Virtual Tour of the Wolf Camp Property on Woods Lake

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*Driving In* This is the stunning view awaiting you when you arrive and look southeast at the North Cascade Mountains from the top of our driveway on Woods Lake Road. Unless it's cloudy. *Cedar Grove* The driveway down to the lake was just a muddy trail in 2004, with an alder forest plus thick salmonberry bushes on either side, growing where it had been logged 30 year prior. But wonderfully, the old logger left lots of cedar, spruce and hemlock groves around the streams, on hillocks, and in all the wetlands throughout the property, in order to "park it out" according to an interview we had with him lately. This is the first such grove you will see on the property, the Cedar Grove, which actually surrounds an old foundation of a house and garage which burned down in 1975 along with all the old WWI Era boy scout cabins were on the property, and from which we have salvaged cinder blocks to build our current building foundations. *Mushroom Yurt* This is one of the "yurts" we have on the property, the one we call "mushroom" and most commonly use as the girls' overnight lodging base. Actually, our female youth mentors named it in 2005 after everyone got tired of just calling it the "platform yurt." Our other yurt is called "marshmellow." It sits right on the ground and has no dome roof covering the center so that we can have a fires right inside. *The Bog* This is the bog. It is a rare habitat in this region of fast-moving waters, but it just so happens that there is a large swath of lowland, rolling foothills between the mountains and the sea here, and it allows the water to slow down enough to form lakes, around which bogs can grow. 10,000 years ago, this spot was underneath a glacier, and when it melted, it left this lake basin. Since then, as vegetation grew and died, the edges filled in to create bog, whose main characteristic is peat moss with acidic-tolerant plants growing in it, including the carniverous sundew, the aromatic labrador tea, and the pervasive flowering bog laurel. Someday, unless development curailed the bog, it will turn into a flat forest, then the peat will turn into coal, and if under enough pressure for a long enough time, then oil. *Other Side of the Lake* Mr. & Mrs. Clark leased "99 acres for 99 years" to the boy scouts back in the 1940s, but that arrangement has been lost to history. However, here on the other side of the lake, you can see remnants of where the boy scouts had their primitive camp, though they were based primarily out of what is now Wolf Camp. The forest over here is protected by 300 foot wetland setback guidelines that the Washington State Department of Natural Resources follows, which means that there are remnant "legacy trees" of over 100 years old all around the lake, including this group we call "Mama, Papa, Baby" that consists of a Sitka Spruce, Red Cedar, and Western Hemlock. Another reason we bought this property is that this state land runs undisturbed all the way to National Forest wilderness areas, and it serves wonderfully for all our primitive living needs. *Primitive Camp* Just downhill from the Northwest Corner, we are starting to create what we hope will become a working Primitive Camp, consisting of primitive homes like this "earth lodge," and all the other apparati that is necessary to construct in order to have a functional, successful stone age living experience similar to what our instructors Melva "Nikki" van Schyndel and Micah Fay were able to accomplish for nearly 2 years out in the wilderness from 2004-05. *The Office* Currently, we are running the cooperative out of this little house next door to Wolf Camp, but as soon as we are able to create sufficient infrastructure on the camp property itself, we plan to let this go, hopefully selling it to some nice Wolf Camp alumni or other persons who can fully appreciate the special nature of Woods Lake and the work we do through the cooperative. We are also adding cattails and other plants to the pond area that are highly prized for primitive living as part of our ongoing permaculture projects.	The Gate This is the gate we're building at the entrance to camp. The driveway needs to sit one more season before we give it its last coat of gravel. Imagine how beautiful this entrance will be once the cedar trees we planted along the driveway grow up! *Flintknapping Pit* This is our flintknapping pit, set back a ways into the Cedar Grove. It is nice and dry back here even in light rain, and wonderfully shady during the sunny summer camp months. If you are wondering what "flintknapping" is, you can scroll through the "artisanry" photo gallery to find sample arrowheads we have made from obsidian and other stone types.. *Pine Trees* Okay, we're heading down to the lake now, but thought we'd stop and take a look at the Lodgepole Pine trees growing around the lake. There are just a few which are tall enough to be called "lodgepole," but they are the exact same species which grow in the bog next to the lake shore, and those are called "Shore Pine." Amazingly, this species grows only