Autumn Beauty

It was chilly this week, with jackets and hats helping matters a bit. Unusually, I had at least one teacher accompany our group on every hike. Sometimes there were as many as three. Part of the reason for this was that I had at least one student who needed extra support. Naturally, this student ended up being one of my favorites. I'm always drawn to people who are different in some way.

Strangely enough, we found four different species of snakes this week (Garter, Gopher, Ringneck, and of course, Rattlesnake). The Gopher snake was sharing a hiding spot with a toad. Over the weekend, a Sharp-tailed snake was discovered in the kitchen. That's only the second time we've found one of those around camp.

One of the campers in my group found a rattlesnake rattle in the meadow. That doesn't happen very often.

Here are a few photos from the week.

The last two photos above are actually from the previous week, but they very well could have been from this week because I visited the same spots. This week, we had a wild leaf battle, with kids picking up armloads of Big Leaf maple leaves and tossing them at each other. They had a blast.

The photos below were taken using my phone. Once upon a time, I vowed not to become one of those people who takes pictures with his phone, but sometimes it's the closest thing within reach. Despite my dislike for the whole "convenience over quality" mindset, I sometimes succumb.

Now, I have a week off. What to do?