A crow calls into the late morning sky as it soars just above the east entrance to the 100 Aker Wood. His midnight wings beat against the currents of hot air rising from the street, the collection of cars, the amassing humans. He breathes, beats his wings harder, and sails off into the mystery of coming moments. His wings are uplifted and his body nourished by the breath of our young people.
All things are connected.
On Monday, a group of twelve beginner Explorers congregated with backpacks on, full water bottles, and curious minds. These boys were ready to begin a journey that may, all things willing, last their entire lives. This journey is a commitment to a spirit of Exploration, to a path
of Connection with all living beings, and to an ethic of Service. Such a journey is not safe. It does not offer the guarantee of being always pleasurably or easy or even fun. It definitely contains all of these qualities, but it also involves challenges, risks, growing pains, stretching edges, and shifting identities. It involves stepping outside of the human drama and touching into the older ways of the sandstone, the skunk cabbage, the western hemlock, the shrew-mole, the barred owl, the bobcat. It involves learning to be a group and think as a group. It involves the quietest 
time of being a singular person sharing life with the cosmos of a western redcedar trunk. This journey is the journey of fully growing up with the world instead of on it.
of Connection with all living beings, and to an ethic of Service. Such a journey is not safe. It does not offer the guarantee of being always pleasurably or easy or even fun. It definitely contains all of these qualities, but it also involves challenges, risks, growing pains, stretching edges, and shifting identities. It involves stepping outside of the human drama and touching into the older ways of the sandstone, the skunk cabbage, the western hemlock, the shrew-mole, the barred owl, the bobcat. It involves learning to be a group and think as a group. It involves the quietest time of being a singular person sharing life with the cosmos of a western redcedar trunk. This journey is the journey of fully growing up with the world instead of on it.
Yes, we played lots of games. We laughed. We embraced the EC motto of Get Dirty! We met all kinds of wonderful plants and animals. Ask your explorer about nettles or blackberries. We marveled at mysteries. We witnessed what it takes to make fire by friction. Boys will tell you of the games of Hide!, Spiders Web, Buck and the Wolf Pack, Incoming, Crows and the Gull, and more. They might whisper of secret
nooks, seesaws, shells, and the call of the kingfisher. You have, undoubtedly, heard of the challenges. Falling onto the ground, getting stung by wasps, feeling lost, learning how to work with and as a group, stumbling over big natural obstacles, scrapes, a few light bruises. Perhaps you even heard a story or two retold. Maybe you learned that the best cure for nettle stings (and wasp stings for that matter) is time. Maybe you heard a story of a mentor rolling in nettles, and maybe that story put a few small stings in context for a few boys.
nooks, seesaws, shells, and the call of the kingfisher. You have, undoubtedly, heard of the challenges. Falling onto the ground, getting stung by wasps, feeling lost, learning how to work with and as a group, stumbling over big natural obstacles, scrapes, a few light bruises. Perhaps you even heard a story or two retold. Maybe you learned that the best cure for nettle stings (and wasp stings for that matter) is time. Maybe you heard a story of a mentor rolling in nettles, and maybe that story put a few small stings in context for a few boys.
It is impossible to retell the events of an exploration. These tiny black
shapes on this glowing screen will never be able to transmit the scent of the sun on a shore pine, the feel of shark skin, the song of the winter wren. This Explorer could write volumes about these three days. This camp was rich and rewarding for all involved. Each mentor expressed deep thanks for working with this group of boys. Pictures are, indeed worth a thousand words. Experiences are worth ten thousand pictures. So, if you really want to know what this Explorers Camp was like, get out there with your Explorer and have him teach you what he has learned. Not just the information, but the games too. Go out and get dirty! Be a kid and play a few rounds of Hide! Actually rub your hands in mud and touch that frog. This Explorer could (and will upon
request) give you all kinds of very compelling physiological and psychological research data that will convince you of the benefit… but do you really need it? This earth is our medicine and we are the sum and the quality of our relationships. Relationships are built by showing up and paying attention. Have your son and the landscape be your guide. Get out there and Explore the magical and vast wilderness of your own back yard.
shapes on this glowing screen will never be able to transmit the scent of the sun on a shore pine, the feel of shark skin, the song of the winter wren. This Explorer could write volumes about these three days. This camp was rich and rewarding for all involved. Each mentor expressed deep thanks for working with this group of boys. Pictures are, indeed worth a thousand words. Experiences are worth ten thousand pictures. So, if you really want to know what this Explorers Camp was like, get out there with your Explorer and have him teach you what he has learned. Not just the information, but the games too. Go out and get dirty! Be a kid and play a few rounds of Hide! Actually rub your hands in mud and touch that frog. This Explorer could (and will upon request) give you all kinds of very compelling physiological and psychological research data that will convince you of the benefit… but do you really need it? This earth is our medicine and we are the sum and the quality of our relationships. Relationships are built by showing up and paying attention. Have your son and the landscape be your guide. Get out there and Explore the magical and vast wilderness of your own back yard.
You can also enjoy photos of our outing in our summer photo gallery.
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