Grotto Canyon

Welcome back to another packed week at POLARIS! This week, we have been focusing on taking many of the outdoor skills we learned last week and applying them as we set out on longer hikes. 

We began our week by continuing to educate ourselves on the various sleep systems that we can use in the outdoors. For instance, we learned about tents, hammocks, how it’s important to look at the temperature ratings on our sleeping bags, and the variety of different sleeping mats and how they differ. We then went into teams and set up the tents and discussed the differences between backcountry and front country tents. When we are camping there are several essential items to have on us such as food, water, dry clothing, and a lighter for a fire. Campers were given a list of items that they would need to pack on a three day trip.

Please use the arrows below to go through the images

Next up was safety in the mountains, where we looked at the differences between black bears and grizzly bears as well as what to do when we run into them when hiking or camping. Some ways we can be proactive about bear safety is by not littering, using proper food storage such as a bear hang, and knowing how to use bear spray. 

We wrapped up the day on Monday by planning out our social day for Friday. Campers worked together to research, call, and book their social day event with an allotted budget. Everyone worked together really well and we had our Friday morning planned out and booked in less than forty minutes.

Please use the arrows below to go through the images

Tuesday was our first big hiking day. We adventured out to Grotto Canyon, just outside of Canmore for a 7km hike. Even though it was raining, we all persevered through the cold and maintained a good attitude. Campers were interested in going over water filtration again and we did so while talking about the importance of environmental conservation and what we can do to be better stewards of the earth. 

That’s all for now, but we will be back again on Friday to tell you all about the rest of our week!