The san juan islands lay visible on the horizon to the West and the pull of the Chuckanut mountains was tangible as the Red Tailed Eyas gathered alongside the infamous stubs on Samish way. Our destination for today's outing was the far South Eastern end of the Chuckanut mountain range, the last part of this range before they flatten out into the fields of Bow and Skagit County.
As usual the ride aboard Stubs was high energy and a nice time for the boys to get out some of their nervous energy before reaching our location. We pulled into the parking lot at the base of Blanchard mountain and made our way toward the large map display of the trail system. With the Red Tailed Eyas it can sometimes take them a while to come together as a group and make decisions but once they do there is always insightful and strong leadership that emerges. Today was no different, after a few minutes of unfocused energy the group was ready to look at the map and make some decisions on where to head and how to get there.
We started up the road toward the Alternate Incline trail but before long we were stopped by a large gravel pit on our left. dropping our packs we began to clamor up the loose rocky hillside. Very quickly we found a Northern Alligator lizard hiding in the rocks. Carefully removing rocks from around the lizard we were able to get a good look at him. Seeing the potential to find life amongst this seemingly desolate landscape we all spread out in search of more lizards. over the next hour we found many snakes, two species of frog and two species of lizard including our first find. It was a good reminder that the wilderness is all around us and we don’t have to be in the middle of nowhere to have amazing encounters with wildlife. All the boys handled the animals very gently and I was impressed with the amount of care they took to insure they put them back exactly where they found them. We try to find a balance in Boys Explorers Club between minimizing our impact on the land but also recognizing that we are a part of the land and cannot learn from it unless we embrace this. Our time in the rocks with the animals was a perfect balance of this ethic.
After leaving the gravel pit we headed up the rest of the road and ducked off onto the Alternate Incline trail. After a solid hike up the steep trail we reached a small flat spot to stop and eat some food. We spread out; some of us seeking the sunny spots in the forest while other sought out the shade of Cedars and Douglas Firs. After lunch we circled up to discuss what we wanted to do with the remainder of the day. After a good discussion on where the groups energy was at and how much time we had left in the day we came down to two options; either to continue up to lizard lake or head off trail in search of a spot for Spiders Web. We decided on Spiders Web and began to traverse through the sword fern and fallen logs to a ridge that lay just off trail. From this ridge a small valley flanked by sword fern and rolling topography was visible far below, the perfect location for a game.
After taking some time to explore our new surroundings we set up some boundaries for the game and began. The terrain proved to be challenging for both the spider and the flies. The boys were up to this challenge and we had a great first round of Spiders Web. After coming back together to discuss the game we decided to play another round, but to move the location of the web and food source. We explored North from our original location skirting a steep hillside. Running over logs and jumping down hills we found a Huge dead tree still towering above us. The Red Tailed Eyas milled around it investigating its rotting structure and looking for burrows or other openings at it’s base. Because of it prominence on this landscape we decided to make this the food source for our second round.
A flat knoll next to a small creek mad the perfect location for our closing circle and giving some thanks. Though we were sad to leave this small valley tucked deep in the Chuckanuts the time had come to go. We decided to cut straight down the hillside to the road and forge the trail on the way back. We galloped, laughed, rolled and jumped our way down the steep bank arriving back at stubs just in time to get back. Thank you Red Tailed Eyas for an excellent days exploring the woods and thank you parents for being supportive of what we do and sending your boys out with us to explore. Be sure to look through our photo gallery for more pictures from our adventures. 
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