Mike McGrew teaching map skills during the Marshall Lakes backpacking trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness last summer.
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Summer Adventure Club will be returning this summer for a third year of outdoor activities and adventure for kids.
Bridget Laird, the program's coordinator, began an informal version of the program years ago when she and several other parents began taking their kids on hikes and to other outdoor activities together. Now Laird is using the official, sponsored program to expose as many kids from the community as possible to different forms of outdoor recreation and learning.
"For parents who are at work or who aren't, for whatever reason, able to take their kids on outdoor adventures [the kids will] have this exposure," Laird said.
The program's supervisors are trained wilderness first responders, Laird said, so parents can know their children are in a safe, well-supervised environment. This year, the program's leaders are Laird's son, Gus Batchelder and Nate Onderdonk-Snow.
Batchelder, 20, and Onderdonk-Snow, 19, both recently returned from the NOLS Patagonia Wilderness First Responder training program in Patagonia, Chile and both have previous experience working with children in the outdoors. They will also be assisted by recent Seeley-Swan High School graduate Ibby Lorentz.
"I like to think the kids are more comfortable and maybe have more fun with younger instructors," Batchelder said.
This year, the program will include hikes, kayaking and paddleboarding and a day learning about wildlife monitoring at University of Montana's bird banding station, as it has in years past. New additions to the activity roster include a ropes course and other activities that have not yet been finalized.
"The summer program is about having fun outside and doing healthy activities and building kids confidence outdoors and throwing in some loosely educational stuff as well," Laird said. "We're exposing them to developing a little interest in their own backyard."
The program runs from June 11 to Aug. 15. Activities take place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Parents can bring children to Seeley Lake Elementary at 9 a.m. to sign up for the day and pick them up again at 3 p.m. Registration occurs on a daily basis so there is no need to attend every activity. A schedule is available on the Seeley Lake Elementary Facebook page and website, sleonline.org.
The program is funded by a 21st Century Learning grant and is free to all local youth between the ages of 8 and 14, with a $10 fee for any non-local youth. Scholarships are also available.
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