After an incredible outing abounding with natural history
and exploration along the Skagit Delta, the Four Shielders were in for a
different kind of outing today. For how expansive the previous outing was,
today at Stewart Mountain, the group was going to be asked to take their
broadened focus of the previous outing and refine it down to a few specific
wilderness skills that everyone who is in the Four Shields should become
proficient at: carving, flying a tarp, and fire starting. Per usual, the story
of the day began with a gift disguised as a challenge; the weather. Staying
true to its reputation the drizzly, dripping, dampness of the Pacific Northwest
was in full force as the Four Shielders showed up for the beginning of the
outing. Sure it may be easier to learn all of these skills in warm, dry, sunny,
weather, but as the old sports motto goes; “you play like you practice” and we
had the perfect setting today for a challenging day of skills practice.
Getting a quick start we pushed up the hillside into the
power line clearing where we took the opportunity to try out a skill that
wasn’t originally on the docket for the day; using the atlatl. An atlatl is an
ancient hunting device designed to fling long, spear-like darts. Much the way
tennis ball launchers work for dogs, the atlatl extends the length of the arm
to maximize the velocity of the dart as it is flung. We spent awhile taking
turns, refining our technique, and eventually hitting the small bush 20-30
yards away that was our “rabbit” target.
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| Making sure we stick to "range rules" while practicing with projectiles |
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| The flexibility of the dart stores tons of energy helping the dart travel farther, faster |
With flingin things out of our system it was time to set up
a basecamp and dive into the skills. First we harvested some maple shoots from
the clearing to be carved into tent pegs. Tent pegs offer a great pop quiz for
carving as they require a variety of cutting techniques, including a notch,
different blade angles, and a multitude of different ways to get the job done.
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| Picking out maple shoots for our tent pegs |
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| carving a notch at the top to retain the cordage |
Next up was the basics of flying a tarp. We learned a couple
particularly useful knots like a bowline and truckers hitch to help with
creating a taught ridgeline for the tarp, then put our freshly carved tent pegs
to use staking out the corners of the tarp to create an impressively polished
tarp shelter to eat lunch under.
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| Practicing a "Truckers Hitch" |
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| Lunch under the fruits of our labor |
Finally, it was time to learn about basic fire starting in
inclement weather. With a steady drizzle dampening the forest all day, it was
time to draw on our natural history knowledge to identify one of the most
useful trees for starting fires: the Western Hemlock. With its short, yet
abundant needles, tiny cones, and droopy top this tree isn’t too hard to pick
out of the forest when you know what you are looking for. Its ever thinning
branches make superb kindling when dry, and lucky for us the Western Hemlock
likes to keep its lower branches attached after they die rather than drop them
to the soggy forest floor. Gathering only the finest and driest braches the
Four Shielders each gathered a solid handful-sized bundle that would be perfect
for nurturing the flame of a match into the beginnings of a fire. Much to the
surprise of the group, this proved far more difficult than anticipated. Most of
the group required multiple attempts at lighting their bundles on fire, and
it’s safe to say everyone was humbled by the reality of starting a fire on a
wet day, even with matches! Wrapping up our day we took a quick go at using
fatwood (resin filled wood found in old stumps) and ferrocerium rods (modern
flint and steel) as fire starters, but ran out of time before we could get very
far. This will definitely be something we will pursue in the future though.
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| The small branches of the Western Hemlock make the perfect kindling |
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| Success! |
With our skills day completed, we gathered together for
closing circle. Taking a moment to review the importance of sharing gratitude
with one another at the end of each outing the mentors emphasized the
importance of developing a safe environment to speak from the heart. As
adolescent males on their way to becoming young adults, our society isn’t the
most nurturing of environments for males to openly express their genuine
feelings and be transparent with other males about their emotions. However,
through sharing our gratitude at the end of the day with one another, and
creating a respectful and open environment for everyone to speak openly from
their hearts, the Four Shielders are well on their way to becoming well rounded
males who are in touch with their emotions and comfortable communicating openly
and honestly with others. As mentors, we are often amazed at the depth and
thoughtfulness that is expressed during our closing circles and this gives us
great hope for the group and every individual in the group as they continue
navigating the confusing and convoluted path of adolescence. It would be one thing
to just have a great day in the forest developing wilderness skills, but a
strong closing circle of thoughtful individuals sharing thanks with one another
was icing on the cake.
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| Engaging in a thoughtful conversation at closing circle |
Make sure to check out the rest of our photos from the outing here!
Moving forward, everyone in the Four Shields has the
opportunity to volunteer on our upcoming service outings. Although the Four
Shields as a group will not be doing service, we encourage everyone to come out
at least once with a younger group. Please get in touch with us if you would
like to schedule a time to come out as an EMA on a service outing.
Additionally, summer registration is now open and we have to
offerings that are particularly targeted for the Four Shields. One is a week
long summer camp; The
Whatcom Trailblazers Camp will be a weeklong of intensive wilderness skills
practice accompanied by a focus on navigating the challenges of adolescence
that will culminate in an overnight at Douglas Fir Campground on HWY 542.
The other offering is the Cascade
Crossing wilderness trip that will take the group on a six day wilderness
excursion up the Stehekin Valley and over Cascade Pass following in the
footsteps of the early explorers searching for a way over the North Cascades,
and the native peoples of the area who utilized this pass for thousands of
years prior. We highly encourage the anyone in the Four Shields to sign up for
this trip as it will no doubt be a trip to remember and the perfect opportunity
to put all our skills to the test while we push ourselves physically, mentally,
and emotionally to develop a depth of character that only extended time in the
wilderness can impart on a person.
