With a cool breeze and sunny skies, Valley of Enchantment Elementary students explored nature at the Heaps Peak Arboretum on Friday. Second graders and some first graders from four classes were transported by bus to the day use area on Highway 18 between Running Springs and Sky Forest.
The students were given a packet which they took to various stations and took note of different kind of animal tracks. The animal tracks were impressions in the concrete near a sign identifying them which is part of the nature walk at the facility.
After that there was a trail walk with 25 different Educational Learning stations with information covering everything from local wildlife to trees and fire history in the area. Giant sequoias, dogwoods, fire ecology, a seasonal creek and a natural seep where some of the natural features the students saw and experienced during the trail walk.
After the trail walk, a picnic style lunch with snacks was enjoyed by the students.
Before the end of the trip, all of the kids got together and did a sweep of the entire day use area and gathered all the trash they could find and placed it into the bear proof trash cans.
While this was a second grade field trip, one second grade class is mixed second and first graders. For more information on the Heaps Peak Arboretum, visit the U.S. Forest Service website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/sbnf/recarea/?recid=26393