Just like the day before we started off the trip by getting on the bus, this time, a little more excited, this was the day of the big hike! Once we got to the lodge we went off to our groups, where we did a special greeting. We would greet each other and then say a super power we wanted. The next person would then have to downgrade your superpower. We began the hike. Similar to the day before we would stop occasionally to sketch. On one of the stops we sketched a tree covered with huge artist conches, and on another we sketched a tree that had been split and had fallen, from lightning. The trail began to get steeper as we hiked, and it started to rain a little, and we went to a sort of fairytale forest,with bright mushrooms, a small creek, and the moss covering almost everything. On our way up we found a clothespin, and we played a game with it where we had to clip it onto someone's bag so we could ask them a question. At our next sketch, the rain had started to die down, and we had lunch, me eating a chicken caesar wrap.
We then continued our hike and the rain slowed to a stop, and we saw some crows through the mist that lay over everything. On a few occasions the mist cleared a little, and we could see the other mountains, which we stopped to sketch. As we approached the summit of Firescrew the rocks began to get slippery, and the trees began to thin, and close to the peak we saw a beautiful alpine bog, reflecting the misty sky above. Finally, we saw the bare rock summit, although there wasn't much of a view. We played some camouflage and sketched the mountains in the distance during a brief period where the clouds cleared. After some time spent on Firescrew we began our hike up the much steeper, Cardigan. The area, or region , near and around the summit, or the alpine zone, is very different from the base of the mountain, and although Firescrew and Cardigan are very different, they both star bare or close to bare, rock summits. Around the summit the trees are usually much smaller, shorter, and thinner than the trees at lower elevations, and there are usually a lot less trees, or even none at all. It's also much colder, windier, and, depending on the day, has much better or worse visibility. The base of the mountain, is very different though, covered in a forest with a vareity of trees, and sheltered from the relentless wind. It also sports a vareity of wildlife, which, sadly, you don't see much of at the summit of these mountains. On the map below you can see some of the different regions at Cardigan.
The wind picked up as we approached the summit, and reached their peak when we got to the top. We saw the firetower, several of us signed it, and some of us explored its peak, but we were all called together for a group picture. We then did a brief sketch before making our way back to Firescrew, where we would go back down, because the way down Cardigan was just too slippery with all the rain. Despite going back down Firescrew, some of us still had to carefully crab walk, or slide down some of the steeper parts. Eventually we made it back down to the lodge where we hopped on the bus and went back home.
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