Trailblazers Summer Camp, July 2025
- Brian Quindlen
- Aug 1
- 4 min read
We had a wonderful session of Trailblazers Summer Camp to end our summer season! This is our third and final session of camp, which is catered to our youngest group of students. This camp is a half-day program that stays onsite at the Bethel Springs Elementary School Nature Trail all week. Our goal is to provide students with an introduction to environmental education and help them prepare for our more adventurous weeks in future summers!
Our first day of camp began with a morning meeting to review expectations for our week together. After the students had a chance to get to know each other, we went for our first walk of the week on the BSES Nature Trail! The walk focused on VIPs (Very Important Plants) in addition to studying each major habitat of the trail. The students learned how to identify Poison Ivy to keep themselves safe! While studying the large Poison Ivy vine at the first tree line, we discovered a very active yellowjacket nest down below the rocks. Next, we stopped to listen to a singing Red-eyed Vireo overhead before we ended up at the outdoor classroom: a nature trail landmark! Here, we heard pairs of Tufted Titmouse and Red-bellied Woodpecker singing to one another. As we continued through the woods, we investigated the area around Naaman’s Creek, and we also checked out some Skunk Cabbage that was surprisingly still green since we’ve had such a wet summer. As we made our way back to school, we had a pair of Eastern Bluebirds in the parking lot near the trail entrance. Overall, it was an excellent first nature walk of the camp session!
Day two of camp was our birding day! At our morning meeting, we greeted each other with our own bird sound impressions and shared our favorite bird species. After a tutorial on how to use binoculars, the group took a walk over to Peanut Pond. This nearby piece of private property is a Trailblazers favorite! On our walk over to the pond, we were greeted by a group of Carolina Chickadees actively feeding in the Eastern White Pines above our heads. As we exited the forest, we discovered a Green Frog hopping along the path for everyone to see. Once we made it down to the pond, we stumbled upon another family of Eastern Bluebirds feeding in the grass. We also had a flyover Baltimore Oriole! As we circled around the end of the pond, we stumbled upon a baby White-tailed Deer. Peanut Pond and the surrounding area were absolutely loaded with activity even on a hot summer day!
Our third day is a student favorite: creek day! We usually try to save our walk in the creek for the last day of camp, but the weather today was blazing hot and the forecast for our last day looked like rain. Since this was our third day of camp this week under a heat advisory, an early creek day was a welcome change to our usual schedule! Before we hit the trail, we took our group photo in our Trailblazers shirts at the nature trail entrance. Once we got down to the creek, the students jumped right in! They flipped over rocks and logs looking for crayfish, salamanders, and other critters. The catch of the day was most certainly a fish caught in a net by DJ. Definitely the biggest fish I’ve ever seen in our tiny headwaters of Naaman’s Creek! We also had a Blue Jay that we followed upstream as we hiked the creek. The students noted how our time in the creek flew right by; guess that means we were having some real fun!
Our final day of camp for both the session and summer took us back to the BSES Nature Trail with our binoculars for one last walk! Even though it was incredibly humid, we decided to walk the trail in its entirety; we even explored the side trails that we do not always visit. Good thing we did because each side trail offered something unique! When we arrived at the end of the trail to Deer Meadow Lane, we had a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird dive-bombing a perched Chipping Sparrow in a tree. When we went down the Spring Meadow Lane trail, we had an Eastern Box Turtle walking across the trail (which later defecated on my hand in front of all the kids!) As we entered the first tree line, we stumbled upon a Red Fox and White-tailed Deer scurrying through the understory. As we re-entered the forest on our way to the outdoor classroom, a student spotted a second Eastern Box Turtle! I am quite certain this is the first time we’ve ever seen two different box turtles on the same walk with Trailblazers! The second turtle was a fun comparison to the first as it was a little larger and had a different pattern to it. There was also a yellow jacket that was landing on it, which was an interesting species interaction I’ve never witnessed before. Once we got back to school, we ate snack and played a review game hosted by James. We ended our week in typical Trailblazers fashion with a review of our “Thorns and Roses” for the week; an activity where we share our favorite moments from the week and something that we would’ve gone differently. It was the perfect finale to our last day of the session and the summer!
During our week together, we found 29 different species of birds and hiked 4.5 miles! For more about the birds we observed, check out our eBird Trip Report for this session. Three out of four days were under heat advisory, with our last day being the most humid of the summer. Thank you to our wonderful paraprofessional staff for their great work during this session. Also, thank you to Trailblazers families for their continued support of our program!
Finally, a huge thank you to James, our long time Trailblazers Guide from Garnet Valley High School for his years of service! James has volunteered his time for many years to help with Trailblazers, and he just recently graduated from GVHS. We are going to miss James very much, but we are super excited for the future that lies ahead for him as he pursues a degree in education. Thank you James. We are looking forward to seeing you down the trail again soon enough!
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