Adventure Building Camp Week 1, Day 4, 2018

As soon as we got into the workshop this morning we finished the ramp and started taking runs with the carts. It was fun trying out each others carts!

Testing inspired some ideas for changes and upgrades.

We decided we were finally ready for the day's big challenge of trying to attach the carts to each other and ride down the paved bike path near Tourist Park.

We loaded up the car.

The bridge near our test site looked inviting and after lunch, we took a break to explore for crayfish and cool our feet in the river.

There were four different paths we tested before trying to attach the carts. None of them were exactly the right blend of steepness, smoothness or straightness.

We finally committed to a path and started connecting the carts...

The carts were finally attached! But, could we make it down the hill together???

This is where my battery died! But one of the staff did get some video! I will upload it right here!!!!!

We never did get the super snake to roll down the hill without a piece of webbing becoming detached, or a cart getting hung up in the grass on the side of the path. Our final run was our best. I attached a long piece of webbing and pulled the cart as it was sliding down the path to keep it on course. For a few brief moments we were all rolling together, feeling the breeze on our face and the excitement of a dream almost realized.

After making our way back to camp, parents, friends and family joined us for icecream. We detached the carts and invited everyone to test out the carts on the ramp!!!!

That was it!

What a week!

Congratulations Adventure Builders on all your hard work. It was an amazing four days filled with your funny and incredible stories, ideas and enthusiasm. I absolutely can't wait to see you next year, and am so grateful to all of your parents, and my staff for the support they provided this week. Have a wonderful summer and keep building!!!!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 1, Day 3, 2018

We made a few more changes to the test ramp....

....then headed back into the workshop to do more cart building.

There was a lot of activity in the workshop today. Once the wooden bases came together and wheels were put on excitement surged. Some builders started to add chair-backs, armrests, padding, and some even started experimenting with different ways to connect carts.

So many design decisions!

The missing piece!

...just missing a rolling conference table here.

We did lots of bike riding and went on a couple of nature walks today, but this was all I caught on camera. My battery kept running out when we were away from the workshop! This excursion included a mission to collect fuzz from a nearby aspen tree and an hike to a marsh where we saw heaps of tiny little frogs!

The Warehouse is tidied up and ready to go for our final day of building...........

Adventure Building Camp Week 1, Day 2, 2018

Before starting on the "Super Snake," we decided to build a track for testing the individual carts.

We linked the sheets of plywood together with small pieces of wood.

...then ran a few test runs!

After building in the morning, we headed out to explore the trails by bike. We found wild strawberries (ready to eat) and wild blueberries (not yet ready to eat!)

After lunch we went for a swim, but most of the time was devoted to gathering the gooey clay that was found along the shoreline.

We also found this prehistoric-looking dragonfly nymph!

Once we got back to the Warehouse, we sat down to gather our ideas for how to build the cart components.

Great work builders! We can't wait to see your carts take shape tomorrow!

Adventure Building Camp Week 1, Day 1, June 25, 2018

We started the day with a tour of the Warehouse and a hike up the nearby trail to get a bird's eye view of the area.

Tool training involved using drills and drivers to assemble a safety glasses holder for the wood shop.

After tool training and lunch we headed off to the Dead River Bridge to see if the crayfish were out. We found a few, but mostly enjoyed the chance to collect some interesting rocks, and practice skipping stones.

After we made it up Kirby's Hill, we headed back to the Warehouse to take apart an old sewing machine, a coffee maker and some old power tools. It was a great chance to get lots of practice with hand tools, and learn about the different kinds of screwdrivers.

It was finally time for the project reveal!

Kids sketched out ideas for the "Super Snake" Project. A kind of track-less rollercoaster, that builders will test out on the paved bike trails near Tourist Park.

Kid's sketches included doors, windows, sleeping compartments, and places for the motors they would use to power the "Super Snake." They were planning to salvage and re-wire the motors from the sewing machine and coffee maker they dis-assembled earlier in the day.

