On July 8, 2022, I had the absolute pleasure of kicking off our new Forest School Friday educational series with an amazing group of kids. We gathered at HeadWaters’ Big Lake Nature Preserve for a session on orienteering and geocaching. I led the kids through a tutorial on maps, compass use, and utilizing land structures to help identify locations on the map. Once compasses and maps were distributed, three groups set out to find a series of waypoints placed across the property. Working together, each group was successful in locating all three of their route waypoints. It was great to see the kids fearlessly traversing the woodlands.

Next, we gathered to talk about the global treasure hunt known as geocaching before we deployed the first ever cache at Big Lake. We specifically chose a cache container that would be ideal for swapping swag and trackables, which are fun items that can be tracked as they move from cache to cache.

As fewer and fewer children are growing up exploring the natural world, it always gives me great pleasure to see children connecting with nature. I feel so fortunate to work for an organization where I get to not only be a part of protecting natural areas but also help educate the next generation about the world around them.

Thank you to Sam Cornelius for taking amazing photos of the day!

Julie Rubsam, HeadWaters Executive Director