The Gonzalez sisters glided back to the shore in their kayak after a half-hour paddle around Hopewell Lake.
Jared Brandt, French Creek State Park naturalist, was there to steady the kayak as the sisters scrambled out.
“That was tiring,” 10-year-old Maria sighed as she splashed onto dry land.
Her 13-year-old sister, Annette, was a little more appreciative of the experience.
“It was very pretty on the lake,” she said. “The view was very fresh.”
She added that getting a little soaked on a hot day made it more fun.
The sisters from Bridgeport, Montgomery County, were among 19 children to participate in a nature experience recently at French Creek through the Centro Cultural Latinos Unidos, whose mission is to bridge American and Latino cultures and connect families with educational, recreational, legal and health services, according to the organization’s website.
The Pottstown-based nonprofit’s executive director, Rita Paez, also took a spin around the lake in a kayak.
This is the 12th year for the program at the lake, she said.
“It gives kids a chance to do something that they may not otherwise get to do,” she said, “and something they enjoy and get to breathe a little freely.”
Allowing the kids to tire themselves out a bit played right into the next educational component of the visit, cosponsored by the Schuylkill River Greenways.
Ayashe Ramey, education director for the Greenways, gathered the kids next to a cove at the lake to teach them about the critters they could find there and instructed them on how to safely bring the macroinvertebrates back to shore for study before releasing them.
It also gave them another opportunity to go splashing in the lake one more time.
After helping the rest of the kayakers to shore, Brandt set out to capture a dragonfly to show to the kids.
“My job is to help connect them to the resource,” Brandt said as he wielded a net against the fast-flying aquatic insects.
“A lot of them never paddled before, and this is a wonderful lake to paddle for the first time — calm, nothing crazy going on, no power boats,” he said.
He caught a dragonfly on his third swish of the net and carefully held it by the wings to show the kids.
They gathered around him as he explained the life cycle of the insect and how they can find the dragonfly nymphs that live for two years in the lake before emerging as adult dragonflies.
He showed them how to safely hold a dragonfly by its wings and handed it to one of the girls.
She held it for a few moments and then placed it in her friend’s open hand.
The dragonfly paused for a moment, shook its wings and zoomed away as all eyes watched it return to the lake.
Source: Berkshire mont
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