Taking a look at some of the materials we had on hand for the project, and trying to visualize the size and scale of the "Super Snake."

We tested a rough prototype.........

...and finished the day in the sand pile building a bakery.

Adventure Building Camp Week 3, Day 4, 2017

After cutting a few boards to replace the waterwheel, we set off to start our adventure.

Our raft was finally ready for the journey.

We started off by powering the raft with the waterwheel and paddles, but progress was slow....

We decided to take a pit stop to remove the speaker seat, and open up more space on the raft.

Trying out alternative modes of moving the raft.

Fighting the current near Granite Street.

Land HO! We finally reach our destination! 2 hours of journey from the put in.

After a swim, there isn't time for the return journey, and we are able to beg a favor to have the raft towed back to the put in. We decide to return to the Warehouse to make a repair to the deck and prepare the raft for transport to one lucky builder's home.

There's time for a quick journey to the power station to collect crayfish and cool our heels in the water.

Learning the art of frog hypnosis.

Making popcorn for our guests.

With kids and parents working together, we were able to push the raft back up the hill to the Warehouse.

Congratulations builders on your exciting adventure. It was an unforgettable week!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 3, Day 3, 2017

The morning kicked off with a retool of our pipe fittings for the water wheel.

After adjusting our fittings, we were ready to strap on the barrels and roll the raft down to the water for testing.

We lost a few barrels along the way, but were still able to roll the raft relatively easily....well, except for a few spokes of the paddle wheel that were sheered off by the uneven terrain of the path.

Crayfish Surprise!

With the raft finally in the water, we realize we've got a few problems.....

We pulled out the raft to work on our barrel issues. We ended up with two ideas. The first idea was to screw wood planks across the openings in the raft to keep the barrels lower. The second idea utilized webbing lashed across the opening to position the barrels.

Although this test run looks like a fail, it wasn't! We discovered both methods would lift the raft up out of the water. In the end we chose to combine the two ideas and used webbing on the top and bottom to secure the barrels.

Finally! Success! Our raft would be ready for tomorrow's adventure with a quick repair of the water wheel..........air guitar!

We celebrated after lunch with a few jumps off the rope swing.

Some swam to the island.

Back at the workshop, we worked on building more paddles.

When the sun came out, we seized our last chance to visit the sand pit.

On the way back, we saw our dog friends that joined us for swimming yesterday.

Last push to finish the bike rack, before heading home!

Excited for what tomorrow's adventure!

Adventure Building Camp Week 3, Day 2, 2017

Straight out of the gate, the rudder team got to work assembling their vision.

The rest of the crew finished framing the raft and started adding decking.

Builders thought a scavenged license plate would make our watercraft more official.

We found a circle bit big enough for the metal pipe we used as an axle. What Luck!

We cut lots of little pieces to make hand holds for our water wheel.

We had some perfect cannonballs today.

...and some unexpected friends jump in and join us.

One builder was so excited about all the tools we've gotten to use, they built their own model chopsaw out of LEGOS last night and brought it to show us.

We spent the afternoon readying our raft for testing and looking for useful parts to add to the raft. Builders joined in disassembling a water heater and couldn't stop! We also had time to build another changing area and started on another bike rack since we have so many bikes this week.

Our water wheel pit crew...

Tomorrow we're ready for a test run, speaker seat and all!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 3, Day 1, 2017

What an enthusiastic group of builders we have this week!

We jumped straight into tool training and some group agreements after a beautiful walk on the Noquemanon trail. During the tool training, we repaired a sawhorse and assembled two new ones. We also disassembled a few leftover projects from previous weeks including a slide, a pirate ship and an anchor box.

After tool training and snack, the week's project was revealed. The challenge was to build a raft that could carry everyone from the put-in on the Dead River to the rope swing further upstream (approximately 1/2 mile.) There will be several challenges involved including moving the raft from the warehouse to the put in, as well as figuring out how to propel the boat through the water. We headed out on a short field trip to scout the put in and route we would travel to the rope swing.

