Sat, Oct 15 2011, Sun, Oct 16 2011 - Gary's Survival Series #8 - Tepee (View Original Event Details)
|  |
We had a wet fall day to start our hike. The winds were blowing and the leaves and branches were flying.
We hiked in about 5 km on ATV trails. The trails were muddy and a challenge to get around some of the deep mud holes leaf by ATV'ers.
We added another couple of K's of bush whacking to make our way to the south side of Lone Lake where we set up camp in a bare flat rock area.
Matt tried barefoot hiking. I've some at the beach and a late night piss but never bush whacking. Background; Check out Cody Lundin on the survival series "Dual Survival". Cody should be well-known to barefooters. He’s a survivalist who has been going barefoot for over 20 years, so he really knows what he is doing. The September 2009 issue of Backpacker magazine did a feature on him. From what I seen Matt seem to make out ok.
The rain was off and on all day and all of us where saturated. The winds were also picking up.
We divided up into our tepee teams. Some worked on the poles and some on taping the tepee skin together.
Duck taping plastic sheets in the rain was a challenge.
We erected the frame and rolled our tepee skin onto the structure. But some of the taped joints became un-stuck. We went to plan B of shingling the plastic sheets on the frame. ok, so far so good. A few minutes later a gust of wind bent 2 of our poles due to the high wind loads.
Plan C we would build a A frame shelter with a closed end. This would get us out of the wind and rain. We set up a fire at the open end.
Mean while at the other tepee they used Tuck tape on their skin which seem to work much better. We decided that due to the high wind gust of up to 50 km/hr that we should abandon the tepee idea for this trip. So they also made a A frame shelter.
Both shelters had a problem with the smoky fire and not enought room around these fires to dry out 11 people before night time. I had no desire to have people wet all night.
So I made the decision to get everyone to pack up and hike out.Plan D. It would be around a 4 km hike out back to the cars. We bush whacked north a bit and found an ATV trail then bush whacked to a hiking trail and worked our way out.
A few beaver ponds and flooded parts and we made it back to the cars by 7pm. I was really impressed that everyone had a flash light in their survival kit. A few people used garbage bags as raincoats also. We kept the group together moving at a steady pace. Having a GPS and historical tracks from previous trips really help our progress moving in the most efficient manner. I made it a point to give the group status updates on our progress and distance to go. I was also impressed with the team spirt that the group had helping each other out.
So we all made it back to the cars and the fun was not over yet. Time to strip down and get some dry car clothes on. That's better!.
It was still raining and the wind was whining like a winter storm. We only drove 100 meters down the country road and Carrie had to get out and remove a 4 inch diameter tree from the road. For the rest of the road it was ok except for the odd branches. I was litte concern we where going to find a 16" tree blocking our escape.
We made it to Coldwater, but my favorite restaurant was closing. Luckly a sports bar across the street welcomed us. After a few coffee's and tea's most of us where defrosted and ready to chow down a hardy meal or two. We had a few good laught's and were fueled up for the drive home.
The tepee experiment will have to wait for another time.
Take away. Size up the situation as it develops. Don't be afraid to adjust your plan as the situation develops. Come up with plan and timing. Brief the group so that everybody knows what the revised plan is. Get buy in. Implement the plan. Keep group together and help each other. Give status of progress. Success !!!
See you all soon.
Gary
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.