Our Adventure to the Summit of Cardigan Mountain

by Caroline C.

Spetember 29, 2022

     ur second day was the day we hiked Mt. Cardigan. We started the day early by eating a quick breakfast consisting of sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns, as well as mapping out our route to the summit. Once our group gathered together we were off. The beginning of the hike was slow with lots of sketching. This was the lowlands zone, as it was the first part of the mountain. Our hiking trails began to become very rocky and filled with roots. Around a mile in we came across a bridge with a running stream underneath where multiple photos were taken because of the incredible foliage and views. A little bit longer and we had reached the montane zone. As we continued to walk the ground beneath us started to switch from dirt to stone. our way up to a cabin resting on granite with a beautiful lookout, making our way near the alpine zone. All of these different zones are examples of different regions on the mountain. Although the example of geography regions is not just defined by elevation, regions are areas that are defined by some characteristic. Here we truly got to see how much progress we made. Colors of red, orange and yellow popped up at us from below. This was where we ate lunch and discussed how much of the hike we had left, as this was around halfway. We continued our way up officially entering the alpine zone. As we began to walk on granite and stone the slant and elevation also increased by a large amount. With the wind against us and still walking on a slant it became much more difficult. Eventually we were able to successfully summit the mountain and reach the point where the fire tower at the top stood. The way back was slippery, so we had to take it slow. Because we were short on time, there wasn't nearly as much sketching. Eventually we made it back just in time to change and eat dinner which was burgers. To finish off the night we acted out a skit about leaving no trace, watched the stars with the counselor Sean and ended with a story before we went to our bunk room and headed to bed.