Baker School District sixth-graders headed for the Anthony Lakes area of the Elkhorn Mountains last week for this year’s Outdoor School experience.

The weather, which turned cold and rainy, was part of the daily experience for the students, who moved inside to sleep on the floors of the Anthony Lakes Lodge at night — boys on the top floor, girls on the bottom.

Pull Quote

“This area gives me so much flexibility with our lesson. And the landscape is so gorgeous. It really, truly is an outdoor school. It is strenuous for the kids, but strenuous in a good way.”

— Anna Hayes, Powder Basin Watershed Council outreach and education coordinator

A skiff of snow added an extra element of adventure as 180 Baker School District sixth-graders from South Baker Intermediate and Haines and Keating schools rotated through lessons aimed at helping them better understand and safely enjoy the outdoors.

Dorothy Mason, who has coordinated the program since 2010, is phasing out of her role. In her stead, Luke Burton, a child development specialist at South Baker, was hired through an extra-duty contract to take the lead this year. Dorothy and her husband, Bob Mason, both retired wildlife biologists, taught wildlife habitat classes as they have for many years.

With the new leader came new elements in the program that took advantage of the larger territory available for instruction, Mason said. Burton incorporated hikes into each day’s lesson plans. For example, students hiked to the top of the ski lift as they learned about geology in one afternoon session.

A half-mile hike into Hoffer Lakes led students to a snow-sprinkled setting and lessons about watersheds and how to enjoy the outdoors while leaving no trace that they’d ever been there.

Anna Hayes, who is responsible for outreach and education as well as water quality monitoring for the Powder Basin Watershed Council in Baker City, said she much preferred the Anthony Lakes site to prior locations where she’s taught watershed classes at Outdoor School.

“I love it,” she said, while dismantling her class site at Hoffer Lakes Thursday.

“This area gives me so much flexibility with our lesson,” she said. “And the landscape is so gorgeous.

“It really, truly is an outdoor school,” Hayes said. “It is strenuous for the kids, but strenuous in a good way.”

She said the Anthony Lake staff took good care of the instructors and students, even at the remote sites.

“We had to deal with some weather,” she said, “but it was enjoyable. I hope we keep it at Anthony Lakes in the future.”

The students met daily for lunch at the Anthony Lakes Lodge provided by the staff there. Thursday they were served ham sandwiches, chips, grapes and a salad.

Thursday’s afternoon classes included a session in water safety. Deputy Adam Robb provided a bone-chilling demonstration of how a person might react to falling into icy cold water.

“It got really cold, really fast,” said Gabe Buren as he quickly removed his hands from the ice water.

Students in Allie Brown’s class and others throughout the week were challenged to attempt to stack 30 pennies in a fish tank filled with water chilled to about 36 degrees.

After removing their hands from the water, the students were then asked to strap themselves into a life jacket and then unstrap it and take it off, a task made difficult with fingers that weren’t responding to the task before them as usual.

Brown, a 2014 Baker High School graduate, is in her first year of teaching at South Baker this year.

She remembers attending Outdoor School at Phillips Park in Baker Valley during her sixth-grade year.

Brown agrees with Hayes that the Anthony Lakes area is a great site for the Outdoor School experience.

“It’s awesome,” Brown said. “The weather hasn’t been the most cooperative, but it has almost made it more fun for them.”

Sheriff Travis Ash stopped by Thursday to see if he could meet the challenge Robb set up for the students. Ash dipped his hands into the fish tank for just a short time before deciding not to prolong his stay.

Because this year’s sixth-grade class is one of the largest in recent memory, students were separated into two groups. One group spent the first two days of camp in the mountains while the second group learned their lessons in the community and at school. The two groups switched places for the next two days of the week. Bird box construction will finish out the session today and Tuesday with classes taught by Mike and Barb Meyer with materials donated by Marvin Wood Products. Lew Brothers Les Schwab Tire Center also donated large plastic bags used in the survival lesson.

Anthony Lakes Lodge served as the base camp for the outdoor classes provided by a wide range of experts from agencies throughout the county who joined students for the outdoor lessons. The Baker County Search and Rescue Team provided its heated tent for large group meetings daily.

Water safety and trail maintenance were two new classes offered at the Anthony Lakes area this year, Mason said. In addition to the classes mentioned earlier, students learned about insects, fisheries and soils on the mountain.

Classes in fire, archaeology, wildlife identification, noxious weeds and survival were offered at South Baker School. An orienteering course was set up on the grounds of Baker City Christian Church, Mason said.

Nighttime activities on the mountain ranged from board games when the weather required students to remain inside, to campfire singing and outdoor activities when the weather cooperated.

Thursday’s group spent a second night at the lodge before boarding a bus and returning home Friday morning.