Wed, Apr 22 2015 - Earth Day at Island Ford (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Lisa Participants: Lisa, SusanF, Adrienne, Larry Cooper, Bruce P, Katrina C, Cathy K, JAM

What an absolutely glorious Earth Day! Mother Nature cooperated fully by gracing us with gentle breezes, dazzling sunshine, and cloudless blue skies. Although our side mission was to pick up trash, there was hardly a piece of litter to be found. Adrienne did rescue a tiny turtle off the trail and carefully relocated her to a safe space. We anticipated finding deep mud after recent heavy rains, but all trails were passable.

We progressed along in looseknit twos and threes, our canine companions, Cooper and Olive, making sure that none of our pack of eight humans strayed too far from the group. A warm welcome was extended to Jack on his very first event with the AOC. We had the entire park virtually to ourselves as we made our way back along the Chattahoochee, swollen from the weekend deluges. We stopped on a boulder on the river to share a few thoughts about Earth Day. Heartfelt words of gratitude for our home, the Earth, mingled with song lyrics by John Denver and a French poet. We also heard from Theodore Roosevelt, among others, on the importance of keeping nature close to our hearts.