This is an unofficial report on our latest group camp.
First, the trip route was left as an exercise for the students, with a cipher coded set of trail markers which required that each car have the key document. The trail cipher/markers were done in large letters which could be read without leaving the vehicle (a nice point in the wind on Friday evening when we arrived).
The weather cooperated, sort of... with a cool but WINDY friday-saturday start and a gradual warmup to actual hot weather on Sunday. Even with the high winds, the flying dust was never a problem. The wind came back up again on Sunday, but from the opposite direction which made our tarp windbreak into a sail and promptly pulled stakes.
Let me note that my camp mate and friend had different responses to the weather. I was comfortable with the wind and temperature, but she was miserably cold and could not sleep with the wind flapping the tarp. I slept through the collapse of the tarp, but she got out of bed and fixed it, all without my waking up. Consideration for different mind sets should be a part of your prepper planning...
The terrain was well selected by the leadership team who surveyed several possible sites. We had a sagebrush and juniper landscape and there was a light sage smell on the wind. My nose stopped noticing it after the first day.
There were effectively NO trees so everything had to be staked and roped for support. This revealed our first prep fail, as we did not have stakes. Jerry was kind enough to lend us a set of stakes and poles for our tarp wind break. (Thanks Jerry!).
Two classes were held, first on map reading with compass and GPS. Vic's class was well designed and the location gave use line-of-sight to local mountains for map orientation. I learned a couple of things...
The second class was on knot tying, again with some excellent class tools provided by Vic. I can now do a good half dozen or more knots, almost by feel if that became necessary. Hands-on is the ONLY way to learn knots.
Going back to the terrain, I discovered that cheat-grass seeds are still the nasty, irritating and ubiquitous things I remember from childhood. Boots and long pants are not proof against them and tennis shoes/running shoes were just an invitation for pain. There were also plenty of ants. Fire ant nests were spaced about every 20 feet, and some were large enough that the ground caved when you stepped in the wrong parts. The ants were not a problem as far as our supplies or bedding. but they were present.
We also had a few mosquitoes on Sunday, after the winds backed off to just a light breeze. Not a lot of them, but they were present.
Other wildlife observed and heard were a few birds, beetles and caterpillars. We would have been hungry if we had to survive on what we could scavenge from wildlife sources. I'd rather NOT eat ants if I can avoid it...
While we could not light fires until the winds died down, there was plenty of dry sagebrush for cook fires. My #10 can stove worked on Saturday and Sunday, kind of, so some redesign will be required... another lesson learned only by experiment.
If push came to shove, we could have cooked on dry cow pattie fires, as there are "free range" cows grazing the area. I saw more than enough patties to have supplied our cooking needs for the entire weekend. In an area with NO trees, this is something to keep in mind... (I note that my computer spell-checker, a child of the millenium, does not know how to spell pattie...)
Saturday night, we were able to fire up the large campfire ring, again supplied by Vic. We did the traditional smores and smoke fumigation of all members. It was a good night.
Finally, let me remind everyone that things are DRY out there and campfires are something to be watched carefully. The cheat-grass was thick enough that a fire could spread easily.
Overall, the weekend was just excellent. We, as a group, cooperated well with each other in every part of the event. It certainly made camp breakdown easier to have multiple hands.
Finally, I want to thank all for bringing their dogs to camp. We had five very well behaved fellow campers with us and they all become friends in very short order. After the initial introduction period, they (the dogs) decided on a pack order and there were no significant arguments among them. I did feel sorry for those with long fur, but they did find shade and water whenever they wanted and none of them really suffered, except for those nasty cheat-grass seeds in their paws.
I want to thank the leadership team for the effort and time they put into this event and I look forward to future camps.
[edit] spelling
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