Trip Planning

Proceed, revise, or cancel.  Every outdoor educator has had to make this decision many times when in the field.  Usually it’s weather related or it could be driven by the group’s needs in that moment on that trip.  Regardless of the circumstance, the call is always made with safety of the participants at the forefront of the decision and using the most current information possible.

Our Grade 4 scientists had their canoeing and camping expedition this week and we were faced with some adverse weather conditions.  The original plan was to hike 5 miles on the Ozark Trail to gain experience on how the shape of the land influences the water system and divides watersheds.  Day 2 of the expedition was to then float from where the trail we hiked the day before ended, back to where the trail started to get the perspective of the entire watershed.  As we got closer to the departure of the trip, several storms were being forecasted for Day 2 that contained severe storms.  We kept vigilant watch on the weather forecasts and right before we left, we decided to flip the programming so that we would canoe on Day 1, so that we had safer canoeing conditions.  Of course we all know storms can be unpredictable, and as we departed on the morning of Day 1, the forecast once again changed.  The new forecast called for severe storms both days of the expedition.  At this time, we were once again faced with the difficult decision of proceed, revise, or cancel.

While canceling is always an option, I think it’s important to note the amount of planning that goes into these trips.  Not just on my end, which is a huge amount of hours, but also in terms of pre-paid registrations for canoes and campsites, the juggling of schedules that our parent chaperones have to go through to be able to leave their personal and professional worlds behind for a few days, and also the flexibility of the other CDS faculty members whose schedules are also effected by the students being gone for multiple days and the projects they are working on in their own classes.  It’s not as simple as saying, “Well, it might rain so let’s push it back a couple of days.”  Everything is connected, so when we move one piece in the system it has ripple effects throughout the entire system.  For these reasons, we will always try and revise to the best of our ability before canceling.  When trips are canceled it does not always mean there is an opportunity to reschedule.

Using the information we had available, we decided to proceed with revisions.  We knew we had the campsite reserved and we had that as our number one option if the storm wasn’t as bad as forecasted or if it changed course.  We also had a back-up plan, in case the storms were truly severe, of staying at one of our parent’s lake house near Cuba, MO.  With this in mind, we headed down to Onondaga Cave State Park and kept checking multiple weather outlets.  The new plan was to not go to the campsite and setup camp before heading to the river, and instead we kept all of the tents and camping gear in the car and left that decision to later in the afternoon when we had more information.

When we arrived at Onondaga Cave State Park we used their computer at the visitor’s center to do a final check on weather.  At 10:00am, the forecast was that the storm cell was going to move through the area at 3:45pm.  The canoe trip was only 5 miles, which can be done in 2-3 hours.  The original plan was to conduct biotic and abiotic water quality testing at three locations (once at the Courtois creek access point, another at the confluence of the Courtois and Huzzah creeks, and again on the Meramec river).  We revised the plan to conduct these studies at one location only (the confluence of the Courtois and Huzzah creeks) to decrease the amount of time we would be on the river.  Plus, we could always drive to the other two locations later in the day, or even on Day 2, to complete our investigations.

We headed to the river and were floating by 11:00am.  Skies were mostly sunny and it appeared that we would be able to get in the entire trip.  We reached our first study location at the confluence of the Courtois and Huzzah creeks.  We had a wonderful picnic lunch on the gravel bar and then began our studies.  Every student conducted their chemical testing by finding the temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and phosphate levels of the water.  They used stream team monitoring protocols to rank and assess these findings as excellent, good, fair, or poor.  Each student also participated in the biotic testing of the waters by using kick nets to search for macroinvertebrates, which are indicator species for water quality.

While we were conducting our studies, the skies north of our location started to get darker, but it appeared that they were moving away from our location.  There was even a moment where we thought we might luck out and completely avoid the main storm cell.  We were still many hours ahead of when the storms were forecasted to hit, however within a few minutes the storm cell that was moving away from us, circled back and was on top of us.  It went from mostly sunny and okay, to dark, very windy, and storming within mere minutes.  We quickly packed up all of our scientific materials and made the decision to continue in the canoes about 500ft down river to the Scotia access point.  We knew if we could get there, we could pull all of the canoes out of the water, seek shelter, and call the outfitter for an early pickup.  That instantly became the new plan.  Once at Scotia, we had the students seek shelter near a stand of trees while the chaperones moved all of the gear and the canoes up on to the gravel bar.  I hiked up a hill to get cell service and made contact with the river outfitter.  They sent a team to collect us and within 30 minutes of the storm hitting we were in a van heading back to our cars. Soggy, but safe.

