The Mountain Goats Impress On Their Inaugural Outing

The Mountain Goats met up for their first outing of their Explorers Club history on a sunny, Thursday afternoon. As one of the first ever Thursday groups at Wild Whatcom, this group was setting out on uncharted territory as we gathered together for six hours of exploration at Fairhaven Park. We started things off with a big game of “Fox Tails” to get our energy out before gathering together for our first ever opening circle.

Kicking things off with a big game of Fox Tails!

In opening circle we talked about what to expect from a typical Explorers Club outing, how we can ensure we are being safe and managing our risk on explorations, and make a plan for what we wanted to do for the day. The mentors made an intention to teach games like “Hide” and “Food and Water” to the group in order to practice our Earth Skills focus of the season “The Art of Stealth and Camouflage” which is the first essential skill for any Explorer. 

Checking out the map before heading into the Hundred Acre Wood

Through games of “Hide” we learned how to break up our silhouette using foliage, break up or our appearance by wearing colors that match those of the forest, and last but not least, how to move silently through the forest as not to give away our position. The next game we learned, “Food and Water”, would teach us how to identify good hiding spots in the forest while under the pressure of ever diminishing times to hide. Starting at 30 seconds, each round decreases by five seconds until the final round where each Explorer has five seconds to come out of their hiding spot, tag the hand of who is it, and hide again before the person who is it tries to find them hidden in the forest. Our final game was “Spider’s Web” where the whole group must work together to try and retrieve a bandana without being spotted by the “spider” who is trying to capture all of the flies on the web.

Learning how to play HIDE and discussing our strategies

Counting to 30 before looking for all of those hiding in the brush nearby

With some practice in stealth and camouflage out of the way we ate some food and took some free time to explore and play. Some of us worked on learning some basics of tracking from one of the mentors, while others spread out to work on constructing some quick shelters that could be used as camouflage blinds. As daylight dwindled, it was time to head back. We worked our way through the darkening forest and ran across the field to reunite with parents. Overall, this was an impressive first outing for this group. They made far more progress and demonstrated an ability to learn and retain information beyond expectations. The mentors are excited to see how quickly this group can learn the skills of not only a variety of Earth Skills, but also those of collaboration and compromise, taking on leadership roles, and so many other lessons to be learned throughout their time as Explorers in the Mountain Goats group.

Working on a quick lean-to shelter

Learning how to use a small stand of trees to break a large branch

Goofing off and showing the mentors this group knows how to have a good time!

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing here!