Whether you’re a nature enthusiast or a budding wilderness expert, this is the camp where you become a survival superstar. From learning to start a fire with friction and filter dirty water to make it crystal clear! This week we built and practiced our backcountry survival skills, then put them to the test. We had the adventure of a lifetime!
Monday to welcome us to camp we took some time to explore the Huntington River and build some dams as well as practice our rock skipping. We enjoyed some field games and some cool off games in the woods like Camouflage. In the afternoon we learned some survival skills such as knot tying and Shelter building (with tarps, and rope) and going through different survival scenarios to plan what we should do.
Tuesday morning, we switched shelter building gears to work on debris shelters. We learned the different aspects of a shelter and the importance of making a good one too. we worked on team building through a blindfold race, and later in the day worked on plant ID and foraging for tea we would enjoy later in the week. In the afternoon we walked to the brook to cool off and search for aquatic critters. We also learned about to build a water filter with moss, charcoal, and a coffee filter.
Wednesday, we continued to work on our shelters, then we went on a scavenger hunt using maps of Audubon trails. Our scavenger hunt took us all the way up to look out rock! In the afternoon after all the hiking we cooled off at the river and then go a lesson in orienteering and compasses. We then look the idea of maps and made some sounds maps of Audubon too.
Thursday we got ready to build fires, in the morning we worked together to collect sticks of various sizes (tinder, kindling, and fuel) to then us later in the day. We created and then executed an obstacle course in the woods and then learned about different fire structures. In the afternoon we then made our fires and got to practice lighting them with flint and steel. Then as a group we made a big fire and made a chocolate cake (yummmm). We ended our day with some sit spots and working on our shelters.
Friday, our final day of survivor camp- and we survived this long! We enjoyed our favorite games from the week and then explored Beaver pond (finally since it cooled down) and the brook. In the afternoon we perfected our fire building skills, enjoyed sores and got to share our time with our adults at closing circle.
