Day 3 of Mount Cardigan

By day 3, quote a few people were done with the hiking part, but still wanted to stay at the lodge with their delicious hot coco and food. Once everyone actually got up in our cabin, we all packed up our stuff (with the help of Mom councilors), got dressed, and with all our hiking materials, went down stairs for breakfast. After our french toast stick breakfast, our hiking group met up by the pond. It was a brisk morning, so everyone was wearing layers. Our poor AMC guide tried to warm us up for our mini hike, but everyone seemed wiped out. After that, Mr.Woolner came by and decided that he would be the other chaperone, and with that, we were off!

We went on the nature trail that would lead to a stream that we would eventually spend a longer time looking for stuff than hiking. Our first stop as a group was a sketch/Eat this! stop. There, we found these two greens called Wintergreen and Goldenthread. As we sketched, we tried these leaves. My favorite was the Wintergreen because it tasted like altoids or spearmint gum, it was pretty tasty until it lost its taste and then it was like you were eating grass. Goldenthread on the other hand tasted like nothing until you chewed that for a while, and then it had the same grass taste as Wintergreen. When everyone was ready, we headed forth, seeing different plakes with names of plants behind it such as the Indian Pipe. Unfortunately, it was dead, but it was still cool to see. We walked some more, asked a few questions about the nature around us until we stopped to sketch and see. An American Beech tree stood with cracked bark, fungi, and some open areas that lead into the trees. This was called American Beech Tree Disease. We finished drawing the American Beech tree and its leaves, we continued. We hiked, stopped, and talked. For one of our breaks, Mr.Woolner told us the story of Hemlock trees. After his story, we packed up, walked down the hill, through some brush, and there was the stream, our final destination.

Josh (our AMC guide) gave little nets with handles and told us to go an explore and catch things. He had a long but wide plastic bucket thing that he filled with river water so that when we caught something, we could put it in there. This is where the main human environment interaction really came into place. We went through the river, searching for different creatures to find. People found animalia like water bugs, newts, and other extremely strange creatures. I myself was feeling quite left out because I had not found anything, until I did. A creepy crawly stone fly larva. I yelled for help to catch this thing because honestly, I am a wimp. A member of our group caught it and put it in the bucket. Eventually, we got called over to look at the creatures we had found and with Josh's dichotomous key, we figured out a few of the bugs we each had caught. We broke for lunch but also let the creatures go. Mr.Woolner took pictures, people ate and sketched, and like that, it was time to leave. We were all so fascinated that we honestly did not want to leave, but if we did not, then we would be late for the bus! We ventured back, took one last sketch (this time of the lodge), hauled our stuff on Mr.W's trailer, and piled on the bus. We waved good bye to our guides, the hut, and the mountain. Goodbye Cardigan Mountain, we will come back soon!