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!

Bull Snake on 5/6 Water Sentinels Outing

On our 5/6 Water Sentinels outing, the kids spotted a lovely bull snake in the grass. Bull snakes mimic rattle snakes as a defensive mechanism even though they are not venomous -- they have similar patterning, will coil, will flatten and broaden their heads to look like a viper, and will shake their tail. But they have no rattle so they make their rattling sound by forcing air through a small opening just behind the tongue, causing the surrounding tissue to flap around. Gladly, we didn't get this particular snake sufficiently addled to put on such a display.

Pioneer Elementary Braves the Cold for Some Awesome Birding on International Migratory Bird Day

It was chilly. It was grey. It was absolutely awesome! After a short introduction to birds, birding, and binoculars, we set about to find some birds. And almost right away, we saw two bald eagles though our spotting scope. Then we saw some other pretty things: yellow warbler, yellow-headed blackbird, killdeer, red-winged blackbirds, great blue heron, lesser egret, green heron, osprey, and, even, an American bittern. But the star of the show was a western tanager that just hung out by the side of the trail, showing off his plumage.

Thanks to Mary Claire Collins, Irene Won, Ira Star, Debra Lawsing, Caroline Hogue, and Michael Le Desma for helping to make this trip so much fun.

Fruita Mountain Biking Trip: Big & Glorious

The 2011 edition of the Fruita mountain biking trip was big (15 kids, 2 youth leaders, and 9 adults) and glorious, owing to skilled support from Scot Colburn (BVICO), Catherine Powers (Casey Middle School), Andy Brannon (Trips for Kids), Andy Stephens (BVICO), and a small army of parents. Special thanks is owed Catherine for having planned many of the outing details even though she was not able to join us on the outing.

The red sandstone vistas were beautiful, the wind bracing, and the riding 100% Fruita perfection. Scot and Andy's photos are below.

Snowshoeing with Pioneer Elementary

Boulder Valley ICO led a single-day snowshoeing trip near in the Indian Peaks wilderness for kids from Pioneer Elementary School. Thanks to Mary Claire Collins, Ira Star, Andy Stephens, Caroline Hogue, and Michael Le Desma for organizing and leading this trip.

Here's a short video from the outing:



And here is a story book version of the outing, courtesy of Lukas Le Desma (age 5):

Our First Camera-Trapping Outing Was A Huge Success!

Boulder Valley ICO's first-ever outing to combine camera-trapping with water sampling was a huge success. We took 12 kids from Casey Middle School (on the school's Science Day) water sampling, where they measured pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen, and took samples for nitrates and phosphates. Then we met Christian Nunes of the Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks agency who guided us to the best location to set up our motion-sensing camera. The camera works... well! Camera in place, we went for pizza before returning to the school.

Thanks to Jackie Esler, Kirk Cunningham, Mary Ellen McCarry, Christian Nunes, and Michael Le Desma for assembling and leading this outing.

Boulder Valley ICO & Place Bridge Academy at Dinosaur Ridge

Our recent trip to Dinosaur Ridge with kids from Place Bridge Academy was great. We had excellent weather and the dinosaur footprints were really cool. Thanks for Margaret Rohan, Carmen Kuri-Moeller, and Andrea Barriga, and Michael Le Desma for putting this trip together.

President Obama on the America's Great Outdoors Project

The President commissioned a study of how better to promote conservation, outdoor recreation, and healthy lifestyles.  The President describes this report and this project in this speech.

The Report, itself, is here.

http://americasgreatoutdoors.gov/

ICO is mentioned on page 152.  So, in case you are wondering, we really are part of a national movement to get kids outdoors and reconnected to nature.

Hessie Scary Night Hike

On Oct 22, Volunteers from BVICO brought along 12 youngsters from several Boulder area middle schools on a great night hike in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.  We shuttled the group to the Hessie Trailhead after gearing everyone up in warm winter clothes.  When we arrived, it was dark and misty which made it perfect our adventure to the haunted abandoned cabins 1 mile up the trail. Hiking buddies in tow, we crossed an icy boardwalk, leaped over puddles, manned a bridge that crossed over the river and likely housed a troll or two, explored the cabins, played games, told scary stories and ventured to an amazing waterfall.

The kids learned about the importance of hiking with a buddy, staying on trail, and leaving no trace as litter destroys the beauty of our forests.

Everyone survived and had a great time!

Mt. Zirkel Video: The Funniest BVICO Outing Video Ever

We had the pleasure of having Evan Geary, the national Sierra Club video intern, join us on our trip to the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness this summer, and he produced the following, absolutely hilarious, video. In addition to being hilarious, I think the video does a great job of capturing the BVICO experience. Thanks to Linda Muscatell for assembling and leading this zany outing. And thanks to Evan for capturing it all for us.

Gorgeous weekend to encourage youth to explore, enjoy and protect the great outdoors at Lake Pueblo

Our group gets ready to roll.

ICO Youth Leader Moises bags trash collected by Chris.

Boulder Valley Inner City Outings organized a weekend trip to the shores of Lake Pueblo in south-central Colorado. The area lived up to its reputation of great weather to enjoy a myriad of outdoor activities. Our outing focused on learning the basics of mountain biking and low-impact camping, and included a service activity of picking up trash along the trails and around the campground. In partnership with the Trips for Kids organization, we stressed responsible mountain biking - staying on designated trails, minimizing actions that cause erosion and yielding to other trail users. We had rides for all levels, ranging from paved bike paths to gnarly, technical singletrack. The more advanced riders did almost 20 miles of riding over the two days. Although we chose the most primitive walk-in tent campsites in the park, the youth loved the camping experience. For many it was their first time camping. We organized a trash collection around the campground so that the area was left cleaner than we found it.

Kyra celebrates being outside and making it up another hill.

We had a diverse group of eleven youth from low-income families in Boulder County, eleven other youth from Casey Middle School, one Casey teacher (and former pro bike racer), one set of parents, one Trips for Kids staff member, and three ICO volunteers. We talked about the community coming together in light of the recent devastating Fourmile Canyon fire that hit close to home, and how this trip is a small example that exemplifies building community. The ICO volunteers organized the trip from top to bottom, the Casey teacher led recruitment and group cheers, while Trips for Kids provided bikes, ride guiding, and took care of mechanical issues. Sierra Club’s Building Bridges to the Outdoors and Water Sentinels sponsored the outing, and some additional financial contributions were made by Casey parents and ICO volunteers.

Fruita Trip - March 2010

ICO ran a 4-day camping and mountain biking trip to Fruita with kids from the C-A-S-E-Y spells CASEY Bike Club and two brave kids from Centaurus High School. The mountain bikes and ride leading were provided by Trips For Kids Denver/Boulder. We were treated to clear weather and dry trails at the beginning of the season. No crowds! We rode 5 or 6 different trails, took a sunset hike one evening, and did a night ride!

Following the Fruita pictures, there are some highlights of the Casey kids performing at the Boulder Velodrome:

Snowcave trip - January, 2010

On a sunny and relatively warm winter day, we built a snowcave in the Caribou area. The trip also involved belly sledding on a magic carpet, followed by destruction of the snowcave. That was a shame because we could have easily rented out our amazing snowcave to one of the skiers passing by!

Scary Fish 2009

It took a while to get this video together but here it is: footage from our "Scary Fish" backpacking trip in 2009. This trip is so-named because the fish in the lakes we visit on this outing are so big they're scary. Thanks to Kera Tafoya and Melissa Pierce for making this trip a success. It was, indeed, a lot of fun.

Note: This video makes fair use of copyrighted material by Lyle Lovett.