Today marked the last day Altogether Outdoors will visit the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (for the summer). We sang morning songs and playing our morning game at Base Camp (the Vanguard School) as we waited for our final camper. Campers learned the songs “the Moose Song,” “Princess Pat,” and a song by Tim that was so long it’s hard to remember the name. I do remember one of the lyrics: 7,000 Macedonians in full battle array! Once we arrived at the Arsenal we unloaded our gear and set up our space. Our goal was to get fishing as soon as possible while it was still cool outside. In spite of our efforts we didn’t catch any fish, but campers practiced patience and casting and were also able to catch insects while they waited to fish. At one point we had 5 butterflies in our butterfly hotel! We ate lunch under the Gazeebo near Lake Mary before we got ready for our afternoon tour.
We met up with Matt the Naturalist and loaded our van to take a tour of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. As we passed the general area into the “VIP” space we saw tons of Prarie Dogs, many birds of prey (including hawk chicks), and Burrowing Owl homes. Inside the air conditioned van Matt passed around several animal furs while he discussed the history of the Arsenal and the types of animals that live there. Though we looked and looked for Bison we were unable to see any. We did get to see 2 Mule Deer bucks and a Bat box, though. When we returned to Base the campers were able to explore the Arsenal’s great Visitor Center. To finish our time there we went for a walk around the floating dock and saw a Bull Frog. The group had snack under our canopy before loading the van to go home. Most campers rated their day as a 4 (out of 5) and were excited to hear that we’ll be rock climbing in Eldorado Canyon tomorrow. Can’t wait!