Oregon Coast Hiking - Picture Perfect

I just need to face the facts and accept that my boys are now the family leaders when it comes to hiking. They shoot ahead and find all sorts of things to be interested in as they hike along together. My hubby and I take a slower pace but then again, I am always stopping to capture some of the images that inspire me.



This is a photo Mr. B took while we were hiking down to the beach. The rabbits like to hide alongside the trail and since the boys were ahead of us, they spotted the cute little beach bunnies first.



The trail winds down the cliff and the wild azaleas are amazing in June. The pink against the blue backdrop of the ocean and sky is dazzling. This is at Harris Beach State Park....our favorite.



Here is one of the many types of berries that are to be found on the coast trails. Twinberry Honeysuckle is such a great shape and color. I am going to be drawing it in my nature journal this week as I catch up on my journaling.



We hiked another section of the Oregon Coast Trail which leads down to the Indian Sands. This area of dunes leads down to a rocky steep coastline and the views both north and south are amazing.



Here is a better look at the dunes covered with wildflowers in June. Indian paintbrush, clover, beach strawberries, Douglas irises, lupine, dandelions, yarrow, and many more are found growing low to the sand....it is always windy here so be ready to be blasted with sand if you hike down to the edge.



Here is a close-up of one of my favorite plants...salal.



It made it into my nature journal on this trip. After dinner, I would sit at the picnic table and review with my field guide all the things that we saw that day. I then would pull out my nature journal, watercolor pencils, and my Sharpie Ultra Fine Tip pen and I am all ready to record a special subject from our day. It only takes a few minutes and it is a wonderful way to add another layer to your hiking experiences.

So there you have a glimpse into our coastal hikes which I think we ended up putting in about twenty miles over the course of four days. I can think of no better way to get to know an area.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

You can read about our tidepool adventures in this entry: Oregon Coast-Tidepools of Wonder.

Oregon Coast - Tidepools of Wonder

Spending time on the Southern Oregon Coast has become one of our favorite family destinations. I gave the men the choice of where they wanted to go camping and they unanimously chose Brookings, Oregon. Harris Beach State Park to be exact.....same as last year. There is something nice about really knowing a place, returning to see favorite beaches and then having some new adventures as well.

This photo shows how low the tide was for us...you can clearly see the normal waterline.

We hit the low tides of the year again so there were plenty of opportunities to tidepool in the early mornings. Surprisingly, there was not one morning of fog the whole time we were camping there so it was easier to get up early to hike down to the beach and explore.

Following my own advice, I gathered our field guides which included our new field guide for seashore life. We had paged through this one quite thoroughly and became a little more familiar with what we might see in the tidepools and along the shore. Our efforts paid off and we spotted some new things as we tidepooled.


We saw several sunflower stars and they are amazing creatures. We even watched one crawling!Can you see the tracks in the sand where he has moved? Really awesome to see in real life.


Everyone tries to hold tight when the tide lowers so here you can see many sea creatures crammed into the crack in the rock. I love the purple Ochre sea star.


Yes, these are living creatures too. They have little snails inside and you can see them moving when you stand still. There were hundreds of these all over the rocks.


These are some kind of limpet which is also a sea creature. It has a tongue or radula that it uses to each algae off the rocks.


This is one we would have missed if we hadn't studied our field guide before going down to the beach. It is Tar Spot and is a kind of algae. Cool huh?


Can you say anemone? Look at this colony on the shore rocks.....amazing.


Here is another new creature for us and it is really alive! It is a Gumboot chiton and it has a large muscular foot attached. Our field guide says it can live for 20 years!


Another chiton, this time a Leather chiton. These were new to use last year and we knew just where to look on the rocks to see them. They look like rocks but they too are a living creature.

I will save our Coast Trail hiking for another post and I also have Redwoods National Park hikes to share as well. Stay tuned!




Just another perfect Oregon Coast sunset.....we watched the sunset every day on our trip. There is just something amazing about being still and quiet, waiting for the moment when the sun dips below the horizon. Peaceful.

Hope you have many a summer sunset to watch.

Our Tree Study - Sitka Spruce in Oregon

Jedediah Smith Redwoods - Boy Scout Tree Trail June 2011

Our camping trip to the Oregon Coast was glorious. The weather was perfect without even a sprinkle or a cold day! We enjoyed sunshine, sand, and trees all up and down the southern coast of Oregon. Although I could fill a complete post with our adventures, I want to focus on our tree study that was completed right in our campsite.

We were prepared with some notebook pages and a field guide so this was not only an easy study, it was informative and interesting. The campground had a brochure that discussed the common plants and trees to be found so it was our starting point. We read through the brochure and decided to focus our tree study on the Sitka Spruce. Turns out our campsite was surrounded by them!

We looked up the identifying marks of the spruce as well as looked at the images of the needles, the cone, and the trunk. We discovered that the Sitka Spruce is found along the fog belt of the coast of North America.



They are not quite as tall as the Coast Redwoods we experienced most of the week but they are still very tall trees. The photo above is my husband showing how large the base of this Coast Redwood is on one of our hikes. These trees make you feel small and insignificant. We would hike along and one of these ancient ones would come into view and it would make you stop dead in your tracks. Breathtaking.

