Girls Outside’s second spring hike featured seven intrepid youngsters in grades 1 – 3,  four fantastic adult volunteers, including two new recruits from our winter Recruitment Fair and one accompanying parent.

Together, we explored a loop starting at Mead’s Quarry, following the Will Skelton Greenway, heading into the Forks of the River Wildlife Management area and back again.  Along the way, the girls enjoyed noting lots of wildlife and even challenged themselves to find all the levels of the food chain.  And we almost did it!  Caterpillars, dragonflies, birds, beetles, and tadpoles.  Several girls enjoyed taking turns with binoculars and paging through field guides to try to identify what they had found.

We started our journey by reviewing our Leave No Trace guidelines and talking about why they’re a good thing to follow (so others, including the next Girls Outside group can have the same experience we do, and so the animals and plants can continue their lives undisturbed by our visit).  Our girls really took these lessons to heart as the observed, but did not disturb, everything we enjoyed on our trip.

Feedback says all these girls are developing a love of being outdoors, a love for exploration, are enjoying the adult female role models away from their parents and the camaraderie of the Girls Outside experience.  We certainly look forward to seeing many of these girls again!

All hike photos can be viewed at our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GirlsOutside