We're now blogging at www.boulderico.org

Our new website is at www.boulderico.org.

There you will find:

A calendar of upcoming trips and events.

Information about volunteering with Boulder ICO.

Information for agency recruiters and parents.

And of course, our blog!!

Our Trip to Mission: Wolf

Woohoo!  This is what we do!  Thanks to Izzy and Daniel for making this video for us.  And thanks to Andrea, Caroline, and Faith for being the unsung heroes who helped make this trip happen.  Thanks is also due the national Sierra Club Directorate for helping to fund this outing.  And thanks for the Family Resource Center for helping to fund the outing and for sending us such a great group of kids.

Heartfelt Thanks

Groups like ours sometimes ask participants to write thank you letters for use in fundraising. But we were lucky to receive a thank you card from several of our participants, totally unprompted. I though this was really cool and wanted to share it with everyone.

Michael

Students at our May Outdoor Leadership Class.

Thanks to all who attended. And thanks to Carter for his expert instruction.

Mission: Wolf Service Outing

Mission: Wolf is an all-volunteer organization that cares for 37 wolves who have been rescued from homes where they could not be cared for properly. Boulder Valley ICO led a 3-day, 2-night service outing to the Mission: Wolf sanctuary near Gardner, Colorado. The kids (from the recently revived Project YES!) helped in the butchering of a massive draft horse that had been donated to the facility. Then we fed the wolves by chucking chunks of horse meat into their pens. On the next day, we helped with a smaller, morning feeding by helping to prepare and deliver kibble, meat, and medications. Finally, we got to spend some time in an enclosure with three of the wolves. As you will see, a proper wolf greeting involves allowing the wolf to look you in the eye, smell your teeth, and lick you in the face. Thank goodness they have odorless breath!

Special thanks is due to the Sierra Club national directorate for donating special funds for this outing. With luck we'll run another such outing in the fall.  Thanks is also due to Mike Whiteley for arranging our visit to the sanctuary and to Caroline Hogue, Grant Irland, and Michael Le Desma for leading the outing. It was an outing that none of the participants will ever likely forget.

Note that this video contains footage of a horse being butchered.  Also note that on YouTube the video is in high definition so that it can be watched full-screen when you have set playback to 720p.

Trinity Alps Service Outing

This summer, Erik Gainey and three of our youth leaders participated in a week-long service trip in the Trinity Alps region of California's Sierra Nevada. The pulled up their sleeves to some serious trail maintenance but there was also time to hang out with the horses and enjoy the alpine lakes and Sierra summer.

This outing was paid for by our national directorate as part of a collaboration with the general outings program of the Sierra Club. It was, therefore, a privilege for our team to have been selected to participate. And it was great that Erik stepped up to the plate to help us seize this really cool opportunity.

9/17 Chautauqua Day Hike

On September 17th, BVICO provided a day hiking trip for Pioneer Elementary School kids. The kids did a day hike at Chautauqua Park in Boulder, CO. After the day hike, the kids also got to visit the Chautauqua Park Museum and learn the types of wildlife present at the park. Along with the great weather, the trip was fun for everyone!