Close your eyes. Listen. Wind in the trees. Birdsong. A gurgling stream. A rooster? A truck I can't see rumbles by sounding too close. But here we are tucked between a farmstead and Maxwelton Road, just a few acres of wooded wetland and a meandering creek. Still, it seems a world unto itself.
A friend and I took a walk around the trails at the Outdoor Classroom this week just after a big wind storm. Someone had already raked the trails clean. It is early spring, and things are stirring to life, waking after winter. We saw budding elderberry and blossoming oso berry. Soon the skunk cabbage and salmonberry will be blooming, too, attracting hummingbirds and insects. There will be a carpet of wild lily of the valley erupting from last winters' duff. The sound of migrating warblers will sing along with our familiar chickadees and kinglets. And soon, too, will be the sound of children exiting the school bus excitedly walking, skipping, teasing down the trail to the covered shelter and settling down at picnic tables. The Outdoor Classroom will be busy with students from surrounding schools for the next few months. And then summer camp will bring some back for more.
But for now, this is a quiet loop trail with a boardwalk over the bog. Our footsteps sounded hollow as we turned toward the deck overlooking the creek. We sat listening to the gurgling water as it wrapped around the bend. We watched birds flit through the thickets. A chestnut-backed chickadee came through the railing to study us. Golden crowned kinglets hopped from limb to limb. At the edge of the water a red breasted nuthatch climbed a tree trunk. A Pacific wren called a warning from the brush.
On the creekbank, a bag of rocks collects macroinvertebrates, caddisfly, mayfly, stonefly larvae, who will be investigated closely by curious young learners. A measuring stick across the creek showed the water level of this year-round stream. Some called this Pepsi Cola Creek, dark brown and foaming from passing through a peat bog upstream.
We walked the loop passing alder snags full of fungi and licorice ferns sprouting from the maples. Benches are arranged as learning stations where small groups of students will gather in a few weeks. The gurgling stream escorts us toward the classroom moving at about the same pace. We pass between large fir trees and come around to the picnic shelter. The classroom building is adorned with colorful ceramic fish swimming for decades through the trees. Each one represents a gift from a supportive community that helped fund this structure, build the complex, and start this program. A small handprint in the cement reminds us who this effort serves. We round the building and visit the grandmother maple behind it. Long benches await the next class that will sit beneath it's boughs. This huge tree, like a wise teacher with arms outstretched, overlooks the growth of young minds and hearts.
As we leave the classroom and stroll down the narrow trail toward the car, we pass the rock, dedicated to volunteer, Wendy Visconty, that says Do Your Part. And the entire trail, the building, the benches, the boardwalk, the deck, are all there because we did our part, as donors, as workers, as volunteer instructors, staff and board members. I take a few more steps out to the road to view the amazing carved cedar log sign that welcomes you to the Outdoor Classroom. This work of art, carved by Pat McVay, shows one small hand releasing the tiny fish that will grow into adults. Much like the students, who will grow into strong people, leaping through life, over many obstacles, into their future.
The Whidbey Watershed Stewards will soon be training volunteer educators to help with the spring programs for elementary school students. They also offer marine science programs for middle schoolers based in Langley. And they’re stewards of the Freeland Wetland Preserve. See more about them and the many opportunities to volunteer here.
Directions
Directions: From Highway 525, 4 miles from the Clinton ferry, take Maxwelton Road 3.3 miles south. Just beyond Erickson Road look for the sign and parking on the left. (French Road is just beyond the turn.)
By Bus or Bike: The closest bus stop is at the corner of Maxwelton Road and Highway 525. There is a wide shoulder and gentle grade on Maxwelton Road. Two bikes fit on a bus bike rack. Please wear bright clothes and use a light while riding on the road shoulder or walking to the bus.
Mobility: This is a short, level, but sometimes narrow trail with a few roots. The boardwalk is smooth but can be slippery when wet. Several benches provide places to sit and relax.
Republished with permission. Read the original article.