Crow’s Nest: A Hike of their Own, Part 1

This spring we had a group of 6^th graders in our Thursday morning nature clubs who collectively have many years of experience at Crow’s Nest. They know the preserve well, and have routinely impressed us with how responsible they are, so we decided to give them a new challenge before they aged out of nature clubs at the end of the spring season: to go on a hike without any adults!

In the early part of the spring we did a little bit of planning for the hike each week: picking a destination and route; deciding what the kids needed to bring with them; reviewing how to use a compass; discussing what to do in an emergency. By the second-to-last week of the season they were ready, so we sent them off on their hike.

Below is a description of the hike written by the kids, the first installment of the story, to be continued in future entries.

We were leaving for our 6^th grade hike. We got a walkie-talkie (which we couldn’t believe Molly let us have!) and a camera. Lily took about ten pictures before five seconds of our hike were even up. We told Molly over the radio when we got on the road. I could have just said that without the radio, because she was following us. [Editor’s Note: I was seeing them off, not “following” them.] We reported where we were all along the path through the fields and when we crossed Northside Road and all the way to the edge of the Deep Woods. We stopped for a drink a few times (yes, we were smart enough to bring water.)

When we got to the top of the hill and were ready to go into the woods, the exciting part happened: we radioed Molly to tell her where we were, and she said back, “Don’t forget to crackel pop vumvum.”

Nina said, “What?” and no reply came back.