Outdoor Core Mountain Kid

1. Go outside. The healthiest place to be is outdoors. Besides making vitamin D in the sunshine, it is good for your body and mind.
2. Go outside aware. Sometimes there are unhealthy or even hazardous conditions outside that you cannot prepare for. These would require even a Mountain Kid to stay inside. Air quality during fire season is one of those conditions. Be sure to check current conditions in your community and either limit or avoid going outside until the condition improves. 
3. Go outside everyday. Each and every day and date is unique. What will happen on that day will never happen again. That goes for every single date on the calendar. Make history and make a big memory every day! Go big or go little, but go outside!
4. Go outside prepared. If you are just in your yard you don’t have to prepare as much but you still have to dress for success. Remember you need your “ons” (what you will wear), your “ins” (what you need to drink and eat), and your “ands” (the tools that will help your adventure successful). If you’re going to go fishing, you need your fishing pole.
5. Go outside and play. We all need time for free play. No plan, just play. You’re a Mountain Kid and right now you have Monday through Friday freedom like you have never known. Use it and PLAY!
6. Go outside and explore. This is the learning part. The world has every lesson to teach you but you have to go outside. Use all of your senses. Ask questions and look for answers. Track animals, watch the clouds blow by, notice how the moon changes every night and even the stars move. There are a million mysteries and they are waiting for you.
7. Go outside and document. Document doesn’t sound like too much fun but this is where our field journals appear and your science gets real! Keep it simple. 1) Something to write on and write with, 2) Catch when you are [date] and where you are [location], and 3) Use the three languages - pictures, words and numbers to capture the moment of exploration and discovery!
8. Go outside to your one spot. Pick a spot nearby that you like. This is your spot. It is called a “sit spot” and if you go out regularly to that spot you will become an expert on that spot. No one will know that spot better than you as you watch it change through the days, weeks, months, seasons and years! Pick your spot and own it!
9. Go outside safely. Your mountain family are your people to be with right now. Our mountain air will do its part to keep you healthy. You need to do your part too! Wash your hands (after you get them really dirty) and keep your distance from anyone who is not in your clan. Follow any other guidelines that are shared. And remember that just because you are wearing a bandana over your mouth, doesn’t mean you get to rob a stagecoach.
10. Go outside and share your adventures with me and, or, your teacher. I want to know what you are up to, where you are going, what you are doing. Make a memory. Tell your story. [email protected]

Yours in the Outdoors,
Rob Wade