Spring Outdoor Explorers

April 7, 2022

Our Outdoor Explorers program returned in early March for three separate sessions, two sessions with Round Rock ISD 18+ Transition program – VISTA, and our Ranch based group of young adults with special needs.  Weekly sessions are held at Brushy Creek Lake Park in Cedar Park and the Ranch.  Our ranch-based group continues to steadily grow with two new Explorers joining this Spring.  This season’s curriculum focuses on “Leave No Trace Principles” where our Explorers learn how to both preserve nature and recreate responsibly within it. Along with Leave No Trace Principles, Explorers are learning basic camping skills like how to build a tent, how to read a map, what to pack for day and overnight hiking, and how to cook in the outdoors.

For our Explorers, sessions are so much more than outdoor based education; they are a chance to build friendships. Our groups of Explorers have met each week for the past two years, and always look forward to seeing their friends and having fun together. Not only have lasting connections been formed between our Explorers, between the parents of our Explorers who meet and catch up while sessions take place. Often the mothers of our Explorers can be found taking respite in the outdoors, walking the trails at Brushy Creek or our Ranch, reading a good book beneath the shade of an oak tree or trading stories about the trials and joys of motherhood. Though healing is often found within the solitude of the outdoors, nature equally grants the opportunity of bringing people closer together.   We are excited to see how much our Explorers continue to grow and learn for the rest of the spring.  Outdoor Explorers will return in the Fall for more learning, friendship building, and fun in the outdoors.