This year, we had 18 students travel to the woods near Grantsburg, Wisconsin to get the chance to learn outdoor skills from Mark Warren, a naturalist and author from Georgia. Here are the comments of several students about parts of the trip in which they were particularly interested.
David Huberty
One of the things Mark Warren taught us about was the value of the Basswood trees. Basswood trees come in very handy when adventuring in the woods. He taught us to eat the blossoms from basswood trees, to strip the bark and make rope out of the tinder. Another important skill Mark taught us with basswood trees is the skill of fire-starting. I thought that learning about the many uses of basswood was very interesting.
Zach Novak
The next day early in the morning we went to an open area and learned how to stalk and hunt. Also we learned a few games: the snake game and the throwing stick game. On the last day we all canoed out to the island.
Kari Allen
One of the evenings in Grantsburg was dedicated to receiving spirit names. The way we got these names was to answer 2 or 3 questions. We answered the questions and gave the sheets to Mark. Mark then read the papers and thought of a good spirit name for everyone. I think that they are very special names because if you know yourself the name very much reflects who you are.
Wes Finch
One of the really fun things that we did was stalking. Mark Warren would pretend to be a deer and everyone else would stalk Mark. If he saw you moving you would have to start over. One of the reasons that you would stalk deer, was to get close enough to spear or throw a rock at them.
P.J. Davis
On the second night we made deer blinds. We snuck out to them at 7:00 pm and stayed till about 9:00 pm. We had to be silent and motionless. The deer blinds were fun to make, but for me, it didn’t work.
Corey Schulz
When we first got there we had lunch with the first group, then we hung out by the fire while we were waiting for the adults to clean up. On the first day we learned about basswood and we made rope from the inner bark of a basswood tree.
On the second day, we learned how to make a fire. On the way to collect firewood, Jen Pettit slipped on a pile of leaves and rolled down the hill. When we finally made the fire, it blew up in Jen’s face. Right after breakfast on the second day, we played a stalking game and learned how to creep up on animals.
On the last day we had breakfast and then went over to the sweat lodge. Afterwards we came back cleaned up the campsite, had lunch, and left to go home.
Jenn Pettit
The sweat lodge was one activity that we participated in. The sweat lodge was also known as a ceremony. The sweat lodge was located on an island in the river. We had to canoe over to the island. When we entered the island, we were not allowed to talk. It takes about 3 hours to start the sweat lodge before you can use it. First, we heated up some rocks on the bottom of a fire. After they heated up, we dug a hole about a foot deep and placed the rocks in there. Then, we set up poles about one foot apart. The poles were four feet high. Next, we placed a tarp over and around the poles and everyone scrunched together inside.
We went into the sweat lodge for about 15 minutes. When we got inside the sweat lodge, we could talk but we had to watch what we said. We needed to put water over the rocks so it steamed. After we finished, we jumped in the river to get our body’s wet so our pores would close. This experience was fun and I learned a lot about nature on the trip.