Our school has gone to Wolf Ridge for thirty years. I've gone about fifteen times. And yet, I still get excited.
Tucked up on the North Shore, Wolf Ridge is, of course, beautiful — sometimes breathtakingly so. I will never forget the sky-brightening meteor that streaked across the sky during one of our night hikes, nor the absolute quiet of snow falling in a hemlock grove.
But the true magic of Wolf Ridge lies in the discoveries that students make there. The naturalists are unparalleled in their ability to draw students in to moments of wonder. While I know that they have taught a given lesson on animal signs countless times, one would never know it by watching them teach. They gasp as a student points out a clump of deer hair. They are first to wade through the snow to examine another student's discovery of fresh wood chips from a pileated woodpecker hole. Their energy fuels the students' wonder.
Once, when we were supposed to be snow shoeing to an Ojibwe waginogan, a student spotted an unusual pattern in the snow. The naturalist gathered everyone in a circle around the find. We made observations and described what we saw and slowly uncovered what had happened – an owl had swooped down from a tree, plunging through the snow to grab a tunneling vole. It had left a small hole in the snow and its wings had left perfect feather prints on the surface of the fresh snow.
It takes great skill to lead students in discoveries like these. Each group that I've gone with has felt deeply that they are the first kids ever to see something or do something there. The naturalists create a world in which the students' learning is truly authentic. They feel that their experience is unique…and it is. They make it so.
I am so glad that our students get to learn in this way and in this place.
The Rookery 
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