Campers Canoeing

We got to go canoeing today! This time we went to Pymatuning Lake because the French Creek was too high.The weather was a little cold but it turned out to be a very nice morning. Mr. Brian Pelargic was our guide and he led us all over the lake. He even told us about the history of the lake! After we explored the creek, we went to the island on the lake. On our way there, we found out that water bottles Don't float and that lily pads can be made into hats! At the island we stopped and swam for a little. It was a lot of fun! Afterwords we headed back to the shore and ate lunch. We also relaxed and laid in the sun. Although our arms were a little tired, we had a great time!

Carr Garden

When we went to Carr Garden, Beth Choate met us and introduced herself. After a few games, she split us up into pairs and gave each pair a map of the garden. Our task was to try to find our way around the garden and attempt to identify each vegetable planted in the raised beds. After guessing and checking our answers, she explained a little about the compost bin in the garden. Then, we got to harvest the beets. After explaining about where to cut the vegetable off from the stem, she put a few of us in charge of harvesting, a few of us in charge of cutting, and a few of us in charge of putting the stems and leaves into the compost bin.

Herp Hunting Continued

As my fellow creek camper said, today we went her

Bugs and More Bugs

With our resident expert Dani we looked at bugs. We used a technique called swing netting, and you guys aren't basic so I'm not going to explain that for you. But we caught so many different bugs! After we caught bugs we popped into a science building and looked at a bug collection. It was pretty intense how cool some of the bugs were. A few of the bugs were even from Costa Rica just like Camila and Selene.

Swimming with the Crayfish, Snails, and More!

Today we got to have a little break from the creek tests. We got to swim in the French Creek! The water was cold and the current a little fast, but, it was a lot of fun. Along with swimming, we also looked for different organisms in the river, under the rocks. We found little bugs called whirligigs, crayfish, snails, and more. We even caught some mussels! Along with exploring, we also played in the water. We  played games and even floated down the river. It was really neat and fun!

Canoeing, it takes skill!

       We did it! The activity that all the campers where waiting for was canoeing and today we got to put our skills into practice. This morning we drove to the dam and met up with Chad Foster. He gave us instructions on how to properly use a canoe, but first we had to learn the safety, such as life vest. This was very interesting because he showed us the 4 different types of life vest that there were and I didn't know that i just thought that there was only one type of life vest. For canoeing we use the type 3, which was a comfortable as far as life vest go. Then we learned how to know which paddle was the right one for us. Mr.Foster said that it could be anywhere in the range between our shoulders and our nose, but I like to think of it as our counselor Will told me, "If it look this a mustache it's a good size." After we had our life vest and our paddles, we where ready to get our canoes and go down to the water to start canoe. To be honest I though that carrying a canoe was easy, but I was wrong, it was a little bit heavy and neither my partner or I were strong so it was kind of difficult. The we slowly go into the canoe by following the instruction we were given and we started to paddle. 

     Well paddling was not hard, but the hardest thing was to keep the canoe to go straight. Our canoe would always go too much to the right or too much to the left. but overall it was fun and it was similar to a kayak. We are all hoping it stops raining because there are flood all over the Pittsburgh state and we really want to go out into the river and canoe in French Creek. Let cross our fingers and hope it doesn't rain anymore and it  there is a nice sunny day tomorrow!wwwwwww

Here we are listening to Chad Foster give us instructions. 

Nos this is us with our life vest and we are learning about the paddles!

Putting the canoes in the water!

Finally in the water!

Let's hope we are able to put are new skills into practice tomorrow! 

:)

Lunch at Eddie's Footlong Hot Dogs

After a great moring of canoe training on Woodcock Lake we had lunch in a local place called "Eddie's Footlong Hot Dogs". As the name of the joint suggests we had some footlong hot dogs with all kinds of toppings that we could choose from. I decided to have a plain hotdog only with ketchup on it, accompanied by some great french fries. After lunch we went to an ice cream  place right across the street from the Hot Dog joint  called " Casey's". There were an incredible different types of flavors that we could choose from. Overall we had a delicious lunch and spent a nice time all together!

Water Chemistry Upstream

Yesterday morning, we, Creek Campers, went to the upstream to do some water chemistry. We conducted the same tests on the water that we did downstream, so that we could compare the results. We tested for PH,  total dissolved solids, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, nitrogen and phosphorous. We collected the  data in order to compare it to the data collected downstream and see what water is more healthy relative to its location to the dam. For each single water test we had different kits with different intructions to follow. We found out that the temperature downstream and upstream were very close 23 and 24 degrees Celsius. Many other chemical parameters such as pH and alkalinity were really close as well. Others instead such as turbidity and total dissolved solids differed slightly between the water samples collected upstream and downstream. Compared to Monday morning when we first did the test downstream,  it took us less time as we had already gotten to know the test kits and most of us already knew the steps to follow to test for the chemical parameters. 

Yesterday we used the nets to ensnare various macro-invertebrates so that we can compare the estimated water quality/cleanliness of the upstream water to the quality of the downstream water. We estimated the cleanliness of the water by referring to the macro-invertebrates and their pollution intolerance.

Penn's Woods Exploring

After an exciting morning of electrofishing with the DNR, we headed over to learn about different trees and to do some core drilling with Stacia-Fe, a student at Allegheny College. We paired together and set out into the woods to pick out a few trees to sample. We then completed sampling two different trees and returned back to the pavilion to review our tree core samples! We have to leave for a canoe trip!

