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.
