Day Two - A Pinnacle Peak
by Addie L.
Sept. 30 - Oct. 2
by Addie L.
Green Group D1B3
We woke up on Thursday to a mountain sunrise, got ready for hiking, and went downstairs for breakfast (which was eggs and muffins). Our ORT goal was met, and soon the groups met with their hiking bags on the bottom floor. Boots on, shoelaces tied, my group (plus Robin, Miss Cairns, Miss Lonsdale and a teacher from the high school) headed outside to a brisk morning, ready to hike Cardigan Mountain. We gathered in a small circle, and chose who would carry the GPS units, the map, and who would be the sweeper, at the back. Once these small tasks were settled, we set off on our hike, which started at about 1450 ft in elevation, in the hardwood forest zone. The first part of the hike was flat, and after a short while Robin gave us cards with pictures of vegetation on them, and our job was to identify a physical species and read information off the back of the card, while the other kids sketched (mine was Artist's Conk, a polypore fungus, which I found further up the mountain). We frequently stopped and sketched, one time a whole landscape at the Croo Bridge spanning Bailey Brook, but finally the trail began to get steeper and more rocky. A little while after that, the trees started to look shorter and more coniferous, and birch trees grew in abundance. Robin pointed out the height and species of trees, and it soon became apparent - we had entered the boreal zone. We stopped and ate lunch, and then continued on the trail, which continued to wind and plateau, wind and steepen (and so on) until we burst out of the trees onto a steep rock face. This was the false alpine zone. Cardigan and Firescrew Mountains experienced a fire years ago, which killed the plants connected to the roots that held the soil in place, and eventually the soil on the tops of the mountains dissipated. We scrambled up the slope, our destination the fire tower. When we reached it, we were greeted with a view and a stiff wind. Robin warned us that we would soon be cold, and, in time, we realized she was very right. Perched up on one of the bars of the fire tower, the wind was nearly icy on my face in comparision to the conditions below treeline. After we sketched the view and took the latitude and longitude: N 43 degrees 38 minutes 58.8 seconds, W 71 degrees 54 minutes 50.9 seconds. Then we got our stuff together and hiked back down, stopping a few times for water breaks, a plot study and a game about trees and resources. We had dinner, again beat our ORT goal, and, again, headed outside in the dark. The campfire was going, and everyone was bundled up due to the cold. We gave short infomercial skits, listened for owls, and, when we went back inside, got a another story from Mr. Woolner about wildlife, and discussed the packing-up procedure for the next day. Then we went upstairs, started packing, and went to bed.
The geography theme for the the day is: Region. We hiked through three - hardwood, boreal, and false alpine.
