5/15/2012

Day Three of Class

Today was pretty fun. It had rained all night and into the morning, and stopped well before class time; but not before I walked to class with wet feet. We met up in the classroom and talked a little bit about where we were going. Once everyone got there we went to the vans and headed out.

Once we got on the word it seemed to take forever to get, but we made it. When we got to our destination, we pulled into this very small, gravel parking lot. It was so small that it can only hold about three cars. I’m still not quite sure how it fit both of the school vans.

So we got out and Andrea explained more about the trail. Once we were all set to go, Mike G. led the way. We walked for about a mile and came to our first. It ended up being a rocky beach. There we stopped to rest and to do one of the student led activities. Arielle taught us to play a different version of Rock Paper Scissors. The one she taught us one called Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock; it was kind of confusing at first, but once you got the hang of it, it was wicked fun.

We then carried on till we got to about mile 2 and came to another rock beach outcrop area, where we stopped again. There we scattered and just explored the intertidal zone and rocks. I was just walking around and exploring the seaweed to see if I could find any invertebrates (I’m a marine biology major…its kind of my thing) when suddenly I spotted a seal! I told the others and some of them came over and took pictures. Then one of the other marine biology majors spotted a whale! It was so cool. It came a few times then we didn’t see it anymore.

After we had the excitement with the whale, we all gathered back up and sat down and talked about what was next and had lunch. After lunch we did another student led activity. Amelia led us in a relaxing breathing exercise, it was very calming. After that we headed back out on the trail for the last leg of our hike. This time Mike led the way.

Once we all reached the vans, we packed up and then headed to Hamilton Cove Preserve. While we were there we helped clean up the beaches that were there. There are three main beaches at Hamilton Cove and we broke up into groups and spread out to each beach.

After we finished and got rid of the trash, we all headed to a grassy area and did a few more student led activities. The first one was led by Helen, she taught us how to Fox Walk and a fun game to play with it. Then Jenny did a game called The Blob, which was like tag. Then I did my activity which was Link Up. After that we left Hamilton Cove and went back to school. When we got back to school we had a quick pow wow and then called it quits for the day.

 Mike G and Helen leading the way on our 3 mile hike at West Head Preserve.

 First beach we came too.

 Helen at the first rest stop on our hike.

 Mike G. and Barrett just sittin and chattin up a storm.

 Our fearless leader Andrea.

 Me and Helen's science major fun...rebuilding a crab!!!

 Andrea and Helen leading the second part of the hike.

 Second rest stop.

 My seal friend, just lounging in the seaweed.

 The end of our hike.

 This where we helped clean up the beaches!