Day 1 at Mt. Cardigan in the Wild

Environmental camp was a unique experience. We went up to Mt. Cardigan on Day 1 and we got split into groups. But before we did that, we played Predators. It was a game where you had to try not to be hit by the ball that the predators threw. The instructors then talked to us about the schedule and we finally got assigned our groups. We then met with our groups and moved off to our separate parts of the field. Once we ate lunch, we went over some goals and rules that we would try to fulfill. Soon after that we played a game where you had to blurt out each others names and have quick reflexes. Then we got to go put our bags in our rooms. Now came the fun part! We started the hike to Weldon Falls. As we moved up the trail I saw many squirrels and chipmunks scurrying from tree to tree. Once we stopped sketched, and tasted Indian Cucumber we continued on. Our group improved our skills at observing what is around us by playing the Pencil Game. Josh (our instructor) would place a pencil along the trail and we would have to find it. He awarded points to everyone who found it, which started the rival between Izzy and Mateo. They constantly tried to earn more points so the could get the prize at the end of the session. During the rest of the hike to Weldon Falls we sketched a Christmas Fern and Wood Sorrel.

Once we made it to Weldon Falls we observed the pool of water at the end of the waterfall for a while and watched the reflection of the trees waver. Then we moved back over to the sharp turn at the top of the falls. Two at a time we went into the small cave that overlooked the falls. Once we came out of the cave we had a snack and played Rock, Paper, Scissors, except when we won we would become a taller tree. Then we continued back down to the lodge. Along the rest of the hike we sketched Bearded Tooth, Partridge Berry, and an Inconclusive plant. When we got back to the lodge we picked out a rare plant called a Canadian Mayflower and we decided that we would look for it on our hikes. Then we had free time where we could unpack the rest of our stuff and play outside. During that time I tried to whistle with grass, but I failed. At the end of our free time we had to move to the driveway and we talked about ort. When it came time for dinner we migrated to the dining room. There we had spaghetti & meatballs for dinner and brownies and ice cream for dessert. Once we were all stuffed full we were told to bundle up and meet with our groups outside.

My group started by talking about hearing being important for nocturnal animals, that way when they moved from place to place they would not run into things. They used echolocation. We played Bat and Moth which is a different version of Marco Polo. We then each got a marker a tried to guess what color it was and we wrote what color we thought it was on a piece of paper. While we were laying on the ground, Josh told us to cover one of our eyes while he told a story with his flashlight on. When he finished, he turned off his flashlight and we shut the eye that was open and uncovered the other eye. We switched back and forth like that and discovered that our eye that had been covered could see so much better than the other one! I was astonished at the difference! We then moved closer together and held out our slips of paper with our marker guess on it. Josh turned on his flashlight and we look ed to see how we each did. I gasped when I saw mine! I thought it was pink, but it was really gray! Then, during the rest of our time we layed back and star gazed.

Once we were called inside, we went upstairs to get all ready for bed. Then we went downstairs to the couches and listen to Mr. Woolner read a story about Blackbeard. Soon after, we went upstairs and got in bed. Then, I heard a knock on our door and Mrs. Roberts came in and gave us a piece of candy. Then, I drifted off to sleep. Boy did the hike have a lot of movement!

Day 1 Sketches from Cardigan by CT is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.