Mark Warren 1
By Emily Matejcek and Lisa Kopecky
As my very first Mini School trip and Lisa’s second Mark Warren, but first Mini School trip two years ago, it was a great experience for both of us. Lisa being the macho trip woman she is, I was over at her house the night before comparing notes and going over lists. The day started for us very early as we all piled our gear into the van at six in the morning. We waited in the cold air counting heads and accounting for Doug and Ramona who were late. Finally we were off in the pitch darkness. In both the van and Ramona’s Trooper all weary eyes were shut, not noticing the drizzle streaked windshield.
Before reaching our destination, Doug’s cabin in Grantsburg on the St. Croix, we ceremoniously sang along to the Garden Song and passed around the lucky spoon after naming Z the weather girl. Once there we carried our gear to the yard of Doug’s cabin and changed into rain gear to tramp through the wet woods with our new friend Mark Warren. We ate a variety of plants and learned the value of several plants, while also learning that skunk cabbage is not a pleasant thing to put in your mouth. After a quick check with the medical reference, we lived.
After lunch and pitching tents, we started the endeavor of making fire with wood. Mark made fire seem so simple as he whipped up a fire in no time. The only successful fire building team was the women’s group which consisted of Kristi, Lisa and I. It compared to nothing else to have the small coal burst into flames in my hands after practically fainting from blowing and choking from the smoke. It was definitely worth the work, toil, exhausted muscles, sore fingers and smoke- filled eyes.
Dinner time arrived and we were all more than willing to devour the spaghetti that Doug so graciously prepared for us. He kept us well fed and happy throughout the trip.
I got a good chance to finally meet some of the people on the trip after dark when the fire was roaring and people’s true characters blossomed. We stayed up rather late and after a few gentle warnings from the cabin, retired to our sleeping bags. The next morning came too soon and too bright to jump off the ground at 7:00. Finally after several wake-up calls we all sauntered out and headed for the out house, only to find that it had over-flowed during the night. Our adventure began as Mark led us up through the woods over trees and creeks. We got to an open field and found a good place to sit while Mark explained that we would be learning to stalk animais. Somehow, we all managed to form something you could call a circle. We all did some balancing exercises and practiced for a little bit. Then we began the real thing. Mark played the deer and the first person to reach him without going too fast was the winner. After a few rounds we relocated and learned to play another game called the night watchman. The Night Watchman’s job was to guard his tribe from the enemy tribe. Being blindfolded, he only could use his ears to hear the rest of us approaching him and touching him with our noses. Emily was the first Night Watchman and the only thing she could use to protect herself were her pet snakes that if you were hit with you were stopped. Emily didn’t do quite as well as Mark who was most competent. I managed to die (without moving or anything) when Mark threw the poisonous snake at me.
When the game ended we learned some more sign language that we would need to know tomorrow for when we went over to the island. There’s no talking on the island, the reason behind that is to add to the peaceful and spiritual day. We then scattered to build our blinds. After people felt they had created their perfect blind we had some down time which was spent gathering firewood, reading, lounging, taking a small hike, or munching on some snacks. Right before it became dark we trekked back up through the woods, found our blinds and settled ourselves in a position we’d have to stay for the next two hours. We didn’t have any luck in spotting any animals. The sound of Mark’s whistle alerted us enough to know that it was time for supper. Dinty Moore Beef stew and mashed potatoes, something that can only be eaten on camping trips.
When the fire was roaring and dinner was out of the way everybody found a place around the fire and the naming ceremony began. It seemed to be the time on the trip when everybody came together. Earlier in the day Mark had given everyone three different things to write about that would help determine their spiritual name. Mark handed out people’s names and everyone went off to read and learn about their new name. The rest of the ceremony consisted of learning everyone’s names and sharing our own with other people. It was a late night around the fire. The conversation at the fire consisted of….well never
mind, you don’t want to know.
The next morning was a get up and move morning, the kind we don’t like. It didn’t help either when Ramona stuck her smiling face in our tent, and told us to get up. Time to get everything packed up and get over to the island for the sweat lodge ceremony. Mark entertained us by teaching us a rock game on the island while the rocks were heating in the fire. The eight rocks had to be heated for several hours so that when they were put into the center of the makeshift teepee like lodge they would be very hot and steaming when the water was poured over them. Each person was honored by a ladle of water being poured over them. Then there was a prayer for each one of the nine directions. All of us were more than ready to jump into the freezing cold river when we came out. By the time the ceremony was over and we were dried off and changed, we heard the voices of the other group so we hurried over to see them and say hello, had a huge lunch, and then it was time to go home.