At the end of August, one of your park rangers, Ranger Weickhardt, returned from a month-long National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) course in Yukon, Canada. The course was geared towards outdoor educators and included lessons in environmental ethics and stewardship, leave no trace principles, risk management, wilderness conservation, leadership, back country cooking,
land navigation and map reading, as well as technical mountain and river skills to name a few. She, along with 11 other students and 3 instructors, spent 30 days backpacking and whitewater canoeing along an exploratory route through remote wilderness of the Yukon Territory. They were fully
self-supported, carrying all of their food and gear for the duration of the course. They paddledover 200 kilometers along lakes, streams, and rivers at times encountering seemingly endless series of beaver dams; these required rope systems, muscle and teamwork to hoist the 300+ pound boats loaded with gear up and over, or underneath and through the log jams. During the middle segment of the course, they traversed 50 kilometers of the Logan Mountains in 10 days following caribou
trails, steep ridges and talus slopes, through breath taking open valleys, and bushwhacked through dense mountain sides.
Ranger Weickhardt will also be giving a presentation about her course experience, including photos, stories, skills and lessons learned at the 2014 Franklin Mountains SP Volunteer Orientation and Campout – October 11-12th.
This year’s orientation is full of exciting topics and special guest speakers and experts in a variety of fields; topics include: Botany of the Franklin Mountains, Bug Appreciation, Geology of the Franklin Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert Reptiles, Birding 101, Dutch Oven 101 – Camp Cooking, Wilderness First Aid, and a great presentation from one of our speakers’ expeditions on Mt. Everest! Now’s a perfect time to volunteer for the Franklin Mountains State Park; we’ve got many wonderful opportunities to get you involved with throughout the year and a fun, comprehensive orientation just around the corner to prepare you. Call (915) 566-6441 to get more information or email Ranger Weickhardt: Adrianna.weickhardt@tpwd.texas.gov.
We look forward to seeing you on the mountains soon!
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