Townsend's Chipmunks Traverse the Arboretum

The Townsend’s Chipmunks gathered at the base of the Sehome Arboretum for their last outing of the Spring, although the weather could have fooled us into thinking it was midsummer outing. The Sehome Arboretum is a hidden gem in bellingham; offering sandstone cliffs, deep ravines, steep hillsides, and a variety of plant and animal life.

Having all gathered in the parking lot we made our way to the base of the trail and the map displayed there. Since the Townsend’s Chipmunks have been together for a full year now their decision making and ability to work as a group is progressing to the point where they need less help from mentors as they plan their day. We all looked at the map and tried to decide where to go. With guidance from Brian and I the townsend’s Chipmunks were able to effectively make a group decision that everyone felt good about.

 After hiking for only a few minutes we found a steep sandstone formation. Unable to resist the unique rock we all made our way over for further exploration. As we drew close to the edge the Mentors made it clear to the boys that if they wanted to explore close to the edge they needed to have three points of contact (two feet and a hand or two hands and a foot) on the ground at all times. The boys responded well to this, cautiously crawling to the edge to peer down and giving each other plenty of spice as we climbed down the steep hillside adjacent to the sandstone.  

Finished exploring the sandstone cliffs, we headed back to the main trail and all decided to keep moving up. We soon passed a shrub with dark purple berries which some of the boys called edible while others were not sure. As alway with eating wild edibles it is important that you are sure that you have correctly identified the plant, not just that someone told you what it was. This was the perfect opportunity for the Townsend’s Chipmunks to pull out our field guide. A handful of the boys showed a lot of focus and dedication to figuring out what plant we were looking at. We spent some time identifying the major characteristics of the plant and then started looking through the field guid. After many options and some very keen observations from the Explorers we finally identified the plant as Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis). Reading about this plant we found that it was in fact edible (though not eaten in large quantities by the native people here). We all tried the a berry and immediately knew why the native people here did not eat them in large quantities. The indian plum had a bitter and astringent flavor with large pits in the middle.

After all of our focused time with a field guide it was time to move again. Our trip to the towers went quickly and we soon reached the sunny observation tower. With views out over the San Juan Islands and out over Baker and the Twin Sisters range to our East we were quite happy spending some time here. After spending time exploring the tower we decided it was time to head back into the woods. We climbed, slid, hiked and crawled our way down a steep ridge flanked by sandstone cliffs and giant sword ferns seeking as pot forSpiders Web. We were rewarded by our search when we stumbled upon a deep ravine with patches of sword fern that reached 4 - 5 feet in the air. Quickly we set up the game and played with our remaining time. The game was short, but the location and quality of play were phenomenal.  

With our day ending we navigated back toward the upper parking lot feeling tired and happy after completing our traverse of the Sehome Arboretum. Thank you Townsend’s Chipmunks for a truly amazing first year. It has been great to see you grow and strengthen as a group through the course of your adventures together. and thank you parents for your support and dedication to the program! Be sure to look at our photo gallery for more pictures!