Family Camp :: I

Back in 1991, the summer of my Junior year in high school, I was a counselor at OMSI's Hancock Field Station.  Week in and week out we brought van-loads of Portland-area kids to this remote location in Oregon's high desert to explore paleontology, geology, aboriginal skills, natural history, astronomy, and arid lands ecology.  I had a wonderful summer, and memories of Hancock stuck with me, surfacing every now and then making me wonder how and when I'd ever return.



I guess it was last year's neighborhood camp out that had me thinking of other ways that our fab group of families could experience travel and adventure together.  I looked up Hancock and found information on a Family Camp held annually on Memorial Day weekend.

Three families decided to take the leap and run with my promise of a rustic camp experience with lots of learning in a beautiful part of Oregon they may have never seen.  I hoped my memories would prove true.

It was a huge success.  We had a stellar weekend.  I'll break it down into a few posts so as not to overwhelm.  Here's a visual story of our first full day in camp.

Sound sleeps, packing lunch for the trail, riparian field studies, leaf fossils, music and wine in camp, and more... Day One.