Mt. Cardigan Trip: Day 2

September 29, 2016

by, Ethan M.

red group (d2b4)

On Day 2, we were all pretty tired I think when we woke up. It took a while for everybody in our bunk room to get down stairs. We started to pack our bags and go down stairs and went into the cafeteria, and waited for about 20 minutes while the food was being made. There was always the need for the rocking chairs because EVERYBODY wanted them. After a couple minutes of talking, the food was ready and we all sat down at the tables to the smell of bacon and eggs. Our table loved bacon the most so we went around gathering bacon from other tables and making sure we had no ort. After about 3 tables worth of bacon, we were done. When breakfast was over, we got on our hiking packs and split into our groups. Our group decided to start going up Firescrew first. There were a couple man made steps, there were some blazes but that was about it for the human environment interaction on the way up. Overall we sketched about 6 times on the way up. Finally we made it to the top of Firescrew and Steven noticed a helicopter. We started to wave at it and did the honk sign and the helicopter came and flew right over us! You could feel the wind from it and it was awesome. After that, it swooped back around and landed no more than 50 feet from us! And this is on top of a mountain! Nobody came out at that point, it just waited there and then flew off a little farther down the mountain and landed again. A guy came out for a minute then he got back in and the helicopter flew off. We had eaten lunch and started hiking into the saddle between Firescrew and Cardigan. The saddle wasn't very interesting other than the fact that there was a pee break and we passed a hiker. When we started back up the other end of the saddle, we noticed another one of our hiking groups on top of Firescrew. Our group started waving and they started waving back at us. Then we continued up to the top and we saw another group on top of Cardigan. It was Ryan's groups so we got to hang out for a few minutes which was pretty cool. Then I saw the fire tower on top of Cardigan, and I got to go in it! I was only allowed up the first flight of stairs, so I couldn't go into the cabin. It was another piece that humans had built. Then next to the fire tower was a tiny metal circle that I believe was a memorial of some sort. After a couple minutes on top of Cardigan, we started back down another trail. This one was really steep with a bare rock face so it was incredibly fun to go down. Then we got to an intersection and at the intersection was the fire warden's cabin. This was another piece of human environment interaction. Our group stopped there for a couple minutes, then proceeded down another trail. This was a ski trail so it was steep and really fun. Of course there was no snow here. I (literally) bounced down this part and it was amazing. When we got to the bottom we continued along another trail until we got to a stream. I found a salamander and he was really cute and slimy so after about a minute, I put him back in. We continued along the trail until we got back to the lodge. My friends and I played some 500 before dinner. Dinner was going to be lasagna and it was in fact delicious.After dinner I showered, got into some pajamas and then went back downstairs where everybody was waiting for the story from Mr. Woolner. The stories were good and then we went back up to our rooms. Ryan and I talked and laughed for like 4 hours and then we went to bed.