Willow: Early Buds for Bees, and Sustenance for Many
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Katie
2y ago
By Carmen Harris As we begin our warm-cold dance & windy journey toward spring you will inevitably notice periods of time when the weather is so fine and fair that our bees can be seen flying about in search of sustenance. I’ve already noticed them on our warm days sipping on the resin of wood that I’ve been cutting while I work outside, doing their best to seek whatever they can during this ‘fallow’ time in the plant world before buds break open in Spring. What are the early foods that our bees can eat to sustain themselves at this time of the year?  Willow, one our earliest bud ..read more
Visit website
Historic Winter Hike: Tsankawi
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Katie
2y ago
Tsankawi is an amazing winter hike, only 40 minutes from Santa Fe.  In fact, Tsankawi is great any time of year, but can be hot without cloud cover during summer months. Tsankawi is a part of Bandelier Nationl Monument, but without handrails, concrete ramps and steps. At Tsankawi you can pretend you are explorer discovering this place for the first time, with waist deep grooves in the paths and a myriad of caves to explore. The rock here was created when the Valles Caldera blew it’s top, and ash and lava flowed down to form what is now called volcanic tuff.  It is a soft rock that th ..read more
Visit website
‘Haycorn’ harvesting from our New Mexican oaks
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Mountain Kids!
2y ago
‘Piglet was busy digging a small hole in the ground outside his house. “Hallo Piglet”, said Pooh. “What are you doing?” “I’m planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow up into an oak tree, and I’ll have lots of haycorns just outside my front door, instead of having to walk miles and miles. Do you see, Pooh?” “Supposing it doesn’t grow up into an oak tree with lots of haycorns?” said Pooh. “It will, because Christopher a robin says it will, so that’s why I’m planting it.” Piglet put the haycorn in the hole he had made, covered it with earth and jumped up and down on it.’ – From The Hou ..read more
Visit website
Winter Hike: Diablo Canyon
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Katie
2y ago
The Diablo Canyon Recreation Area is a wonderland of black rocks, dramatic cliffs and sand. It is worth the bumpy drive along the washboard road to get there. Directions are below. You will see the towering rock faces as you get near. As you begin your walk, you might see some little dots on the sheer rock cliff face above you.  These dots are people who climb this massive rock: remarkable and inspiring, and for those who prefer to stay close to the ground, downright scary.  Luckily, you will be on solid ground, and it makes climbing the big black boulders below seem very safe by com ..read more
Visit website
A Walk on the Wildside
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Mountain Kids!
2y ago
Our Saturday Wildside group had a blast this past week hiking along the Santa Fe River. We started the day finding north and orienteering for treasure; it turns out kids can use their spidey senses to find treasure (apples and oranges), rather than compasses. We also used a stick compass to find north and all four directions, so easy and useful. We were challenged in some physical agility; walking across logs, climbing and descending muddy slopes, and playing King of the Log; where one person tries to  bounce an opponent off a log without touching them. A fun new game! The rope swing was ..read more
Visit website
August 12 : The Artist’s Adventure
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Mountain Kids!
2y ago
What better way to start an adventure than by making a pouch to place all of your treasures in! On Monday we began our week by setting up a felting station in Hyde Park Campground, from where we played games, took a hike to a waterfall nearby and got wet and soapy. The smell of wet wool and lanolin was an interesting experience for the children. We learned that heat, water and friction together create an effective felting technique. On Tuesday we had a go at needle felting a picture each. This is a fun art project to do – painting through color and form with felt onto a flat piece of felted f ..read more
Visit website
August 19: Cooking Adventures in Nature
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Mountain Kids!
2y ago
Monday morning greeted the Mountain Kids with the chance to harvest apples at the beaver ponds, which of course included some tree climbing for those who felt called to do so! The Eagles were very successful in the apple hunt, picking more than 200 apples in a short amount of time! They did most of the coring and slicing of apples to make apple sauce for everyone to take home. (The Hummers would have their turn on Thursday with the peaches!) On Tuesday morning we sliced and strung apples to dry them for a lovely dried fruit snack. The remainder of the day was spent hiking at Tsankawi, p ..read more
Visit website
August 5: Mud, Clay, & Camouflage
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Mountain Kids!
2y ago
It’s been another muddy good week with the Mountain Kids! It all began with an adventure to Deer Creek, where the Hummingbirds and the Eagles discovered several puddles of mud, camouflaged themselves from head to toe, and cooled down with an afternoon spent playing in the flowing water. While the Hummingbirds played in the stream much closer to the trailhead, the Eagles enjoyed a lengthier hike up to the ‘swimming pools’, where they practiced their [what felt to be] cold plunge and admired the beauty of the waterfall! Tuesday, the two teams parted for different adventures. While the Eagl ..read more
Visit website
July 22: Wonders of Water
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Mountain Kids!
2y ago
The Mountain Kids had an exciting introduction to the many wonders of water on Monday, a day spent venturing through the nearby Beaver Ponds, where the team learned about the adaptations of beavers, discovered many fascinating (and wildly unexpected) fossils, and played in the refreshing water of the Santa Fe River. Tuesday was a day filled with much more water (and mud, too!) at Abiquiu Lake. The children were able to imagine the scarcity of water in our waterways with the Water Scarcity Game, before heading out to Abiquiu. It certainly did not take the Mountain Kids! long before they were j ..read more
Visit website
Survival Hunting Tools: July 15-20
Mountain Kids! Blog
by Katie
2y ago
This was a week full of watery fun, skill building with knives and bows, and some good heart pumping hikes with views for miles and miles. Monday we started with spear making at the Big Tesuque. Knife safety was the most important lesson of the day.  Campers made some pretty nice looking spears in preparation for our Atl Atls on Wednesday.  We played games to get to know one another and explored nature in all of it’s glory. (Caterpillars and all.) Tuesday was a Rio en Medio adventure, a good wet hike to a waterfall where the campers enjoyed plunging into the icy water.  They qu ..read more
Visit website

Follow Mountain Kids! Blog on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR