Field Trip! Little River Canyon

Today, we headed to Little River Canyon and DeSoto State Park in northeastern Alabama so that Ardmore students could experience camping, hiking and learning to weave longleaf pine baskets from the park naturalist. Thanks to a grant from PPG, this field trip was free to students!

Our first stop was Little River Canyon Center, where students took a botany hike, visited the falls and got a lesson on native snakes from Sierra Reavis. Sierra was an excellent guide and teacher.







Our next stop was DeSoto State Park, where we took the time to set up camp before our class in the nature center.

Brittney Hughes, the park naturalist, is an expert in longleaf pine basketry. We spent a few hours learning from her and making our own small baskets.



The students were excited to get to see the endangered green pitcher plants.



Their favorite part was probably the snake.



After the classes, we headed back to the camp site. Mariya showed us a camping tradition from Kazakhstan: fire potatoes. Yum!



Of course there were also s'mores and games around the campfire...

We have another full day planned for tomorrow.

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