The First Day at Cardigan Mountain

On the 2nd of September 2019, half of the HMHS 7th grade left for AMC Cardigan Lodge. Cardigan Lodge was reached by a school bus with all the students on it. After everyone unpacked and came back downstairs, a big group game was played. Once all the people on the trip knew where they were supposed to be, each hiking group talked about rules, how they would hike, what they would do when hiking, and then every group ate lunch outside, talking about where they were from and what they did at home.

After lunch, the groups left the lodge to go hiking. While Garrett’s groups were hiking, they stopped and looked at old ruins of a house. They also saw partridge berries and wood sorrel,

“Two edible forest plants,” Mr. Woolner told the group.

A while later, the three groups came upon what was proclaimed by Mr. Woolner as an ‘odd phenomenon!!!’ A hemlock tree had grown into 2 maple trees. This tree was made a waypoint, and some other trees were sketched. Then, the group continued on to their destination, the waterfall. In their path was a stream, full of rocks. The stream was easy to cross. At the stream, Mr. Woolner showed everyone a non-native and invasive species of bug that ate the trees.

Further along the trail, another water break was announced, and leaves and a tree were drawn. 1 or 2 miles later, the group reached their destination, Welton Falls. The same little creek that they had to cross was the same one that thundered down a steep drop below, the group noticed. They had moved a long way - from their school all the way to a waterfall on a mountain in North New Hampshire…

As if drawn by an invisible string, the 3 groups hiked back to the lodge, talking about where they had been that day. Then they all helped set up for dinner. After dinner, there was a brief period to get ready for the nighttime activity, a night walk. Taking the same trail as before, the group was led to a spot on the trail where they listened to a story about pirates. After the story, the 3 groups were told to lie in a field and look at the stars. Once the group was back inside after their nighttime escapade, one teacher read from a book, and then sent the entire grade to bed, and everyone happily obliged - there had been a lot of movement that day.

Back to Cardigan Project home, Thursday at Cardigan Page and Friday at Cardigan Page