Survival School: Day 5
Jul 19, 2007, 10:15p - Life
(GROUP EXPEDITION begins)
Took a shit in the morning [first of the whole trip]. Group expedition begins today. We got our food rations for the next 7 days (4 people per group): 9 potatoes, 2 onions, 4 carrots, bag of lentils, bag of quinoa, bag of sucanut, salt, pepper, cinnamon, bag of oats, bag of condensed milk, bag of vegetable bullion, head of garlic. We each also got a bag of GORP (good old-fashioned raisins & peanuts) & [a bag of] spelt flour per person. Spelt flour is good for ash cakes, though I haven't made any yet. We added the food to our blanket packs, & damn are they heavy - must weight 20+ pounds. Backpacking is a bitch. Nick (Pinky) & Rob are leading, w/ Jeff & Nic Church in sweep. We're hiking to a cave. Walked & talked, discussing evolution & how Ben forages from TJ's [Trader Joe's] trash. He's found a sealed rack of lamb before. We paused for lunch @ a river, had some GORP. Hiked in my Birkenstock’s, I was so happy to have them. But that made the hike all the more difficult - I almost lost them crossing the river. And nearly twisted my ankle a few times. Lots of prickly pear cacti around, poking my toes. We hiked on a bit of slick rock, which was very tricky in the Birk's. I was worried they weren't going to last the day.
Self-portrait atop slickrock on day 5. Ted, Leland, & Nic resting under the tree.
Me in front of the beautiful valley we're about to hike through (we're headed up and to the left)
We got down to some flats, hiked across them, and stopped at a small ranch (no one was around). We got to a road, & we saw the first people since the beginning of the course. They drove by in a truck w/ a trailer - looked like they were mountain biking. Ben promised Crit $25 for his bag of GORP, & Crit sold! Also found M&Ms & cashews in the dirt, which Ben, Rob, & Leland were all over. Down to a river, then up to the cave. Tree of the day was Box Elder - learned a bit more about making fire, but my tools are far from ready. Got off trail, got really hard - so that's a good indication of getting off trail. Doused my sandals in mud :( Slept w/ Ben & Jeff.
Ben & Nick Ph. making dinner in the cave
All the food we got for 4 people for the next 7 days (minus our individual bags of GORP, 1 individual bag of spelt flour, and bag of oats): bag of lentils (held in upper left corner), 2 onions, pepper, salt, 4 carrots, 9 potatoes, bag of vegetable bullion (white bag in top half), bag of quinoa (light brown bag in center), cinnamon (hidden in blue bag), 3 bags of spelt flour, bag of condensed milk (big white bag), head of garlic, & bag of sucanut (brown bag)
Ben consulting w/ Nick on how much lentils to put in
Our dinner group, happy to be cooking our first real meal of the trip: Ben, me, Pinky, & Nick
[Written on day 8]
Read comments (2) - Comment
george
- Jun 10, 2008, 3:10p
whats the deal with the fire cans?
thats a new one on me.
noticed on several sites.
we just had a soup can personal, and 1 group can for stews, just regular open fires. forest fire safety maybe ??
nikhil
- Jan 3, 2009, 11:30a
we had to use the fire cans ("billy cans") because there was a "fire restriction" underway. i guess it was very dry and the people who manage the forest decided that it was too dangerous to have open fires.
after about day 20, the fire restriction was lifted and we were allowed open fires.
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