Camping 101 Youth Overnight

Students on our recent the Camping 101 overnight trip had the opportunity to not only learn how to set up tents, choose good campsites, cook over an open fire, use a ferrocerium rod, clean camp dishes, practice Leave No Trace principles, throw a bear hang, and have delicious campfire desserts like s’mores and baked apples…they also got to simply enjoy a classic Maine summer.

Thanks to Ranger Heidi at the National Park Service, these young people learned about the night sky, life cycles of stars, and the history of lunar observations under a full moon. Participants also were sworn in as Junior Rangers after completing a night sky packet.

Students told us things like, “I can’t believe I just slept in a tent by myself for two nights!” and “We are so brave for trying all these new things.” Their highlights were spending time with each other, getting outdoors, learning new skills, and one of them even said that doing a timeline activity while learning about the Wabanaki people’s thousands-of-years deep connections to this landscape was one of their highlights.

These young people also had the chance to interact with some other really cool keepers of the Maine wilderness when the Maine Warden service’s Hooked on Fishing program graciously came to share fly fishing instruction with some novice fisherfolk, many of whom had never fished before. Not only did the students get out on the scenic East Branch of the Penobscot, but they also caught fish! Seeing the students stretched out along the river, practicing their roll casts up against the alders and grinning with the game wardens as they hooked up on fish was magical beyond words. The dog day harvest flies were buzzing out their cicada-like songs and the air smelled like warm pine needles and a cool, clean laughing river. All I could think of was that we were giving these young folks the opportunity to have the type of days that form my deepest core memories.

These students just wanted to be out in nature, and we even heard from one that they wished that the trip could have been a whole week long. Their excitement at things that I sometimes take for granted was heartwarming. Driving down over the Seboeis River bridge to cries of, “Oh, oh, oh, slow down, slow down!! Look! Look at how beautiful look at that mountain is!” was amazing. Turning to drive south down the Monument Road toward the Upper East Branch campsite and hearing “Holy – look at that mountain!” when they saw the exposed cliff face of Horse Mountain was priceless.

Over and over these campers surprised me with the things that they wanted to learn. One wanted to get into bushcraft. Another wanted to know more about birds and to be able to identify them by their songs. One unplanned moment stood out to me as symbolic of the trip. Our young birder awoke before the rest of her trip mates as I had just made what was going to be the day’s first (and likely only) cup of coffee. Rather than getting my own quiet time, we stood together listening to the dawn chorus of songbirds. The sun hadn’t yet come over the trees and we pointed at the tree tops, mimicked songs back and forth, and I had the opportunity to identify birdsongs, describe what they looked like, and tell her where they lived. Even though I didn’t get my cup of coffee in solitude that morning, I didn’t mind. Not one bit.