Day 1: Dawn of the Bear Hunters

September 27, 2015

By Cate W.

Evergreen:
This was the tree we found for our first activity. This is a sketch of an Eastern Hemlock. An Eastern Hemlock is not a deciduous tree, it is coniferous. On this particular tree, there was lots of lichen and bare spots. The coordinates for the tree are N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 48 seconds, W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 42.1 seconds.
Grass:
We found a patch of grass that looked like this by the lake near the lodge. The grass had many toothed leaves on in an alternating pattern up the stem. At the top there was a cluster of small purple flowers. This was at N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 57.9 seconds, W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 42.2 seconds.

Striped Maple:
A striped maple can be identified by the pattern of it's bark, striped. An interesting fact is that the bark can actually be eaten by moose in the winter. For latitude and longitude our striped maple was located N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 58 seconds, W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 42.4 seconds.
The Lodge:
See home page for description of the AMC lodge. Location: N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 59.6 seconds W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 41.9 seconds

My Tree:
When we played games in the woods this was the tree I was led too.I think my tree was an Eastern Hemlock. The branches started very high up though, so I could not see the needles very well. The latitude and longitude of my tree was: N 43 degrees, 39 minutes and 6.9 seconds
Maple:
The second clue of our scavenger hunt lead us to a group of plants. Out these I decided to sketch the leave of a maple. The maple was obviously a deciduous tree because it was beginning to lose its green color. The latitude and longitude is N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 58.9 seconds, W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 41.6 seconds.

On the morning of Sunday the 27th it was cold, misty, and the ground was damp. I remember standing there, next the trailer full of bags, waiting for my friends to come. Finally at around 8:30, session one loaded onto the bus. The ride was long and intolerable. All the while we were excited to get off the bus. Our destination was Cardigan Lodge.

In Alexandria NH, the sun was high in the sky. But because the ground was damp, I knew that really, the AMC lodge had been in the same situation that Hopkinton probably last night. After getting of the bus, our session laid down our stuff and went into a field next to the lodge. In the field we played games that were run by the AMC staff. Before we did this, we ate a snack. The games were simple little things. In the first one there were two teams. One of the teams would throw a shoe, while the other team had to retrieve the shoe. While the other team got the shoe, the groups would circle up while one of the members ran around the circle. The team with shoe had to get in a single file line where they would pass it under then over to the end of the line. Anyway, after the games we ate lunch. Lunch took maybe 15-20 minutes before we were rounded up again. This was when we were told what group we were going to be in for the rest of the trip. I was in Robin's group. We ended up naming ourselves the Flaming Meerkats. Some people had to change into gear, but after that we were off on a nature hike.

On the nature hike we learned all about the trees and animals around us. We took the trail that lead to Welton Falls. For the nature hike a few people were given jobs. Somebody had to hold the map. This person would be our leader. Another person held Wally. Wally was a cartoon water drop. It was their job to tell everyone when to drink water. The last official job was the LNT (Leave No Trace) ninja. Two people had to hold GPSs. A few people were also self elected bear killers. They kept pointed hiking sticks that they claimed they could fight a bear with. Three of the games we played on our hike were very fun. For the first one we had to look over the scenery in from of us and find the clothes pin. After we found the clothes pin, we would then put our finger on our nose. One of the other games we played was when we each put a card on our forehead that we could not see. We had to guess what it was by asking a series of questions. At the turn around point of our hike we were at a river. In the river there were many large boulders. The water in the river was very cold but we stuck our hands around in it see what we could find. We found nothing.

When we got back to the lodge it was time to move our bags into our room. I was in the room labeled Spring Peeper (which is a type of frog). This little bit of time was for us to settle down and take showers during. After we were done unpacking, we told the other groups what we had done. This is the exchanging of information, or movement of information. Before dinner, Robin told us about something they did at Cardigan. At Cardigan they practice having not remaining food on their plate. They called it ORT. ORT stands for Our Remaining Tidbits. After eating a very good dinner (spaghetti and meatballs), they gave a few announcements. The ORT report song was among them. The next step of the evening was bundling up for the night adventure. We went outside to test all of the senses that were not seeing. My group all got blindfolded. We each were put in a single file line holding onto a rope. Our guide then lead us down a path. Some way down the path we stopped and played one last game. The last game we played was about listening. Our group got into a circle and two people were put in the middle. One of the people, the one who was blindfolded, was the bat. The other person, was the moth. The moths job was to not get caught. The moth also had to hold a salt shaker that the had to frequently. The last two things we did on the first night were watch part of the lunar eclipse and listen to Mr. Woolner tell us a story about the pirate Blackbeard.

Throughout the entire grade we moved from place to place. This is an example of people moving from place to place. We also were able to witness a lunar eclipse. This is an example of things moving in relation to other things. Lastly, our session learned and shared thoughts, ideas and examples. This an example of movement of ideas.

We were at Cardigan for three days. Sunday (Day 1) was a nice sunny day. Monday (Day 2) was humid and it rained in the afternoon. On Tuesday (Day 3) had a very very very rainny day.

	Evergreen: This was the tree we found for our first activity. This is a sketch of an Eastern Hemlock. An Eastern Hemlock is not a deciduous tree, it is coniferous. On this particular tree, there was lots of lichen and bare spots. The coordinates for the tree are N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 48 seconds, W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 42.1 seconds.		Grass: We found a patch of grass that looked like this by the lake near the lodge. The grass had many toothed leaves on in an alternating pattern up the stem. At the top there was a cluster of small purple flowers. This was at N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 57.9 seconds, W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 42.2 seconds.
	Striped Maple: A striped maple can be identified by the pattern of it's bark, striped. An interesting fact is that the bark can actually be eaten by moose in the winter. For latitude and longitude our striped maple was located N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 58 seconds, W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 42.4 seconds.		The Lodge: See home page for description of the AMC lodge. Location: N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 59.6 seconds W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 41.9 seconds
	My Tree: When we played games in the woods this was the tree I was led too.I think my tree was an Eastern Hemlock. The branches started very high up though, so I could not see the needles very well. The latitude and longitude of my tree was: N 43 degrees, 39 minutes and 6.9 seconds		Maple: The second clue of our scavenger hunt lead us to a group of plants. Out these I decided to sketch the leave of a maple. The maple was obviously a deciduous tree because it was beginning to lose its green color. The latitude and longitude is N 43 degrees, 38 minutes and 58.9 seconds, W 71 degrees, 52 minutes and 41.6 seconds.