Pacific Chorus Frogs Spend the Afternoon at Whatcom Falls Park

Lowland snow is a special treat here in the Pacific Northwest. It is fun to play in, great for tracking animals, and just plain beautiful to behold. However, it does create some logistical challenges and because of these we got to have an evening outing after a half day of school; what a busy day! We are grateful for the flexibility of our group and felt lucky to all be able to still get to explore together.

Checking out the falls

Today was our first outing of the spring season and we came ready to move after a day inside at school. Lucky for us, Whatcom Falls Park is a great place for us to do some free exploration and release our excited energy. We also had the opportunity to practice our group decision making skills, see some nocturnal animals and look for crayfish in the creek.

Exploring the woods in Whatcom Falls Park

We are one of the youngest groups in BEC, and as such we are still familiarizing ourselves with the culture. A big part of that culture is making decisions as a group regarding what to do and where to go during our outings. For many of us this is the first time that we have been given this kind of agency. Coming to a consensus is a very difficult task for any group of individuals, adults or kids, and the mentors appreciated our effort and commitment to coming up with a decision that satisfied ALL of the members of our Sculpin community.

We found this beautiful nurse log with cedar roots running its full length

Some of us even practiced building a debris hut

Are there any crayfish down there?

The final seconds of daylight slipped away from us as we walked back to the parking lot to meet our rides. As a final send off from the forest to us, a bat appeared above our heads as just as we were crossing the bridge! We were lucky to be able to watch it feeding on flying insects for a couple of minutes before we had to leave the park. We were glad to have had an afternoon that included some community development as well as some interesting nature surprises!

Be sure to check out the rest of the pictures from our outing here.