Cardigan Mountain, Day 2

Day Two at Cardigan

When we returned to the AMC Lodge on September 23, 2021, it was clear that the day was going to maybe even be better than the last. We boarded the bus at the Middle High School and rode to the Lodge, where we did a stretch circle in our small group. Then, we quickly started making progress on our journey to the summit of Firescrew, and were joined by Mr. Woolner not long after getting started. Once he had caught up to us, we stopped to sketch a cellar hole and a cracked-in-half tree within about 30 minutes of each other. After reaching a more rocky elevation, we also sketched and observed the ‘Lost Sheep’ quartz glacial erratic and the alpine bog. The ascent was fairly strenuous and steep, but the Great Platypus Waddlers eventually made it to the top of Firescrew, which also made a good place to stop for lunch. After finishing our meal, we began the hike across the saddle that connects Firescrew and Cardigan Mountain. We reached the cold and wet Cardigan summit and were later joined by Crispy Berries and Cream (another group), with whom we took a group photo. Soon, it was time to start heading back down to the AMC Lodge. Along our trek to the bottom, we sketched a big ash tree, compared, sketched, and raced fallen maple leaves down a stream, and sketched and observed rattlesnake/dragon plantain plants. Before long, we and the remaining groups arrived back at the AMC Lodge, where we received Swedish Fish before heading back to where we started.

I think that this day best represents regions. Regions is a theme of geography that categorizes different sections of the world into pieces. We journeyed through multiple alpine regions of elevation on our hike across Cardigan Mountain and Firescrew. This resulted in a change in plant life depending on our elevation - the vegetation seemed to get sparcer and more rock became apparent as we became further away from sea level. During our hike we were also in a watershed, which is an example of a region. We also hiked through the three alpine regions over the course of the day - the northern hardwood, boreal, and alpine regions. Throughout our hike, we also journeyed through multiple regions of the Cardigan Mountain Forest boundaries. Our bus ride brought us through two different counties and many different towns. The rock walls that we saw along our hike signified property being split, creating regions of ownership.