Here are some resources to help plan your trip:  

• Logistics & Forms
• Plan Your Educational Experience
  • Areas of Study
  • Evening Programs
• Off-campus Field Studies
• Campus Adventures
• Teaching Tools

Logistics & Forms

• Logistical Checklist: This checklist helps you plan and organize your program with us from the first step to arrival day.  
• Planning Questionnaire: The necessary paperwork that helps us prepare for your visit.  
• Who's Who?: Adult Roles & Responsibilities: This is an overview of each adult's role before and during your program.
• Transportation: Directions and transportation recommendations.
• Learning Group List: A tool to help you select your learning groups, which participants will stay in throughout the field day.
• Cabin roster: A tool to help you break out your students and chaperones into their cabin sleeping groups.
• Participant Registration Form: All students and adults must complete and sign this form to participate in our programs. (Spanish Version)
• Clothing and Equipment List:  A packing list to help your students and chaperones prepare for the trip.
• Student Contract: All students must sign this contract before arrival on campus. Please turn in signed contracts upon arrival.
• Olympic Field Journal: Download and print this optional journal to enhance your students' experience in Olympic National Park.
• Recreation Time Planner:  Use this tool to help plan and assign free time.
• Maps of Campus & Surrounding Area
• Chaperone Packet: Choosing the right chaperones can make or break your program. This document gives chaperones important information to help them plan for your trip, including the Chaperone Agreement. Please distribute to all adult participants.
• Weather Forecast: Get the latest information from the weather station located on our dock!

Do you have questions about any of these forms?  Email Kim Hanson or call 360-928-3720 ext 15.

Plan Your Educational Experience

Our curriculum is aligned with state and national standards in its use of inquiry methods to engage students in academic studies that connect their learning to real-world science.  Our educators are versed in the evolving Grade Level Expectations, and tailor programs to enrich your classroom work.  In Olympic National Park, we have five areas of study to choose from, or you can mix and match to best meet your requirements.  

Areas of Study

• Forest Ecology: students gain an understanding of the components and intricate interconnections of forest ecosystems.
• Watershed Science: students learn about the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems and the role of water in terrestrial systems.
• Marine Science: students learn how their actions affect the world ocean, no matter their distance from it, and how in turn the ocean affects all of us.
• Earth Science & Geology: students engage their science process skills and discover why this region (and their home community) has developed over geologic time to have its unique character.
• Elwha Restoration Project: students participate in monitoring an impressive river ecosystem from the removal of the two Elwha River dams. This watershed restoration project is one of the largest in human history. 

Evening Programs

Guest pres​enters

• Elaine Grinnell - S’Klallam Tales:  A member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Elaine delights both the young and old with great stories.  Elaine uses traditional baskets and drums to let us into the lives of a S’Klallam tribal member.
• John Cornish - Geology Rocks:  John covers the rock cycle and geology of the Olympic Peninsula, and knows how to wow your students with his amazing rock, fossil, and crystal collection.  Every rock becomes a treasure after this evening program.  
• Field Science Researchers: NatureBridge partners with several government and non-government agencies in and around Olympic National Park. With enough advance notice we may be able to set up a program with a researcher. Best suited for high school students, these topics could include bears, fish, owls, marine environments, or climate change.  
• Career Explorations: With enough advance notice we may be able to arrange for guests in a variety of professions to share about their science, outdoor, or resource-based careers in an interactive setting. Best suited for middle and high school students.  

Educator-led evening programs

• Welcome to the Olympics: An interactive activity during which students explore their sense of place and connect to Olympic National Park.
• Town Meeting: Discussions about a local, relevant environmental issue, such as the Elwha Fish Hatchery, Makah whaling, land-use decisions, or species reintroduction.
• Night Hikes: (available September 15 – April 1): Students explore the nighttime. Topics may include nocturnal adaptations, astronomy, and bravery.
• Stayin’ Alive: (available April 15 – August 31): Taking the roles of herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores, students learn about food webs and predator-prey relationships.
• Form Line Drawing: Students spend an evening learning about the history of Northwest Coastal Native Americans and studying the technique of Form Line Drawing and then sharpen their pencils to create their own masterpieces.
• Plenty-o-fish: An active program that helps students think critically from multiple angles of resource management and bio-monitoring. Students take on the roles of fishers and/or scientists that monitor the fish stock.
• Marine Mammals:Students learn about adaptations of and threats to various marine mammals.
• Sustainability Interactive: In small groups, students discuss and debate the sustainability of extracting various natural resources and work together to find sustainable solutions for the environment, society and the economy. This activity is most appropriate for students in 5th grade and up.
• Rock Basics: In this active and hands-on program, students learn components and processes of the rock cycle and use dichotomous keys to identify rock samples based on their properties and characteristics. This activity is most appropriate for 5th-8th graders.
• What a Mess - Trashland's Trash: Students learn what happens to our trash when we are done with it and take on the challenge of finding the solution to the fictional community of Trashland’s landfill problem. Each small group of students is given five different viewpoints on what should be done with the trash once the landfill is full. They must then work to find a solution that meets the needs of the community. This activity is most appropriate for students in 5th grade and up. 
• Closing Ceremonies/Campfire:Songs, stories, and reflections around a campfire.

