This year's day camp was as awesome as ever. We spent a great day on the Robbin's family property on the Hama River where the students participated in an orienteering, role playing, scavenger hunt activity imitating the life stages and migration of Wild Salmon. Day 2 was spent fishing at the Huson ponds. WDFW's Youth Sport Fishing Educators Terry Rudnick and Jim Bird, helped the kids land 6 cutthroat and gave them the scoop on fishing safety along with some tools to help them with their future fishing endeavors. On day 3 we ventured to Guillemot Cove for a day of beach and nearshore exploration. It was enriched by a discovery of sand dollar beds and an interesting lesson led by researcher Michelle Licari. The day was topped off by a completely unexpected and yet serendipitous moment that highlighted the afternoon when campers were visited by the transient pod of orcas which had been in the Canal for the past few months.Campers stepped out of their comfort zone and enjoyed a little mud in-between their toes in another adventure as they tracked and identified animal signs. Consequently, they made some tracks of their own while they cruised the wetland woods bare foot on a rainy day.

Overnight Camp began with storyteller Peter Donaldson leading the way. Peter comes to us with a unique passion for Wild Salmon. He shared with the campers his sustainability perspective and holistic learning approach. We launched our first day kayaking with him. Since about 90% of our campers are returnees, we switched things up a bit this year and began our journey around the Hood Canal in reverse As we ventured by kayak to the Skokomish River, cruising the estuary and nearshore, campers were visited by some furry onlookers of the seal variety. Now these weren't just any random seals, we spotted an entire rookery with young pups in training and diligent parents ever watchful. We concluded our day of careful scientific observation, complete with journaling and drawing interesting finds, settled around the campfire, listened to stories and reflected on the day's events.
Next was a visit to the Skokomish Nation, where we were graciously hosted by Edwin Poulin and Delbert Miller who shared stories, culture and lunch with our campers. That evening we camped at the Dosewallips where exploring, swimming and thankfully showering were all embraced. After having gorged ourselves on s'mores and reflecting around the campfire, we all settled in for another fun day ahead. On day three, we returned to the Hama. Campers got really adventurous and took a cold dip in the Blue Hole. Cold dip is right; they don't call her "blue" for nothing. And though somewhat different and a bit more challenging, overnight campers also participated in the salmon life stage orienteering game.