October 27th I woke up to 38 degree coldness. However the sun was bright and the weather forecast called for warmer weather as the day progressed. I packed my bag with food, a notebook, pencil, and a camera. I hadn't been hiking in years and more than anything I was looking forward to what I would see when I was out there. Bears, moose, deer. Maybe I was a little too overzealous but I was excited. Ricky and I started up the trail following the white spots on the trees. Ricky mentioned that he heard that this was the only place on the northeastern United States where rattlesnakes were still common. The moment he said that I stepped on a 3-foot long gartersnake. Ricky got a big kick out of that. We pushed on through the trails, occasionally stopping to climb a boulder. I had never been there before and Ricky had so he was going to take me to a place where the view was breathtaking. However getting there was the best part. We climbed up rocks that were impossible to climb and saw caves that were invisible from the ground. A few times we stopped long enough to take a look as to how high we actually were. Each time we stopped we could see more and more of the trees and wilderness. When we finally arrived at the top of this mountain-like structure we both paused, breathing in the fresh air simultaneously, feeling satisfaction in the feat that we had accomplished.After lunch we both performed the same activity as we did when we went to Odiorne Point. I lied flat on the rock and looked toward the sky, at that moment a flock of Canadian geese flew over us. I had out my notebook and pencil and wrote down what I heard. It was like being on vacation, the birds were chirping, we could hear the leaves being blown against the rocks, a stream flowing under the rocks, and an occasional plane flying above. We could hear the birds chirping but we couldn't see them, except for the Canadian geese. It was like they were hiding from us.

Maybe a lot of them had migrated south by now. I was shocked to see such a high population of chipmunks. I was even more shocked to not find one piece of pollution. Not one candy wrapper, piece of paper or tissue, nothing. Along with the chipmunks being plentiful there were also a lot of acorns, both eaten and uneaten. Ricky and I used this "squirrel food" to throw at people. Nobody was injured but we scared a lot of people. I was disappointed to not find any endangered species, I guess that's why they are endangered. I figured I might though because Pawtuckaway is a protected habitat. Throughout the trip I did however manage to find every spider web in the Pawtuckaway area. We didn't see any other organisms though, I think it's because we were too occupied in trying to find the big stuff. However we did see chipmunk after chipmunk after chipmunk...

Several times on the way back to my car I noticed several areas that looked they could be vernal ponds. Although we did see a pretty big wetland area. It was full of dead trees and it had a lot of plants growing out of it, no birds though. Overall it was a great experience being out in the wilderness with our knapsacks on and climbing up the rocks and throwing acorns at strangers. I think it would be even better though if we could just take a month or so and live off the land. I imagine it would be very difficult to get food, but it would be a great experience trying. Maybe next semester!!!