Carkeek Park

Until this trip, I had never been to Carkeek park before. Well, maybe. I remember as a kid my mom took me out somewhere where we did some tidepooling while being guided by a group of experts (or maybe they just seemed like experts since 6 years old). After Gwen mentioned that there are a lot of people who go there to do tidepooling it made me wonder if this is where that experience took place, but for the life of me I really don't know.

I had fun there, I like having a few hours in my life carved out to walking around in nature. I really like that there is a hands-on element to learning in this class and at Carkeek. Having Gwen there to explain things to us with real-world props makes the information stick.

I found the discussion (however brief) of the effects of the Puget Sound's salt water on plants to be particularly interesting. It hadn't occurred to me before that that it could have a positive or adverse effect on plant life, but as soon as it was mentioned it hit me like a big stamp on the forehead reading "Duh".

One question I had after going on this trip was related to the effects of pollution from the trains on the plants. When walking to the wetlands we saw that the leafs on the plants were diseased. How can we do something to fix this without giving up freight lines that are a necessity for modern life?

My second question, as goofy as it is, is just how many plant species live in this park? One thing that I've taken for granted living around here my entire life is that, to me, the woods have always just looked like the woods. I never took the time to really stop and think about the biodiversity of the flora in our region.