Timberline: Course Directing

Timberline: Course Directing

(Timberline part 28)

Toward the end of my tenure with Timberline the council had decided to separate the positions of Scoutmaster and Course Director. The Scoutmaster was directly in charge of the staff and participants while the Course Director was responsible for all of the reports and finances. I enjoyed both responsibilities but was glad to see them separated. My last two of sixteen years on staff was as a course director with the Delta courses. I traveled to Holden for staff meetings and had a separate campsite while on the mountain. I gained several new friends from that area during those years and found camp to be pretty fun since I was also responsible for making sure the camp was ready for the next courses following us the next week. This gave me a chance to hike through the entire camp cleaning up and preparing the sites. I always carried my camera with me and saw many photo opportunities. One day I had gone deep into the trees away from the regular campsite and while sitting there, working on a report, was visited by a small falcon. I saw it fly through just above my head and quickly grabbed my camera to follow it and photograph it. I caught two or three quick pictures then returned to my chair. A few minutes later it flew onto a branch just a few feet in front of me in the lower part of the tree. I again took several photographs and was interested by how it was interested in me. It was watching me probably more than I had been watching it. I later discovered why as I visited the same spot several more times in the week and discovered it’s nest only three or four trees away from where I had been sitting. I even saw it at another time when I had returned to the camp to show it to Marie and as we walked over to that area again spotted the falcon. I really enjoyed my time combing the camp for trash and chances to photograph the animals.