Along the way we found this beautiful garter snake.

....then we were back to the workshop to start sketching out ideas.

We used milk crates to lay out the size and shape of the raft's deck.

After lunch, a swim and many deliberations, we finally came to consensus. It was decided that we would build a rectangular raft with floats in each corner. It would be powered by a water wheel located in the center of the raft.

Three work teams were assembled: a waterwheel team, a deck framing team, and a materials scavenging team.

An old speed boat proved useful for scavenging useful parts to tie off ropes and secure an anchor. An old bottle of Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion, as well as a bottle of Country Time lemonnade from 1999 was found. "Wow, That's OLD!" gasped many surprised young builders.

Tomorrow, our creation takes shape!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 2, Day 4, 2017

We started the morning finishing up individual projects started during open build time. This was a great opportunity for builders to work independently, and experience for themselves the design, build, tinker, rebuild process. Wood is an incredible medium, but builders learned first hand how difficult it can be to create organic shapes like curves in three dimension.

We ended up with lots of great finished projects like a bird house, a time-capsule, a drawer for glasses, and a bike rack that was badly needed to stand up all the mountain bikes without kickstands.

We observed the existence of a second baby pigeon, which was promptly named, "Bucket." We boosted up a small woodblock with Bucket's named scrawled on it to join the other blocks we had positioned below the nest earlier in the week.

Time to add the last features of the raft!

We threaded the molding through the canopy we had sewn, and screwed the arches down to the side of the raft.

We added a second ladder, and positioned the queen ant bench. Builders were ready to head out for a swim and enjoy their creation.

We laughed about how the finished raft looked a little like a floating version of a wagon from the Oregon Trail.

Excitedly, a dead chipmunk was found floating around the raft during the builders swim session. (Wow! Ahhh! Eww!) It was levitated by paddle to the swimming raft's edge, and then transported (dead) in the live-well to shore. There was much talk of handwashing, and the inherent risks of swimming in a body of water called, "The Dead River."

After lunch, we gloried in our last jump off the rope swing.......... check out these ninja moves!

After a day filled with swimming and building, it was time to prepare for the parents coming for the last pick-up. We made popcorn, and watched in amazement through the transparent cover of the popcorn maker, as individual popcorn kernels exploded before our eyes.

Hard working builders jumped in to sweep, stack and neaten tools and woodscrap piles in the workshop.

After a great effort, and many parents help, we boosted the raft out of the water for transport. (One of the builders had won the drawing to take the raft home.) Apparently there was so much excitement, and heavy lifting, I entirely forgot to photograph this part! Thank you to all the friends and family who helped us avoid the dreaded barrel rolling we endured on Wednesday!

Wow, builders. I am really going to miss my daily adventures with all of you!

Have an amazing summer and keep building.

Adventure Building Camp, Week 2, Day 3, 2017

The morning's projects included working on the canopy and the raft rolling trial.

We decided to sew the canopy from synthetic tar paper and use molding for arches to support it. One builder happened to have a hole in his sock, so we took the opportunity to mend the hole while we learned some basics on the little green sewing machine.

Time to invert!

It was finally time to start moving the raft. We assembled our team and discussed a variety of commands. In the end we agreed on the ever useful, "sTOp!" and "GO!"

Finally at the water's edge, we made the flip!

Success!

After lunch, more swimming!

...and a little time to work on some individual projects.

See you tomorrow for our final day of building!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 2, Day 2, 2017

We started the morning with a punch-list of goals for the day. It was decided that we wanted to make the most headway on the ant bench and the deck of the raft. We would work on the littler projects intermittently when we got the chance.

To sit is to stabilize. AKA when sitting around in the workshop is actually useful.

First try at a diving board. Definitely bendy!

The jigsaw that never stopped! We kept it running all day by swapping out three different Ni-Cad batteries.

A quick tool training on using the chop saw to cut angles. We cut 10 degrees off the legs of the ant bench for greater stability.

