So now that I am on site in Ocean Park, Washington and I am finished allocating all of the grant funds it is time to put all of the gear I have ordered to good use. However before I begin to put the finishing touches on my programming ideas, I will need to determine which sites the campers will be using for day hikes and overnights in both Washington and Oregon. This will allow me to develop my programming around the specific natural and cultural resources available at the sites that I choose.
Unfortunately my search began by ruling out the three closest national parks including Olympic, Mount Rainier, and Mount Saint Helens. This was either due to transportation issues, access fees, or reservation complications. I was then reduced to looking into the local state parks in the area which actually turned out to be very interesting.
All of the sites in the area were either part of the Lewis and Clark expedition, or were old World War II and Civil War memorials. Due to the fact that last summer I spent time working along the Lewis and Clark trail at Fontenelle Forest Nature Association in Bellevue, Nebraska I decided to also rule out the military sites. In addition, I find Lewis and Clark to much more relevant to my nature and outdoor programming than military sites that were hardly even used.
So today I embarked on visitations to various state parks that were in a two hour radius of our camp. I needed to find day hike areas for the third, fourth, and fifth graders, as well as an overnight camping area for the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. The senior staff at camp decided that we should split the younger campers into two groups so I determined that Ecola State Park and Fort Clatsop State Park in Oregon were best suited for our younger campers to visit. Camp Disappointment, where Lewis and Clark ended their amazing journey across the United States, was alos ruled out as a possible site visit due to the fact that some of the campers had visited in past years.
Ecola State Park was appealing due to the amazing views provided along the trails. I have included a picture from one of the lookouts in this post. In addition this state park allowed for swimming in the ocean which is something that is prohibited at our oceanside camp due to harsh rip tides. However Fort Clatsop State Park, Lewis and Clarks’ first permanent site along the Pacific coast, was my favorite visit of the day due to the helpfulness of the park rangers. The rangers arranged for our campers to go on a fort to sea hike, and to become junior rangers on the day that we will be attending. While I was at Fort Clatsop for lunch I was brave enough to try some of the local berries that were absolutely delicious. I have also provided a picture of these berries in this post, and if anyone knows what they are please let me know.
Finding a site for the older kids was much more difficult as I hoped to find an area that would challenge their abilities and put the outdoor survival skills that I will teach them at camp to good use. If this trip goes well it will become a permanent part of our summer programming, and could be used to entice camper retention. I determined that the best area for this would be Capitol State Forest which is located directly in between Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks, and operates under multiple use recreation policies. On a clear day the campers will be able to see both national parks from the top of Capitol Peak.
I did however, run into a major problem. Capitol State Forest policies allow for absolutely no reservations, and are based solely on a first come first serve basis. I could not plan a trip if I was uncertain we would be able to obtain the necessary campground space for our activities. So I contacted the regional education and enforcement forester working with the department of natural resources in Washington. In exchange for our campers volunteering a little of their time for Friends of Capitol Forest doing a simple community service project in the park, he would be more than happy to help arrange for us to obtain the necessary campground.
Below I have included links to Washington State Parks, Oregon State Parks, and Lewis and Clark trail points of interest:
http://www.parks.wa.gov/
http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/index.shtml
http://lewisandclarktrail.com/
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