48-Hour Survival Camp
WHITBY, Ont. Seven of the
1st Whitby Venturers got lost in the woods for 47 hours 53 minutes
before finding their way out on their own.
The youth meet at Country Lane Golf Course at around 7:00pm, Friday night for the hike. The
idea was to simulate a 3 hour hike (preparation wise) and conduct a
fake "getting lost" exercise.
The Venturers hiked 3 kms into Heber Down Conservation Area in search of a
place to stay. When the group finally got to their campsite ("The
Shire"), they got comfortable and made a fire. They then tried to
sleep. The few that were unable to sleep sat by the fire until morning. After those that
were sleeping woke up, they waited around until noon to try some hunting. They each gathered a
few rocks, and threw them, in hopes of hitting any animal that they
could find. After about an hour they gave up and headed back to the "shire".
They named their spot of rest this because it reminded them of the peaceful
setting in the motion picture The Lord of the Rings. When they got back they all tried to get some rest. Most
of them slept for about an hour before starting another fire. Some of the
ones that were helping to keep the fire going collected ferns to make a
nice comfortable bed. Later on, when they were done
relaxing, a few of them went out and brought back some crab apples. The group was so hungry that they
sat down and ate most of them. They even tried to roast some off the
payload for a more favourable treat but quickly learned that doing so only
worsened the flavour.
For the rest of the night they all
just sat by the fire with nothing to do but talk of various things, and to
fantasize of the food that would ensue the end of the excursion. When
morning came, they were all exhausted because of the major lack of sleep. Despite
many attempts at comfort on the hard ground and many more attempts at
silence from the onslaught of mosquitoes, the group couldn’t achieve
any decent form of sleep no matter how tired they were, so they went
and sat on the bridge for a while. Then they went to a
picnic table and played cards for a few hours.
During this time it rained a little but the group stayed relatively dry under a
patch of cedar trees. Finally they decided it was time to head back to the “Shire” for a clean up.
They made sure the fire was well out
and that no garbage what so ever was left behind. The desired effect was that no one
had ever been there and the group did a fairly good
job. After the clean up was complete the
group slowly walked back to Country Lane Golf Course and waited
for their parents to pick them up.
The above exercise completed Outdoorsman Award requirement Section 2 -- Challenging Activities, a)
Link
back to 1st Whitby Venturers
Link
back to Scouts Canada--White Pine Council
Contact Brian Wick for
more information.
Posted November 28, 2003