Sycamore State Park

Sycamore State Park was a smaller park since we have started our park journeys. One of the things that is an unofficial number one rule is: go with the flow. The first thing, after we decide which park we are traveling too is read the history biography on the OhioDNR website. We don't plan what to collect or what we want to see as we hike. According to OhioDNR, " Settlers were attracted to this area because of the fertile soil. When the Miami-Erie Canal was completed in 1829, the area became quite prosperous. Underlying the rich fertile soils were vast beds of gravel and sand providing excellent materials for road making. Hundreds of miles of roads were built in the county with these materials making it one of the most accessible during the state’s infancy. At one time, the land comprising Sycamore State Park was purchased by a development corporation to build a housing project. When the corporation was unable to complete the construction, the lands were offered to the state of Ohio. Sycamore was dedicated as a state park in November 1979.

E discovered something new on our walk through the trail, he discovered moss. We touched it and E describes it as "soft and bouncy and it came back up after he touched it." We wanted to learn a little more about moss because the only thing mom and dad know about moss is that is grows on the north side of trees, rocks, etc. Even typing that I cannot say that "the fact I told him" is one hundred percent true. So, after looking at the moss and we found it in a few more places we looked it up! How perfect is it that you walk around with a dictionary in your pocket! 

Here is what we learned...
  • Mosses are low-growing ground cover.
  • Moss don't flower or produce seeds, but instead reproduce by branching and fragmentation. They can regenerate from very small bits of their own leaves, stems, or spores.
  • There are around 9,000 different species of moss on the earth.
  • Moss doesn't only grow on the north side of surfaces. In the northern hemisphere, moss grows on the north side of surfaces, but in the southern hemisphere moss most typically grows on the south side of surfaces.

We traveled along the trail which was partly paved and used the maps for reference. The boys loved using the maps to decide where we were going to do next. Silly boys, they are still really just learning what maps are and what they are used for when we go on an adventure. 

E is learning what a compass rose is and what we use it for on our adventures as well. Because I live and am surrounded by boys all the time... we also got our hands dirty.

We found out that beneath this huge rock lived a little city of worms.. yes worms. I tried to get E to touch one but it was a no go. It was really cool because you can even see it in the picture where all of the "cracks" are in the mud- it is actually the worm tracks or burrows that they have dug out of the dirt and mud to get to the top of the ground. We even saw one in process! Cool or disgusting? You decide, but thankfully he didn't want to look up any worm facts. On the right below we also found a REALLY c o o l plant. It almost like like it is part of the succulent family, but it was really displaced in the middle of the woods and growing out of paved dead end. Also at this dead end we saw something that gave me the shivers...


Claw marks? Animal? BOBCAT? Now, not to talk crazy but could it be? 

I will be instantly googling this information... do you know?

This adventure ended up in a large stick collection. Let's take one guess who was the boy collecting all of the sticks... yup. When we lined them all up we decided to teach E to notice size differences and answer the question "Which is taller? Where does it belong?" He is really good when he needs to find the difference, but he actually struggled with the question "Where does this belong?" It was a really good opportunity for him to learn a different discovery question. We worked earlier on differences and now this time we were learning what happens after you find out something is different. I love watching him learn!


Final discovery, or better yet, question!


WHAT IS THIS or the better question, what BUILT this?!

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