Checking up on Judy, Jerome and baby Debbie, our resident Warehouse pigeons.

A pigeon's eye view of the lunch bunch, eating quickly to gain more time at the rope-swing on such a hot day.

Wheeeee!!!!!!

Yesterday our attempt at the ant bench failed, but we started again from scratch this morning. What do you know, we learned a lot from this project, and ended up with the most one-of a kind bench ever!

End of the day push during the rainstorm to finish our awesome patchwork decking!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 2, July 17-20, 2017

After we introduced ourselves, we headed out to see the morning's clear views from the hilltop near the warehouse. We saw the Yooper Dome, Hog'sback Ridge, and even a bald eagle which was perched on a nesting platform by the Dead River.

We got to work creating agreements for a safe workshop, including how to signal each other, and use safety equipment and then assembled sawhorses as part of our tool training.

Builders gathered ideas for the week's BIG project, which is to build the ultimate swim raft. We also had to come up with a way of moving the raft from the warehouse to the put-in on the Dead River.

After the idea was proposed that we would use the flotation barrels as rollers to move the raft down to the riverside, we walked the route looking for obstacles. We also wanted to make sure the swim-raft would fit on the trail.

A (very quick) Garter snake was captured on the walk. It didn't musk, so that was good.

The site looked good, and we felt we had a solid working plan for getting the swimming raft to the river after it was built.

We used milk crated to lay out a floor plan for the raft and try to better understand where we would place the floats. We also had to consider how to construct the deck and keep the floats secure.

Work was also started on some amenities including a box to hold the anchor, and a bench with storage in the shape of an ant.

Time for a trip to the rope swing to cool off.

We got so much building done today, we decided to go for another quick outing to the power station to skip rocks and catch crayfish.

Freshwater fleas.

For several kids, it was their first time learning how to pick up a crayfish. Wow, so many firsts today!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 1, Day 4, 2017

We kicked off the morning finishing up the pirate ship. We added a mast with a flag featuring a toothy-grinned skull and cross bones. We also stabilized the catwalk to the pigeon's nest and unfortunately got a few paper cups stuck in our tube phone that we never did figure out how to get out of there.

After our last busy morning in the workshop, we headed off for our final adventure in the woods. We took the long way to the power station and found a sock we had lost a few days earlier along the way. What luck!

After noodling around for awhile near the water we came across the exoskeleton of a crayfish. We then found, what we believed to be, the crayfish that had crawled out of it. Its body was still soft. It was slow-moving and easy to catch.

After finding the first crayfish, we started flipping rocks in the river and finding LOTS of crayfish..... of all sizes. Theo showed us the handy "pincher hold." We made a holding pond so we could observe the crayfish a little longer before putting them back in the river.

After our drizzly morning adventure, we returned to the warehouse to get ready for the playground party. Builders made fruit sorbet and popcorn to entertain their guests.

When the parents (and grandparents) arrived,  builders offered tool-use tutorials to adults who were new to using drills and drivers, or who might simply enjoy a refresher from an enthusiastic young teacher. Each student/teacher pair made a simple stool. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring our whole community of builders and parents together for one final celebration of the week.

Our final playground consisted of a cardboard pirate ship on wheels, A treehouse/nature museum (elevated on straw) with a slide escape and modern tube telephone technology, a tire swing and pigeon's nest with double catwalks.......................... If only there was more time to play!

I will truly miss the opportunity to "gather 'round" with you all and make plans for our next adventure together, but I hope we can do it again soon!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 1, Day 3, 2017

A rainy morning kept us in the workshop, tinkering away on the pigeon's nest and tree/elevated straw bale platform house. After adding plywood scraps to 3 walls and synthetic tarpaper to the roof, it was time to hoist the house up into it's nook.

When we saw the rain break, we took our chance and went on a morning adventure to collect natural treasures for the tree house. After abandoning our socks and shoes on the side of the trail, we walked a marshy path out onto a beautiful little islet with a towering white pine at its center.

