Vespula Veterans Overnight at Racehorse Falls

Rain.  The Vespula Veterans are familiar with rain.  They are students of the rain.  The rain has taught them how to find shelter from the weather, how to stay dry, how to be wet and still be comfortable, and how to protect their equipment and personal gear from becoming soggy.  Unfortunately most of these lessons were hard earned, but a hard earned lesson is not easily forgotten.  Remembering these past experiences in the rain Steve and Greg quietly anticipated the arrival of the Vespula as the rain continued to fall. 

The start of a new season is always exciting and the mentors and Vespula were both excited about the new bus, Moose.  While Moose may look nearly identical to Stubbs on the outside, it is a wonderful upgrade!   In true EC form we filled it to bursting with packs, group gear, and boys.  After some soggy goodbyes we finished loading up and pulled out of the parking lot on our way to the foothills of the North Cascades.

After a quick stop to pick up one last Vespula we trundled down highway 542 the cabin of Moose echoing with the excited voices of friends catching up on a whole summer of adventures.  The highway eventually gave way to a gravel road and after a short bumpy ride we pulled into the parking lot a near Racehorse Falls.   We scouted the creek for a suitable place to camp exploring the forest as well as the gravel bars and flood channels.  In the end we decided to use the established “camp” and did our best to minimize our impacts on the sight while constructing a camp suitable for lots of rain.  Fortunately we were able to setup our tents during oue of our few breaks in the rain.  We also brought two tarps and created a small sheltered kitchen area and a large covered area where everyone could gather and stay relatively dry in a heavy rain.  These both proved to be wonderful comforts.

One great luxuries of camping near a river is that there is usually abundant firewood that is fairly easy to gather.  After rigging our tarps we gathered wood.  The wood was processed from logs all the way down to kindling.  While the boys did not get a chance to use the small “boy’s axe” Greg brought along, a few were interested in learning safe methods of splitting wood with a small and light axe.  Many boys did however create kindling using the technique called “battoning” where a fixed blade knife, like the Mora’s knives we recommend, is carefully stuck by a stick repeatedly to split a small branch 2-4 inches in diameter until the blade is driven through and the wood is split.  In this way we generated a massive amount of kindling in the pouring down rain.  The ample western red cedar was dry and split easily.

While the kitchen crew readied the dinner of Explorer’s  Mac N’ Cheese (box mac n’ cheese with a ¼ ham) the rest of the explorers huddled under the large tarp trying to stay out of the steady rain.  The warmth of the food lifted soggy spirits and coincided with a long break in the rain, which was much needed!

We finished our evening with “council” where we come together formally as a community to hold space for important conversations.  It is our tradition that we burn a small quantity of sage in an abalone shell that is passed around the entire group.  The Vespula were tired and after a few logistics many headed to their tents and the warmth of their sleeping bags.

The next morning all awoke to a steady rain on our tents.  The promise of a fire and explorer’s oatmeal was enough to lure most from their tents.  Another break in the rain provided a chance for Greg to demonstrate baking in a reflector oven.  Greg brought a small bag of bannock baking mix and baked up a small loaf of bread.  Bannock has been baked over fires for a long time, but using a reflector oven is a really exciting was to bring some fresh baked goods along into the backcountry, provided you are permitted to build a fire.

After our hearty breakfast we packed up our camp and enjoyed some rainy creek exploration.  Nothing was perhaps more captivating than watching the Pink Salmon swim upstream and fight over spawning territories.  Females were digging reds before our eyes and males were desperately trying to keep competitors away.

Lunch was the final action at our creek side camp, before loading up our damp and muddy gear into Moose.  We piled into the bus and Steve navigated logging roads in search of a large landslide from a few years earlier that had unearthed countless fossils.  Unfortunately we never found the landslide we were searching for, but we did explore a steep and fascinating creek drainage.  Buy mid afternoon we were all ready to head back to the warmth and comfort of town.  The rain continued to fall as we unloaded Moose and sad farewell one by one to the Vespula Veterans.

Once again thank you to the Vespula Veterans for showing up.  Season after season you bring your energy and enthusiasm to our outings no matter the weather and as a result we make the most of every situation.  Another heartfelt thank you to the families of the vespula veterans, for without your support, encouragement, and trust these opportunities for exploration would not be possible.  Thank you!

Photos from the outing can be found here!