This past Saturday we attended a Wilderness Survival course and learned quite a few new skills! But knowing what we know now, we're not interested in surviving in the wild anytime soon, if we have anything to say about it.
Posing with our shelter
The course was organised by the City of St. John's, and started at 10 am. It was pretty cold when we were leaving our apartment and little did we know that it'd get colder. By the time we reached Rotary Sunshine Park, where the course was being held, it was 2 degrees colder and snowing. While it was not particularly comfortable, being out in the cold for 5 hours gave us a heightened appreciation for the need for shelter and warmth when surviving in the wild.
We weren't entirely sure what we'd signed up for, but in the end it turned out to be a very practical course on surviving in the wild, with very little equipment, in the terrifying scenario that you get lost on a hike/expedition. In somewhere as sparse and wild as Canada, it's pretty comforting to know this kind of thing.
The course started off indoors, where we learned a bit about preparing a trip plan and the importance of having one. If you're off on an expedition, its good to leave a copy of your trip plan with someone who can come looking for you if you're not back when expected. It reminded us of the film 127 hours...
We then headed outside for a short hike through the park, before starting our first task: building a shelter out of sticks, moss and boughs. Here's a run-down of the process.
Step 1: When you’re choosing a location to build your shelter, make sure to consider the prevailing winds and avoid building your shelter with the door facing into the wind. Also try to build it somewhere on high ground, or on land sloping downwards so that water won’t pool in your shelter.
Step 2: Find an appropriate tree to use to build your shelter. Look for a tree that has split into two trunks at about waist height. Then find a fallen tree or log that is about twice your height. This log fits into the U shape of the tree and is the backbone for the structure.
We weren't entirely sure what we'd signed up for, but in the end it turned out to be a very practical course on surviving in the wild, with very little equipment, in the terrifying scenario that you get lost on a hike/expedition. In somewhere as sparse and wild as Canada, it's pretty comforting to know this kind of thing.
The course started off indoors, where we learned a bit about preparing a trip plan and the importance of having one. If you're off on an expedition, its good to leave a copy of your trip plan with someone who can come looking for you if you're not back when expected. It reminded us of the film 127 hours...
We then headed outside for a short hike through the park, before starting our first task: building a shelter out of sticks, moss and boughs. Here's a run-down of the process.
Step 1: When you’re choosing a location to build your shelter, make sure to consider the prevailing winds and avoid building your shelter with the door facing into the wind. Also try to build it somewhere on high ground, or on land sloping downwards so that water won’t pool in your shelter.
Step 2: Find an appropriate tree to use to build your shelter. Look for a tree that has split into two trunks at about waist height. Then find a fallen tree or log that is about twice your height. This log fits into the U shape of the tree and is the backbone for the structure.
Step 3: Next, collect some logs/sticks and, starting at the bottom of the structure, lay them up against the main log on the both, ensuring that the spaces between the logs are as minimal as possible. This needs to be done all the way up.
Step 4: Then collect some moss and filled up all of the spaces between the small logs. This is the waterproofing for the structure, so you should be diligent in covering all of the gaps. Looking inside the structure after you cover it with moss is a good way make sure that everything is covered because there should be no light shining through.
Step 5: After the structure is covered with moss, it's time to grab some tree boughs and place them on top of the structure, flipped over, so that rain can run right off the structure.
Et voilà! The one we built wouldn’t be large enough to hold that many people, but it did mostly hold up to the rainwater test when the instructor poured a jug of water over it. We were pretty pleased with ourselves.
After both groups completed their shelters, we all went to a fire pit to warm up and discuss survival kits . Many of the objects, like water purifying tablets and matches, were things that you would expect to be included, however there were a few that we weren't expecting to see in the kit. For example, a CD can be used as a signalling device. It reflects the sun and, unlike other reflective devices, you can angle it accurately because you can look through the middle to know where you're directing the light.
After lunch we spent some time building fires. Unfortunately, fire-starting turned out to be a momentous task because all of the wood in the area was damp. We laid out the framework for the fire, then tried to start a flame going with a flint but the sparks wouldn't catch anything. Then we progressed to using matches. 20 minutes later, when none of the groups could get a fire started, we had to progress to using paper and bits of dry wood. Even then it was tough to keep going.
After lunch we spent some time building fires. Unfortunately, fire-starting turned out to be a momentous task because all of the wood in the area was damp. We laid out the framework for the fire, then tried to start a flame going with a flint but the sparks wouldn't catch anything. Then we progressed to using matches. 20 minutes later, when none of the groups could get a fire started, we had to progress to using paper and bits of dry wood. Even then it was tough to keep going.
Sufficiently chilled to the bone, we learned about trailblazing on the way walking back to the chalet. Trailblazing means marking a path as you go along so that you, or someone trying to find you, can use it later on to track where you were. We learned about the various conventions and also that if at any point that you have the option to take more than one trail, you need to make that clear in the markings you leave behind.
Once inside, we went through a survival scenario in groups and had to rank the items that you were given in order from most important to least important. It was a great exercise to bring everything we had talked about together, and we realized that our answers would have been completely different at the beginning of the day - proof that we learned something!
At the tail end of the course, we also went over some basic map and navigation information. Most of it was familiar to us, but neither one of us had heard of the UTM system, which is often used instead of latitude and longitude. We had no clue about it. So yeah, we learned a lot throughout the day.
Once inside, we went through a survival scenario in groups and had to rank the items that you were given in order from most important to least important. It was a great exercise to bring everything we had talked about together, and we realized that our answers would have been completely different at the beginning of the day - proof that we learned something!
At the tail end of the course, we also went over some basic map and navigation information. Most of it was familiar to us, but neither one of us had heard of the UTM system, which is often used instead of latitude and longitude. We had no clue about it. So yeah, we learned a lot throughout the day.
After the course, we figured that we'd go check out some icebergs! There have been quite a few in the past couple of weeks so we went on a little adventure to find one. We decided to drive to Seal Cove and saw a pinnacle iceberg from across Conception Bay. It would have been nice to drive to the other side of the bay to see it closer up, but the zoom on Elizabeth's camera suited us just fine after a long day of surviving.
Here are some more pictures from our weekend!
