Hey Campers! Here is the video we played at the final Luncheon. I'm sorry I haven't gotten it up sooner but I've been so busy! We will miss you guys and I hope the rest of your summer is as awesome as creek camp was!
Kelsey
- Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. -Frank Lloyd Wright
Yesterday, we went on our herp hunt, but before we could do it, we had to learn about them. A woman named, April Claus, came to talked to us about the reptiles and amphibians of Pennsylvania. She explained to us that amphibians are very important to the ecosystem because their main prey is keeping burgening insects from over populating.
Originally we were to go looking for Hellbenders in French Creek but the creek had risen too much from the rains the previous night. It was too dangerous for us to look for them. This, however, did mean we had more time to spend learning about them. Some of the animals we learned about were, milksnakes, timber rattlesnake, spring peepers, red-spotted newts and spotted salamanders. The information she gave us was extrememly interesting because not many of us knew about the creatures she told us about. April was also an entertaining as well as knowledgable person and she obviously loved her field. Often she would add jokes to her presentation to make it more interesting.
After we learned about these species came the fun part. She gave us a test using the information we had learned from her lecture, to identify and answer the questions that were asked on the living specimens of several species. We were even allowed to hold the cornsnake and milksnake. The cornsnake was a female that loved to wind herself in knots around your wrists and arms. the milksnake was constantly searching for a place to hide and had to be extracated from one of the boys hoods. The test was also difficult, there were many questions that we had to have been paying attention to answer and the stakes were high. The person who achieved the highest score got a prize. The classes highest score was thirty-five out of thirty-nine. There was a winner out of both boys and girls.
Overall, I had never thought that learning about amphibians and reptiles could be such an interesting and fun experience. I was proved wrong. It was an illuminating prelude to our final adventure for the week: a trip to Bousson, an Allegheny College environmental experimentation center. Though this was one of our final activities, I enjoyed it greatly even though I was starting to feel sadness from the impending departure the next day.
On Thursday, we went with a herpetologist to go herping, or searching for amphibians and reptiles. It was so much fun! We ended up finding 16 different species of reptiles and amphibians which impressed me a lot! We found 10 different species of salamander, 5 types of toads and frogs, and one snake. All we did to find them were overturn rocks, logs, and look in grass and we found tons of stuff. It was really cool knowing that all these things could live near you, and there are still more things you could find. Plus amphibians are a great way to tell if your streams and rivers are healthy, because they breathe through their skin and any pollutants in the water will kill them. Overall, it was a great time, and probably my favorite part about camp.
This week we had a football game with everybody playing for once. The girls would only play if a boy wore a skirt for part of the game so a kid named dave decided to be the biggest man and take one for the team. It was lots of fun and was very funny. The teams were so even the game lasted until dusk.
Thursday our group went to the farm called Fresh From the Vines. It is a sustainable farm which means that it doesnt use any type of chemicals in producing food. Not even miracle grow. At the farm we saw all sorts of fresh produce that ranged from many types of beans to garlic and onions. Also we met his animals the donkeys, goat, chickens and the alpacas. In his greenhouses he had plastic over the frame for containing heat. We were also abel to sample his food. Then we went to his house and ate lunch.
So we took a little side trip today tooooo the spillway...which was basically like this um cement walkway thing overlooking the water...HOWEVER, the water was filled to max capacity with carps...creepy...plus the ducks were just stepping all over them to get the bread we were throwing. Truthfully, the fish looked like the inferi from Harry Potter 6...yikes...but they enjoyed the bread we gave them and especially enjoyed the Lorax.
After breakfast this morning we met with Sarah Dippold from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to band doves. The bands are placed on the birds to help identify them and people contact the game commission to give any information they may find. We checked all of the traps and unfortunately the rain persuaded the doves to stay away from the bait. Even though we could not band any birds, Sara talked to us about how the Pennsylvania Game Commission bands other birds like ducks and geese. Although it was cold and raining, we still had a lot of fun enjoying the protected wildlife there.
Last night we spent some time "winding down". To begin with, we set up a game of dodgeball. It turned out to be more fun than I had expected even though we only played for a minute or two. Then we went to go get ice cream at Casey's. This was an interesting experience because about the time we got to the ice cream place it started to storm. We ordered and ate our ice cream before leaving in the van again. We found out rather hysterically that the way to get somewhere around fifteen people into a van really quickly, is to have lighting flashing in the background. As it turned out it took us about a minute and a half to get into the van.
