ROGERS -- People who like to hike, camp, fish and hunt are known to say there's a lifetime of things to do outdoors within two hours of every Northwest Arkansas home. Teenagers find this out early.
"That's what we try to instill in these kids," said Jay Miles, an outdoor education teacher at Rogers Heritage High School.
Hike the Pigeon Roost
The Pigeon Roost Trail is located along Arkansas 12, about one-half mile east of the visitor center at Hobbs State Park in east Benton County.
There are two loops. One offers a 4-mile hike, the other an 8.5-mile hike. Both hikes start and end at the trailhead and parking area.
— Staff report
He was on the second mile of an 8.5-mile hike with 40 of his students at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area east of Rogers.
Hiking, fishing and floating wild rivers are part of the curriculum for outdoor education students at Heritage and other area schools.
"It gives them a taste and appreciation of what this area offers outdoors. Hopefully some will take what they learn with them later in life," Miles said.
An up-close look at the life in the forest was the lesson on Feb. 12 when the 40 students hiked the Pigeon Roost Trail at Hobbs. For area schools, Hobbs is a 12,000-acre classroom. It is Arkansas largest state park, with plant and animal life to study in the forests and streams.
Miles and fellow outdoor ed instructor Tom Olsen led the hike. The pair also coach. Miles is the Heritage track coach. Olsen coaches boys basketball. The two didn't just bus the students to the trail and say, "OK, do this 8 mile hike." Students trained for the journey.
"We hiked around the stadium, and up and down the bleachers," said student Hernan Campos. "But that was very different than out here."
All students completed the hike with ease and not a whimper of whining. Never mind the fact that the temperature was 20 degrees when students got off the school bus at the trailhead. One teenager wore shorts.
Living Forest
The students had a mission: To photograph 10 living things along the trail. That could be vegetation, birds, even tree bark.
Several teachable moments occurred along the way. The path meanders among sinkholes along a 50-yard section deep in the forest. Olsen and Miles explained how sinkholes are signs of a cave system below.
Olsen had a keen eye to spot a buck rub on a small tree. Bucks rub their antlers on the trunks of trees, usually small ones, to leave scent and mark their territory. A rub on a sizable tree trunk could be a sign of a large buck.
Tree identification broke out during one of the rest breaks. Miles stood beneath a leafless tree and asked the students to identify it by looking at the bark. What kind of tree is it?
"I'll give you a hint. It tastes great on a bun with ketchup," Olsen said of the dogwood tree.
On down the trail, Miles noted that the hike is a lot about just getting the students outdoors. Several are from families that don't venture into the wild much, to see what there is to see.
"A major objective of our hikes is to teach 'leave no trace,'" Miles said.
Pack out what you pack in, including any litter left by others, is the mantra.
Happy Hikers
With two miles to go, it was easy to see the students would finish their hike with ease. A long line of hikers broke out into song, singing their way through a hollow then uphill the final mile to the school bus.
Hobbs State Park was their outdoor classroom on this sunny day, only a 25-minute bus ride from their desks indoors.
Flip Putthoff may be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip
Sports on 03/12/2015