Future gators??

Session I... on the way to the Closing Luncheon we saw a gator!!  Apparently you weren't afraid of the gator because you all surrounded it... and it doesn't even appear in the photo!

TO ALL 2011 CREEK CAMPERS:  Creek Connections hopes you have wonderful memories of Creek Camp.  We all thoroughly enjoyed sharing the time and our amazing part of the world with you!

Please share some of your thoughts/memories in the comments... or send your comments to us and we'll post them for you.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!!

Hellbender Grabbin'!

Yesterday we went hellbender hunting. The second rock we picked up contained an Eastern hellbender. They told us they were slimy, but i didnt expect them to be that slimy. It got away and after Ben caught a hellbender Mark went on a rampage to find one. He said we wouldnt leave without one. Mark saw one swim between his legs, but was busy supporting the big rock. We spent like 15 minutes searching for that large critter. Mark said, "We're gonna scope until we cant scope no more". So thats what we did, scope. Finally, Mark spotted it. Staring straight at me in the open water. I stared it back, hard. We had this intense like cowboy in a field 'only room for one of us' look for like 5 minutes! Then I took one step and was just like TAKEDOWN! I grabbed that critter by the neck like it was chocolate cake! Throw that sucker in the net and the rest was history. Everyone was like, "Woo" and I was all, "That's right, told you I got this". Ben may have caught the first, but I saw the first and caught the last and the LARGEST! How you like them apples, Ben? Jeez I ate so many apples this week...alrighty well Im gonna go. Fun day...

-Wildfire Wilson

Eco-Scavenger Hunt

While our creek camper groups were hunting for hellbenders, we were also competing against each other in a bio scavenger hunt. The list of items included many different animals from the week, including fish, turtles, macroinvertebrates, and snakes. The teams had many great finds, including sponges, crayfish, zebra mussels, and caddisflies. However, the illustrious Team Winner, led by incomparably awesome counselor Briana, clinched the win, after an anonymous golden-haired Ohioan found a species of turtle that had never been found in the stream before. And BOOM goes the dynamite.

AMD and stuffs (mining)

The coal mining industry showed increment during 19Th century and 20Th century due to the increase of usage of trains for transportation. Especially in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the most coal mines were placed, was the most popular site for mining the coals. The workers, ironically, were not mostly Americans, but either people from Europe who were looking for jobs because of the Great Depression, which caused by the World War 1, or young children who dropped schools.

Mining seems easy, however it is not. The miners had to carry all their tools with them every time, and it is very dark inside even when they have light. Moreover, the area inside the mine is very small that a man can barely fit in. This is why the children were welcome to the mines.

Canoe Trip

Today we gathered around the canoes, lathered and relathered on the sunscreen, and headed out. Paired with great friends, Mark claimed we would all hate each other by the end of the trip due to our frustration with the canoes. The water was so deep! A TOTAL 1.6 FEET! I thinke we did prettay well if i do say so myself with all the 'conditions' we dealt with. We stopped to swim a few times and look at critters. Our canoes cruzed into the shore and the water started spraying! Everyone was armed with squirt guns! We all got soaked, even if you didnt want to. The water was dark so it was very enjoyable to swim below the water and grab peoples legs. Enough said. It was fun. We pulled our canoes to shore after a long day. I stepped our into a huge pile of mud/ quick sand and my foot sunk a foot. I almost tipped the canoe and Brian had to pulle me out. But we saw a goat, so its all good. A successful ending to a great day.

Mussel Time

During a busy day of canoeing and exploring, Brian, our canoe master, taught us about freshwater mussels. Brian sent us out to find both alive and dead mussels. My favorite was the pocketbook mussel. It is named after its pocketbook shape. Mussels are really neat creatures.

Bat-man

A few days ago, we went bat watching! Our guides for the night were Terri and Miranda. Terri is one of the few in the country who build bat boxes. Most of the bats he had were called Little Brown Bats. Most people believe mice and bats are closely related but actually, the bat is closer to the lemur which means that bats are closely related to us! Terri told us that the reason he had so many bats was because he was near water. When the bats first come out at night, they go to the nearest water source. That is why they are more bats found near water.