Even though the Sitka Spruce is not in the HNS, we looked up the information for the Norway Spruce and used the suggestions in Lesson 186 to learn more about spruces in general. We observed the needles, the cones, the bark, the shape of the tree, the roots like buttresses, and the way the limbs droop.

NotebookingPages.com - Nature Study Set. I like to embellish mine a bit with colored pencils.

Somehow I misplaced the photos I took for our study so now I am glad that we did the sketches on the notebook pages for our journals. We enjoyed our simple vacation nature study....one of many we did on this trip.

Here are some other things we observed and read about: harbor seals, trillium, fuchsia, gumboot chiton (sea creature in the tidepools), Winter wrens, huckleberries, and owls. There is a story to every nature study we did and if I had time I would relate them all but for this entry I will stick to our tree study.


Here is the best shot I have of the Sitka Spruces around our campsite. We could have spent our week focusing on the many plants, birds, and trees of this place and not run out of interesting things to think about. Eating and sleeping under the spruces made our study even more meaningful.

Okay, do you love my new tent? It is 6 1/2 feet tall and even my really tall husband and boys can stand up inside it without rubbing their heads on the ceiling. I love the hinged door too! This was our first outing with it and I think it is going to serve us for a long time.


Just a pretty shot I took one night while we were out for a sunset walk...the moon was incredible the whole time we were camping, a natural nightlight.

So there you go...our vacation tree study. Wish every tree study could be this up close and personal. 


Well maybe not that up close....my boys have decided Planking is rather a fun activity.

Nature Study and Summer Travels - Four Steps to Prepare

Northern California Coast

The difference between a good outdoor experience and a great outdoor experience with an opportunity for nature study is sometimes just a matter of preparation. Summer nature study is a perfect fit for most families with the weather being more enjoyable and with longer days to enjoy. Whether you are visiting a new city, exploring your own city, or taking a road trip, including nature study in your plans can make your time more fun and interesting. Our family tries to include some element of outdoor time to each traveling experience.

California Tiger Lily

Four steps to preparing for nature study as you travel this summer.

1. Do a little research ahead of time for the habitat you will be visiting. Determine what you will encounter on your trip that might make for interesting nature study. I linked some ideas below along with some simple nature study books to get you started. Make sure to use your local library to find more books to prepare your family before your trip so you have some things to look forward to seeing in real life. For example, if you are going to be visiting an ocean beach, learn what plants, birds, and animals make their home there. You can also use the Handbook of Nature Study to read about things you think you might encounter during your summer travels.

Beach play and nature study....a nice balance

Habitats Might Include:
Seashore
Woods
Desert
Pond
Deciduous Forest
Boreal Forest (Northern)

Roosevelt Elk - Northern California

2. Find resources such as field guides or other nature related books to read or bring along with you. I suggest a good bird field guide, a wildflower field guide, and perhaps a tree field guide as a basic set of resources to have with you. Check your library for books you can borrow and take with you. I have complied two lists of suggested field guides: Field Guides for Beginners and Field Guides for Families To prepare, you should page through the field guides before you leave on your trip to be familiar with the layout of the book and perhaps to glean a few things ahead of time to be looking for as you go outdoors.

Nature Journals done on the trail do not need to be fancy.

3. Bring along your nature journal or some pre-printed notebook pages. During down time it is nice to have supplies on hand to make a nature journal entry to record your nature study as you travel. Basic art supplies like markers or colored pencils are easy to pack. I also like watercolor pencils for nature journal entries. Keep it simple and light. Digital cameras are a lot of fun for children to use as they document their own view of the trip. Encourage your children to take photos of things that they observe for future reference in identifying or including in their nature journals.

My suggestions for nature journal supplies and then nature journal ideas can be found here:  
Nature Journals-Ideas and Tips.
 
In preparing for your trip, you could also look up a few of the Outdoor Hour Challenges before you travel, the first five challenges can be applied to any habitat. If you have the first Getting Started Challenges 1-10 ebook, you can have that loaded on your laptop and reference it as you travel.

My boys love to climb and this time they discovered banana slugs and salamanders.

4. I also like to look up nature centers or nature trails in the areas we visit. A good nature center visit can take an hour or two and can provide a spark to capture the interest of everyone in the family. The staff is usually knowledgeable about the local habitat, giving you advice on where to go and what to see. They also can help identify anything you have observed but can't put a name to as you try to make your journal entries. Most nature centers have bookstores that can provide additional resources to follow-up your nature study time. I found this list of Nature Centers in the United States. (This list does not look complete but it will get you started.)

We are preparing for a camping trip of our own and I have used the suggestions above to gather ideas and resources ahead of time. You know we will share our results when we return from our coastal trip where we are hoping to find tidepools to explore, sandy beaches to walk, and redwood forests to hike in. We have some time before we set out so we will be thumbing through our field guides and looking up some additional information and redwood forests while we wait.

Hope you have the chance to spend some time outdoors this summer with your family AND include a little nature study.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

This post is going to be a part of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival for nature study. You can submit your own entry HERE and the deadline is 6/13/11.