Cardigan Mountain

By: Elizabeth H.

BLUE

Sep. 30^th- Oct 2^nd 2007

Location: Cardigan Mountain is located in Alexandria New Hampshire, north of Bristol. The latitude of it is, 43° 38’57.98 N. The longitude is 71 ° 54’51.35 W.

Description: Mount Cardigan is a very nice hike, the entire hike is about 2 ½ miles up and 2 ½ down from the AMC lodge to the top. Up the mountain there are a lot of sights, and the trails vary, from steep skiing trails to long nature trails. While I was there it was very sunny, and a good temperature for hiking. At the top of the Cardigan it is very windy and much colder than down at the lodge.

At the top of the mountain, there is a large surface of flat rock, because of a fire that cleared it out. At the top of the mountain there is a large fire tower -+Along the trails there are bridges, and along the nature trail my group went on there were some wood plaques labeling the plants.

Things I learned: During the hike up Cardigan my group and I played a game called “plant study” What we did was Tom (our group guide) taught us something about a tree/plant/fungus etc. And then we had to teach the other kids about what we are assigned to. What I learned about was a fungus called “Turkey Tails”. The scientific name for it is Sacrophytes, and it is a mushroom that consumes any dead tree and eats from inside out. I also learned that trees get shorter while the mountain gets steeper. I also learned that the Hemlock tree, droops it’s dead in shame. So whenever I see a tree with its head drooping I know it’s a Hemlock.