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July 8-13 (2012)
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above - arwork by Wolf Journey alumn Joanna Colbert - below
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Trackers of the Animal Kingdom
Tracking Pacific Northwest Birds, Mammals, Reptiles,
Amphibians, Insects, Spiders and Seashore Creatures.
This camp is run in collaboration wih Wolf Haven, Int'l, a wolf sanctuary on a "mima mound" prairie preserve, with the camp week starting at Millersylvania State Park near Olympia, WA to cover reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects and spiders, then tracks tide flats on the Salish Sea, plus elk and ravens in old growth rainforests of Olympic Nat'l Park, and finally, spend two days in the territory of Washington State's most recently documented wolf pack!
Few people can understand the language of the birds and follow tracks that animals leave behind. This week you will develop the eyes of a tracker, the ears of a bird, the nose of a bear, and the hands of a 'coon. Learn how predators and prey engage in the circle of life, keeping the populations of the other in check.
You'll learn the skills of a detective as you follow clues and solve mysteries that would otherwise have gone unnoticed by others. Amazingly, animals reveal themselves to all who can read their stories in the earth. As you will see, tracks can tell us about the size, health, emotions, history and even intentions of animals which would otherwise remain hidden all around us.
Never feel alone in the forest again as you learn to communicate and understand the sights and sounds which birds use to point out predators, to quarrel with their neighbors, or to sing with appreciation. Learn to find hidden friends like lizards and salamandars, crickets and grubs in the same way a bear forages for food under logs.
Visit the beach to find crabs, clams, sea snails, anemonies, sea cucumbers, starfish, sea stars, and other treasures of the tide flats. Come with us as we enter the world of animals, becoming that which you follow, and end the week tracking wolves in and around the Wolf Haven wolf sanctury!
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Camper showing a lizard up close and personal to instructor Scott Fanello.
Artwork by Wolf Journey alum Joanna Colbert.
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Camp Goals & Skills Covered:
The goal of this camp session is to bring you to a deeper understanding of the natural world, and skills covered during this camp session include, but are not limited to the following list, and are somewhat dependent on instructor preference and camper readiness:
• Sensory Awareness & Stealthy Movement
• Nature Journaling & Sketching
• Understanding Birds and Their Voices
• Understanding Mammals and Their Tracks
• Understanding Animal Impact & Dependence on Plants
• Understanding Insects and Their Life Cycles
• Understanding Beetles and Their Role
• Understanding Arachnids and Their Survival
• Understanding Anthropods / Sea Invertebrates and Salt/Fresh Water
• Understanding Reptiles and Their Tracks
• Understanding Amphibians and Their Tracks
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Camper with crab she caught by hand.
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Camp Schedule & Activities:
See below for Sunday, July 8, 2012 arrival times and Friday-Saturday departure options. Our schedule during the week includes morning wake-up, stretches, washing, and breakfast vary slightly depending on previous evening activities, but if all was quiet by 10:00 p.m. we would awake at 7:00, do warm-ups from 7:30-8:00, and have breakfast from 8:00-9:00 ... 9:00-12:00 is the morning session. 12:00-1:00 is lunch, and 1:00-2:00 is usually swimming or other recreational time. 2:00-5:00 is the afternoon session. 5:00-6:00 is dinner, and 6:00-7:00 is usually personal time. Evening sessions begin at 7:00, and bedtime varies according to the activity and the time of sunset.
Activities covered during this camp session include, but are not limited to the following list, and are somewhat dependent on weather, instructor descretion, camper desire, and serendipity:
• Sunday: Intros, Agreements, Navigation, Sensory Awareness and a Songline.
• Monday: Animal Forms, Stalking Games, Mammal Families, Five Arts of Tracking, Bird Language & Identification, and Swimming at our river tracking site.
• Tuesday: Dawn Chorus, Olympic Park Rainforest Tracking, Insect & Beetle Identification, Animal Photography, and Trailing Challenge.
• Wednesday: Pacific Ocean Sand Dunes, Reptile & Amphibian Tracking & Identification, Camp Fire & Games.
• Thursday: Knife Safety Test, Make Walking Staves, Arachnids & Anthropods Identification on Salish Sea tide flats, Plaster Casting, Music & Stories.
