When and where...

 

Burning Turtle 6/13-6/17 2011

 

Our first trip took us to northern Wisconsin and Smith Rapids on the Flambeau River for the first night and to Big Island in the Turtle Flambeau Flowage for the remaining three nights. We had to "self support" in that we carried everything in and out ourselves.

 

Little did we know that we would not be alone on the island and had a rather unsettling encounter with a bear at the camp site. It was a very successful trip, there were 18 people on the team including Rusty Shankle as coordinator, Beth Ruhland as medic, W.C. Shankle and Stephanie Shankle were volunteer chaperones.

 

Wildcat Mountain 6/11-6/15 2012

 

For our second trip we chose a location a little closer to home and paddled through Wildcat Mountain State Park and the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in southwest Wisconsin near the town of Ontario. The reserve is a beautiful example of the "driftless" region and offers a great mix of road access and remote areas. We camped two nights in Wildcat Mountain State Park and two nights in the KVR.

 

One night the students took part in a three mile bat survey using some extremely advanced equipment from Australia. The survey was facilitated by a bat specialist from the reserve. There were 18 members again for the 2012 trip, Rusty, W.C. "Papaw", and Beth had their same roles but were joined by Mary Friend and her father Mike.

 

Buffalo River 6/16-6/22 2013

 

Our first trip out of the state took us to the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Northern Arkansas and the clear Buffalo River that flows through them. The Buffalo was the first river to be designated a National Wild and Scenic waterway in the 1970's. We camped the first two nights at a site called "Ozark" and would eventually paddle all the way from The "Erbie" access to our down-river camp called Crow Hole by the locals.

 

In addition to games, challenges and team-building activities, we hiked into the beautiful string of hollows and rock formations called Lost Valley. On our way home we stopped in Springfield, MO and visited Bass Pro Shops, a monstrous temple to all things hunting and fishing. It was a great trip in part thanks to lower temperatures and fewer bugs than expected.