Our John Muir Award
Group - 2016E
by
ASHLIGH BOOTH
JAMES STARK
PAUL GALLAGHER
As part of our Venture Scotland ‘Journey’ we completed the John
Muir Award.
What is the John Muir Award?
•
It is an Environmental Award Scheme focussed on Wild Places, helping people
connect with enjoy and care for the outdoors.
•
It is designed to help people appreciate and value nature, urban greenspace and wild
landscapes encouraging awareness understanding and taking responsibility for wild
place.
Who is John Muir?
John Muir was a pioneering, influential Scots – born American conservationist who was
passionate about the wild. He dedicated his life to protecting wild places and he
campaigned successfully for the establishment of National Parks.
“In every walk with nature one receives far
more than he seeks”
John Muir
“Trees going baldy gives amazing views”
Ashligh
To complete the Award, we had to meet 4 Challenges, Discover,
Explore, Conserve and Share.
The following pages share how and where we completed these challenges with some
accompanying photographs we took along our ‘Journey’.
Discover – Where / what are your wild places?
•
National Parks - Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.
This is a photo
overlooking Loch
Lomond from a
walk we did from
Rowardennan along
the West Highland
Way.
•
Country Parks - Rouken Glen and Mugdock Country park
We spent time in a number of parks in and around Glasgow which showed us how
you don’t have to travel too far to escape from city life.
•
Water – Forth and Clyde Canal, Loch lomond (inland Loch), Loch Fyne and Loch Long
(Sea Loch), Clachan of Campsie Gorge.
•
Mountains and Hills - Ben A-an (LL&TNP), Meikle Binn, Artgarten Peninsula, Glen
Coe and Glen Etive.
This is a photo of
the view from
the top of the
Larig Gartain
looking down the
valley towards
the Kinlochetive
Bothy.
•
Bothies - Stanhope and Kinlochetive (Closed), Mark’s Bothy (Open)
This is a photo of
Stanhope Bothy
which is unlike
Marks Bothy
which was a
closed Bothy.
•
Long Distance Footpaths - West Highland Way, John Muir Way.
•
Community Gardens - Easterhouse
Explore – How will you get to know your wild place
•
Experiencing nature in different seasons therefore observing life cycles, biodiversity,
different and changing colours.
•
Leant about tree types using tree id cards
This photo shows a
strange moss, that
looks very similar to a
mop. This was taken
on the walk to Marks
Bothy.
•
Map reading, camp craft skills which provided the confidence and skills to explore
the outdoors by ourselves.
This photo
shows Tristan
teaching us
some map
reading skills.
•
Canoeing, walking, gorge walking, rock climbing, weasling through the outdoors.
•
Observing wildlife - fox holes, cubs, robins – accompanied us on many trip, birds of
prey
•
Contrast urban v nature, Faslane amongst the
hills, climbing walls and real rock.
•
Star gazing at the bothy – seeing shooting stars,
Orions Belt, satelites, milky way.
•
Contrasting city night skies with areas less
affected by city light.
•
Geology and different rock formations.
•
Art and Creative games. Ephemeral Art, Sculptures, Artists Pallet.
This photo was taken of a bridge over a waterfall at Rouken Glen.
There was an interesting contrast between the natural colours and the
colours of the padlocks, some rusting over time.
This picture is of a rock that we found on route to Marks Bothy, it
resembles a tree trunk sawn in half due to its lines and colours.
Conserve – How will you care for your wild place(s), take
some responsibility, make a difference, put something back.
•
Leave no trace ethos throughout programme. Clean up better than you found it
Photos of litter in wild places to influence behaviour of others – demonstrating good
practice as example for others.
•
Community garden helping local community.
This photo show us
working in a
community garden
in Easterhouse
Share – How will you let others know about your
achievements?
•
Daily reviews. We undertook daily reviews, these provided us with an opportunity
to share our thoughts about the day and to receive and offer feedback to each
other.
What we have enjoyed about spending time in the
outdoors.
•
It is calming, relaxing, quiet and peaceful.
This photo shows a view over Loch Lomond from the West Highland Way.
•
It gets you out of the house, gives you fresh air, gets you away from certain people.
Pace and time slows down and it gives you feelings of freedom
•
Having new experiences and learning new skills i.e. how to do thing for yourself,
map reading, providing the confidence to go out by yourself.
•
Taking responsibility by picking up rubbish and making a wild area better for others.
•
Its friendly, lots of smiles, people talk to you due to shared interest of being in the
outdoors.
•
It is good learning about the place you are experiencing through the sound of the
wind in the trees, the waterfalls, streams, rapids.
What I enjoyed about the award?
Paul “I enjoyed the John Muir Award because it felt exhilarating and having places close to
home makes it easy to travel. Meeting new people. You also learn new life skills such as map
reading, communication, teamwork and trust.”
Ashligh “Finding new wild places outdoor places to visit and find out about different places you can
get to easily by yourself as Glasgow has lots of wilderness on its doorstep”
James “Getting away from the City and spending time outdoors, in fresh air in new and different
environments that I am used to”
What places did I enjoy?
Paul “I enjoyed ben ann because the views at the top are breath taking. I also enjoyed glen
Etive because I feel like there’s nothing to worry about and it makes you feel free”
Ashligh “Loch Lomond because off the great views and marks bothy due to wild camping outside”
James “Campsie glen as it was quite challenging and adventurous. I liked the views of the
waterfalls.”
Why is it important to protect the outdoors?
Paul “It is important to protect the outdoors because mankind owes the natural world a
moral obligation” I think this means that due to people over thousands of years disrupting
the environment by fires, pollution, building in the countryside and litter we need to
protect the outdoors so that generations after us can benefit from being in nature.
Ashleigh “So that animals are safe and nature thrives”
James “It is important to look after these environments so that others can benefit from spending
time amongst the hills and lochs.”
“Keep close to Natures heart and break clear away once in a while,
and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods, wash your
spirit clean.”
John Muir