Climbing rock ladders. Exploring caves. These adventures may not seem like school, but they are in fact a great opportunity for seniors to learn about Geosystems.

Many seniors took advantage of the long weekend to do self-scheduled Geosystems field trips for extra credit. Seniors chose from a list of suggested field trips and did a write-up on the field trip with pictures in order to receive up to 3 percent of extra credit.

One of the most popular field trips was to Great Falls National Park in Potomac, Md. Students that went on this field trip had to hike the “Billy Goat Trail,” a difficult trail that involved rock scrambling.

“My friends and I saw how the trail we were on practically went up a small, rocky cliff adjacent to the river,” senior Sanjoli Agarwal said. “Climbing the cliff seemed dangerous, combined with the fact that all the rocks and boulders were slippery from the morning showers, but we all managed to do it and the view of the river and fall colors was amazing.”

Another popular trip was exploring Skyline Caverns in Shenandoah, Va. Students were able to see different rock formations.

“We learned about the history of the caverns and how different rocks were formed. We learned the significance of some formations,” senior Helen Zhang said. “I particularly remember the anthodites because they looked like white sea urchins and are very precious.”

For many students, rainy weather posed challenges to completing the field trips. Senior Sophie Bennett had to deal with this when she went on the field trip to Harpers Ferry, W. Va.

“It rained the entire time, so that was a challenge we had to overcome,” Bennett said.