While we all know how to go about our lives with roofs over our heads and light switches at our fingertips, this week at Audubon we learned how to survive in the woods. Navigating by compass and sticking under shelters bound by ferns are a couple of many outdoor skills we acquired.

Started the day by learning knots and bracelet making

                         How do you make a shelter out of nature you ask?

Before

After

Etc...

We would not be able to venture the forest alone!

Being lead to identify trees by touch and scent

Finding a woodpecker's lunch while feeling these trees

Finding our way with a compass after a day of map-making

Introduced to Fire

Supervising each other while striking matches

Didn't take long before we took the next step

Three fire methods included: Log cabin, A-frame and Teepee

Our Camel's Hump Adventure:

Highlights from Staff

"We were hiking down Camel's Hump, about a mile from the summit, and a camper commented, "I don't remember this root".  :)  -Jamie

"Though the world economy may be uncertain in these times of political rift and global instability, the economy down at the Huntington River on Wednesday was absolutely booming.  The evidence of this prosperity was abundant: rocks were skipped, boats were built, and frogs and minnows were caught.  But what was behind this economic boom?  Well, it was a simple product created by a few visionary entrepreneurs.  It was a product called “cannibalistic moose poop”.  Yes that’s right, “free-range, ethically raised, environmentally friendly, and organic cannibalistic moose turd”.  The product hit the community of campers by storm, and soon there was an entire workforce of harvesters, producers, and marketers dedicated to the distribution and sale of the product.  The success of the “cannibalistic moose turd” corporation was so profound it even spurred further innovations leading to a rival company creating a product called “putty”.  This business, however, was a rival in name only.  By the end of the day, “cannibalistic moose turd” and “putty” had collaborated to combine their respective products into the best possible commodity to ever hit the shelves of the Huntington River.  As one of few fortunate enough to experience this collaborative creation first hand, I can decidedly say that the experience of squishing a ball of “putty” mixed with “cannibalistic moose turd” is unparalleled."

-Adam

"It's canabalistic Moose turd, it's very poisonous" Campers talking about their collection of algae from exploring the river and shaping them into spheres.

-Molly

Orienteering Test: "Left, Left, Left, STOP, okay, now walk straight, okay now STOP!" Then the sound of crunching dead leaves came as a camper walks through the woods to get to the partner they were just directing. All I could see were flashes of shirt colors as the campers navigated through the woods during their orienteering test. "WE FOUND IT, 1! It's an American Crow, okay now whats next." Every step was a step closer to them mastering the use of a compass and having the knowledge to guide themselves in the woods."

-Emily

I really liked being the caboose with the back of the group on Tuesday for our map making session. We all got to talk about our favourite books and places at camp as a quiet hush fell upon the forest. Our feet were muffled by the pine needles below allowing us to see chipmunks on the forest floor as dappled sunlight lit their way. The licks of the suns rays warmed us up and we had the chance to stop in the field to wipe the sweat from our brow. We drank cool sips of water as we continued our riveting conversation and started showing off our maps.

-Kendall