Young hikers build interactive art exhibit to educate about trails

Together, hikers have a lot of power to make trails better for everyone who likes to get outside. One group of hikers has gotten an early start on caring for trails.

The Intelligent Mavericks, a group of six students, from fourth through seventh grade, have been working on a project to promote responsible hiking and encourage volunteering at Badger Mountain in the Tri-Cities.

The Intelligent Mavericks showed off their display and talk to members of the community at the REI in Kennewick. Photo by Nick Cramer.

The Intelligent Mavericks are working together as part of the FIRST Lego League program, which encourages kids to learn about science, technology, engineering and math with hands-on projects. The Mavericks have done so well with their work this year — they placed at the top out of 80 teams in Eastern Washington — that they are soon heading to the FIRST Championship in Houston, Texas. While there, they will present a hiking-related project and demonstrate their skills with robotics.

• Intelligent Mavericks team members
• Lucy Cramer, seventh grade
• Aditri Prasad, seventh grade
• Samviti Prasad, seventh grade
• Bianca Zink, sixth grade
• Emily Krahenbuhl, sixth grade
• Isaac Cramer, fourth grade
• Coaches: Nick and Carolyn Cramer

Part of this year’s challenge, Communicating your Hobby through Art + Technology, asked the students to choose a hobby, and then look for a problem related to that hobby.

“Hiking is something we all enjoy and we want everyone to be able to enjoy,” said Lucy Cramer, a member of the team.

With that in mind, The Mavericks decided to focus their efforts on hiking, and so they reached out to Friends of Badger Mountain, which works on preserving public lands and maintaining popular hiking trails in their community. They also spoke with Owen Lieser, a WTA blue hat in Kitsap County and the Olympic Peninsula, to understand his journey as a trail work volunteer. Team members used the WTA website to research data and maps about the hiking trails in their area.

• An on-trail treat
• The Mavericks also connected with Jim Langdon, long-time WTA assistant crew leader and Friends of Badger Mountain trailmaster. Jim loves to bring treats for his crews, and the Mavericks helped out by delivering Jim cookies to take out on a work party on the Skyline Trail. Were the treats popular? “There weren’t any left,” Jim said.

They learned about best practices for hiking and that more volunteers were needed to help on trail work in the area. The team created an interactive art exhibit that showcased things hikers might find on a trail on Badger Mountain. It included light-up elements and sounds that hikers would be likely to hear on trail. They spoke with more than 200 people at the REI in Kennewick and at Columbia Basin College. The team members encouraged good hiking behavior and told people about how to get more involved. 

The project featured lights, sounds and images — including a shovel and tools clanging — inspired by Badger Mountain. The team had to work together to design and build it, including the artwork, the electronics and the programming. They even learned how to solder for the electrical elements. The artwork for their lupine took some special care because it was so delicate. They 3-D printed some of the support elements and had to problem solve how to make them sturdy yet able to break down for transport.

The team is excited to head off to Houston for competition next week. When they return, they’ll donate their project to Friends of Badger Mountain.

The Intelligent Mavericks on a group hike at Badger Mountain. Photo courtesy Nick Cramer.