Roosevelt Elk Calves Make All the Right Decisions at Lookout Mountain

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.

Opening circle, deciding how to spend our outing

Creating the skeleton of the shelter

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.

Continuing to add to our shelter

Breaking the small Alders down to size

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. 

Getting together for our closing circle

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!

Serving Connelly Creek with the Roosevelt Elk Calves

Arriving at the shore of Connelly Creek, the Roosevelt Elk Calves were greeted by the warmth of the sun and the lure of the creek.  For Beaver the sound of running water is thought to trigger dam building behavior: felling and arranging trees and saplings near the source.  For the explorers the sound of Connelly creek triggers an unstoppable need to explore the banks, jump the span, and test out rain boots.  By the time all the boys had arrived the energy to venture into the service site was immense! 

We held a brief opening meeting to help Mentor Greg (who was finally free from illness) with the names of the new explorers.  After finishing we were greeted by a member of the Daredevils Club who told us that as we walked the trail in we would be “ambushed”.  To ambush a group in explores club we typically hide close to a trail and see if we can remain unseen.  The challenge for the Roosevelt Elk Calves was to see how many explorers they could spot who were hidden.  After finding only a few, we gathered with the older boys to learn more about the service work we would be doing that day.

Our tasks for the day were as follows: trim reed cannarygrass, dig blackberry roots, and lop away blackberry stems... AND get to know the Daredevils Club, who were older than us and were willing to help show us the ropes. But before we sprang into action, it was important to get a good idea of the big picture. Steve showed our combined group two locations on the site. One was the result of ten years of work. The reed canary grass was nearly non-existent; trees established; shrubs producing flower and berry; Anna’s hummingbirds soaring joyfully through the landscape. The second was our actual work area, which now has seen two years worth of work. Already, this site has been remarkably transformed, and there is still work to do. By looking at the first location, we had a good idea of what the landscape would turn into.

Mentors Matt and Dave took the Daredevils Club over to the service site to begin working while the Roosevelt Elk Calves had lunch and a tool safety talk with Greg and Steve.  Greg took a moment to share how learning to use the service tools safely and treat them with respect was the first step of the journey to the art of carving. 

After some lunch the Explorers joined the Daredevils Club who were waiting to help the Elk Calves get started. By the end of the day we had cut back the reed canary grass, dug out several garbage cans full of Himalayan Blackberry root, and removed a lot of garbage from our service site.  Our overall goal this spring is plant some native shrubs to help shade out the canary grass, and mulch down the blackberry.  The work that the boys do bringing this boarder of Connelly creek back into balance is noticed and appreciated by the neighbors of the park, who often come to see the work we’re doing and share their thanks.

Thanks for your great work, Explorers!!! You did a wonderful job, and the land is grateful. Parents, thank you for supporting these Explorers and for giving them the chance to serve the land with us.  Don’t forget to check out pictures from our outing in the photo gallery.

Our next outing is on May 18th at Arroyo Park, Steve and Greg are already looking forward to exploring that fantastic spot with all of you!