Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp, July 2025
- Brian Quindlen
- Jul 25
- 5 min read
The July 2025 session of Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp was a welcome return to our usual camp format! Our session of High Adventure Summer Camp just a few weeks before this featured our hottest week yet, which feel more like "Trailblazers Survival" than our usual camp fun. This time, we had heat, but we were able to enjoy a healthy mix of hiking, birding, botany, and creek exploration; all the elements of a successful Trailblazers session!
Our first day of Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp was spent on two of Garnet Valley School District’s nature trails! In the morning, we spent time on the Bethel Springs Elementary School Nature Trail. At BSES, we split the group in half with some going on a nature walk with Mr. McLaughlin and the rest going birding with Mr. BQ. On the nature walk, students learned about trail etiquette and how to identify trees and plants (especially hazards like poison ivy!) On the bird walk, we were treated to two different pairs of Eastern Bluebirds around our school campus. We also had fantastic looks at Barn Swallows as they were picking off insects on the Francis Harvey Green School fields!
In the afternoon, we boarded a school bus for our first field trip of the week! We popped over to the Concord Elementary School Nature Trail on the north side of our school district. Here at CES, students explored Webb Creek. While we were in the creek, students enjoyed finding wildlife like crayfish and American Toads! A small group of students did a little bit of birding around the meadow and pond. We ended up hearing a family of Common Yellowthroats hanging out around the pond. We then did a brief tutorial on how to use Merlin Bird ID to help you learn your bird sounds in the field! We were able to make it back to BSES before thunderstorms rolled in so overall we had a successful first day.
Our second day of camp featured our first full day field trip of the week. We ventured north to Exton Park, our first visit to this location since August of 2018. Since our last visit, a new section of the park was built along Swedesford Road that has a playground, a nice parking lot (with bus accessibility,) and most importantly: a bathroom with a water fountain! We had another hot day that was reminiscent of our High Adventure session just two weeks prior. To beat the heat, we decided to eat a snack under the pavilion before we did a long morning hike! We journeyed down through the disc golf course to arrive at the inner loop of the pond. We got to practice using the scope as we looked at a pair of Mallards on the main pond! We ran into another camp group at the observation deck, so we left the deck earlier than expected to head down the inner loop. Here, we had two Cedar Waxwings over the trail for the group to see! After we made it all the way around the inner loop, we popped over to the Chester Valley Trailhead to refill our water, use the bathroom, and investigate the pond on the south side of the Chester Valley Trail. Unfortunately, the beaver lodge that was once along the edge of the pond had been removed since the last time I’ve been there! We did get to see a Great Blue Heron along the water’s edge, and the fisherman of the group got to scout the pond for a potential return visit. Since it was so hot, the group voted to hightail it back to the pavilion for a late lunch and some playground fun!
Our third day took us to Okehocking Preserve, a beloved Trailblazers field trip location! This spot has all the elements for a great field trip: great habitat, a nice creek, school bus access, and a bathroom (even if it’s just a porta potty.) Since conditions were so hot and humid yet again, we decided to stick together as a whole group rather than split the group in half to do two different activities. We began our day at the preserve with a bird walk! We hiked mostly along the creek with a stop at the old barn. Here, we got to see a rather handsome male Indigo Bunting, and we also heard another one nearby. We also heard a pair of Eastern Towhees counter singing around the barn! After that, we moved on from there down into the orchard section along the creek. We did a brief tutorial on how to pish to attract birds. We also talked about how to identify stinging nettle since this group has run into it more than any group we’ve had in the last few years. Next, we hiked up the steep path through the forest to the top of the ridge by the heart shaped sewage pond. It was noted by the returning veteran students of the group that they were surprised by the absence of the Wood Ducks that we often see on this spot. We noticed that the American Kestrel/Wood Duck box that once stood next to the pond is now gone; perhaps that’s why they weren’t there! Next stop was the Purple Martin colony way atop the hill of the preserve. We were able to study these birds as they float in and out of the gourd complex, and we even were able to compare them to nearby Tree Swallows to study how much larger they were in comparison! Much to the joy of the group, we discovered a shortcut down the hill that took us back to the farmhouse in ruins to eat a nice shaded lunch. At this point, temperatures had reached the high 80s with humidity at about 80%, which meant it was time for us to cool off! We enjoyed exploring the waters of Ridley Creek for the rest of the day before we hopped the bus back to BSES.
Our final day took us to the best birding spot of the entire summer: John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia! This urban freshwater title marsh is an incredible habitat for animals, especially birds and also turtles. The refuge is excellent for wildlife viewing since there are so many good open views of large and slow-moving animals. On this particular visit, the bird activity was a little lighter than we expected, but we had amazing looks at a few less common species! We had an incredibly cooperative Great Blue Heron sitting just a few feet from the big boardwalk. We also had great views of Red-winged Blackbird, Wood Duck, Eastern Kingbird, and Barn Swallow! We hiked all the way to the observation tower before doubling back over the big boardwalk over the little boardwalk. We enjoyed lunch at the nature center and checked out the exhibits before we boarded the bus back to school.
At the end of the session, we tallied a total of 55 species of birds. For more on the birds we observed, check out our eBird Trip Report. We also hiked a total of 10.25 miles over our four days together. We had some of the closest views of Great Blue Heron I've had in my whole life (and I have seen thousands of Great Blue Herons. None ever that close!) We were also able to beat the heat and have fun cooling off in our local bodies of water. Overall, it was a phenomenal week of camp!
Thank you to James, our long-time GVHS Guide, with his help during this week of camp. Also, thank you to GV families for your continued support of Trailblazers and environmental education in GVSD! We are looking forward to our final session of camp at the end of July.
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