Off-campus Field Studies

With five-day field science groups, we usually take a day-long, off-campus field trip to one of the region’s amazing ecosystems.  Field trip sites include:

Hurricane Ridge: (1hour, 10 minutes each way from our campus): The road to Hurricane Ridge climbs up to almost 5,000 feet to the Visitor’s Center, providing amazing vistas into the mountainous interior of the Park. As students hike along the ridge, they can study mountain formation, sub-alpine forest ecology, and see an entire watershed from above.
Tongue Point / Salt Creek: (35 minutes each way from our campus):  When the moon works in our favor, Tongue Point offers outstanding tidepooling options for students.
Feiro Marine Life Center: (35 minutes each way from our campus):  If Tongue Point doesn’t pan out, the Feiro hosts public exhibits representative of the marine life inhabiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Dungeness Spit: (1 hour each way from our campus):  At 4 ½ miles long, Dungeness Spit is the world’s longest natural sand spit. As students hike a portion of the spit, they learn about the process of spit formation, watch for migrating birds, and look out on the Strait of Juan de Fuca for marine life.
Hoh Rain Forest: (2 hours each way from our campus):  While it’s a long haul out to the Hoh Rain Forest, this area is stunning and fascinating. The biomass per square acre in the dense Rain Forests of the Olympics is the highest density of life anywhere on the Earth with as much as 500 tons per acre.
Neah Bay and Cape Flattery: (2 hours each way from our campus):  This destination is another long trip from campus, but gives students an excellent experience in understanding the native cultural history of the region. A trip to Neah Bay includes a visit to the Makah Cultural Museum and Cape Flattery, the most northwest point in the lower 48 states.
Sol Duc Valley:(45 minutes each way from our campus):  The Sol Duc Valley is relatively close to our campus and offers students the experience of witnessing powerful Sol Duc falls, watching local salmon spawn (in season), hunting for diverse mushrooms (late fall), or doing an intense hike up to mountain lakes (six miles round trip).
Elwha Valley: (45 minutes each way from our campus): The Elwha Valley offers longer hikes with less elevation change in the beautiful forests of Olympic National Park. The valley features abandoned homesteads and intense rapids at locations like Goblin’s Gate. The Elwha Valley is also home to two dams, which are in the process of being removed. This removal will create large changes to the system and will be very interesting to witness and study in the coming years. Groups involved in the Elwha Science Education Project will visit numerous sites in the Elwha Valley. Sites can include: Krause Bottom/Goblin’s Gate, both dam sites, the state fish hatchery, and the river mouth.
Washington Coast (1-2 hours each way from our campus):  There are a variety of coastal shores that we can access from campus. Some such as Rialto allow for immediate access to the beach to maximize time on the coast. Others, such as the Ozette Trail Loop, are longer hikes that take students though the coastal forest and give great opportunities to learn about forest succession. Based on the specific beach we visit, curriculum can include information on wetlands, bogs, as well general marine geology and ecology.

Campus Adventures

• Storm King hike: A strenuous four-mile round trip hike that provides team building and personal growth opportunities as well as a stunning backdrop for our forest classroom.
• Canoeing: Lake Crescent is a beautiful place to canoe.  We have two large Salish-style canoes that can each accommodate an entire instruction group. These canoes are incredibly stable, make excellent on-the-water classrooms, and provide opportunities for group challenges.

Teaching Tools

Help prepare your students for their visit.

• Vocabulary List
• Reference Books and Web Resources

Next steps: Are you looking for documents to prepare your students and parents for the experience? Download registration forms and more in "Information for Students & Families."

Thank you for volunteering to be a chaperone!  Your positive attitude and willingness to participate during the instructional day is of great importance to both students and NatureBridge staff.  

• Chaperone Agreement: This gives you an overview of adult chaperone responsibilities. A signed copy must be returned to your lead teacher in advance of your arrival in Olympic National Park. Students must sign a Student Contract.
• Who's Who? Adult Roles & Responsibilities: This is an overview of each adult's role before and during your program.
• Participant Registration Form: All students and adults must complete and sign this form to participate in our programs. (Spanish Version)
• Clothing and Equipment List:  We provide a packing list to help your student prepare for the trip.
• Maps of Campus & Surrounding Area
• Weather Forecast: Get the latest data from the weather station located on our dock!
• Thank You! Thank you so much for volunteering to be a chaperone with your school’s program at NatureBridge in Olympic National Park!  Please fill out our evaluation form to provide useful feedback for future programs. To show our appreciation for your contribution to this program's success, we offer chaperones a 25% discount for our family programs. Contact Sales and Marketing Director Gillian Hagamen or call 206-382-6212 ext 13 to get your chaperone discount code.