Stars! :)

Last night we went to the Newton Observatory which was on the Allegheny College campus. We took lots of pictures when we were walking there and it was so fun! When we got to the observatory, the owner led us up to a room with a round roof and a very large, antique telescope. He showed us how it worked and moved, and we even got to see Saturn through it! It was amazing because it did not look real. It just looked like someone put a sticker on the telescope. Most of us had never seen Saturn that close, so it was pretty exciting. Then, we went out onto the deck and watched for satellites. As it got darker, more and more stars started appearing in the sky. We were all glad it was a clear night because we could see so many stars! We also learned about constellations and star names! It was a very relaxing night to just lay down with friends and gaze at the stars!!

Aquaponics (:

Today was a day filled with terracotta, plants, fish, and tomatoes. We started by heading to the Steffee and Doane Hall of Biology and Chemistry. We all crowded into the elevator and arrived on the roof! We walked down a hall and ended up in the greenhouse. The greenhouse was composed of two aquaponic systems! The first system involved terracotta beads, water, plants, and two fish tanks. Water flowed into the terracotta beads which filtered out the nutrients. The beads are made out of the same material that flower pots are, however, they are significantly lighter than they look! filtering out the nutrients allows plants to grow in the beads. After the water was filtered through the beads it went through a pipe which led to the first fish tank. The water was then taken from that fish tank, and filtered into the next fish tank. The water continues to go through this cycle continually. The second system was composed of fish, tomato and basil plants, water, and plastic bacteria collectors. Water was placed in the fish tank which contains trout. The water is then filtered through plastic bacteria collectors that look like noodles. After this the water circulates to the basil and tomato plants. We were allowed to taste the tomatoes and they were AMAZING! They didn't taste like what you expect a tomato to taste like. It was sweet, crispy, and not artificially red!!! (: (:

Hatchery trip

After lunch, we took a trip to visit the Linesville fish hatchery. At the hatchery we saw examples of almost every game fish species, living in a huge tank. The tank was designed with windows all throughout its sides, letting us see huge fish up close! However, that wasn't the main attraction of the hatchery. It is the main hatchery for an amazing species called the paddlefish. Its strange shape and huge paddle nose makes it look like a prehistoric creature. The hatchery is helping to reintroduce this locally-endangered species to the Allegheny and the surrounding rivers. We had a great opportunity, seeing these rare fish up close.

canoe intro

Actors on TV make canoeing look so hard to do. They strain and grunt, with muscles ripling and heavy sweat glistening off of their bodies. Canoeing is actually much easier than it looks. The water supports the weight of the canoe and anyone in it, and it is easy to make the canoe move with the oars. Considering the extreme heat of the day, and the fact that the canoes were made of all metal, it was cool. The temperature on the middle of the lake was cooler than the land, where several of us had the beginning of heat headaches. I hope the actual canoe trip down the creek is just as easy.

French creek

Yesterday we stopped by French creek to cool down from our 'completely comfortable' day. Everyone got out and shuffled to the creek...well everyone except Janessa and me (katie)...I asked (well more like begged) her to get her suit on with me. We got all decked out in our suits, goggles, and snorkels and headed down. We saw the instant jealousness painted on everyones faces. The water was surprisingly warm and not turbid at all! We scanded the floors filled with clams, fish, and bugs that could 'supposidely' stung like bees. We gathered a bunch of clamshells to decorate ROOM C! It was so wicked! Others walked across the shallow and caught minos with their nets, but not us. We prefered to catch our fish with our bare hands! We didnt catch any, but we tried really hard. The day grew old, so we headed home. Leaving all the awesomeness of the creek behind us...

Water Chemistry Day 2

We finished our tests on the water chemistry tests on Woodcock Creek, upstream from the dam. We'll compare the nutrient, temperature, and pH readings from today to the readings we got downstream yesterday. Hopefully, the measurements can be used to see if there's any difference between the water chemistry above and below the dam. A difference could be used to show any environmental effect the dam has on the health
of the stream. O__o

Owl Hunting

What is the scariest place to go owl hunting you ask? How about a cemetery, in pitch black night, with a guy named Mr.Mumme! We ventured out with our unicorn headlights in the millions of bugs and got to see a barred owl, 1 of the four popular owl's in Pennsylvania. Mr.Mumme held a CD player up that played the recording of the owl's song and he/she would call back 'who cooks for you, who cooks for yalll.' It was an amazing experience that we all enjoyed and will never forget!(:

Pennsylvania Trees!!

