City of Rocks National Preserve – Idaho

City of Rocks National Reserve
Idaho

https://www.nps.gov/ciro/index.htm

Junior Ranger – Senior Friendly

Completed: April 14, 2020

After six visits from 1998 through October 2019 to City of Rocks National Preserve, I finally finished their Junior Ranger booklet in April 2020, while staying home during the covid-19 pandemic. While organizing my junior ranger files I found the almost completed booklet. Luckily anything I needed to do while onsite I had completed, I just needed to finalize a few pages.

This park site is in the southern section of Idaho and is managed in conjunction with Idaho State Parks and Recreation. On previous visits we have camped within the preserve at NPS campgrounds and state park campgrounds. The beauty of this park can be experienced by camping or just on a day trip. I love the rocks; the variety of shapes, composition and groupings. The Native American history, as well as the California Trail route adds to the visit.

The program is considered Senior Friendly as the booklet is designed for ages 10 & up. There are thirteen activities, and seven are to be completed to earn the Junior Ranger badge. I completed ten activities, and partially did a couple of others. There is a nice mix between geology, natural features, history, map skills and art activities.

Rocky Scavenger Hunt provided excellent background on nine different geologic properties found in the preserve and an activity to match pictures to the terms. Matching animal characteristics, as well as animal tracts were done in the Who Am I? and Name that Track activity. The Map Search page made me realize there is more for me explore on my next trip to City of Rocks Preserve.

After contacting the staff by email I was told to take photos of my completed pages and email them to a designated ranger. I received positive feedback about my work and within a week I received their attractive wooden, enhanced badge.

Minidoka National Historic Site – Idaho

Minidoka National Historic Site
Idaho

http://www.nps.gov/miin/index.htm

Completed: June 13,2018

This stop along our route was a re-visit to this site. It was good to see that there is now a visitor center, interpretive signs, ballpark and other buildings in progress of being restored. The ranger on duty was a wealth of information, providing excellent information about this historic site. I always find it difficult to visit the sites within the National Park Service which interpret dark times in our history, but I appreciate the honesty which the information is presented. The site is small and the Junior Ranger booklet can be completed easily during a short visit.

The program is not Senior Friendly as the oldest age listed is 12, however the ranger on duty readily provided the booklet to this Senior. Of the 11 activities in the booklet, 6 are to be completed by these 6-9 years old and 8 of the activities by those 10-12 years old.

The eleven activities are;
Minidoka Word Search – 15 words related to this site.
What Would You Take? – with only five days notice and just able to bring suitcases this activity had you list what you would bring, how much could you fit in one suitcase and what you would have to leave behind. This was difficult and eye-opening.
Connect the Centers – Matching the 10 Relocation Centers with the states scattered in 7 Western states,
Minidoka Journal – writing about a day of life in the camp. I wrote about the heat and wind and a brother playing baseball.
Haiku – Bright blue skies
Thinking of grey skies
And going home soon
Fill-in-the-Blank – 7 words are given to complete sentences which provide background about relocation camps.
Finding Your Way Home – a quick maze based on when the Japanese-Americans began returning home in 1945.
Color By Number – coloring the logo for this site, the entry gate.
Ask A Ranger – I learned that most of the internees at Minidoka came from the Pacific NW.
Was It There? – deciding if typical buildings in a city were present at Minidoka; such as post office, library, gas station, schools, theatre, and churches were present.
Cryptogram – using a key, words are decoded that describe where the internees cane from, where they were assigned and other details related to this time in history.

Prior to leaving the site the ranger presented me with the enhanced wooden Junior Ranger badge. This site is near other park sites, as well as Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge which is well worth a visit while in the area.