I brought my son to the Boardman River Nature Center in Traverse City yesterday so he could work on his Boy Scout Tracking Merit Badge. Before all you former Boy Scouts chime in that there is no such thing... I have to tell you it is a merit badge only offered in 2010 in honor of the 100th Birthday of the Boy Scouts. There are about 5 or 6 decommissioned merit badges that were brought back this year. If the scout does not finish the work this year he will be out of luck.
So anyway, my son needs to find tracks of wild animals and take photos of various types of animals for this merit badge.
Usually around my house I am always seeing animals. Deers jump out in front of my car, wild turkey roam the nearby fields, there is grouse around and I even saw a black bear last month while down in Interlochen.
As soon as he starts this merit badge it is like all the animals disappear from around my house. When we want to see them they go into hiding.
Eventually I decided to bring him to the Boardman River Nature Center in the hopes to see some animal tracks.
We were not disappointed. We hiked down the trails along the Boardman River and also the Sabin Pond. We found all types of animal tracks. Of course everytime we see a huge track he says "I think that is a bear, lets see if we can track it." I am like, "Ummm... no I don't think so." I am pretty sure what he saw was the tracks of a large dog. It was in a boggy area so it was very distorted and unfortunately we could not get a good photo of it.
The Boardman River Nature Center has great trails with some fantastic views. If you are looking to connect to nature I would highly suggest a visit. Also, during the summer and spring break they host various nature classes for the kids.
For more information on the Boardman Nature Center go to:
www.gtcd.org/nature-center/