Bat Watching

Last night, we went out and tried to find flying bats. Before we did that Terry, the bat expert, showed us a few types of bats and where they like to live. Also so of the things they like to eat and how big their wingspan is. When he FINALLY opened the bat boxes we saw and heard at least 60 bats. As it got lster they bats were getting more active but still not getting out of the box. So Terry raised the box high enough so that they all cam rushing out in groups of three. That was a fun filled night.It was totally worth the bug bites!!  

Electrofishing

I was the best bucket holder the world had ever seen. I looked like a dime and a half. Two of the Pennsylvania DEP agents came to Woodcock and showed everyone how to electrofish. It is a pretty simple process. You shock the fish into submission then catch them in a net. The great diversity found in the fish we caught was an indicator of the health of Woodcock creek. We caught over 10 diferent species of fish!! We even played a game of fish bingo. Andrew won.

Giant Sandbox and Geology Fun!!!

So today's geology activity was supaaaaa fun! We got to go into the basement of the geology building and interact with a stream table (aka, the most awesome sandbox ever). Despite all of our goofing off, we actually learned a lot about how a stream flows in nature. We then labeled and identified many properties of a stream. We identified where erosion was present in the stream, where noticeable terraces were located, and where meanders or bends in the stream could be found. Of course there was time for fun too! We all built a pretty sturdy dam, and by sturdy I mean it lasted for MORE than three minuets. The sand throwing was also real nice, and plenty of dirty shirts came out of that. Dan and I even successfully built a waterfall, not the prettiest one might I add, but still impressive. After all the stream table fun, we were able to look at a seismometer, which Sam so kindly showed us! It was really cool to actually see how a seismometer tracks disturbances on the earth. Overall it was a great activity and a great day! I can't wait until tomorrow!

It is Summer! But look! Tests!

Today, the eight members of the group ventured out to Woodcock Creek to do some testing. These tests were used to determine different levels of certain things in the creek's water. Some of the things tested were: Temperature, pH, Total dissolved solids, Turbidity, Oxygen levels, Nitrogen and Phosphorous. All of these tests were done in the rain! All things are well here at Allegheny and I can not wait for the rest of the week! More to come this week from the creek! AMDG

The River of Macros!

This morning we got to search for Macroinvertebrates! What are macroinvertebrates? Don't worry, I didn't have much of an idea either. They are animals, without a spine, that you can see, and it is in the water. They are very diverse and can range from crayfish to Caddisfly larva. The first thing we did was collect the macroinvertebrates. We got into groups, got a yellow net with two poles on the end, and stepped into the water. The water wasn't too cold, but the current was really strong! It was difficult to hold to net. After we got into the water, we had to gather rocks that were VERY slimy and put them on the bottom of the net. Next, we danced in the water in order to bring up all of the silt and the wildlife that was in the water. After that we took the wildlife out of the water. We then picked out the different wildlife that we picked out on a table. We found many different organisms including crayfish. We found out that the stream was considered fairly clean.

Geocaching like a boss

When we were assembled as a group, Will demonstrated for those who did not already know how to use the small, handheld device we were given. Some of us who have had previous experience with handheld GPS's just kind of hung out for a minute. After the 'proper use' of the GPS's was clarified, we were split up into groups of 2-3 campers. Each group was given coordinates to a container with the next destination. Along the way, the counselor(s) paired with each group pointed out different buildings throughout the campus.

Teambuilding 

I arrived to camp and imediatly the fun had already began! We started with the generic get to know eachother. After getting to know a little bit about eachother we started a game of kickball. Which of course my team won. After kickball we played a game of telestrations, which everyone quickly picked up on! All in all the teambuilding experience was a good one. 

That was a Dam good tour!

The group went to the Woodcock Dam and had a tour of the different gate systems. One of the dam operators (Joe Arnett) explained about the four mission of this dam: Flood Control, Low Flow Augmentation, Navigation and Recreation.

Frogs, Salamanders, and Snakes Oh My!

So today once we came back from the Fish hatchery we got to hang out a few minutes before April Claus pulled up in her mini van. She had brought so many critters for us to look at and then learn about. First we started with Frogs and Toads. These were cool because she had a spring peeper and bullfrog. They are really cool. Then we caught a gray tree frog on our hike in the rain.  Next we did the salamanders and learned about Hell-benders that we were going to hunt for but couldn't because of the rain. They were really cool, all different colors and sizes. We even got to play a quiz game that we tried to remember the different critters. Then we did snakes. We got to see the two snakes she brought eat a worm and a small dead baby mouse. I am not a fan of snakes. I barely got close enough to see them eat. It scared me because they hung on to the tweezers and almost got out of their bins. I also stayed far away from the people that were holding the snakes. Then we went up and looked for our own frogs and salamanders. It was rainy and wet but fun because we found 8 species of salamanders and one species of frogs. Laura M.

The hatching of creatures

Today unfortunately the canoe trip up the creek was cancelled because of the flash flooding, but that is a good thing because we got to go see a hatchery. This was one of the most fun things we did at camp. As we walked in there was a large display of fish. At the bottom and sticking to the sides were two large catfish. It seemed like there were about 100 fish in the one tank. Then, we went downstairs and saw all of the eggs. In the bottom floor the men raise the fish from eggs to fingerlings and then put them into a lake. The lakes are sectioned off there is one section free for fishing and the sanctuary for preservation. Even in this weather there were people still in the lakes working. Even if the weather wasn't on our side, it turned out to be loads of fun!