Moscow Mountain

Hello Families!

As I'm sure you all know, Moscow Mountain was a huge success (with the exception of some rather irritated bees).  We started off at the 4 corners lot, and hit the trail just west of that location.  The trail we took is one of my all time favorites on Moscow Mountain.  I typically ride my mountain bike on this trail, but it works just as good on foot!  The trail weaves through a beautiful grand fir/cedar forest, makes its way up through an old clear-cut site (now well into initial succession), passes through a nice rock outcrop with a spectacular view, and dips back down into the forest.  In addition to enjoying a wonderful hike in the woods we played all sorts of outdoor games.  Among the most popular was the game 'camouflage.'  Camouflage is a hide and seek type game, that is scientifically impossible not to enjoy (don't quote me on that)!  We also sang some songs, had a good ol' fashion scream (when was the last time you got to yell at the top of your lungs?), and had some CREW building initiatives.  When we returned to school we had a very interesting conversation about the relationship between the two EL Design Principles 'The Primacy of Self Discovery' and 'The Natural World.'  Most students faced some form of adversity throughout the hike, whether that was in the form of just being in the woods, getting stung by a bee(s), or being hot and tired at the end of the day.  The wonderful part about the adversity our CREW faced, was that every single CREW member that faced a challenge over came it.  One last thing, I would like to thank Tadd and Wendy Wheeler, Kevin Kinzer, and Stacy Miller for driving and helping with the hike!

On the trail!

Kaylee, Sara, and Jeremiah bolting into the woods during the camouflage count-down.

Taylor making a valiant effort to be the first to tag Rhett.

Go Team Miller!

I told the crew not to make silly faces... based on this evidence I'd say they are really starting to understand my sarcasm!

Back on the trail.

Liam the Conqueror!

This was a great place to stop for lunch... until the bees found us.

A great end to a great day!