Samuel Williams Blog Reflection from Class Hike

 Blog Reflection From Hike: November 2nd, 2022

Today's hike was one of the most interesting moments I have had at CNU so far. Our class met at the Lions Bridge, which is about a 30 minute walk away from the Christopher Newport University campus. However, instead of walking, I rode to the location in my friend's car. We all met at the bridge and I had no idea what to expect. The views from the bridge were very pretty, and you could see the James river, the shipyard, and all the small towns across the water. However, the highlight of looking at the river was that I saw two extraordinary sights of nature. I saw a feeding frenzy of small fish blowing up right next to the shore as well as a large group of pelicans flying above them. Pelicans are my favorite bird, and I loved watching them swim, dive, and fly very close to me. It was also very fun watching the feeding frenzy. However, I could not tell what was blowing up through the water as the fish were splashing very quickly. I thought that the predatory fish were either spanish, mackerel, false albacore, or jack crevalles. Most likely they were small spanish mackerel. When it came to the actual hike itself, I had a pretty good time. Dr Redick taught us all kinds of different things about trees, plants, and reading nature. Before we even went into the woods, we stopped at a large statue and Dr Redick described to us the significance and history of the statue. Turns out, this whole area is full of history, and the lecture behind the statue explained the significance of the area. After the lesson about the statue, we actually went into the forest and learned about trees. Dr Redick clearly had lots of experience with trees and nature, and he told us all kinds of things that I would never have known anywhere else. The forest walk was also very pretty, as you could see the signs of fall showing on all of the trees in the woods. We walked for probably about a quarter of a mile, but we saw lots pof pleasant scenery in the woods while we were walking there. Overall, I rather enjoyed this hike because not only was it very pleasant, but I learned a lot about nature that I was not taught in boy scouts, making it educational as well.