around the edge of water where other trees can't tolerate the poor soils and fully submerged roots, but it also grows on the other side of the mountains in very dry conditions, where it is always called "Logepole Pine." *The Beaver Lodge* Here's the beaver lodge which is situated about 200 feet north (left when looking out at the lake) of the beach. If you take a boat out at dusk, the little critters will greet you with a loud slapp of their tail on the water. We recently talked with an old timer who was here in the 1940s, once a year for 5 years, between the ages of 10 and 15, to help the then-old-timers Mr. & Mrs. Clark, who owned a quarter square and lived in the house that is now burned down, build the driveway to the lake. He and his older brother would work for one week hauling downed hemlock trees and gravel from what we now call "Fir Hill" next to the Pavillion area, to build the lake driveway through the wetlands, something that couldn't be done nowadays. Why did they work? So that at the end of the week, they could help Mr. Clark blow up the beaver dams on the outflow of the lake, making the lake 10 feet shallower than it is today. *The Farm* This picture was taken during wintertime, but you can still see the cornstocks and general curved pattern of the garden rows. Behind the garden you can see a fenced area where we normallyy keep our sheep, and to the right is the almost-completed barn where the chickens and other animals will live. The ultimate goal of our little farm is to produce enough salad fixin's, eggs, and meats including fish from the lake, and sustainably hunted animals from the forest.	The Pavillion After parking behind the white painted rocks along the driveway and checking in at the little cedar shed camp store, you will notice an area to the right and slightly higher in elevation. It is the future site of our new campfire pavillion, planned for 2007. Currently, we use a metal roof building for campfires when it rains. *Geodesic Dome* Currently called the "center camp circle," this grassy area we carved out of the woods is the site of our future "longhouse" built from cedar trees we need to thin out on the property. It will become the main living quarters for our year-round student programs, as well as our main gathering area for indoor events. *Woods Lake* Here we are down at Woods Lake, the last remaining undeveloped lake in the lowland Puget Sound region: no roads alongside, no houses visible from the water, and most incredibly, only periodic noises from our rural neighborhood situated on the road in. In fact, it is so quiet, on cloudy days (clouds magnify sound) you can hear the train whistle along Hwy. 2, which is almost 10 km / 6 mi south of here. That is about the nearest air traffic path as well, so plane noise is rare, too. Otherwise, a car pulling out of our driveway, or a dog barking may be the only other non-natural sound, and if you have ever tried to find a truly quiet place, you'll know how special this is. *The Enchanted Cove* Here we are at the outflow of the lake, what we call the Enchanted Cove. There are 2 seasonal creeks flowing into the lake, and 2 year-round creeks, both of which still provide uninterupted habitat for our native Cutthroat Trout to flourish, also thanks to the fact that the lake level was allowed to rise (due to beaver dam activity here in the cove) after Mr. & Mrs. Clark passed on, before someone planted bass in the lake. Now, the cutthroat have deep, 25 foot, super cool waters in which to escape the invasive bass, and in the fall, the "cut" jump more than one per second before heading up the streams to spawn. In the summer, the bass and rainbow troute provide great sportsfishing, but the lake can only be accessed through private property – ours and one neighbor who has owned about an acre of the lake since the waning days of Mr. & Mrs. Clark. *Northwest corner* Back on our side of the lake, we have a nice trail to the northwest corner of the property, which contains wonderful legacy trees, including this 100-200 year old Western Hemlock. It was probably struggling for light when the first loggers showed up in 1905 or so, but they overlooked it. Once daylighted, the tree no doubt shot up and grew to this great size. The northwest corner is a beautiful area, predominantly consisting of cedars. *Permaculture Projects* We have a variety of "appropriate technology" projects underway at Wolf Camp, including this waterwheel that is turned via the outflow from our pond. The waterwheel produces enough energy to charge a variety of batteries used for running computers and lighting the office during the winter. We use bicycle generators for some electrical heating, and are planning to get a vegetable oil generator for back-up. We also are getting a special biodiesel production kit that is manufactured by one of our students, and converting some of our vehicles to run completely off veggie oil. Other projects are also underway, such as "forest gardening" the center camp cirecle area around the future longhouse, doing controlled burns to create habitat for nut-bearing trees, and also placing fruit-bearing trees on the forest edge.