Once we got back to North Village, the dorms where we were staying, we spent a well deserved chill session listening to music, or at least the girls did. This didn't last long though. Soon we started to dance and got a dance party going. It was more fun than I've had in a long time. Most of us enjoyed it greatly, listening to everybody's favorites on the iHome one of the girls brought. One of the campers this week is from Costa Rica and we finally got her to join us and dance. She asked if any of us had salsa music. None of us did so we hijacked our counsellor's computer and found some online. She showed us the salsa and we were all extremely amazed. She was so good at it. We all started to try to copy her. Soon she started to teach us how to do it. We got a regular salsa lesson and then took it upstairs into the dorm hall where we attempted to get the boys to learn too. They were disinclined to aquiest to our request. Oh well, we still had a ton of fun and as a bonus we learned some basic salsa moves.
Unfortunately, we were exhausted this morning but it was worth it. We really did have so much fun and I'm sad that this week it almost over. We've all made such go friends.
Once we got back to North Village, the dorms where we were staying, we spent a well deserved chill session listening to music, or at least the girls did. This didn't last long though. Soon we started to dance and got a dance party going. It was more fun than I've had in a long time. Most of us enjoyed it greatly, listening to everybody's favorites on the iHome one of the girls brought. One of the campers this week is from Costa Rica and we finally got her to join us and dance. She asked if any of us had salsa music. None of us did so we hijacked our counsellor's computer and found some online. She showed us the salsa and we were all extremely amazed. She was so good at it. We all started to try to copy her. Soon she started to teach us how to do it. We got a regular salsa lesson and then took it upstairs into the dorm hall where we attempted to get the boys to learn too. They were disinclined to aquiest to our request. Oh well, we still had a ton of fun and as a bonus we learned some basic salsa moves.Unfortunately, we were exhausted this morning but it was worth it. We really did have so much fun and I'm sad that this week it almost over. We've all made such go friends.
Last night after a long day us teenagers decided to unwind and connect with our inner child. How? you ask. SImple a nice new play ground on campus. Some swung on the swings while others slid down the slide. Others decided to "chill out" on a metal spider jungle gym, while some climbed a wall. We all enjoyed this freedom and time to be our true selfs. Amy, the consuler, took videos of funny moments and priceless photos. This short time of freedom really made us enjoy the early evening and will be remember FOREVAA!!~~PETER PAN(pictures will be up shortly.)
Right after we ate breakfast we headed out for our canoe trip in french creek. We loaded all the canoes onto the canoe trailer and picked up the guest speakers. From there we headed to the Wilson chute where we unloaded the canoes, got our life jackets and oars, and carried our boats down to the shore. We took turns getting across the creek where we picked up our canoes and walked them across a little further down the shore to avoid hitting a tree. Then we canoed a little further down the creek and pulled over to look at mussels but there weren't any there so we took a few minutes to skip some rocks. Then we continued our trip down french creek to an island where we docked our canoes and looks for mussels. A specialist in mussels gave and taught us about them. We went and looked for them and found quite a few. We soon continued on and looked at all the animals like bald eagles, mayflies, ceder waxwings, and belted kingfishers. We played eye spy and watched the birds eat the bugs. We finally reached the end of our amazing canoe trip at Shaw's landing and loaded up our canoes once again.
Last night we went on a hike in the woods with our headlamps. We walked and searched vigoursuly and very intently for about 20 minutes before coming upon a suprise... It was an abundance of creek connection T-Shirts!!!! It was cool to finally get one. I really enjoyed the hike and it was really entertaining when Cam scared the spit out of the girls. It was a nice experence.
Well, we did a lot of things today: we went on our canoe trip and search for freshwater mussels, then we ate our lunch on the banks of French Creek and got a train to blow it's horn at us as it passed.
