Day 3 at the Mountains
September 28-30
By: Naomi R.
Yellow Group D2B3
On day 3, I was woken up bright and early to the sound of Vincent throwing his giant suitcase down the stairs. I am not sure why he thought this was a good idea. This morning is not quite as relaxed as the last, we have to get changed right away, clean up the bunk room, and pack our bags. This is a dreaded thought, but necessary considering the midnight snack we had last night left a horrendous mess. After cleaning up (mostly) we packed our clothes and other junk we had brought, we changed into hiking clothes and lugged our bags to the trailer, which was waiting for us outside. Next we eat breakfast which is the AMAZING french toast and some strange watery eggs. But it was ok.
After our breakfast and packing bagged lunches (which I once again assemble in four different bags) we separate into our hiking group. After some brief stichting, we get to hiking. Except after walking a while, we end up in a small clearing in the woods, and our leader takes out compasses. We learn how to use compa sses, which is very confusing, and after we learn we test our skills by locating trees based off of compass readings. At the end of the game (Which was called Mystery Trees) we go up a steep hill covered in ferns and at the top is a ski lift. This can be considered a region of ferns. It has big, rusty wheels and even some rubber strapping still left over from a very long time ago. We learned that the lift was powered by a car engine and the car that the engine once belonged to, and it was all busted up and rusty. It was so cool.
After the ski hill, we get to some actual hiking, and we didn't go very far. We stopped at the pond and did a pond study. This is an example of region, because the pond is a region. The pond region. We got nets and had some time to go snooping around the pond for little creatures. I found a little jelly blob that turned out to be a egg and a really cute frog. But I didn't catch the frog. Just looked at it. Anyway after about 30 minutes we gather round and look at our findings. We look at some charts and identify each creature, then mark a waypoint and sketch one of the creatures we found. I chose the predacious diving beetle and draw it. It is a tiny black bug, very cute.
Now we get some really hiking, wandering through the woods. The hiking is tiring and intense, but not as tiring as the previous day. I took a nice slip on a damp rock and hurt my behind. At the end of the hike we have a solo walk, which is where we walk on a trail in the woods alone. This can be called the woods region, because it is the region where there are woods. Well, we each follow each other down the trail in 5 minute intervals. The trail is very pretty and there are little instruction card laid down. They are mostly things you think about, but one was to pick up a handful of leaves and smell it. Another card, which was my favorite, was to laugh out loud and see if anyone laughs back, and someone did. When the next person came and laughed out loud, I hid behind a tree and giggled.
After this it is time to go. The trailer is hooked up to one the cars of a volunteering parent and all the kids load up onto the bus. We say our goodbyes, screaming through the bus windows and also pounding on the windows. One of the counselors, Andy, who swore he would never Dab, actually dabbed because all of kids wanted him to. We all screamed and cheered at this. Eventually the bus pulled away and we left the AMC lodge and got back to the school. The bus ride was not unbearable much like the ride there.
