Open space observations

Mike Swanson

To a select group of Laguna Beach residents taking its first hike

through Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on June 13, nothing tickled

emotions and dazzled eyes more than animal scat and the stinkbugs

that live off of it.

Judging from the Top of the World first-graders’ questions,

answers and comments at their end-of-the-year field trip, either Art

Linkletter or Bill Cosby should have been hiking along with

microphones and a TV audience.

Regardless of gender, no quote was more prolific than, “There’s

more scat!” but “Another stinkbug!” took a close second.

Ian Ring took the scat observation further with the assertion that

a particular pile couldn’t have come from a coyote, but must have

come from a reindeer -- an unprecedented Laguna Beach discovery.

Even when he wasn’t making groundbreaking discoveries, Ring found

the ground he walked on exciting. During a brief rest that featured

trained docent Kimberly Bixler Leeds explaining how the plant Mule

Fat was named, Ring thumbed through a handful of dirt saying “neat,”

devoting at least three seconds to the vowel sound.

While explaining that Mule Fat received its name because it makes

mules fat, Leeds said mules’ reaction to the plant is much like

humans’ reaction to beans. The children looked at each other with

scrunched faces and bandied a mild four-letter F word about for about

10 seconds before something else caught their attention.

“It’s always interesting to see what kids pay most attention to

out here,” Leeds said. “Every group gloms onto something different.”

Once the children filed out of the bus at the Willow Staging Area

and organized into three docent-led groups, Leeds’ opening question

for her collection of about 20 first-grade hikers, “What do you think

of when you hear the word ‘wilderness’?” set a fine precedent for the

day’s answers.

“It means that they’re, like, going crazy,” Patsy Sewell said.

Shaza Rabahieh countered with, “It means that creatures live here

that don’t live in your houses,” and Sam Wogulis summed it up with,

“Wild means, like, nature out in the fresh air.”

The children’s answers led Leeds to an explanation of what people

need to live, finishing with the only answer the children couldn’t

come up with -- space -- and emphasized why it’s so vital.

“We wouldn’t be able to live piled on top of each other, would

we?” Leeds said, drawing a serious parade of noes from the group.

Leeds and other docents hope their series of field trips with

Laguna Beach elementary school students show children what a unique

backyard of open space they have and the importance of preserving it.

While the children’s interest appeared more small-scale than

docents’ aspirations, as should be expected on first exposure, some

of teacher Margaret Arnold’s class displayed early signs of a Sierra

Club future.

Everything fascinated Ian, who in the first few paces on the trail

yelled, “There’s a hole!” and in the last few paces took a special

interest in the tick discovered on the back of Sewell’s shirt. As

Leeds held the tick, showing the students what it looks like for

future reference, Ian yelled, “It’s going to tear through her skin!”

wearing an intrigued smile.

Tamara Torres was the speed racer of the group, staying right on

Leeds’ back as she quickened the pace to hit the picnic tables, where

other children wanted to be but couldn’t handle Torres’ pace. She

appeared to have a bright future lugging 50-pound backpacks across

national parks, but some didn’t have it so easy.

“I can’t do it,” a boy in the back screamed. “I’m just hungry!”

He did it, as did the rest of the group, and they heaped “thank

yous” upon Leeds once happily holding their sandwiches. Time will

tell how the day impacted these hikers, but June 13 looked like a fine introductory course to the Laguna Coast Wilderness system.

Ian’s mother said it was her first time at the park, but upon

seeing her son’s interest in everything, it probably won’t be her

last.