We had big plans for the Bear Creek Explorers’ second week together: explore Bear Creek! But first, we checked the rain gauge and started our field notebook entry for the day.
As a group, we decided to rotate through who does the actual writing in the book, with the youngest starting us off with the metadata and rainfall data. Metadata is all the info we record to give our data context: date, time, location, weather, air temperature, etc. We also planned the data we’d collect on our creek adventure and made sure we had all the needed science equipment and bushwhacking tools.
We paused for a quick before picture under the bridge, and then we were off!
At first it was almost like walking on dry land, and those of us with boots had dry feet while the sandal-wearers hollered about the chilly water.
But it wasn’t long before every boot was topped and our bottom halves were fully soaked.
At one point someone declared: “Now we’re REALLY Bear Creek Explorers!” which made me laugh since it hadn’t occurred to me that someone would have to traverse the actual creek before they could call themselves a BCE. But perhaps we have a new initiation tradition!
In several places, we encountered total creek blockage, with the bushes and brambles blocking our way. The leader would chop and hack until we could all get through, and those in back could spend a few minutes testing out the power of the machete on dead branches.
We discovered pockets with beautiful fall color- and pockets of invasive wetland plants, like this patch of reed canary grass.
At a wide spot, the BCEs tried to goad me into jumping in for a swim. They don’t know me well, but if I weren’t carrying my lunch and a bunch of scientific equipment I might well have been the first one in! But it was all playful banter- no one really felt like swimming on this 60-degree overcast fall day.
At one point there was a very unexpected discovery!
And just as our feet were starting to numb and thoughts of lunch entered our heads, we made another surprising discovery. A toilet bowl!?
Just downstream was a significant log jam, and at this location, we found many old bottles, car parts, and other artifacts too heavy to wash away in the winter flows.
Someone noticed a beaver slide nearby, and we all agreed it was time to climb out of the creek and have lunch. As I expected (and why it’s hard to explore the creek from land) we had to tromp several hundred feet from the creek before we found a spot with enough open ground to sit down and eat.
Our pants and shoes were wet, but it still felt relatively warm out of the water.
This next photo cracks me up! It begs for a witty caption.
“Checking your email- bushcraft style!” “Sign your kid up for a wilderness immerson program- and they come home with a cell phone!?!” “An often overlooked side effect of kids spending too much time outside: they forget proper use of a smart phone.” Maybe you can you think of a better one?
After everyone finished eating I pulled out our water quality testing kit (thanks Yakona Nature Preserve & Learning Center!) and our fancy Vernier Dissolve Oxygen monitor (thanks Diack Ecology Education Program!)
We decided we’d test this location along Bear Creek for: pH, Nitrates, Photorous, Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen.
Each student had a job: either they got a test tube to collect a water sample and instructions on how to take the measurement, the digital probe, or recording data in the field notebook. Our current scribe also made note of all the plant and animal species we’d noticed along the creek hike.
We talked briefly about what each of these data points meant about the water quantity at this location.
Some tests needed 5mL of water, others 10mL.
We set timers to make sure we waited the correct amount of time between adding the tablets and taking a reading.
Everyone looked at the color matches and we discussed as a group what to write down.
The results were encouraging, especially since we decided to name this spot on the creek the Toilet Bowl! The water was 12.2 deg C and according to our table 100% dissolved oxygen saturation would have been 10.8 mg/l and our reading was 9.02 mg/l. The nitrites and phosphors levels were low and the pH was neutral.
After making sure we’d recorded all the data, including the metadata of the GPS coordinates, the group decided to take our chances with navigating the forest to get back instead of heading back into the creek.
I had some idea of where to head, but I let them lead until we had made a big circle and ended up back at the creek. Funny how the forest without a trail will trick you like that! Lucky for us we had a compass, and once we chose a direction and kept to it we eventually found our way back to main camp.
Dry socks and shoes felt amazing! Once everyone who had remembered a change a clothes was dry, the kids were eager to head to the village to work on their fort.
It’s impressive what they’ve done in just two weeks, both with small slivers of free time!
Before we left we wrote down some questions: Where does Bear Creek come from and where does it go? What an excellent segue into watersheds for next week! Also, How do these water quality measurements compare to water quality in other locations?
By the time I dropped the kids off, we had a plan for the next week.
How wonderful to have such an adventurous, focused, thoughtful team of researchers!