During our lunch, we met with a man named Brian from the County Conservation District. He had come with us on our canoe trip as a guide. He explained about conservation efforts for the French Creek watershed and taught us about how people could save river banks from pollution and erosion. We learned that a lot of conservation efforts are more that just "saving the planet" but it's also about human relations. To go into conservation, you must also be good at persuading people. We learned that agriculture plays a huge role in both conserving and polluting rivers and streams. People with jobs in conserving watersheds often must work with farmers and convince them to change their ways to newer, more eco-friendly ways. For instance, Brian explain to us that when people first settled the area, they placed their barns in low ground near streams, creeks, and rivers. This was so that their livestock, primarily cows, had access to a continuous water source. To do this, they cleared all the trees along the creek to ease their animals paths. This unfortunatly allowed for the cow and such to defficate and unrinate in the water therefore adding extra nutrients that the stream may or may not have needed. Now the watershed conservationalists, as well as others, are attempting to convince farmers to fence their cows away from water.
Brian also works to rebuild reparian buffers along the sides of creeks. A reparian buffer has trees on it and helps to protect from soil erosion. This shows how important it is to conserve banks.
There's still much more of the week to go and I am very excited to see what the rest of the week brings!!
Tim gave a interesting speech about his organization that helps to make riparian buffers. A reparian buffer is an area around a stream that helps to "filter" out all the bad things that could harm the delicate environment of the stream. His organization helps to create these riparian buffers to get rid of the pollutants like excess fertilizer that get into the runoff that gets into the stream by accident. His organization tries to confront streamfront property owners for permission to make these areas. It was interesting hearing about a natural way for the environment to filter out bad chemicals.
Yesterday Zach brought some of his pets and he showed them to us. They were great, really amazing!! He had two little frogs that were trying to get out of the cage and he also had two little turtles that were so cute! Finally he showed us some salamanders that were also trying to escape from our hands!!
Thanks Zach!!!
Thanks Zach!!!
After we found our fab creek connections t-shirts at the end of our creepy "through the forest" geocache, it was somewhat dark enough to fall sleepily onto the grass and stare up at the stars. (Thanks to Sarah, we all now know that we were sitting on "aerated" soil, not geese poop...gracias). There were some stargazing wise guys who showed us how to find the North star, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and uuummm Orion's Belt....ppssh show-offs.
During our canoe trip down French Creek, we stopped to talk about the fresh water mussels. Jerry Lang, a fresh water mussel expert, talked about the diversity of mussels that make their home in the water. We learned that over 26 different types of fresh water mussels live in the French Creek and there are about 300 species in Pennsylvania (of the 800 in the world). While off to the side of the creek, we waded through the water in search of these interesting creatures. It took a little time, but eventually we found 6-7 living mussles and many more empty shells. It was a lot of fun and was surprisingly exciting for such simple creatures.
After the rain stopped and the sun started to dry the land, the creekers emerged from North Village. We drove to the Woodcock lake and were instructed by the PA Fish and Boat Comission Guy, who was very helpful and assisted us so we could be ready for tomorrows be adventure!!!! We learned about life jackets and oars, and how to load and unload the canoes. But getting to the fun part. We entered the water and we were off!!! paddling and stearing and learning the ropes and brushing up on our skills. Some excelled greatly and others fell behind. They struggled to fight the mini waves created by the strong winds comming across the water. We went out to the mini island and waited for the "turtles" to catch up. We also posed for some pictures, and splashed each other with the freezing water. But after the build up of the lactic acid in our biceps and triceps we called it a day and loaded the truck and off we went. Peace Ooouuutt Girl scouts
Today Ryan Nageotte gave us a speech related to the different kind of mammals that live in the area near the creek, like beavers, muskrats, minks, deers, weasels... We learned many things related to this animals like what they eat and how many years they can live. It was really interesting!!After braving the weather, we headed back to our dorms for lunch and a meeting. We had a delicious picnic lunch in the common area of the dorm and the guys played football outside. Once we were done we had a group meeting. We shared all of the data from the past two days of testing and filled out our data table. It was fun but soon it was time to learn how to canoe!
This afternoon, we met a man who speaks "tree".....jealous? PLUS, he even gave us our own "Learn to speak Tree" guides a.k.a "Common Trees of Pennsylvania". Well, technically he didn't "speak" to them in front of us....but we knew he did. He brought us through these super narrow paths, called out the names of nearly EVERYthing we passed, and we, in an overwhelmed fashion, tried to write down the names and keep up with Mr. Brilliant Tree Man. I can speak for the whole group in saying that the "Cucumbertree Magnolia" was pretty much the coolest tree alive....Even the bears know that...and I'm RURLY surprised no one has created Cucumbertree Seed Perfume...it smells good...om nom nom
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