There was an idea to build a remote control boat out of some sticks and some forgotten screws that were found in someone's pocket. Although the boat was very cool and tinker-y, we talked about the drawbacks of leaving the screws in this kind of natural environment, and a "wood only" version was set adrift.

A leech pet was discovered! which had legs! Which had legs? Which had eggs! Hmmm....which had babies? Which was set free, which had members hitch a ride back to the warehouse, which was doused with salt.

The rest of the drizzly afternoon was spent toggling between building, blowing bubbles and riding bikes. A treasure map was chalked onto the side of the tree-house and a a set of shelves for natural treasures was screwed onto one of the interior walls. A slide was contributed by the two Warehouse Jacks and plans were hatched for a watermelon-box ship on caster wheels; which got about 2/3s of the way completed!

See you tomorrow for our last Hurrah!

Adventure Building Camp, Week 1, Day 2, 2017

After examining a real bird's nest that was found in the Warehouse, Builders were eager to get started this morning. We trained on some new tools including the Japanese handsaw which helped us cut the vertical parts of our frame for the tree house.  We also used the jigsaw to shape the front door. 

We have walls!

After lunch we journeyed to the center of the earth......

When we left the cool green of the river and trail, and saw everything open up onto such a wide expanse of sand, it felt like we had landed somewhere entirely unknown. It was a long climb to the top and the sand was dotted with all kinds of amazing rocks and even a few fossils. There was also heavy equipment to gaze upon. Everyone felt happy.

Monarch caterpillars found on an afternoon walk.....and then back into the work shop.

The pigeon's nest is looking pretty cozy, don't you think?

Adventure Building Camp, Week 1, Day 1, 2017

We started off the morning with a quick tour of the nearby Noquemanon Trail. Noquemanon apparently sounded a bit like, "No Caiman Trail?" since a few kids were wondering if we would see Caiman (a small type of alligator) if we got too far off the trail. Nope! No Caimans this time.

Next up was tool training with power drills and drivers. Do you know the difference? We built modular balance beams and then linked them to make a ""super" balance beam.

After lunch and a swim, we started planning for our "Big Build." Lots of ideas surfaced about a playground including designs that featured telescopes, a goldmine, a tree-house, a resting place, a curvy path, slides, and a pigeon's nest. Wow!

After a short trip to the train tracks to pick up some taconite pellets for our gravel and sand play spot, we divided into two groups; nest builders, and tree house framers. We got a great start on both, acquiring a slew of interesting materials from the tree trimmers wood pile for the pigeon's nest, and nearly finishing the entire floor of the tree-house.

Looking forward to a big day of building tomorrow as the playground takes shape. Get a good night's rest everybody!

Adventure Building Camp 2016: Day 4

In anticipation of our sandpit adventure, the first few hours of the day were spent feverishly working on sleds to take with us. There was an incredible diversity of designs from luge-type sleds to saucers and toboggans.

We finally settled into preparing "The Clubhouse" for the road and discussing turn-taking strategies for pulling our heavy load.

After the initial 10 feet or so, there was discussion about reducing the weight. There was a group decision to jettison the weights that been attached as an anchor to slow us going downhill.

Nearly to the Noquemanon Trail!

After a tremendous amount of effort and frustration we decided to take a doughnut break. (Many thanks to our benefactor!) There was a great deal of discussion regarding what we could do to move more easily and how we could get the wheels to work better. We also discussed whether we should just abandon the clubhouse and just ride our bikes to the sandpit and figure out another way to take our sleds with us. A suggestion was made to move the axle and we decided to do the work there on the road.

Moving the axle made an incredible amount of difference in how easy it was to pull the clubhouse, but once we got rolling again, the wooden plates on the wheel wells started to splinter.

After pulling the clubhouse as far as we could, and then breaking the wheel, we made it to a shaded portion of the trail. It was lunchtime and we were tired so we decided to set up our camp just there and take out our BBQ to cook the lunch we had planned for the sandpit. Bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, pop-tarts, and we even tried cooking an egg in it's shell just to see what would happen.

