What a way to welcome in the Fall season; wind, rain, dark clouds, and a damp, dreary forest. Perfect for a salamander, potentially challenging for a Salamander Eft. Good thing we are learning The Art of Camping this season and more importantly this outing, the various methods and uses of tarp shelters! Before we can explore, however, we took a moment to chat about our summers and welcome a new member to the group; Cedar. With everyone present, accounted for, and acquainted with one another it was time to get into the woods and the cover of the canopy. First things first, we decided it was important to jump right into our skills focus for the day. An ever increasing down pour gave us extra incentive to hone our tarp shelter skills.
With many experienced explorers in the Salamander Efts, and seasoned outdoorsman, the mentors decided to let the group work together to set up the first tarp shelter. This would shed valuable insight into where everyone was in terms of knowledge and experience, as well as offer a great opportunity to work on teamwork and inner group communications. Expectedly, the Salamander Efts were a bit stumped at where to start and quickly got side tracked as they explored for a shelter location. The mentors quickly reined them back in and discussed how to pick a site, accounting for widow makers, deciduous trees that drop limbs, slope of landscape, accessibility to usable trees, direction of wind, pre-existing canopy cover, etc. With a bit more focus in mind, the boys went back at it and quickly decided on a location and type of tarp shelter. Overcoming some difficulties with communication, the Salamander Efts rigged up a relatively decent tarp shelter, all be it with some unique rope work, but would definitely get the job done in a pinch. Taking a moment to debrief while eating lunch, there was a shared sense of inability to effectively communicate ideas amongst the group and upon further reflection everyone realized a more efficient process would incorporate a quick circle and group decision making process on location, strategy, tarp shelter design, and designation of tasks. This just goes to show that even a simple task like a tarp shelter can quickly turn into a wonderful mirror to reflect the strengths and weaknesses of a group. Luckily, this is exactly what Explorers Club is all about and we have many adventures in our future to continue our growth as a group.
With some strong focus, it was time to reward the Explorers with some free time. The mentors took this time to rig up their own example of a tarp shelter that incorporated a variety of different techniques that can be utilized from a couple of beneficial knots like a Truckers Hitch, or an example of how to stake a corner down if you’re lacking appropriate trees to tie off to. There truly is no limit to what you can do with a tarp and some cordage. Calling the boys back in with our good old crow call, everyone was taught a couple of knots, instructed on why the mentors set up the tarp the way they did, and shown a few alternative options that could have been utilized in a similar situation.
As the mentors finished up their little tarp demo, they felt good about the progress that was made and decided to let the Explorers use their remaining time to explore the wonderful little ravine we were in and have some quality nature free play. Activities varied from trying to dam up the little creek, to roaming around the area in small groups letting their imaginations lead their journey, or even work on building a great little debris shelter as one of our Explorers decided to do. During this free play the mentors set up shop under the tarp shelter and boiled up some water for hot cocoa to keep everyone warm for closing circle. Finally it was time to end the day. Circling up under the tarp, sipping hot cocoa, munching on apple slices, we all shared our gratitude for the day and reflected on a solid day of skills work combined with adventurous free play sessions. All in all a good outing, and a great way to kick off the Fall season.
Make sure to check out all the other photos from our outing at the Salamander Efts Photo Gallery!
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