• Friday: Tour of Wolf Haven wolf sanctuary, Advanced Tracking Challenge, Campers Choice of Games, and Preparation for Presentations.
Register
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Black bear track up in the snow, which lingers all summer at high elevations in the Cascade mountains.
Wolf scat we found while tracking in 2008.
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Camp Storyline, Songs, Books, AV & Other Resources:
This session's storyline is Animals Are People Too but may be modified by the instructor, and some of the songs you may learn this week include: • The Owl and the Eagle; • Talk to the Animals; • Tale of the Wolf; • Do Re Mi; • Feed the Birds; • My Favorite Things; • Morning Has Broken; • If I Only Had A Brain; • People of the River; • Yonder Come Day; • Caterpillar.
Books, AV & Other Resources this week include various hand-outs that campers will take home, and if you would like to prepare in advance, please consider studying the following resources we will be referencing:
Wildlife & Tracking in the Pacific Northwest: Mammals, Birds, Reptile, Amphibians & Invertebrates
Bird Tracks & Sign (Stackpole) by Mark Elbroch
Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species (Stackpole) by Mark Elbroch
A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America (Johnson Books) by James Halfpenny
Tracking and the Art of Seeing (Berkley) by Paul Rezendes
Tracking: A Bluepring for Learning How by Jack Kearney (Pathways) for human tracking
A Field Guide to North American Birds (Golden Guide)
Insect Tracks & Sign, new from Stackpole
Amphibians of the Pacific Northwest
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Lone Pine) or Plants of the British Columbia Interior (Lone Pine)
Drawing from the Book of Nature (Rudolf Steiner College Press)
The Stars by H.E. Rey, or (Peterson’s) Skies, or A New Way To See Stars
Tracker by Joel Hardin available from www.jhardin-inc.com
The Great Floods (documentary in cooperation with Coulee Dam National Rec Area Nat'l Park Service) produced by Washington State University.
The Great Dance: A Hunter's Story (an Aardvark / Earthrise / Liquid Pictures / Off the Fence film co-produced with KirchMedia, e.tv, and Primedia Pictures in association with WIMSA) directed by Craig Foster and Damon Foster, produced by Ellen Windemuth and James Hersov, featuring !Nqate Xqamxebe, Karaho "Pro" Langwane, XlhoaseXlhokhne, The !Xo, Xwikwe and Nharo people, edited by Damon Foster, written by Jeremy Evans, music by Barry Donnelly.
Rabbit-Proof Fence (movie by Miramax Films about Molly Craig and her family) based on the book by Doris Pilkington Garimara.
Three Among the Wolves (Sasquatch Books) by Helen Thayer
Watch for Me on the Mountain (historical fiction about Geronimo) by Forrest Carter.
The Song of Hiawatha by by Henry Wadsworth Longellow (version by Bounty is beautiful).
The Peacemaker's Journey (cassette from wildernessawareness.org/tapeindex.html) with Jake Swamp.
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Picture we took of Great Blue Heron catching a vole. |
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Camp Instructors & History:
This session's likely lead instructors will be Lorien & Patrick, but may change depending on need and availability, and the history of this camp session includes:
• Pilot Year: Started under another name in our very first overnight camp year of 1998.
• Past Lead Instructors: Chris, Nikki, Lorien, Dan, Huck, Patrick.
 
Lorien, always smiling with coffee in hand.... and Patrick our tall tracker.
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• Go Back to the Overnight Youth Camp Index for Summer
• Or Continue to the Overnight Youth Camps during the Academic Year
GENERAL INFO, HEALTH/SAFETY, FOOD & FAQs
• Daily Camp Schedule & Pickup/Dropoff
• Optional Friday Night Stayovers;
• Air/Bus/Train Transportation Choices
• Tuition & Registration: Download & Send Form; by Phone; or Use PayPal
• How to Prepare & What to Pack;
• Agreements for Participation; Join us as we share these exciting, critical skills of the Naturalist, Tracker, Herbalist, Scout, Hunter, Artisan & Pioneer. We don’t rely on novice camp counselors to lead programs, because of course, the skills we teach require great experience. Now it's time to relearn these earth skills which almost went extinct in the past century, in order to apply their lessons to our modern society, helping the world live in balance. Testimonials from past participants will help you understand how we strive to nurture the growth and success of everyone, while providing the rarest of positive experiences. Register for as many weeks as you like this year!