Part of the planning that goes into these expeditions is doing the actual trip and visiting the sites before taking students.  Having done this river many times before, I had the knowledge that there were places we could exit the river in case of emergency situations and having this information is vital for expeditionary programs. The students and chaperones showed tremendous flexibility and perseverance during this less than ideal situation, but the decisions we made were all the correct ones based on the information we had. 

When we got back to the river outfitter, we had the boys change into dry clothes and while the severity of the storm had decreased it was still raining, so we decided to stay under cover at the outfitter and finish our labs.  The students had the time to collect all of the data before the storm hit, but we did not have a chance to analyze the data and make meaning of it, so once we were dry the learning continued and the boys were able to complete their investigation. For those keeping score at home, our investigations showed that the water in this stretch of the river was in the good to excellent range.

By the time we finished up the data analysis, it was barely raining, but we wanted to get more information on the storm cells that were supposed to move through later in the evening before making the call if we should camp or not.  We headed back to Onondaga Cave State Park and made use of their large, covered pavilion.  Part of the planning for this trip included numerous back-up activities in case of situations like these, so the students were engaged in some collaborative games and teambuilding exercises under the cover of the pavilion.  While the students participated in these activities, I was able to go to the visitor center at the park and again use their computers to get the most up-to-date information on the weather forecast.  The forecast called for a clear evening, but possible severe thunderstorms starting in the middle of the night and continuing through the morning.  Once again, we were faced with a difficult decision.  On one hand, we could go and set up camp, brave the storms, and then face a pretty serious forecasted rain storm the following morning when we needed to be breaking camp and starting the next day.  Or we could head to Cuba and stay in a house.

Based on the weather we had on Day 1 and the experience level of our campers, I decided to make the call to head to Cuba.  One of the goals of this trip was to create a positive camping experience for our students and I was worried that another storm hitting us at an inopportune time would be a morale killer for the boys.  Had we had more experienced campers, maybe the decision would be to stay and use the rainy morning experience as an opportunity to develop grit and perseverance.  But I feel it was the right call for this trip and these boys in that moment.

The next morning, we were up and back at the pavilion at Onondaga by 8am where we cooked breakfast and prepped for the day.  The weather forecast again called for some severe midday storms, but the morning looked clear.  We headed to the river access point at the Courtois creek, one of our original study locations that we skipped on Day 1, so it was great to be able able to wrap back around on Day 2 to complete our studies.  It was a great morning with wonderful weather and the boys were able to conduct a thorough examination of the water here.  We even found a juvenile softshell turtle while netting!

After we wrapped up our aquatic investigations we once again headed back to Onondaga Cave State Park where we participated in the 2hr cave tour which gives the park it’s namesake.  This is something we were keeping in our back pocket in case of severe weather and I’m really pleased we were able to make use of this option.  The cave was amazing.  Personally, I had been to this park numerous times for canoeing and camping, but had never done the tour.  Our tour guide was Dan Slais, the man who literally wrote the book on the cave, and it was awesome to have his depth of knowledge guiding us through the history and geology of the cave.  The boys LOVED the cave tour and it added a dimension to the trip that I hadn’t previously thought of which is well if this is what the water is doing above the ground, what is the water doing below the ground?  I think in future years having all three components on this trip (the watershed hike, the canoeing, and the cave portion) will be fantastic addition.

When we emerged from the cave I was expecting to see dark storm clouds and severe weather, and of course, it was gorgeous and sunny.  Goes to show you don’t ever know what you’re going to get when it comes to weather, but with enough planning and preparation you can usually find ways to adapt and revise portions of your expeditions to still maximize student learning. 

I’d like to thank each of our chaperones for this trip, especially for their flexibility and poise during adverse conditions…  Mark Dickherber, Patrick Fogarty, and Matt Richards.  Thanks to the Cordes family for allowing us to use their lake house in Cuba and specifically to Tom Cordes for meeting us in Cuba on Tuesday night to host the boys.  And finally, a big thank you to Bethany Cordes for her help doing the grocery shopping for the trip.  It takes a solid team of adults to make these expeditions as meaningful as they are and I can not thank these folks enough for their time and effort.