Trailblazers High Adventure Summer Camp, June 2026
- Jul 12
- 5 min read
The 2026 session of Trailblazers High Adventure Summer Camp was the phenomenal way to kick off our summer! Unlike most summers of previous memory, we had a mostly beautiful week of camp weather wise (minus one day of rain.) During the session, we tallied a total of 59 different bird species. We also hiked 12.5 miles over our four days. We even paddled 3 number miles by canoe! With stats like that, you can see that we don’t call it High Adventure for nothing!
Our first day of the session started with our usual review of expectations and itinerary for the week! After that, we took a brief stroll on the nature trail to review the basics of trail etiquette, do a little birding, and review our VIPs (Very Important Plants!)
Later that morning, we embarked on our first field trip of the summer to Ridley Creek State Park! After enjoying lunch at picnic area number nine, we hiked down to our usual creek spot to beat the heat and see what we can find. We were surprised by how overgrown this usual spot was compared to previous visits, but we made the most of it (even if it limited our abilities to take photos.) One of the students did a great job catching a crayfish! We also heard singing Hooded Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Acadian Flycatcher, and Pileated Woodpecker along the creek. Also, a Great Blue Heron flew in before we began our journey upstream back to the bus.
Our second field trip of the week took us on a full day excursion to Nolde State Forest in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania! This location is much different than a lot of our other field trips because of the unique mix of coniferous and deciduous trees in this forest. This trip in particular was also quite unique because it was rainy with temperatures in the high 60s; a welcome relief from a typical summer Trailblazers day! When we arrived, it was pouring rain so we decided to eat lunch on the bust so we could stay dry. We then took a very long hike through the forest! We started at Painted Turtle Pond, where the turtle and frog activity did not disappoint. We continued on going higher and deeper into the forest, observing birds along the way such as Wood Thrush, Veery, and Ovenbird; all singing quite loudly. We decided to hike to the spring of Punches Run, where the students got to see and feel a real spring fed creek. As we followed the run back down, creepy fog started to roll into the tree canopy! As we got back to the mansion, had logged over 3 miles of hiking in the rain. We often have brutally hot days of camp, so between the steady rain, foggy conditions, and temps in the upper 60s, this trip was one of our most unique Trailblazers field trips ever!
Day three took us to White Clay Creek State Park in Delaware; just over the Pennsylvania border. Once we squeezed the bus into the Wedgewood Road parking area, we hiked to the bridge for a group picture. On our way back from that, we had spectacular looks at a Wood Thrush perched right out in the open for the whole group to see! When we made it back to the parking lot, we saw a Great Crested Flycatcher. We also had a trio of Carolina chickadees bopping around the trees! Next, we walked the path upstream and almost immediately heard an American Redstart and Northern Parula singing. We never got a look at l the redstart, but we did have great views of the Northern Parula in the trees above. Our most exciting bird highlight for sure was a female Baltimore Oriole that led us to its signature cup nest hanging just at eye level in a Sycamore Tree just above the creek! We stayed put in this location and watch the mom come back to the nest twice to feed the young! We made it back to the parking lot for lunch and got to see a family of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers buzzing about. After lunch, we cooled off in the creek just below the bridge. The water level was perfect thanks to the pairing of persistent rains yesterday and thunderstorms two nights ago! The students very much enjoyed catching crayfish and frogs in the creek. We also enjoyed seeing a high flyover Bald Eagle as well as a singing Yellow-throated Vireo. It was hard to pull the group out at the end because they were having so much fun, but we barely made it back in time for pick up; I’d say that’s the sign of a great Trailblazers field trip!
Our fourth field trip was our grand finale for the first session: our annual canoe trip down the Brandywine River! We had an absolutely perfect day to be on the water, and precipitation from earlier in the week helped raise the water level just enough for us to have a great paddle. Right as we put in on the water at ChesLen Preserve, we had a Great Blue Heron fly in. We also saw a Green Heron later in the trip. Along the way, we stopped to splash and swim along the river. A few students were able to catch minnows and frogs as well. We were surprised we did not see a Bald Eagle on this trip, but we did have great views of Northern Rough-winged Swallows and Cedar Waxwings catching bugs on the river.
On the way home, we took a different route and did a little school bus bird chase! For about the last two weeks, an Anhinga has been hanging out in a marsh along Creek Road in Pocopson. Anhinga is a very rare bird to Pennsylvania as they are found in the southern United States! This bird’s location was a few feet off the road on a branch, and there’s nowhere to park and get out of the car to see it; any safe observation of this bird is done by drive by! We got a brief glimpse of this rarity out of the bus window as we slow-rolled past. This observation was not only one of our last birds of the week, but it was a new bird species for Trailblazers! The last time we observed a new species for the program was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron on July 18th, 2024. Here's a recent photo of the same bird taken by Chad Hutchinson, amazing bird photographer:
And here's our photo with my phone out of the school bus window. Not the best, but proof we saw it!
Overall, we had a spectacular session of camp this week! We were so thrilled to see so many returning Trailblazers veterans from previous years. We also enjoyed having a handful of new faces along for the ride as well! Thank you to everyone who joined us for this first session of camp, and we look forward to seeing folks at our next session: Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp from July 13-16!
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