With the rain pouring down the Salamander Efts arrived at
Lake Padden knowing they were in for a wet one. Luckily, being comfortable with
a cold, wet forest is part of being a salamander and today this group lived up
to their name. We were at Lake Padden because of some unfinished business that
we left from a spring outing where we got a start on a group shelter but never
finished it! Trekking through the downpour, and up a fresh flowing stream that
was at one time the trail, we clambered off trail up a steep hillside and at
the top found our old shelter right where we left it!
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| Taking shelter under the tarp for lunch |
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| Getting to work on the roof of our shelter. Giant slabs of Douglas Fir bark made for nice shingles. |
Gathering together we decided to set up a tarp shelter to
keep us and our gear dry during the outing. This was a great practical pop quiz
for the Salamander Efts who managed to get a somewhat passable tarp shelter up
before they hunkered under and ate lunch while the mentors and a few of the
more determined Explorers put the finishing touches on the shelter utilizing a
few specific knots like a Trucker’s Hitch and similar adjustable knots to get
the desired tautness of a quality tarp shelter. With our tarp set up we set out
to put a roof on our shelter. Gathering more sticks and proper latticing
material the structure of the roof was finished. Next onto covering the roof.
With some puzzlement one Explorer discovered an old Doug Fir log allowed us to
break planks of bark off that we shingled on the roof. Next for debris we
scrounged around scooping up armfuls of duff to add insulation to the roof.
While doing this we discovered our group’s namesake… twice! Not one, but two
separate species of salamander were discovered. What a fitting way to wrap up
our outing.
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| We found or first salamander while gathering debris for our shelter. |
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| Out second discovery of a different species of salamander. |
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See if you can figure out which species we discovered on our outing using this
guide!
With the roof on, we reflected on what we had accomplished, and what we could
improve upon. Again, work ethic and feeling a sense of urgency to complete the
shelter was missing this outing. Of course our time on outings is often valued
for the fun that can be had goofing off with friends in the forest, but it is
important to get into the right headspace when you’re practicing survival
skills. We practice so that when we are faced with a real situation we have the
confidence in our abilities to stay cool and calm under pressure and execute
the skills necessary to stay safe and sound. Luckily, we have plenty more
outings to continue to grow and learn how to practice with a purpose. In the
end, the Salamander Efts survived, if not thrived, during the rainstorm
finishing the roof to their shelter while discovering two species of native
salamander along the way. Despite some moments of getting lost in goofing off,
when called upon to get it together this group rallied and finally finished
what they started in the spring.
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| With the roof on we reflected on our work and took a moment to review important keys to a survival shelter |
Make sure to check out the rest of our photos from this outing
here!
