioned to playing games.
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| Continuing to add to our shelter |
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| Breaking the small Alders down to size |
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| Reviewing our work and discussing ways to improve the shelter |
One last time, the group came together to collaborate,
compromise, and come to a consensus on how best to spend the rest of the day.
Deciding on a game of Spider’s Web, the boys ate some food, re-hydrated, and set
up the game. Working their way down through a valley filled with Sword Fern,
Devils Club, and small stands of Red Alder, the boys slowly but surely made
progress retrieving the food source from under the watchful eye of the Spider. As
the game wound down, the Flies proved victorious once again and it was time for
our closing circle.
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| Getting together for our closing circle |
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| Hanging out and giving some thanks before hiking back to the parking lot |
During our final outing of the season the Roosevelt Elk
Calves demonstrated that they had taken the next step in their growth as a
group. The group worked together, showing a tremendous ability to collaborate and come
to a consensus as a group under the leadership of a peer in the role of Tribal
Elder. They offered great respect to one another, were patient, deliberate, and
concise in their efforts to reach decisions as a group, and all without any
need for the mentors to step in and help. On countless occasions before,
mentors have watched groups this age struggle to even come close to how well
the Roosevelt Elk Calves worked together on this outing. With a brief respite
for the holiday season, we are eager to get back out exploring with this group
and see if they can prove once again that they are ahead of the curve when it
comes to cooperative collaboration and group decision making. Not only is this
a credit to the group, but also to each and every individual that makes up this
awesome bunch of Explorers.
Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing
here!
