The Sculpins Explore Clayton Beach Together After a Summer Apart

Clayton Beach is an Explorer's Club favorite

When your age can be recorded with a single digit, summers can feel like an eternity. As the Sculpins arrived at Lost Lake parking lot, many of them remarked that it seemed like FOREVER since we all had had the chance to explore together. We completed our first year of Explorers Club last year which included lots of growth, culture building and fun! For our first outing this year, we came full of anticipation of what a full day exploring with the Sculpins could entail!

There was so much anticipation for the day that our opening circle took us a bit longer than usual. The mentors expected this; after a long summer apart, it can be hard to remember some of the culture that we had created last season. Some of us had a chance to practice patience as we waited for the rest of us to calm our bodies and become ready to hold an opening circle. After one last stop at the restroom, we took to the trail and headed into the trees and towards the beach.

The woods at Clayton Beach are sometimes overlooked but provide some high quality areas for exploration!

The Sculpins wanted some free exploration time right when we got to “the ravine” (an Explorers Club favorite spot!), but before this could happen, we had to have a circle where we reviewed our safety rules and also anticipated (as a group) what kinds of hazards we may run into at this spot and how to mitigate those risks.

Having a snack and discussing boundaries

After satisfying their itch to run, dash, touch, climb, leap, smell and splash, the Sculpins decided to organize a big game of Spiders Web. We had an EMA from an older group along with us, and we decided that he should be our spider as we knew that an elder explorer would offer us ‘flies’ a real challenge during our game of Spiders Web.

Some flies stuck on the web...

After a challenging and exciting game of Spiders Web, we got to hold our first collaborate and compromise circle of the year together. In Explorers Club, we give the boy's and the group lots of opportunity to help decide how their outings are organized. Often in our programming, the boys are allowed to make decisions about what they want to do and where they would like to go. They must come to a complete consensus when making these decisions, so lots of collaboration and compromise happens. It isn't always easy, but it forces the boys to begin to see the world through a lens other than their own and to learn how to function as members of a community.

Navigating the steep trails was made easier by these big Douglas fir roots

Today, the Sculpins had to decide how to spend the rest of their time. Would they continue to play games in the forest or would they head down to the beach to see what kind of natural history mysteries they might find there? It took us a bit to get to a true consensus, but once we did we were excited to get on the trail and head down to the beach for the rest the day!

Fall colors at the beach

Here we had a chance to climb on rocks, explore tide pools, and even check out some harbor seal bones and the carcass of a dogfish that had washed up on the beach!

We then held our closing circle at the beach. The mentors appreciated the opportunity to share gratitude with the Sculpins after a long few months apart. After we had finished our practice of Attitude of Gratitude, we made the uphill trek back to the Lost Lake trailhead to meet our families.

To check out the rest of the pictures of our day, click here!