The Short-tailed Weasels Make Decisions at Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve

Arming ourselves with information before leaving the parking lot

For their third outing of the fall season the Short-tailed Weasels gathered at Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve.  The woods here feel just a bit more remote.  This 370 acre preserve is predominately second growth forest interlaced with a network of trails as well as mountain streams and even some impressive waterfalls.  There are also opportunities to gain elevation and catch views eastward toward the Cascade foothills and Mt. Baker. With many possible areas to explore and things to do at Lookout Mountain, we as mentors wanted to give the Short-tailed Weasels the responsibility to plan where we wanted to explore today. In our opening circle we assigned jobs, including that of the tribal elder, who would be very important later as he helped us to make various decisions throughout the day.

Hitting the trail

We followed the trail up and out of the parking area and took the short spur that would lead us to a waterfall lookout.  From a precipice we had a good view of the waterfall (which many of us remarked was quite impressive for being so close to the trailhead!). Our elevated position also gave us a good view of some stumps that had been logged long before this place was protected.  We noticed that different parts of stumps decay at different rates and learned that this is because much of the wood inside of a standing tree is actually dead. When the tree eventually falls over or is cut down, this dead part more readily decomposes while the living outer ring of wood remains intact longer.

Checking out the waterfall

After having a snack at the waterfall we returned to the intersection with the main trail.  Here was the first opportunity to practice our circular leadership and navigation skills by making a circle and utilizing the tribal elder.  While it was not a short circle (about 30 minutes), it was certainly effective.  The boys did a good job of holding focus and making sure every voice in the group was heard.  In the end, they came to a unanimous decision (all group decisions in BEC require a consensus among ALL members of the group) to head back toward the parking lot and find a patch of woods suitable for a game of spiders web.  The mentors had had a different plan, wanting to go deeper into the woods rather than back toward civilization.  However, it was important to honor the decision of the group so down we went, back toward the parking lot.

A mentor follows the group and its decisions

The mentors were reminded of the intuitive wisdom of boys after only a couple minutes of walking when we came across an awesome piece of forest that we would never have gotten to see if we had chosen to go the other direction.  The place had a spooky feel where trees were short and grew close together leaving absolutely no light for any plants in the understory.

Crowded trees

Exploring our new spot

We put our packs down here and took a few minutes to spread out and explore this interesting area.  In BEC we usually find ourselves in forests with lots of salal, sword fern, devils club and salmon berry.  It was cool to be in a different kind of ecosystem where the ground was soft and bouncy and covered not with live plants but strictly sticks, pine needles, cones and a lot of fungi.  Some of us also took time to practice carving, which is the skills focus for our season this fall.

Fungi!

After another snack and some water we organized a spiders web game in our new spot.  We didn't know how well this game would work here being that there were not many plants on the ground to hide behind but we were excited to find out!  We quickly learned that in the absence of plants, we had to use the topography of the forest floor as cover and had a fun and focused couple of games of spiders web.

Sneaking during Spiders Web!

Then, suddenly, the end of our outing was rapidly approaching.  Knowing we were short on time the mentors organized a sit spot. This was a good chance to have some quiet reflection and bask in the good feelings that come from lingering endorphins that get released from moving our bodies (in this case our spiders web game!).  During the sit spot, the mentors got a chance to reflect on the day. We were especially impressed by the dedication that these boys showed to making sure that everyones voice was heard and honored during the group decision making process.

An explorer enjoying a sit spot

While all days with BEC go by to quickly, this one seemed especially short.  It seems that you can never have enough time in the woods.  We ended our sit spot and held our closing meeting.  Here we handed back the jobs and held a circle of thanks that we close every BEC outing with.  It was a short walk back to the parking lot to meet our rides.

To see the rest of the photos from today, click here!