PART ONE: (Too long for one post)
Being able to survive in the wilderness is the first thing that any species starts out with, and humans are the only ones that seem to have forgotten. However, we survive every day that we are alive, just in a different way. The wilderness is not something that is fabricated by a lack of civilization, but rather the opposite. Many people are dethatched from the Great Outdoors, but I want to re forge the primordial bond that seems to have all but vanished. To do so, I plan to train myself so that I can survive for a few days in the forest.
The world is full of things that we claim we did not understand before the dawn of books and exploration, but if we were to be instinct-driven like many other animals, I think we'd find that we knew a lot about our surroundings all along. Sure, all of the luxuries of a world ruled by machines are nice, but I also believe that the world has just as much to offer.
Unfortunately, primitive human instincts are so far gone that I cannot just go out in the woods and live like a wild animal. With the evolution of human intellect, we downgraded our senses because the brain needs so much energy. Without the knowledge needed to build tools and use them, I cannot possibly expect to do well in the wilderness, mankind just isn't born with fangs or claws or fur or any of that. I must learn how to compensate for my lack of physical prowess before I even consider roughing it in the woods.
Enter Tim Birmingham, School Program Coordinator at the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. Tim has studied the techniques employed by Tom Brown, a guru of survival. Tim has agreed to guide me towards my goal of surviving for several days in the wilderness of Vermont. Tim started me off with a book written by Tom Brown, and also a few assignments.
The first and arguably the most important survival tool is a good attitude. Tim sent me this breifing: Read the first chapter of the Tom Brown Field Guide to Wilderness Survival. Awareness activity: Find a quiet spot in the woods that sticks out to you and sit still for an hour. Journal about what you saw, heard , felt. Why did you pick that spot?
My first task was to simply sit in the woods and write down everything I saw, heard, felt, and experienced. I did this twice for one hour each time, and I was surprised by how easy I became attuned to one spot on a tree stump or a lichen-covered boulder. Being an avid photographer, I felt I was already fairly aware of what was going on around me. But how would I react to a less familiar area? Time would have to tell.
The next attitude and awareness activity I did was one called "Fox Walking". Fox walking is pretty much what it sounds like: You walk like a fox. This means not dragging your feet, rolling the foot from the outer edge to the inner edge, looking forward, and remaining alert. Fox Walking instilled a sense of balance in me, as well as helping me to be aware of my surroundings.
After I had learned to walk the walk, I had to adjust my vision. The next assignment was "Splatter Vision". Read page 168 in Tom Brown’s field guide on fox walking and practice the method until you are comfortable with it. Practice the fox walk with the splatter vision and focused hearing on the way to your spot, sit for an hour and journal about what you saw, heard and felt. What is different this time? Splatter vision isn't quite as fun as it sounds, though. What I had to do was try to unfocus my vision and concentrate on the big picture and my peripheral vision. By just avoiding singling out familiar objects and landmarks, one can detect things that they would otherwise be oblivious to. However, Splatter Vision can also be inhibiting; many times I have stumbled and tripped and even gotten lost because I was not paying attention to landmarks I could use later. These skills are practiced to heighten awareness, which is vital in any survival situation.
I had no idea that these attitude skills would be tested like they were a few months ago. I was wandering in the woods, searching for sinews of dead trees to use as cordage and practicing Splatter Vision. I didn't think that this simple activity would turn into a full-fledged survival situation. This is an excerpt of something I wrote the day after I got terribly lost in the forest behind my house with my dogs:
I actually got really REALLY lost in the woods for four hours with my dogs on Saturday... I was in tears by the time I got to civilization because I was worried about poor Nemo's joints! (He [My dog] had hip dysplasia and has arthritis) It was the most terrifying time of my life to watch Nemo struggle. He's OK though, bouncing around as usual.
Wrigley [My other dog] looked at me when I got home like, "LET'S GO AGAIN!!!" The woman who saw me cutting through the cornfield behind her house said I looked, "Very distraught, then VERY relieved." I explained to her, covered in mud and tears and scratches, that I had been lost and followed a snowmobile trail out of the woods. Nemo and Wrigley were on a makeshift leash I'd made from the strap of my camera bag. So yeah, that was interesting, and I think it should count towards my Grad Challenge hours. Oh yeah, the next day my mom and dad bought me a GPS.
