Weather
at Beckley, West Virginia
(Note: Beckley is about 100 miles away and 1000 feet lower in elevation.)
Wetland Plant Ecology Field Trips
Lab-Period Trips (Required)
August 24, 26 (Lab 1): We'll collect plants on campus and bring them back to the lab.
September 28, 30 (Lab 5): We'll be visiting a salt marsh at Waites Island near Little River. Regular boots or old tennis shoes will do fine--very shallow water if any at all. Be prepared for heat, mosquitoes, and mud. Chiggers are possible. Sunscreen for the fair-of-skin. You'll be out in the open for an hour and a half or so. If you plan to go on the West Virginia trip, see below.
October 12, 14 (Lab 6): We'll be visiting a "Carolina bay" off Highway 90. Rubber knee boots or old tennis shoes will do fine. Be prepared for heat, mosquitoes, and mud.
October 26, 28 (Lab 7): We'll be digging in the mud near the campus. You will get good and dirty. Rubber boots or old shoes. Maybe a sacrificial handkerchief to wipe the mud off your hands and face.
November 2, 4 (Lab 8): If the Waccamaw River ever goes down, we'll be in a swamp forest near Conway, right beside the old bridge into downtown. Be prepared for lots of mosquitoes and mud. Chiggers are possible, so don't sit on anything.
November 16, 18 (Lab 9): We'll be visiting 1 or 2 wetlands around campus. No special preparations other than rubber boots or old shoes. We'll be digging in the mud a little bit.
West Virginia Trip (voluntary) -- October 7-10: Cranberry Glades Botanical Area
TRAVEL
AND CONTACT INFORMATION
Give
this information to a friend or relative
in case you need to be
reached!!
Here we'll be visiting a series of wetlands similar to northern peat bogs. We'll be camping out for three nights. The campsite is at an elevation of about 3500 feet, which means subfreezing temperatures are likely! Icy cold rain and gusty winds are also possibilities. Read this introduction to Cranberry Glades to give you a better idea of what you're getting into.
Weather
at Beckley, West Virginia
(Note:
Beckley is about 100 miles away and 1000 feet lower in elevation.)
When We're Going: We'll leave from the Science Building parking lot Thursday October 7 at 8:00 AM SHARP!!! This should get us to the campsite at 4:00-5:00 pm. Assume that it will be dusk when we get there, so have a flashlight ready to set up your tent.
Where We're Going: We'll be staying at an informal campsite, NOT A DEVELOPED CAMPGROUND. There will be no facilities of any sort available at the time we get there. There is a visitor center a short drive away, but this will be open only during daylight hours. There is a pay telephone outside the visitor center. During our stay there, we will have two entire days to hike/drive around. A more specific agenda will be forthcoming.
What You Should Bring: See the detailed list. Bring a good tent, sleeping pad, and WARM sleeping bag. Bring LOTS of warm clothes, including long underwear, gloves, wool socks, heavy coat with hood, raingear, and reasonably waterproof hiking boots. We will be poking around the edges of wetlands, but we will not venture into any deep muck or water. Don't figure on being able to take a real bath; you probably won't be sweating much anyway.
Bring simple but hearty food that you can cook over a small stove or open fire. This will be cushy camping--the van will be a few dozen yards away, so you can bring a cooler, meat, cheese, milk, pre-made soup, etc. We'll make a last-minute stop in Richwood for ice and such, but then we'll drive about 25 miles into the mountains. We will not make any trips back into town.
When We'll Be Back: On Sunday October 10, we'll need to leave Cranberry by 10:00 am to get back to CCU by 6:00 pm or so.