Hi from Indiana!

[Kristi Richard]

Hi there!

I am new to the forum. I stumbled upon the site when I was looking for something really special for my 14 year old daughter. She is a naturalist by heart . . . she loves anything to do with nature and is good with her hands. She can't get enough of survival shows and books. As a matter of fact, she is outside right now hunting down pine needles to make some pine tea!

We as a family love to camp, and of our 3 kids, she is the most die-hard camper. So I thought for a cool graduation gift (she will be starting high-school in the fall), I would love to have us all go on a Wilderness/Survival Camp trip next summer! I saw some awesome camps in Colorado, but would like to see if there is anything closer that might be just as fun (and cheaper - we live in Northern Indiana). But I think it would be the trip of a life-time for her - and us - even if we spent the big bucks on going to Colorado.

She has aspirations to be a naturalist of some kind, possibly working in forestry. Does anyone out there have any helpful info, books or advise for a young girl to explore? And if anyone has any suggestions on an awesome trip like I mentioned, for a 14 year old, and her 2 healthy parents - please share!

Thanks so much and I am looking forward to learning a lot on the boards!

Kristi

[trax]

Welcome to the forums Kristi, I'm sure you'll find plenty here to help your daughter along.

[nell67]

Welcome to the forum Kristi!

[corndog-44]

Hi Kristi, welcome to the Wilderness Survival Forums. My suggestion for an awesome trip for a 14 year old would be a trip right here in Indiana...The Knobstone Trail. You might have been there already. The rugged terrain of this 58 mile backcountry hiking trail is often compared to the Appalachian Trail (AT), and many people use it to train for the AT. If you haven't been on this trail, check it out. Another suggestion would be signing-up to a wilderness survival school nearest to you.

[Sarge47]

Welcome to the Wolf-pack, Kristi. One word of warning. If you've perused some of the threads on the "survival shows" then you're probably already aware that there is some WRONG, DANGEROUS, teaching out there. In his Australia show of "Man vs. Wild" Bear Grylls teaches that it's OK to drink urine directly from the bladder. "WRONG!" Please advise your daughter to be cautious and check out anything questionable that she sees on that program. Another good place to start is the Home Page of this site as the entire US Army Survival Manual is available to read, print out, etc. Check it out!:cool:

[Nativedude]

Welcome Kristi!

Hope you and your daughter enjoy the forums! ;)

[nell67]

Hi Kristi, welcome to the Wilderness Survival Forums. My suggestion for an awesome trip for a 14 year old would be a trip right here in Indiana...The Knobstone Trail. You might have been there already. The rugged terrain of this 58 mile backcountry hiking trail is often compared to the Appalachian Trail (AT), and many people use it to train for the AT. If you haven't been on this trail, check it out. Another suggestion would be signing-up to a wilderness survival school nearest to you.

The Knobstone trail is awesome! I live right by it and enjoy hiking different trail heads of it every chance I get!

[Rick]

Welcome fellow Hoosier! Glad you found the forum. To answer your question on books, here are some suggestions by follow forum members:

Sarge: The book, "98.6 Degrees: the art Of Keeping Your A*s Alive." By Cody Lindun is one of the best books I've ever seen on the subject of survival."

Mbarnatl: "A good book on making your own survival kits: "Build the Perfect Survival Kit" by John D. McCann." Another: "Camping & Wilderness Survival (2nd edition)" by Paul Tawrell."

My hat is off to them for putting me on to those books.

Oops. I forgot to add Edible Wild Plants of Eastern/Central America. A Peterson Field Guide. As well as Edible Wild Plants and Medicinal Wild Plants by the Pocket Naturalist. All are on my personal favorites list. Had to edit that in.

You might want to check out the National Outdoor Leadership Training at:

http://www.nols.edu/

If that is something you had in mind.

Knobstone is excellent and relatively close for you. Water can be a bit scarce so you want to plan ahead. Check out:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/outdoor/hike/

[lumpy]

Welcome fellow Hoosier.I also enjoy the Knobstone.I'm only 1.5 miles from one of the trail heads.It is an excellent place to practice your skills.

[Beo]

Oh no another hoosier, jk, welcome aboard. Easy corndog... :D Yeah go to Minnasota to land of a thousand lakes and camp and canoe cheaply. Really beautiful and great time. For books at her age I'd try the Tom Brown Jr. books... filled with a ton of information and alot of great stories for kids and young adults.

[nell67]

Oh? and what wrong with hoosiers???:D

[Beo]

Nothing wrong with ya'll I was just saying... ya know we got a lot of ya here... promise? Judging from ya shroom eating hoosiers nothing at all. :D

[LadyTrapper]

Welcome to the forum Kristi
Sounds like your daughter is pointing her life in the right direction. You should be proud as a mom that you introduced her to those wild places that left her with a love for nature that is priceless!