Black River Falls Canoeing Trip

By: Katelyn Green
Mr. Wortman's second and third hour environmental problems class went canoeing down the Black River in Melrose on October 7th. River View In of Melrose donated 23 canoes for the students. The purpose of the student's canoeing was to pick up trash that they saw either in the river and on the sand bars.

Mr. Wortman and the students started on the river about 9:00am, stopped for lunch around 11:30am, and got to North Bend around 2:30pm. "It was very cold in the morning but warmed up after lunch" said senior Elizabeth Becker.

By lunch time two boys had their canoe just about full of trash. They had two plastic lawn chairs, a big blue barrel, and lots of other garbage. At lunch everyone stopped at a large sand bar for about a hour and a half. For lunch Mr. Wortman brought along two grills, hamburgers, hotdogs, carrots, and chips. "For 46 students they ate 52 hamburgers, 36 hotdogs, 2 bags of carrots, and 5 bags of chips. They were hungry students" said Wortman.

While the students were going down the river they got the chance to see many wildlife animals. They saw eagles, hawks, spiders, muskrats, and tiny fish. "We enjoyed the scenery, being out of school, and relaxing" said senior Martha Wilms. Over all the kids enjoyed it and Sparta High will keep this canoeing trip a tradition for years to come.