Pollinator Survey and Campout Details
Bumblebee Campout Details!
WHO will be there: You, GHCC, families and friends, flowers and bumblebees, birds and elk.
WHERE we’ll be: Our Base Camp is a dry camp along Cemetery Ridge Road (NF 780). Follow the directions (attached) to Buckhorn Overlook from Enterprise. *Just* shy of the overlook (up the hill from the campground), there’s a Y in the road. Take a left at the Y and you’ll find us. Look for my silver Ford Escape and a shade awning. You’re welcome to dry camp with us there, or, if you’d prefer a slightly more developed option, Buckhorn Campground has spring water and a vault toilet.
Once you’re out at Buckhorn, this image will give you the lay of the land:
→ NOTE: you won’t have cell service for much of the drive, so we recommend you take a map and/or a non-web version of the directions along, if you don’t know the way.
WHEN we’ll be there: Christina (GHCC’s Wild Connections Coordinator) will be around all weekend, from Friday afternoon through Sunday midday, and will be at Base Camp during scheduled check-in, meal and orientation times (see schedule below). This is a casual outing: please feel free to come and go as you please (we encourage you to go to NE OR Pride on Saturday afternoon, for example). That said, please do show up on time for a bumblebee survey if you’d like to take part in this citizen science project.
Here’s a loose schedule:
FRIDAY
1PM - 3PM Check in at Base Camp, sign a waiver, get settled in, meet-n-greet
3PM BUMBLEBEE HABITAT SCOPING, Cemetery Ridge
→ meet for orientation @ Base Camp
6PM Potluck supper at Base Camp (BYO plates and utensils + a potluck item)
9PM Solstice moon walk
SATURDAY
Breakfast / bird watching / quiet morning on your own
9AM-9:45AM Check in at Base Camp, sign a waiver, meet-n-greet
10AM-12PM BUMBLEBEE SURVEY #1, Cemetery Ridge
→ meet for orientation @ Base Camp
Lunch on your own
Free afternoon for sunning, reading, hiking, biking, heading back to the valley for EO Pride, etc
6PM Chili feed at Base Camp (vegetarian chili with all the fixins, please BYO plates and utensils + a potluck side or drink)
8PM Campfire at Base Camp, stories, music, s’mores
SUNDAY
Breakfast / wildlife watching / quiet morning on your own
9AM- 9:45AM Check in at Base Camp
10AM BUMBLEBEE SURVEY #2, exact location TBD
→ meet for orientation @ Base Camp
1PM Leftovers lunch + fare-thee-wells at Base Camp
WHAT we’ll bring:
Nets, datasheets, pens, vials, a cooler, and an ID guide for the bumblebees
Field guides to wildflowers and insects
Basic First Aid Kit
Some beer, nonalcoholic beverages, and snacks
A big pot of vegetarian chili with fixins
A shade awning and tables
S’mores fixins
Maps
WHAT you should bring:
Everything you need to comfortably car camp
Sun hat, sunscreen, comfortable walking shoes, water bottles, etc
A potluck dish or drink to share, your own breakfasts, lunches and alcohol, plates and silverware
An armload of firewood and/or an instrument if you’re so inclined
A *small* (lunch-sized) cooler if you have one, for the bumblebee survey
A good camera with a macro lens for photographing flowers and bumblebees, if you’ve got one (a phone camera is okay too), plus plenty of memory and battery life.
Field guides, curiosity and respect for this beautiful place and its creatures.
WHY we’re doing this: to connect with each other in a rare ecosystem, to celebrate solstice, and to help our partner Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation gather data about bumblebee populations in remote parts of our mission area.
HOW we’re doing this: with attentiveness and respect for each other, the landscape, and its nonhuman inhabitants.
We can’t wait to see you out there! Please holler at Christina if you have any questions
Be well,
Christina deVillier
Wild Connections Coordinator
Greater Hells Canyon Council