This afternoon we were in Stainbrook Park, which is right by the Woodcock Dam. Three college students came and talked about trees near streams and how they are so important to the surrounding ecosystem. We then got to core trees, which was really entertaining. Most of us cored Easter Hemlock Trees and then counted the number of rings to determine how old it was. We could also see how good the growing season was that year by the size of the ring. It was really fun, and I wish I could have done more trees, but it's not completely good for it. We also went to see a slab of a humongous tree trunk. It was over 270 years old, and it was labeled with the years significant events such as the Declaration of Independence and when the presidents were voted into office. I didn't expect that trees could be so interesting!!

Macrosampling 2

Macrosampling is the measuring of invertebrates in a stream. It is done by placing a net on the streambed and kicking up the dirt in front of it to dislodge any creatures hanging onto the rocks. We were only looking for invertebrates, so we unfortanetly had to throw the fish and crayfish back into the stream. Then we picked up the bugs and put them into a tank. Upstream did not yield as many bugs as downstream did, but there were more fish and crayfish that were larger than they were in the downstream area.

Electrofishing! (:

Today was a day of electricity, thrill, biological creatures, and waders. This was a day many of the campers were looking forward too! Early this morning, we headed to the Woodcock stream to go electrofishing. There to help us were two men from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. We stepped into the unique waders fitted for us and we headed to the stream. We were all anxious to grab a net and get in the water to catch stunned fish! Right before entering the water, we were given safety instructions. We were all half listening because all we cared about was getting in the water until the scariest words of the day were spoken... one of the men from the PA DEP told us that if we touched the water there was a chance we would be shocked! He also told us that the shock was not pleasant and that it felt like you were grabbing an electric fence! This made some of us weary, but not enough to kill the excitement. Soon after we headed down the creek, there were fish floating by and nets going everywhere!The buckets were filling fast and there were many different types of fish being collected. We followed the men from the PA DEP like our lives depended on it. The best feeling was when they lifted up their nets to put the fish in the buckets. It gave you a feeling of accomplishment and excitement! At the moment it seemed like it was the only thing that mattered. That was until we realized we still had to identify the fish and we got a chance to look at them up close. When the time came, we all gathered around the buckets and listened as the fish were identified and we got an up close look. We passed around the fish and waited with impatience for our turn to be passed the container! After the fish were identified and accounted for, we got a chance to reach in and grab them for ourselves. The fish were all unique and amazing! We caught big ones, small ones, colorful ones, and even camouflaged ones! Letting them go was very satisfying. We all knew that we spent a lot of time catching, identifying, and "playing" with them. But when we let them go, we knew that they were helping us with our project and they still had the chance to live and keep the fish cycle flowing! (:

Geocaching

Started off the week with geocaching. I had a lot of fun following a trail of GPS points across Allegheny campus. We also got to know the other campers and got oriented on campus along the way. Plus, we got free bags, headlamps, and popsicles at the end, so that definitely made the hunt worthwhile. Im thinking about trying to do some geocaching on my own when I get home. It seems like it would be a good twist on regular camping, and a good way to have fun with some friends.

Stream Table!

At our first full day at Creek Camp, we played in a giant sandbox. However, it wasn't all tomfoolery. We learned about erosion and topography. After, we made some mountains and found dinosaurs, Native Americans, and miner figurines under the wet sand. We also faught for water from a stream and flooded each others' castles.

First Night

On our first night at Creek Camp, we were supposed to be getting to know each other. It was all going well. until Samuel came. The game was broken up as we tried to secretly read the comic on Sam's shirt. We gave up on being sneaky, and crowded around him to read his shirt, which was a warning about global warming. Someone took a picture of it.

Polar Bear: There is no TIME!!!

Penquin: Then I'll make time. The humans must be told. This concerns all of us.