Health, Safey & Food: Our highly seasoned, dynamic instructors place the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health of our students as top priority, and we enjoy a stellar stafety record since founder and lead instructor Chris Chisholm (BA, EMT, Youth Specialist CDC II) started overnight camps in 1998. We have always maintained an intimate 6-1 or smaller ratio of campers-instructors, with lead instructors driving vans who average age 35, accompanied by assistant instructors averaging age 21. All staff receives training in risk management, wilderness first aid, and the pedagogy of earth skills education. Our food is purchased organic, cultivated in our gardens, or harvested in the wild, making for wonderful meals that we all prepare together. In addition, we make all necessary accommodation for vegans and vegetarians, pork-free religious traditions, and of course food allergies.
All camp weeks are co-ed. To read an essay written by Wolf Journey author and resident director Chris Chisholm on choosing an appropriate camp and the emotional challenges facing young campers, click on Camper Preparedness & Emotions. Parents are encouraged to call our main cell phone directly whenever you like during camp, while campers can use our cell phones to freely call home as much as they need during the time they are with us.
Youth Program FAQs Page is being developed.
PICK-UP, DROP-OFF and AIRPORT/BUS/TRAIN TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS
Arrival Options on Sunday, July 8, 2012:
Complimentary Park Arrival Option: Meet us at Millersylvania State Park, 12245 Tilley Road South, Olympia, WA 98512 on Sunday between 4:00-4:30 p.m. and after initial introductions, we'll have dinner together between 5:00-5:30 and then give an overview of the week between 5:30-6:00, including detailed information on our itinerary, after which any accompanying friends/family are free to go.
$25 Puyallup Arrival Option: Meet us at the Wolf Campus in Puyallup on Sunday between 2:00-2:30 p.m. so that participants can travel with us to our camp location.
$75 SeaTac Arrival Option: Book your Airport/Bus/Train Arrival into Seattle-Tacoma on Sunday morning in time to meet our pick-up vehicle at 12:00 noon, but be sure to call or email us with arrival times before confirming your plans. Pick-up at baggage claim unless unaccompanied minor, then at gate or unaccompanied minor waiting area.
Departure Options on Friday-Saturday:
Complimentary Friday Campus Departure Option: Family & Friends are invited to meet us at the Wolf Campus in Puyallup on Friday between 4:30-5:00 p.m. and we ask that everyone bring a pot-luck dish to share between 5:00-5:30 before enjoying presentations from 5:30-7:00. It is extremely helpful for local family members and friends to arrive at 5:00 and stay all the way until 7:00 in order for all those who participated to experience a healthy integration of these incredibly unique experiences back into their home lives.
$50 Saturday Puyallup Departure Option: Participants can stay overnight with us at the Wolf Campus in Puyallup, where the latest departure time is at 12:00 noon on Saturday. Please let us know at what time you plan to pick-up / depart on Saturday morning.
$75 Saturday SeaTac Departure Option: Participants can travel back to the Wolf Campus and stay overnight with us in Puyallup, and then get dropped off at the Airport/Bus/Train Station in Seattle-Tacoma on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in time for afternoon flights. Drop-off at security unless unaccopanied minor, then at gate, but again, be sure to call or email us with flight times before confirming your plans.
The camp week starts with Sunday dinner and go through Friday dinner and will have a maximum of 36 campers with tuition at $635 if you register by February 5, or $650 if you register by March 10, or $665 if you register by April 30, or $680 if you register by June 5, and $695 thereafter if space remains available. Cumulative discounts of $20 are given per additional family member, $20 cumulative discounts for additional camp weeks, and $20 off for referring any new family who registers someone for camp. $175 per week per participant deposit is required to hold your spot, and campers may apply for as many weeks of the summer as they like.
Additional Fees: The only additional expenses you may incur for this course beyond tuition and transportation are that you may need specific gear, although we have plenty of extra just in case, and you may and wish to contribute to our scholarship fund for camp t-shirts, books and other recommended items. Weekend stayovers between consecutive overnight camp weeks cost $175. There is also a $25-$75 Sunday airport/bus/train pickup fee and a $25-$175 for dropping off depending on driving distance and how long you stay during the weekend. If you can't meet us at the designated camp rendezvous point, please see above for alternate pickup/dropoff times. Please call us with questions.
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