The other day my woman’s studies class and I went on a scavenger hunt at Tanglewood Nature Center in Elmira, N.Y. I had never been to Tanglewood even though my parents live right near it, so this was an opportunity to finally see it. The drive to the nature center was really pretty, and the nature center had a remote feel to it even though it was only ten minutes from downtown Elmira. I was surprised to see that they had signs at the park for timber rattlesnakes warning people to avoid them. This is interesting because I was always told that there was poisonous snakes in that area, but there existence was not acknowledged by the D.E.C for many years. www.tanglewoodnaturecenter.com
My group was given a list of items to find at the nature center. Some of these items included an animal larger than a breadbox, a squirrel, and various colored things. My group and I had a blast finding these things, and even though we weren’t able to find everything on the list the experience was enjoyable. At one point during our hunt we had to find something funny and capture it on film to show the class. My group chose to take a video of me trying to pet a goose; which was actually quite frightening because the goose tried to bite my hand off.
The scavenger hunt was a great experience for me because I hadn’t been on one since I was a kid and it gave me a chance to slow down and appreciate the natural world around me rather than wandering aimlessly like I do when I normally hike. I would recommend doing this activity to any class that has the opportunity to go hiking, and I feel that no matter what your age is you will enjoy it, and it will help you to see details in nature that you may normally pass by unnoticed.
