Topic: Reflections on FGCU Field Trip
This field trip was extremely eye opening for me, and it’s without a doubt the closest I’ve been to nature. I used to spend a lot of time outside when I was younger and lived in New Jersey, but since moving to Florida I’ve spent most of my time inside. I learned a lot about our campus and gained a better appreciation for everything environmental FGCU has to offer.
When we entered the nature trail, I was extremely nervous about what was ahead. But as we started walking, I actually started to enjoy myself (despite the fact that I was on the lookout for snakes). We saw some areas that were torn up by the wild hogs on campus, which are a non-native species in Florida. We also saw some Melaleuca Trees, which are also not native to Florida. We learned that they are extremely aggressive and when you try to cut them down, they spread their seeds everywhere. As we continued our walk down the trail, the path became more wet and muddy. Soon we were trudging through deep mud which eventually turned into a water trail.
Before long, I was up to my knees in water. Even though the water looked dark and muddy, our tour guides let us know that the water was extremely clean and only looked gross because of the dark mud. I made my way through the trail nearly falling a couple of times. Between my shoes being old and continually getting stuck in the mud, the rubber soles of my shoes completely came off!!
After what seemed like forever, we finally exited the wet trail and walked over to where the hammock usually is. The student naturalists said that walking through the wet trails can be extremely relaxing, and even though I laughed at first, I’m starting to think that they’re right. I’m actually looking forward to doing another one of these wet trail walks in the fall.
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