What a perfect day! Those smiles and excitement in the photo above were almost a constant during this Seattle ICO outing up to Snoqualmie Pass with a group of students from Washington Middle School (WMS) to go snowshoeing and sledding.The weather was absolutely perfect with just a little bit of fresh snow to help make it a proper snowshoe experience. We were lucky to also have a former WMS student join us for this trip as a member of our EYES (Educating Youth in Environmental Settings) team. It's an incredible program we've put together to train former ICO students to help lead trips with us. It provides them with a wonderful educational experience, a chance to give back and some awesome outdoor experiences. Speaking of awesome outdoor experiences, today was no exception for all of the students. We started today snowshoeing and I think only one of our students had been before so seeing them strap them on and trying something new was really fun to witness. That to me is my favorite part of these trips and why I love volunteering with Seattle ICO. 

We had a beautiful hike up the mountain to have lunch with an amazing view of Snoqualmie Pass. 

We also took some time at lunch to explain Leave No Trace, a set of outdoor ethics promoting conservation. It consists of seven principles that help minimize our impact on the environment when we are enjoying wilderness areas. Once the students were done with lunch we strapped the snowshoes back on and headed down the mountain for part 2 of our adventure. Celebration photo below!

Part 2 of our adventure was sledding and just like our hike, the smile level was out of control! So many "whoos", "yeahs" and giggles flying down that hill... I'm going to let these photos do the rest of the talking.

We ended the day with hot chocolate and then returned to WMS, you know it was a successful trip when everyone is sleeping on the way home.

For more photos check out Seattle ICO's Facebook.

Cheers,

Jonathan