My Amazing Cardigan Trip

Day 2 at Mount Cardigan

Sept 29 2016

By: Chelsea T

Blue Group

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I woke up the second day and the first thing I realized was that I wasn't in by bed at home. Where was I? Oh yeah. Cardigan. I then looked around and saw that it was still dark and everyone else in my room was asleep. Then I realized that today we were hiking Mt. Cardigan. The big hike my older sisters warned me about. That's when I realized the horrible pain in my stomach. I should not have had those tacos and that brownie last night. I tried to fall back asleep but then realized I could not. Eventually the girls in my room started to wake up and I heard other people going down the stairs. We all got up and got ready then went downstairs and had hot chocolate. It realized the lodge was human enviornment interaction because humans built the lodge. We had eggs and bacon for breakfast but I did not eat much because of my stomach ache. We sang the ORT song and then went out to met with our groups. Unfortunately, Toby was not coming because he was sick so Tj, who worked in the kitchen, led our group. We started our long hike, stopping to sketch along the way and take water breaks. A lot of people tripped, including me. We saw Maple trees, Schist rocks and Ash trees. We did some transects of trees then did and activity when Tj put a clothespin somewhere and we had to find it, which was hard because it blended in with it's surroundings.

We got to PJ ledge and ate lunch, which I was happy about because I was starving, my stomach ache obviously long gone. We drew the view then headed up the extremely steep trail. Finally, after it seemed like we would never make it, we reached the top of the summit. I looked down and saw another group and thought they looked like little ants from where we were. We sketched and enjoyed being at the top, then did a transect and of the lichen moss on the top. We saw a baby tree all by it's self up there as well. I for one was feeling very accomplished after getting to the top, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. We saw a helicopter flying over the mountain. In the distance there were windmills, which were human environment interaction. Humans created the windmills to affect the environment. After we were done at the top, we hiked down the mountain. It was so steep we had to slide on our butts. It got really wet at one point and I stuck my hand in mud and Paige got her shoe stuck in some roots, but eventually, we made it down and then started going up Firescrew. I enjoyed this part of the hike, it was not as hard and it was not too cold. We stopped and did a transect and discovered Caribou lichen. Then we spotted a Merlin, which was pretty cool. It was samller and brown and white and it flew away as soon as we spotted it.

After more sketching, we went back down Firescrew. The whole way we saw yellow marks on trees and rocks which was from the AMC lodge people telling us which way to go. That is also and example of human environment interaction. At one point we saw a Glacial erratic rock and stopped to sketch and talk about it, then we saw a giant rock that Mr. Woolner said came from the top of the summit. We kept going until we reached the lodge, all of us happy to be back. We were the very last group there so I did not have time to shower before dinner. I just collapsed on the bed and changed into different clothes. At dinner we had lasagna and ice cream for dessert. We then went outside for a campfire. The campfire was human enviorment interaction because humans made the fire. Fern was playing songs on her ukulele when we got out there, then we all sang Riptide. Andy taught us how to do a duck call, but it was a trick, and then we all had to do a skit with our group. It was supposed to be an infomercial about why Cardigan is a great place. My group did ours on why kids should get outside and go to Cardigan. I thought it was bad, but I guess other people liked it. We watched other skits then Gretchen told us a story about a purple tiger. At the end Fern taught as all a song about a canoe then we went inside and got in our pajamas, then went downstairs to hear another story from Mr. Woolner. He read a book that was made up of small stories written by a relative of his then finally, we all went to bed. I slept very well that night.

We were there on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

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