“Put your right foot in, take your right foot out…” Peggy Hanna photographed these wood ducks in Morris, Illinois. Their quirky stance made it look like the pair is doing the hokey pokey. 2011 National Wildlife Photo Contest entry.

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Ranger Rick sends some hikers on their way at the Chicago Hike & Seek.

Friday, October 1, couldn’t have been any nicer. The weather was picture perfect and Chicago seemed to be enjoying the beginning of a beautiful fall weekend.

After receiving the much-anticipated Chicago Parks permit via fax at my hotel, we drove over to Lincoln Park to begin the set up of Hike & Seek. I’ve been waiting months for this day to come! Tents went up, the generator was working, tables, chairs delivered and a sound system. All that was left to do was wake up Saturday morning to receive all the families arriving from all over the Chicago area and provide a life-changing experience in nature for the kids! Even Ranger Rick was coming!

The first thing I did when I woke up at 4 a.m. (typical for event day) was look out the window to check out the weather. It wasn’t good. I could see driving rain in the street lights.

No worries, it’ll blow over by start time at 9 a.m., I thought to myself. The kids will be alright. Well, we got to Lincoln Park and the wind coming off that lake, not to mention the waves, was overwhelming! So I relieved the security guard, checked over the tents and saw that the registration tent was not looking good and listing starboard. One of the stakes had come loose from the wet, muddy ground. The wind was whipping around so furiously that I had to call for help from the rental crew and get them out there ASAP to fix it. I didn’t want to chance the entire tent coming down around not only the volunteers, but the participants (I was still optimistic that the weather would clear up at this point).

The first to arrive was Elliott from REI, in foul-weather gear, riding a bicycle hauling all his tents and equipment in a cart behind him. This gave me hope and I wanted his coat. Then my cousin, Laura, arrived with coffee and she was a welcome sight. More volunteers began trickling in around 7:30 and we got registration and the children’s activities set up just in case we were able to pull this off notwithstanding the squalls coming in off Lake Michigan! 8:00 rolled by, 8:30, 8:45, and still no families of hikers. The start time was 9:00 and I looked at my watch every minute at that point.

It was now 8:50 and I thought I could see in the distance a family, yes, a family! These hearty souls were headed our way, complete with a little one in a stroller. I could have hugged them. Registration was ready to greet them with their Map & Mission Guidebooks, Bob the Owl was waiting to show off his stuff, staff from Aveda painted their faces, and we could officially announce to the waiting volunteers on the trail at the Stop & Study Stations we had a hike going on and a family was on the way. Ranger Rick was ready and in place at the start of the trail and off they went.

Before I knew it, families were trickling in over the next hour or so and they certainly were decked out for the weather and a morning full of adventure. I should have never doubted the Chicagoans and never will again…they made Ranger Rick so very happy. Not to mention they were part of an exciting new event for National Wildlife Federation!

For more photos, check out the Hike & Seek Flickr Group >>

Sign up for our Seattle Hike & Seek October 16

We’ll be in Seattle’s Seward Park on October 16th at 9 a.m. for more outdoor fun.

Register today! >>

Will the last one out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce please shut off the lights?

Last week, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and New Mexico-based PNM Resources Inc. pulled out of the chanber, citing its climate obstruction. Today, the largest nuclear power operator in the United States joined them:

Exelon CEO John Rowe told a Chicago conference today sponsored by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy about his company’s decision and urged industry officials and regulators to push for legislation that will put a price on carbon.

“Inaction on climate is not an option,” Rowe said, according to excerpts provided by Exelon. “If Congress does not act, the EPA will, and the result will be more arbitrary, more expensive, and more uncertain for investors and the industry than a reasonable, market-based legislative solution.”

In addition, Nike has criticized the Chamber’s climate stonewalling while refusing to comment directly on its future with the Chamber.

And it’s not just the Chamber suffering a mass exodus. So far this month, Duke Energy, Alcoa and Alstom have all pulled out of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a leading obstructionist group.

From business leaders to sportsmen to the NAACP, an incredibly diverse coalition is coming together to call for action on clean energy & climate change. Will the U.S. Senate listen? We’ll find out starting Wednesday.

In addition, it lays out a detailed road map of supporting policies and regional partnerships to achieve the following, amongst other things:

• 25 by 25 in renewable energy and fuels (25% by 2025).
• 2% energy from efficiency by 2015 and 2% per year thereafter.
• Carbon pipeline sited and permitted and carbon storage regs by 2012, all new coal plants to capture and store CO2 by 2020.

Six governors (from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas) and the premier of Manitoba signed the accord. The governors from Ohio, Indiana and South Dakota signed on as observers. There was a strong bipartisan message, and a strong message particularly from Iowa Gov. Chet Culver about how important it was for Presidential candidates to address this issue.