An Adventure in Ohio

The Wayne County Chapter brings the outdoors to life at a Kids Adventure Camp

The Wayne County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League held its second annual Kids Adventure Camp this July. Twenty-four youth ages 8 to 13 took part in the weekend outdoors.

Friday night, chapter members provided the makings for pie-iron pizzas, and the youth feasted as dusk fell in the woods. Chapter member Rich Koehler kept the crowd waiting until nearly dark before leading them on a no-flashlights-allowed hike through the dense woods. The youth had to “listen to their feet” to ensure they stayed on the trail as a dense canopy of hardwoods blocked out the meager starlight. Hikers were excited to find phosphorescent fungi in the woods and brought a piece of the rotting wood back to camp to show those who stayed behind.

After a warm night of camping, the group awoke to a hearty breakfast and broke into two groups based on age. Each group learned the basics of archery as well as casting skills and tying fishing knots. Campers put their new casting skills to the test at the chapter pond, where many of them caught bluegills and catfish.

After lunch, campers moved on to gun safety classes, where they learned about safe gun use and handling, eye and ear protection, and proper sighting. They tried their skills using .22s with iron sights, shooting both paper and reactive steel targets with varying degrees of success.

Chapter members Fritz and Alice Schmitthenner — both retired college biology professors — and Chuck Vrotney, who works at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, led a daytime walk in the woods. Youth learned to identify forest plants and how a forest is managed for sustained yield.

Finally, Merlin Peterson led campers through the basics of the League’s Save Our Streams program. Youth set up nets to capture stream-dwelling macroinvertebrates and identified organisms found in the streams crossing the chapter grounds.

Many other chapter members contributed to the success of the program. Organizer Bob Harvey says, “We will be changing up the programming from year to year, trying to keep things fresh for the experienced campers while introducing the rookies to wonders of the woods and streams.”