Today, we ventured to the Carranza Memorial and Apple Pie Hill via the Batona Trail. We departed school at 9 am, and after a 40-minute bus ride, we arrived at our first destination, which was the Carranza Memorial.
The monument was built in honor of Emilio Carranza, a Mexican aviator who died in a plane crash in the area in 1928 while on a goodwill flight from Mexico City to New York City. Carranza was a famous aviator in his country, and his death was a significant loss to the Mexican people. The monument was constructed in 1932 by the Boy Scouts of America and the Mexican government as a symbol of friendship between the two nations. It stands as a reminder of Carranza’s bravery and dedication to aviation and serves as a pilgrimage place for Americans and Mexicans alike.
After learning about the historical significance of the memorial and taking photos, we headed to our next destination. The Batona Trail is a 50-mile-long trail in the Pinelands. Many important sights and places in the Pine Barrens are connected to the trail. Our hike began across from the memorial, where we followed the trail marked by a specific blaze marker. This blaze was a pink square that was painted on many trees. During our hike, we observed many differences in terrain, moving from sand to dirt, thick forests to open forests, and fresh trees to burned trees. While walking through, we also observed many incline changes leading to our next stops at apple pie hill and the firetower.
After finishing three-quarters of the Batona Trail, we stopped at the fire tower to eat lunch. The fire tower plays a considerable role in controlling the health of the plant life in the pine barrens. They do this by conducting controlled burns through the forest. In addition, the location of the fire tower allows the park rangers to warn the firefighters when the fire is spreading toward residential areas. Sadly, we could not walk up the fire tower because no park rangers showed up. But we enjoyed the warm sun and a fulfilling lunch.
Finally, on our bus ride returning to school, we stopped at Evergreen Dairy Bar to pick up some delicious treats. We had the choice of many different ice creams. While we were eating the ice cream, we got some great views of military aircraft conducting training exercises. Today was a very successful day, and we got in a 6-mile hike with some great views, ice cream, and extra time to add to our final project movies, making for an eventful and exciting Wednesday.