There are always a few perfect winter days on the mountain and students from Wa He Lut Indian School were treated to one such day during our recent winter field trip to Mount Rainier National Park. As the bus approached Longmire, the sound of crunching snow under the chained-up tires signaled that a snowy day of hiking was about to begin. The winter stillness around the parking lot quickly gave way to the excited voices of 40 students hopping off the bus, decked out in winter hiking gear. This gear was purchased with a No Child Left Inside grant awarded to Nisqually River Education Project through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office. The tone for the day was set when the first student hopped off the bus into the snow, took a look around, and yelled “This is awesome!”.
We gathered together, donned snowshoes provided to us by Mount Rainier Institute, and departed from the parking lot to begin hiking the Trail of the Shadows. Our group was the first on the trail that morning, so the kids had a great time learning just how much work it takes to break in all the fresh snow! As students warmed up from the hike and breaking trail, we took many breaks to throw snowballs and lay in snow banks to cool off.
A personal highlight of the trip came about halfway through when a group of students stopped in a small clearing to catch their breath. The firs and hemlocks were as big as any we’d hiked by that morning and one student had to tilt her head all the way back to look straight up the main stem of an ancient hemlock and see the canopy high above us. She was silent for a moment and then let out a long “whooaaa!” – without any prompting the rest of the group followed suite. For those couple of moments it was a real joy to just sit back and watch the collective awe and wonder that this group of students had found on their own.
We concluded our hike with lunch and hot chocolate back near the Longmire Visitor Center. Students took their last few minutes to bask in the winter wonderland we had been exploring before they boarded the bus to head back to school. When it was time to head out our staff, along with the teachers, had to work to get all the students back on the bus as some just did not want to leave! This is always a good problem to have on an outdoor field trip and we can’t wait for more spring hikes to come!
This trip would not have been possible without the funding provided by a No Child Left Inside grant and the dedication of Nantz McMillen, a Nisqually River Education Project AmeriCorps member who provided many hours of planning and support to get students to the mountain. Nantz coordinated with the 5th – 8th grade teachers at Wa He Lut Indian School to plan this experience in the hopes that it would help youth explore environments that they don’t often see in their everyday lives.
Using No Child Left inside grant funds, Nantz worked to size students and purchase hiking boots, insulated jackets, winter gloves, and wool hats & socks for each youth that went on the trip. Students were excited to find out that this gear was theirs to keep! Many hours of preparation went into this excursion, and we extend our thanks to our partners at Mount Rainier Institute, who provided over 40 pairs of snowshoes and to the staff at Mount Rainier National Park staff who helped facilitate our visit.
