On September 25th, 2022, the 7th grade went on a trip to Mt. Cardigan. We spent 3 days and 2 nights and each day was a different experience. On the first day, we arrived, ate our packed lunch then separated into groups. After a quick briefing of the day, my group, consisting of 8 kids and my group leader Heidi aka Pickles (trail name) went on a nature trail hike that intercepted a ski trail. After that, we went on a compass course, and played 2 games. Are you Aware and Camouflage. We saw many different species of plant life including pincushion moss, princess pines, creeping snowberries, and hobble bushes (nicknamed by our group for some reason, the toilet paper plant). On the compass course, we saw a sugar maple, a pincherry tree, and a dead snag tree. We also saw a very old broken down car used for towing people up the hill for skiing in the older days. After the compass course and a few games, we hiked back to the AMC lodge for dinner. We had spaghetti with meatballs and for dessert a fudge brownie. We went to our rooms to screw around a bit, then at 8 the groups joined together for a night hike, but I wasn't feeling good so I didn't get to go on that. The groups returned around 8:45. My bunkmates entered the room chatting like pigeons and woke me up from my nap. I wasn't happy with them for that, but there wasn't time to mope. At 9:00, we had to go downstairs so Mr. Woolner could tell us a story about the story of Captain Blackbeard. After the story was finished, we went upstairs to our bunks. The boys upstairs summoned a demon though a satanic ritual, and Mr. Woolner bribed them with candy to be quiet, while my bunkmates and I giggled like hyenas until lights out. The first of this trip was definitely exhausting, entertaining, and eventful. We got a lot done in 1 day. It's actually quite shocking. This trip is definitely exhilarating, and we saw a lot of interesting plants. I enjoyed this experience a lot.
Day one theme: Place
On day 1 of the cardigan mountain trip, we hiked 2 different trails, and we did a compass course. We went to a short 1/2 a mile nature loop that had a few streams and a large-ish river with a mix of calm and rapid flow. It was around the 0.2 mile mark, and it was approximately 30 minutes into our hike. There were several species of plants around the area, including creeping snowberry, pincushion moss, princess pines, hobble bushes, and many more. The area mostly contained birch and ash trees, and there was a lot of shredded bark littered on the ground. The area was blissfully trash-free, making the scenery all more enjoyable. As we went around the loop, I saw many ski trails intercepting the path, along with trail heads to mark every single one. The path was marked with bright yellow trail blazers that shone against the earthy colors of the forest, made specifically to withstand weather conditions, and stand out to people in case they were lost. At the halfway point, we decided to come up with trail names for each other. Everyone came up with something ridiculous, including myself. It was quite entertaining. After the short hike, we went over to a meadow and began our compass course. There was a page that had us use a compass to find certain landmarks, by telling us a direction, then giving us an amount of steps to take in that particular direction (ex. 250 degrees, 56 steps). We ended near an old, rusty car that was used for pulling an old ski line to help people get up the trails faster. It was fascinating, but we weren't able to touch it so we didn't risk tetanus. After we were done admiring the car and the rusty mechanism across from it, we descended the steep and overgrown slope we had ended up climbing. A few games and a quick walk later, and we were back at the lodge, the day passing by in the blink of an eye.