Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
The brainstorming started soon after Joy and Sean Prockter, owners of Jasper Hikes & Tours, received a sizable donation from St. Mary's and St. George's Anglican Church to enable youngsters to go on a unique, free hike.
The 43 kids who signed up were divided into groups of about six and put on the scavenger hunt schedule between August 4 and 7.
And after meeting at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum parking lot, the kids, with either Joy or Sean, set off on the Churchill trail for the adventures ahead.
The hikes were about five kilometres long, with a gain of about 80 metres over the two-hour excursion.
"We wanted it to be educational," Sean said of the Jasper Youth Nature Scavenger Hunt.
He and Joy made a list of 100 natural objects to find, including trees, flowers, birds and insects.
Each item was assigned points and the harder they were to find, the more points the little hikers got.
The number of points later determined who got a prize of a free ice cream or frozen treat at Grandma's Place at the end of the week.
The list was provided a week before the hikes started so research could be done to prepare.
"The goal for the kids was to get to the Cottonwood slough. There's dragonflies, frogs, wetland birds, salamanders," Sean said.
The advantage of getting there in the two hour time allowed was finding those natural treasures, and thus, getting more points.
But it was also a Catch-22 situation, Sean said, as the faster the group went, the greater the chance of missing a treasure along the way.
The kids were provided the list of finds before their adventure so they had a chance to learn about what they were tasked with finding.
"Some [came] super-prepared," Sean said. That included bringing guide books about identifying tracks, types of flowers and more.
"Some [were] super keen to learn," Sean said, recalling the youngsters would ask him and Joy what something was as they hiked through the forest.
"The most prepared groups are definitely number one and number two," he added.
The two-hour hikes presented a number of opportunities to gain knowledge about what they were searching for, but Sean and Joy made a point of telling the young hikers they were not allowed to pick anything.
The first Jasper Youth Nature Scavenger Hunt, Sean said, "was well received, and the kids [learned] quite a lot on the trail”.
“The goal was to learn and have fun - especially in their backyard,” he said.
“We had some kids saying, 'This is the best scavenger hunt we've done.’”
