Battle Park

A little over a week ago, for my Field Methods class we went to Battle Park. Our assignment was to use GPS to find various locations, find where we were using a topographic map, and then measure strike/dip, trend/plunge, or elevation using our Brunton compasses. Normally it's not especially helpful to do those measurements on trees and boulders because it doesn't tell you anything about the geology, but in Chapel Hill there aren't a lot of outcrops, so that's what the teachers had us measure so we could get some practice. They marked the rocks and trees with chalk. It took a while for my partner and I to figure out what we were doing, but after a while we got the hang of it. We didn't finish, so the rest was homework. I decided to check out a GPS right after class and bring Ryan and the kids with me to do it the next day. Good thing, too, because the next day was Sunday and Sunday night it rained and washed off most of the chalk marks.

It's a beautiful and peaceful park and it was a lovely walk. 

Here is Kevin playing with a big stick (his favorite type of toy) and I am  measuring the trend and plunge of that line on the tree.

Turns out there's an old septic tank in the park.