6th Grade Backpacking Trip

The 6th Grade class recently returned from an overnight backpacking trip to Excelsior Ridge, where we practiced our outdoor travel and camping skills, navigated zero-visibility fog, picked late-season huckleberries, earned a few bumps and scrapes along the way, and enjoyed our time exploring the beautiful North Cascades.

When we arrived at Excelsior Pass last Wednesday afternoon it was entirely socked in by clouds. We had a nice afternoon and evening setting up camp and exploring, but we could not see anything else around us. Then that night, a few minutes after the students had settled into their tents, the clouds suddenly cleared and a very bright and nearly full moon appeared over the peak above us.

I called the students out and each one gasped as they finally saw the view of Mount Baker from our campsite for the first time, illuminated by moonlight in the dark. We stood there in awe all together for some time until the students one by one quietly drifted back to their sleeping bags. It was a magical end to a fun first day backpacking together as a class.

Matt Shannon, Grade 6 Teacher

To read more about wilderness adventures in Waldorf middle school, click here!