Day One:

The Beginning

September 27, 2015

by Piya B

This is my sketch of an Eastern Hemlock tree. One of the games we played on the trail involved blindfolding a partner, and leading them to a tree. Then we would spin them around, take their blindfold off, and they would have to find their tree. My buddy, Lilia, led me to this one above.

Day One: Movement

The first day at Cardigan mountain started off in the early morning, in which I got up, drove to the Middle-High school, and got on the bus. The ride was long and boring and involved quite a lot of singing, traveling north through a few rural New Hampshire towns, starting, of course, in Hopkinton, and eventually arriving at the Mount Cardigan AMC lodge. After a brief greeting and a few games, we were sorted into groups. Mine set off on a nature walk around Cardigan State Forest. We saw many cool and unusual things; for example, we explored the basement of a house from hundreds of years before. Other than the rock foundation, the house was completely gone. It was really cool to think that someone actually lived there there at one point in history, and how things changed and people moved on. We also looked for and classified different plants. There were several plants that, although they are now common (invasive, actually) in this part of New Hampshire, had originated in other parts of the world. From scotch pines to Japanese knotweed, these plants showed the movement of people throughout the world , and how, whether it be by intention or by accident, they brought bits of their culture and environment with them. When we got back to the lodge, we had free time. After a bit of soccer, we had to go in for dinner, and then bed. It was, overall, a great day, and I witnessed quite a bit of proof of human movement throughout the world.

This is a pic that was taken when we first arrived at the Cardigan AMC Lodge. We had to wait in the yard for a while (to go inside and unpack our bags), so we played a bunch of games, including thumb-wars.

These are my sketches of a striped maple leaf, an evergreen branch, a sugar maple leaf, and a type of grass that was growing on the bank of a pond. I drew them all while playing a game that involved using a compass to find specific things/places.

This is my sketch of the Cardigan AMC Lodge. The girls stayed on the third floor, and the boys stayed on the fourth. Because the lodge is built into a hill, my picture only shows the top three floors. The building is painted pale blue and, combined with the bright fall foliage, created a beautiful scene.

My first night at Cardigan was the lunar eclipse. Everyone went outside and watched as the Earths shadow slowly passed in front of the moon, casting a dark red shadow.