Archive for the ‘tracking’ Category

Hi everyone,
I hope you’ve had a chance to check out some of the lodge photos that got posted on the photo gallery http://www.farmandwilderness.org/photo-gallery. I’ll probably put the rest up here on the FC blog soon. As always, feel free to share the photos with friends and family. Often it’s hard to explain the wonder of Flying Cloud with just words, but perhaps the photos can help….

We’re full on into winter mode now, and I hope you’re all doing well with your lives at home. I know school can be hard, but I hope you remember to wrap yourself up in your Flying Cloud blanket every once in a while and travel back to the FC clearing in your mind. I just added a maple leaf (made of leather) to my blanket and a wooden button that allows me to turn it into a poncho! I’ve been really enjoying wearing it around as I wander in the woods here in Washington.

After campers left, the staff stayed on for four more days, doing mysterious counselory things like cleaning and having meetings. One of my favorite parts of post-camp is how tangible the presence of campers is. In one sense, Flying Cloud is just a clearing in the woods, and for nine months of the year it’s filled with birds, bears, bunnies and moose. On the other hand, anyone who’s ever walked into our clearing can say without a doubt that there’s magic there. Thanks to everyone who was there this summer making magic, and I hope to see most of you back for summer 2009! For those of you who are interested in staying connected during the off season, you should definitely check out the house parties around New England.

To leave you with something to consider for next time, here’s a little tracking mystery to check out. This little critter was cruising along the Oregon sea coast, but we’d find its family members around New England as well. Check out the number of toes, and note that this is all four feet in a group. That’s a clue! Can you tell which ones are the left and right? And what about front and rear?

So I know this is a bit out of season, but todays natural mystery comes to your from central vermont, in February of 2005.

These four clean tracks were made in a light dusting of snow on top of about 1/2“ of crust crossing a big field.
Here are a couple questions to try out:
1) Which way was the animal going?
2) Which tracks are the front paws, and which are the rear?
3) How many toes does this animal have?
4) What is the general shape of the tracks? Triangular? Circular? Oval?
5) Can you see claw marks? How many?
6) What animal made these tracks?

If you come up with answers, let me know!

I found this set of tracks near my mom’s house, by a big, beautiful beaver pond, and I don’t know who made them!

My mom lives in central Vermont, and this beaver pond backs right up on a pretty big mountain.
Any ideas??

The date and time on the picture might be helpful to some too….

Also, look really closely inside the tracks for a neat little surprise. If you find what I’m talking about, feel free to pop me an email or make a comment.