7th-grade students recently traveled to Kuehn Conservation Area near Earlham to hone their map and compass-reading skills and explore the 1,000 acres of wilderness. Students spent the morning mastering how to read topographic maps while navigating with a compass as well as GPS units and then had the afternoon to work in groups to see how many of Kuehn’s way stations they could find. Through prairie, forest, creeks, hills, and valleys our students covered a lot of ground, and some even made it to a 1,400-year-old Native American burial mound. All right here in Central Iowa, 10 minutes from their school, Kuehn is a hidden gem and open to the public.