This morning was one of the most important of all our days. We had to go hike a couple of miles of trails to go research Pikas. We hiked in the Death Canyon. We all heard Pika but one of our groups did see one, and only one. Then we left our spots after two or three times of researching. The next spot we went to had some of the Pika calling back and forth to each other but they were not able to be seen. After a round of researching we had to keep moving to get to the van before it rained. When we got back to campus we did the final cleaning of hoorahs and we cleaned the van. Then we unpacked our packs and then went to the outfitter and returned the stuff we needed for hiking and then did a equipment check. Now I am waiting to go have dinner. Then we will celebrate the great week we had together and go to sleep for the last time in these Wyoming bed and in the next morning we will finish packing and say good bye to that Wyoming air.
-Jordan Martin-
Hello. This is Brendan Massar writing for Morgan Wilson Rachel Mencer and Maddie Swope. Obviously they didn't want to write this, so I am doing it for them. We started the day early and drove to death canyon. We began our perilous hike down to the boulder fields where we began our search for the elusive Pika. A pika is a Lagomorph, and it is related to rabbits and hares. However it looks more like a tailless mouse. We sat in our groups (four groups comprised of three people each!and began to scope, time and record. At first only one group saw some Pika, but by the third experiment my group saw one as well. To be fair, only I saw it but I digress. Then a storm rolled in, so we said, "Allons-y!" (which means come along in French) and went back to the school. Dion graciously told us about his research in geology. Then as a special treat we polished off our regular activities with some more action on the low ropes course, which we did really well on. Then Cameron, Morgan, Willem and I decided to end the night with a game of soccer. Yet as we were playing we noticed dark shapes moving towards us.a moose had entered our camp. We cleared everyone in to a path and I went to find someone with Bear Spray (which is like a super strong pepper spray) but luckily we didn't need it. The moose went through our camp not even taking notice at the large group of people who had gathered to see the moose mother and her calf. After that minor fiasco, we decided to play apples to apples with the "creative and talented youth" club who had arrived that day. Then we got to bed early for our long day of travel ahead.
This is Brendan Massar, writing for other people, signing off from Jackson Wyoming for the last time.
Phleps Lake
Not a pika but kept us company on the talus field.
Compiling research data on the porch.
Return to low ropes as part of our reflection.
Cow moose and calf walking through campus the last night.
