2019 Mt. Cardigan Day 1

On Day 1 we arrived at Cardigan Mountain Lodge and went straight to the field next to the back porch to play team building games. This included “mountain baseball” and “progression rock, paper, scissors”. Once this was over, we were announced our hiking groups and ate lunch while doing mini games with our group. We soon realized that littering is unacceptable in the wilderness and threw away all of our trash in a trash bag alongside the compost bucket. Later, we got organized in our rooms and got ready for the day (well… half day) of hiking ahead of us. We started the hike out with group jobs. We each had a different responsibility. For example, I was the pacemaker, Merrick was the motivator, and Sydney was the snack reminder. We continued on a fairly flat trail that ran parallel to a river. A little ways up the trail, we stopped to draw a sketch of the river below. Since this was our first sketch, many of our drawings didn’t turn out so well. We discussed and listed characteristics and expectations we should be aware of while hiking and then resumed our trek down the path. We stopped about 20 minutes later a pretty lookout of the water rushing below us where we played a seeking game to test our awareness. We did another sketvch on the river, except this time the drawings came out a bit more pleasant. Farther down the trail we reached a river crossing which seemed a little sketchy, but our group made it over with no bobbles or soakers. About 100 feet past the river crossing we came to a spectacular waterfall along with a water bowl formed by erosion. This was Welton Falls. We spent a good amount of time at Welton Falls to examine the beautiful waterfall and, instead of turning around like all the other groups, we went farther down the trail to spot on the river with a sign that read, “Beware Copperhead Snakes”. We decided this would be a good stopping point, considering that we would all appreciate it if we came back in one piece. On the way back, we played some games like blurt. Dinner was Mac n’ Cheese and Lasagna. As a night activity our group instructor decided we should hike in pitch black and play activities with no flashlights. We made it back in time for Mr. Woolner’s pirate story which took place just before bedtime. This day shows movement because us, being from Hopkinton, we brought our ideas and talents to Cardigan. This is the same with our instructors who brought their ideas to Cardigan from where they were from. My group’s instructor also happened to be from Cardigan.

Link to home page: