* YouthCaN hike the world*

Pelham Bay Park October 4,2004
Hikers:

*Linda

*Deneva

*Edwin

*Jay

*Diane

*Adriana

*Alvaro
Hello everyone,
Here in the New York area today, we had a great hike to the Pelham Bay Park in NY City. This park is the largest park in New York City. Jay led most of the interpretation, but everyone contributed discoveries. We examined forest, marsh and seashore environments/habitats. In addition to learning what poison ivy looks like and what it may do to our skin, we nonchallantly decided to explore (through touch) what poison ivy can do to us! ;-(
We also observed and captured some crabs for Jay to take back to the museum for his classes. Lindal, Deneva and I discovered lots of crabs under rocks and other items on the rocky beaches. Many of the crabs were "hermit" crabs which live in the empty snail shells.
Jay told us about the trees as we walked along our hike. And he showed us where NYC is trying to restore the salt marsh -- which acts as a natural anti-polluan. We saw lots of white egrets. We had a great time! Ed
Hike to Pelham Bay Park 10-04-03:

As we entered Pelham bay, the temperature was chilly, probably around the mid 60s. We walked along the pathways while Jay showed us the different varieties of plants and trees in Pelham bay. He also drew our attention to some invasive plants such as the aster & japanese yew and a few native one like the goldenrod . After a while, we hiked through the forest areas along the trail and noticed that the forest floor in Pelham bay was covered with rich soil compared to the soils seen in areas such as my local park, my backyard garden, and most of the soils along the streets of New York City. I've also noticed that there were a couple of uprooted falling trees in which I had constantly considered it as being very destructive and unpleasant to the habitat; I simply wished that the people would remove all these falling trees. However, as peek through the holes in the tree, I notice that they were occupied by several animals liked spiders, centipedes, worms, squirrels, beetles, and a variety of fungus which may explain why most falling trees were not removed from many parks and forest areas. As we continued our journey along the trail, my friend Deneva saw a vine wrap around a tree which she thought was doing harm to the tree. Deneva immedietly unfold the vine, as Jay spots her, he then told her not to touch it. To our surprise, the vine was a poison ivy (Deneva had to wait until she got some water to wash off her hands).
Shortly after this incident, we continued to hike along the trail. Jay caught sight of some yellow feather that were scattered in an area and predict that it was probably attacked by a cat. Continuing along this trail, we've encountered a difficult point in time where the bushes had grown really tall. I was poked with the thorns several of times; we finally decided to take a different route. We got out the forest and headed to the beach region before the tide comes in.
While walking along the beach shores, we saw evidence of a party that had been taking place. All of us were surprised at seeing an abundant of coconuts, candles holders, party bags, toys, and other materials that were left on the shores. We then settled to the area that was populated with hermit crab shells and resolved on collecting and bringing them back to the discovery room. As we collected some hermit crabs and empty shells, we noticed that some of them were molted; we also saw some shell belonging to as the razor one which we thought was very interesting because of its long appearance. We took some hermit crabs and left for the other end of the beach. Walking along the shores again, we saw millions of muscle attached to the sand and rocks and several men fishing. We each picked up interesting shells and went to jay for his identification book he had with him. Diane, found a shell called the 'common shell' which I've never seen before.
Afterward, Deneva and I went and search for fitler crabs that usually hides under the sand.It was difficult for the two of us to see the fitler crabs come out without making any noise or movement. Later on, Ed lifted up several rocks , to our surprise there were as many as thirty Japanese shore crabs that came running out in all directions. Afterwards, we decided to go and search for star fish as we continue to pay attentions to the unusual shells there. We weren't able to see any star fish and decided to head home since the weather got colder.

During this expedition, I had seen and learn many new things. This was my first time getting to see how a poison ivy actually looks. I also got to see pollutions left by humans and what creature it may affect on the beach. I've also learned that one of the easiest way to find crabs is by lifting up rocks found close by the shores. Most importantly this expedition made me more aware of the many tiny creatures the environment contains and how these creatures will be affected if we take advantage of our environment.

Linda