Day 2: Sniffing Trees, Finding Connections, and Laying Under the Stars

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” — Gary Snyder

There are days at STEAM in the PARK when I look around and think, How in the world do I explain this day to someone who wasn't here? Today was one of those days. Because yes, we learned about geology. We talked about ecosystems. We explored Bryce Canyon. We studied connections. But we also sniffed trees, followed our shadows, laughed loudly, wandered down Wall Street, and stayed up way past our bedtime to stand beneath one of the darkest skies in the country. Try putting all of that into a lesson plan.

We started our morning with Taryn leading an SEL lesson called Shadow Buddies. There is something beautiful about using something as simple as a shadow to remind us to notice one another. To move together. To pay attention. To realize that sometimes connection happens without a single word being spoken. Our shadows stretched across the ground while campers laughed, moved, and learned a little more about the humans walking beside them this week. I love watching walls come down at camp. Day one is filled with names and where-are-you-froms. By day two, people are beginning to see one another.

And then we welcomed our campers into one of Bryce Canyon's most prestigious organizations. The Bryce Canyon Secret Tree Society. Or, as it quickly became known, the Tree Sniffing Society.

Membership requirements were strict. Campers had to locate a ponderosa pine by studying its thick, puzzle-piece bark. They had to approach respectfully. No peeling the bark. No scratching the bark. And absolutely no licking the tree. We cannot believe we had to say that either, but when you put a group of educators together in the woods, you learn to clarify things.

Then they sniffed. Vanilla. Butterscotch. Caramel. Cinnamon. Cookies. Warm sugar. And, for a few, the highly scientific scent known simply as tree.

Campers used their colored pencils to create a color that matched the smell they experienced and then gave that color an official name. Butterscotch Bark. Vanilla Hoodoo. Cinnamon Sunshine. Mystery Tree #52. The names were wonderful, but the conversation was even better. How can two people smell the exact same tree and experience it completely differently? Maybe that is one of nature's greatest lessons. We can stand in the same place, look at the same thing, breathe the same air, and still carry away a completely different story.

Please know that membership in the Bryce Canyon Tree Sniffing Society is lifelong. There is no cure. These campers will never walk past another ponderosa pine without leaning in for a sniff. We apologize in advance to their families.

Our High Desert Connections Challenge took that idea of connection even deeper. Every camper became part of the living web of the high desert. Marmots and prairie dogs. Ravens and Steller's jays. Salamanders and lizards. Butterflies, beetles, pines, cactus, moss, lichen, water, wind, and even the geology beneath our feet. At first, they were individual creatures and pieces of the landscape. Then the connections began.

One by one, the web grew. A plant connected to water. An insect connected to a bird. A mammal connected to a plant. Soil connected to life. Wind connected to change. Geology connected to everything.

Soon, there was no such thing as just one creature.

That may have been my favorite lesson of the day. We are all part of the high desert. When one part changes, the web feels it. When one part is cared for, that care moves outward. Every connection matters. Every tiny piece has a role. And when we care for every part of the web, the whole high desert has a better chance to thrive.

We met up with Ranger Ben for a conversation about geology, which, at Bryce Canyon, feels a little like standing inside the greatest science textbook ever written. The hoodoos tower around you with their layers, colors, cracks, and impossible shapes, and suddenly erosion isn't a vocabulary word anymore. Time isn't just something measured by a clock. The Earth is moving, changing, freezing, thawing, breaking apart, and rebuilding the story right in front of us. Ranger Ben helped us look closer and ask better questions, which is exactly what we hope happens here.

Our Rewilding Session gave us time to think about the spaces we care for and the ways we can invite a little more nature back into them. Rewilding doesn't always require thousands of acres or a grand plan. Sometimes it begins with a patch of ground. A few native seeds. Less mowing. More noticing. A willingness to give something wild a chance to return. Our campers will take these ideas home with them, and I cannot stop thinking about all those little pockets of wild that may exist because of conversations happening this week.

And then came free time. Now, some people hear the words free time and think nap. Our campers apparently heard, Let's hike down into the Bryce Canyon Amphitheater and tackle Wall Street. Down they went.

There are moments when Bryce Canyon doesn't even look real. Walking among those hoodoos, with walls of rock rising around you and switchbacks twisting through the landscape, has a way of making you feel very small in the very best possible way. Campers came back tired, smiling, and carrying stories. Exactly as they should.

Tonight, we moved into CCC Connections, learning and thinking about the people whose hands helped shape so many of the places we now treasure. I love giving our campers opportunities to connect history, people, parks, and place. The work of the CCC is everywhere if you know how to look for it, and once you begin noticing those connections, you start seeing national parks differently.

And then... KampiOKE. There are no Grammy judges at STEAM in the PARK. Thank goodness.

There is singing. There is dancing. There are questionable notes. There are performances that begin with, “I am absolutely not doing this,” and somehow end with someone holding an imaginary microphone and giving us a full concert. There is laughter that makes your stomach hurt. There are humans cheering for humans simply because they were brave enough to stand up and try.

Maybe we ARE for everyone.

And because apparently this day needed one more bit of magic, after 10:00 tonight they headed out to see the dark skies. Pure Joy!

There is something about ending a day of connections by looking up. All day long, we studied the web beneath our feet and around our bodies. We followed shadows. We sniffed trees. We traced connections between creatures. We touched geology. We walked between hoodoos. We thought about the hands that came before us.

And tonight, we looked toward the stars.

Day 2 at Bryce Canyon reminded us that connection is everywhere. Sometimes you just have to follow your shadow. Sometimes you have to trace the web.

And sometimes, apparently, you have to stick your nose against a ponderosa pine and sniff responsibly.