Chelsea's Summer in Britian: Mud Holes and Boulders: Wales Part 2

Today was a lab day. But who can complain when you're doing a lab in the middle of Snowdonia National Park in North Wales? We did a study on boulders to try and see if we could tell if the Conwy River Valley was formed by floods or by glaciers. We can tell this by looking for patterns; if the rocks get larger as you move up the valley, it was probably formed by water. If the rocks are mostly random, the valley was formed by a glacier. Furthermore, a valley is V-shaped when formed by a river and U-shaped when formed by a glacier. So, to make a long story short, I measured rocks all morning. It was actually a lot of fun though! I was able to learn how to use and apply a surveyor's compass and got some excellent practice at experimental design!

The valley we studied. (It's U-shaped, that is my first clue!)

Here in Wales, sheep are literally everywhere. In fact, nearly all of the sites we studied today had sheep grazing in the fields! (I can even hear them from my bunk right now!)

The second site we surveyed had the greatest ecological density of boulders. It also had a lot of mud, mud holes, and sinkholes. Hooray for leather hiking boots, wool socks, and rain pants!! Excellent investments for this trip.

Photo break at Site C.

Site D: the beautiful valley (and it's crazy drop-offs....)

After we finished surveying the last site, Andrea and I hiked down the valley to the nearby river rapids and waterfall. Here's some pictures:

The hardest part was getting back up the valley...phew! For dinner I had a delicious vegetable lentil pie and finished it off with this delicious double-decker cookie.

After dinner was my favorite part of the day: hiking this mountain, all the way to the top, with just a few other girls. It was amazing and the views were once-in-a-lifetime. We watched the sun set from the top.