Sat, May 15 2010, Sun, May 16 2010 - Gary’s Survival Series #1 (View Original Event Details)
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You have attended my lecture/presentation on What should I have in my daypack? - Survival Kit 101 – on Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010. You have put your survival kit together. You have the theory. Now here is your chance to try it out.
The scenario is we are going for a simple day hike of say 10km and we get lost in the woods with only our daypacks. And of course, our survival kits!
You and your partner will be placed at a GPS coordinate where you will spend the night. You will use your new found knowledge from the lecture to build a shelter, collect wood, start a fire, collect and treat water and have some supper. In the morning, I will return to pick you up so we can get "un-lost" and complete the trail and our adventure.
We drove up to McCrae Lake Conservation Reserve. We headed west on the trail. The trail was rugged and blazed with a yellow mark. On the rocky sections, cairns and flagging tape marked the way. Views overlooking McCrae Lake at Crows Cliff were beautiful on this crisp clear day.
We hiked in just pass the McCrae Lake Narrows where we got "lost" (per plan). One by one, the groups where photographed and left at a GPS coordinate to SURVIVE the night. The pairings where positioned close to a water source and wood to build their shelter and have a fire. It was a cold night with temperatures dropping to 4C. Close proximity to a fire was a must tonight. The cool day time and night time temperature keep the bugs way down.
Risa and I built 2 parallel garbage bag roof shelters with a long fire pit between us. The benefit was we both had full access to the fire warmth. After the shelter was built we collected our nights supply of firewood. This was easy since we picked our spot to be next to a hugh downed spruce tree. All the fire wood was stacked so Riza or I could reach it easily at night without getting out of our sleeping positions.
It got dark around 9pm. My sleep cycle was put a log on the fire and fall asleep. About 40 mintues later, wake up because I was getting cold and the fire burnt down. Then drag a few more logs on the fire and fall asleep again. Risa went to sleep fully in her bivy bag. I started with my legs in the bag but after a few hours my legs were getting sweety because of normal perspiration and I used the bivy bag only as a ground sheet only. Risa was fully in her bag form 9 pm to about 2 am. She woke up totally wet, since the mylar bivy bag is basically waterproof. I think the bivy bag idea would be useful in a down pour situation but should be used as a ground sheet or blanket in dry conditions.
In the morning I collected the pairings and asked them what worked and what did not work? How much sleep did they get? The cool night conditions was the main topic. No problems with bugs. Not much sleep on the whole. Back to my campsite for a nice breakfast and a lot of discussions.
It was a beautiful blue sky day with temperatures reaching 22C. We worked our way back to the Narrows and Daniel and I went for a swim. The water was cooolllllddddd, so it was a quick swim. We headed back around 12 noon. Back to the parking lots by 4pm and off to Tiffanys Restaurant in Coldwater for a cold beer and some greasy spoon food.
Have a look at the photos and comments for more on the story.
See you soon. Gary
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