Today we went to Eastwood Metro Park and we hiked and kayaked. We were split into two groups, and one group went to hike, while the other kayaked. Then we switched. My group started with kayaking. I had never been kayaking before, and it was a very neat experience. It took some time to get used to the motions of paddling, but once I got the hang of it, it was a lot of fun. We also, while in the kayaks, learned some hand gestures that would signal to the other people kayaking that we needed help, were going to turn, or were okay. Then, we went on a hike. We were split into even smaller groups while we were hiking so we could get more individual attention.

We walked on a trail, and we looked at and studied many different types of plants. We had to look closely at the bark of trees, and the stems and leaves of different plants. Sometimes, to identify these plants, we would smell them, and talk about how important this smell might be to the way these plants act in nature. We listened to many bird calls, and specified which bird call went with which bird. We watched the river running, and the atmosphere was truly peaceful. There was a cold breeze blowing and it was refreshing and chilling, all at once.

Wing-stem plant that we discussed on our hike.