Day 6

Today my class and I went to one of the Dayton metro parks were we went kayaking and hiking.

When we first arrived we met our guides, in the freezing cold! And this is when the groups separated into a hiking group and kayaking as there aren’t enough space for all of us to be out on the water at the same time. My group of about five went into the trails of the park first and learned about the plants around the area. The woman leading us told us about all of the plants that we don’t want in our wildlife because they were brought from other places and they are taking over our land. We also learned about how to identify poison ivy, leaves of three, leave it be and we learned about the red stem ion the bottom. Then we learned really do anything about the plants because the environment will figure out what to do. But there was one thing we learned that wasn’t on her list. How to be freezing at the beginning of June! It’s almost summer and the outdoor temperature was almost in the 40’s and the dew dripping of the grass onto your foot made it even worse!

Finally after a several hour hike we got to the part everyone in my group was looking forward too. Kayaking… Beforehand we ate lunch at the tables and put or telephones in a safe place as to not make them wet. We walked over to the docks where the instructors told us how to do all of the safety things and how to use the paddles correctly. Then we got into our kayaks, mine was red with a black paddle set. Once on the water we spent a few minutes learning how to use the boat and go in the directions we wanted. For about half of the time mine kept spinning out which I soon learned was caused by a rudder that can be put down to fix that problem! But after that it was all smooth sailing in the green murky water. 

Here is a picture of my journey yesterday!