RANGER DAVE HIKES FOR NATURE EDUCATION: Summer 2014, 80 more miles! : Big Agnes tents

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Hike is attracting attention!

Yesterday, KOAA Channel 5 TV News did a story on the upcoming hike, with some great footage of some of our Earth Studies students. Check it out at
http://www.newsfirst5.com/news/485-mile-fundraising-effort/
Click on PLAY VIDEO underneath the large Mountain Park Environmental Center logo to see the clip.

Meanwhile, I am actively working on getting my gear ready. I've stuck with my desire to do this project with lighter gear, so I recently seam-sealed my Big Agnes Fly Creek 1 tent (it weighs less than 3 pounds), I trail tested my Osprey Exos 58 backpack (2.5 pounds), and I just purchased a GPS SPOT Beacon so I can send "I'm OK" or "I need help" messages, and also so folks can track my progress and whereabouts on the trail. I am still figuring out how this gadget works, so more on that soon.

I hope to be on the trail soon. Happy trails, Ranger Dave

Why I am walking the Colorado Trail for Nature Education…

I have always been interested in education …as a music teacher, as an alternative education activist, as a parent, and now as a grandparent. And I’ve always been into Nature, as a naturalist, as a hiker, as a backpacker. So putting these two passions together has been a very natural process for me. As I became aware of the growing disconnect between young people and the natural world, so well named by Richard Louv in the phrase “Nature-deficit disorder,” I realized that children need first-hand experiences in Nature if they are to grow up to be tomorrow’s Nature advocates. And Nature so needs advocates. Children also need connection and interaction with the natural world for their own healthy development as people. This all ultimately led me to create the Mountain Park Environmental Center, our many programs, and, now, this fund-raising hike.