As we pondered what to do next, we felt it was important to get the clubhouse off the trail for all the walkers and bikers that were coming through. We tried to bring a truck to carry out the clubhouse, but the truck got stuck, so we were lucky to have access to a tractor to help the truck as well as pick up the clubhouse and carry it away.

It wasn't the day we had planned, but we had an adventure. We shared belly laughs, moments of deep frustration; as well as hope and excitement when we problem-solved through several repairs. After bringing all of our things back to camp, we headed to the rope swing for a final plunge in the Dead River.

We ended the day with ice-cream and talk of what everyone was going to build next......

(The clubhouse was going home with Max and Emmy, and paint colors were already being picked out for the interior.)

Adventure Building Camp 2016: Day 3

Our final day of building! Tomorrow we head out on our sandpit adventure.

Today we got interviewed by Channel 3 News and the Mining Journal; we're almost famous!

Today's themes were "Mix it up!" and "Build like crazy." We definitely accomplished both. We challenged everyone to spend time working with a tool that still felt unfamiliar, and also talked about sharing some of the coveted tools (like the small, powerful impact driver we only have one of in the shop.)

Now on day 3 confidence level is high. There is a buzz in the workshop, like we are social insects, intuitive to our tasks.

We tinkered with the wheel and axle using some special tools like circle bits and super long screws. Once everything was assembled, it was time to attach it to the underbelly of the clubhouse. We all lent a hand to flip it over....

Moment of triumph and uber-confidence before testing....

Here we are feeling pretty good...It works!  "Maybe we just need someone to run along the side and keep the wheel straight..."

Excited for tomorrow and our journey to the sandpit.

Wish us luck!

Adventure Building Camp 2016 Day 2

It was a beautiful summer morning, and we set off for a quick hike along the river.

After we put together a "Punch List" of tasks to figure out what we would build and how, we got into small groups and started making the walls and wheel axle for "The Clubhouse."

A quick bike ride to the thimble berry patch!

We bid goodbye to Dustin, but found a way to take him with us on our final excursion.......

Thank you for all your smiles, warmth and tinkering wisdom Dustin!

By day two, everyone has taken a jump off of the rope swing.....

We have a floor, a frame, and a source of power for our chariot. Tomorrow comes the challenge of attaching our wheels and axle...we still need to tar patch one of our tires? a roof? There is talk of framing out the door first thing tomorrow morning.

One thing is for sure, we have settled on the fact that we will cook our Thursday's lunch over a grill fashioned from the case of a duct fan and a metal lampshade!!!

Adventure Building Camp 2016 Day 1

We launched camp with an incredible amount of enthusiasm this morning. When 5pm rolled around, everyone commented on the fact that it felt like we had packed a weeks worth of time into a single day. From the moment we finished putting together the sawhorses to complete our tool training, we realized the myriad of possibilities open to us. What would we make?

The Mission: build a clubhouse that we could take to the sandpit.

We brainstormed and then headed for the junk pile.

After discussing a feverish amount of ideas regarding how we would incorporate our favorite junk into our "clubhouse" design, we went for a ride to the sandpit to inspect our route. We noted a large hill and somewhat tricky barricade we would have to consider. Hmmm............

After lunch and some building, we took a dip in the Dead River to cool off, (swimming pictures tomorrow! ) and then headed back to The Warehouse for more building.

We have a lot to decide tomorrow.

How can we get our clubhouse to move smoothly over the Noqumenon trail to the sandpit?

How will we stay cool without the ability to repair the old air conditioner we found in the scrap metal pile?

Where will we play cards?

Stay tuned!

Thanks to everyone who helped plan, clean, rig tool benches, watch children, make sandwiches, drive for hours just to lend a hand, and just believe in us for making it an incredible first day of Adventure Building Camp. We truly appreciate you!

See you tomorrow!