A Long Walk

On Thursday Classtopia went on a field trip to http://debspark.audubon.org/ Debs Audubon Center. All Classtopians were very exited when they arrived. This past Monday all Classtopians did some research about Debs Audubon Center. The website showed bird watching. When we arrived at the location we saw a big wall that said "Audubon Center At Debs Park ".
                                        


This is the big sign in front of the park.

When we entered the park we saw two buildings and two small ponds. We were asked to put all of our lunches and personal belongings in one room. As soon as we walked out of the room that we put our lunch in, we walked up to the first pond. This pond had lily pads, tadpoles, and a big turtle. Then we walked to the second pond and that pond had many tadpoles I got to see a huge tadpole.

                                                     


This is a flower that came from the lily pad.

After we were done looking at the ponds me and Luisangel noticed a hut made out of straw. I said " It is a Chumash hut!" All of the Classtopians ran over to see the hut. The Chumash were a group of Native Americans who lived on the coast of California. All of the Classtopians were bunched up on the bridge leading to the hut trying to take a picture.

This is a picture of the Chumash hut.

                       

This is all of the Classtopians trying to see the Chumash hut.

After we were done with looking at the hut. The rangers gathered all of the Classtopians and said that we will be going on a hike. We were surprised because we thought that we were going to bird watch. We got a special hike down to the nursery to see native plants. The trail we took to the nursery was steep and a little scary. We all got to the nursery safely. We saw a big Black Walnut tree and a baby Black Walnut tree. They showed us dice made from the walnut that the Native People used to play with.

These are the baby walnuts on the big walnut tree.

After we left the nursery we walked up the hill and saw a huge pile of trash. This was sad to see because some body just dumped the trash in nature. The trash can harm the wild life. This was not very nice. I wish I knew who did this so I can dump all of this trash on his/her front yard. Lets see how they  would feel.

                                                        
   

This is the trash.

 After we left the trash site, we continued on the journey. We stopped at an area where we found shell in the crack of the hill. We were asked to figure out how the shells got. We found out that a long time ago that whole place was a part of the Pacific Ocean. That was amazing. The hike to the top of the hill was atrocious! we walked 1 1/2 miles up the hill. It felt like twenty.  At the top was something wonderful. We saw a cashew shaped pond. Inside of that pond were two ducks, a family of turtles, and a bullfrog. The bullfrog caught my attention because I have never seen a  bullfrog before.                                   



This is the bullfrog.

After we came down the three mile hill we ate a good lunch. I had a Subway sandwich. When we were done eating two of the rangers came out with two snakes. One of the snakes was a gopher snake and the other snake was a king snake. The gopher snake was huge. The snake was the size of Christopher. That is about four feet. The king snake was also about three to four feet. King snakes eat rattle snakes. The gopher snake eats gophers. I touched both snakes. The gopher snake felt like I was touching a crocodile. It was stiff. The king snake felt very squishy and cold.

This field trip was amazing. I loved this field trip even though it was tiring it was worth it. I got to appreciate the environment a lot more today. Now I am a junior ranger and I will tell everyone I know to take care of the environment around them. Thank you Debs Audubon Center for a wonderful day. Remember viewers take care of the environment around you!.