Having Fun in the Fall

If you ask most people what their favorite season is, the chances are likely that it’s fall. Fall is a busy time of year where the weather finally starts to cool down, the leaves change colors, and the days get shorter. Growing up, fall was my favorite time of year for several reasons. It seemed like something was going on every weekend. Hayrides, holidays, and hunting season are a few great memories that come to mind. At Nevada Outdoor School, fall is a busy time for us as well. These are a few of the fun things that we have experienced in the month of October.

At the beginning of October, NOS participated in National Public Lands Day in Water Canyon. During this event, we partner with the BLM for different stewardship projects. This year, we planted in the community garden, created a pathway, and provided a fun educational lesson to kids about different types of pollinators. The following weekend, we traveled to Soldier Meadows for Desert Dace Days. This is one of our favorite events where we camp out and provide a kids camp with fun and educational activities such as Leave no Trace. We also participated in a Dutch Oven Cookoff with lots of good food. Both of these events allow us to join the public and partner organizations and take care of the lands that we use for camping, hiking, and other types of recreation.

 

On October 6^th, we traveled to Reno to participate in the Leave no Trace Awareness Day with the Girl Scouts. At this event, the Girl Scouts were able to play our wheel of ethics game where they answer questions about Leave no Trace. They were also able to create hangtags that display the principles of Leave no Trace. The same day, I presented a living history program at the California Trail Center where I portrayed an emigrant traveling to California during the gold rush. This was a fun event and I look forward to presenting more living history programs in the near future.

October also saw the beginning of our monthly classroom lessons. During the fall and winter, we travel to local and rural schools to present different lessons based around nature and hands on learning. In October, our theme is archaeology and culture. Students are able to learn about the signs of fall, dinosaurs, Native American myths, and the California Trail. We also held our annual Lazy P fall field trip. At this fun field trip, kids learn about animals on the farm, how pumpkins grow, and how corn is used in everyday materials. They were also able to go through a fun corn maze where they learned about different farm items that showed them the correct way to go.

Although October has been a busy month, we enjoy the different experiences and programs that we get to participate in. Fall is definitely my favorite season and I look forward to the upcoming programs that we have in November. 

Happy Trails!