Photo Gallery Index

Come Meet Us

Wednesday, April 25: Start Date for our Online Auction taking place April 25 - May 2. The auction items will be uploaded at 9:00 p.m., with bids accepted through 9:00 p.m. the following Wednesday, May 2.

Saturday, May 5: The Camp Store gets uploaded at 9:00 p.m. on May 5 after the end of the WOLF Foundation Cinco de Mayo Spring Party & Silent Auction taking place at Wolf Camp from 1-6 p.m., when we will dedicate the new physical camp store and receive a blessing of the land by Lummi violin virtuoso Swil Kanim.

Also visit Wolf Camp on Saturday, May 12, 2007, 9:00-5:00, for theWolf Cooperative Open House, Camp Visiting Day, Work-A-Thon & Bar-B-Que. This is also a great opportunity to meet Wolf Camp instructors, WOLF Foundation board members, and fellow campers before the season starts. Enjoy a day at the lake, a hike in the woods, music and storytelling around the campfire, or collect pledges to raise funds for camp at the Work-A-Thon if you like. We will be offering a bar-b-que from Noon - 2 p.m. with donations being requested for Max Davis Scholarships. Call or email us to RSVP, or click here to print out Work-A-Thon pledge forms.

Summer Workshops cost $25 per person, plus $25 per person per Friday night and Saturday night stayover options.

Wed, July 4: Shore Life at Deception Pass is a free day running 9:00-5:00 only available for families of youth attending one of our day or overnight camps this week.

Sat, July 7: Fire by Friction is a workshop running 10:00-3:00 for ages 5 - adult.
Sun, July 8: Fishing for Bass is a workshop running 10:00-3:00 for ages 5 - adult.

Sat, July 14: Primitive Hooks & Line is a workshop running 10:00-3:00 for ages 9 - adult.
Sun, July 15: Survival Bows & String is a workshop running 10:00-3:00 for ages 9 - adult.

Sat, July 21: Wildlife Tracking is a workshop running 10:00-3:00 for ages 5 - adult.
Sun, July 22: Bird Voices is a workshop running 10:00-3:00 for ages 5 - adult.

Sat, July 28: Scouting Philosophy is a workshop running 10:00-3:00 for ages 9 - adult.
Sun, July 29: Scout Games is a workshop running 10:00-3:00 for ages 5 - adult.

Saturday, October 27, 2007 (Saturday from 1:00-10:00 is the main event, but you can stay over until Sunday at 5:00 if you like): 11 Year Anniversary Harvest Party, for alumni, family and supporters. Our annual summer raffle runs throughout the summer, with during the Harvest Party.

Saturday, March 29, 2008 Fundraiser Auction for WOLF Foundation Scholarships & Land Preservation, runs simultaneously with our Spring Party for Youth Camp Alumni, in Snohomish, 5-10 p.m., in Historic Snohomish, a great place to spend the afternoon with friends or family before the auction and party, walking through the antique stores, having ice cream or fudge at the chocolateria, or enjoying a libation in one of the pubs. $18 adult auction, $6 youth party.


Overnight Camp Choices Summer Day Camp Choices School Year Co-op Classes	See Schedules & Tuitions for Residental Intensives and Cooperative Study Programs	Intensive Adult Camps Cooperative Class Series Workshops & Family Camps	Staff, Mission, News, Cool Apply • Scholarships & Giving Custom Designed Programs

Overnight Camp Choices Summer Day Camp Choices School Year Co-op Classes

See Schedules & Tuitions for Residental Intensives and Cooperative Study Programs

Intensive Adult Camps Cooperative Class Series Workshops & Family Camps

Staff, Mission, News, Cool Apply • Scholarships & Giving Custom Designed Programs

Virtual Tour of the Wolf Camp Property on Woods Lake

Photo Gallery Index

Come Meet Us

Overnight Camp Choices
Summer Day Camp Choices
School Year Co-op Classes

See Schedules & Tuitions
for Residental Intensives and
Cooperative Study Programs

Intensive Adult Camps
Cooperative Class Series
Workshops & Family Camps

Staff, Mission, News, Cool
Apply • Scholarships & Giving
Custom Designed Programs