So a group of us decided to sign-up for a "Survival Class" not really knowing what we'd get ourselves into or how good it would turn out to be. Such a class is only as good as the instructor and I'm pretty sure all of us would agree that it was time/money well spent. Checkout the link below to see the instructors credentials. Here's a pic at the completion of the course as we were ready bolt for the nearest steakhouse and chow down.
Heading out
We packed our stuff up and... wait... no that's not right. The point of this class was survival so we couldn't bring anything except for an empty water bottle, knife and clothes. Alright, so we didn't pack anything up but rather just left, how nice.... no planning. I guess there's no real way to play out a survival situation since it could happen at anytime/anywhere and this was probably the best fabricated survival situation there is (or so we found out).Arriving in Tehachapi
We arrived in Tehachapi (the locals pronounce it like "Take-a-pee", we had our own flavors of this) a day prior to the training and got a hotel room which was probably the most shady place I've ever stayed at. The back window overlooked a swat of overgrown land littered with the most random stuff one could come up with. From broken down rusted cars, a large plastic Santa, phone booths, tattered stuffed animals, and so on. Although, no gravestones to be found :-) Or maybe there was. It also looked like the local street sweeper was staying a few rooms down from us (cue creepy jason slasher music). Now that we had our nighttime accommodations we set out for a local bar, who doesn't want to visit a new bar in a new town? Pulling in to the parking lot we noticed a truck to our right also arriving at the same time, they guy got out and it continued to roll forward...haha... coming nearly a millimeter away from crashing into a glass storefront. At this moment we knew the night was off to a great start. Upon entering the bar the sound/conversations stopped and attention was drawn to us. Well, it didn't quite happen like that but kinda felt like it. We got a few drinks and headed to the back (outside) where they had a nice firepit going. Met some locals including a fully decked out pirate in the desert, I'm not kidding, and had a good time. One lady was certain that we were burning treated wood and that everyone would get cancer. Good times.The Class
After a bit of confusion on dirt roads we found the class parking lot. The instructor came out to greet us and we followed him to a classroom where we'd be briefed before heading out. All but two of us jumped in a van and headed out to where the "start" would be, along the highway, while the others hiked to the start with some unknown reward for hiking. We began hiking in a dried up riverbed with temps in mid 90s and studying various plants/rocks along the way, eating the plants/seeds we came across and collecting some for later. Further up the trail we got into deep reeds and discussed bamboo, the good 'ol yucca plant which we'd become very fond of, and methods to spot water sources. The instruction was very informal, in that, the instructor had a route and knew what was along it but would discuss things as they came up. In between major points of discussion such as water, food, exposure, etc ... the instructor would re-iterate either past information, touch on stuff we'd be encountering, or give background/technical details on the subject. At any point questions could be raised and we'd spend more time on a particular topic.After a while we came upon "basecamp" or where would be staying for the night with two A-frame shelters already setup. We'd be making one for a subset of us and thank god it was only one. I'm gonna call B.S on any survival show that demonstrates making shelters and starting fires in under a 3-4 hour time-frame.
At camp we discussed the various uses of the Yucca plant which include (probably not limited to):
- Food
- Hydration
- Cordage
- Anti-inflammatory agent
- Shampoo
Once back at camp we started gathering materials to make an A-Frame structure which would be shelter for 3 people. In modern tent-size standards we made a 1 1/2 person structure for 3 people...haha. As you can see in the picture our mansion also included a nice fire wall to reflect heat back into the sleeping area, and a small barrier to keep embers from rolling into the structure. While it's nearly 100 during the day the temps drop quite low at night. The rest of us slept in structures built by previous groups as you can see in the gallery below. All-in-all, from yucca plant discussions, bow-drill gathering, and A-Frame building it consumed the entire day. At night we tried our luck and using our hi-tech fire-starting devices and if I recall correctly 3 of us lit a fire. Damn, is that hard! So we crammed into the structures and called it a night. I actually had a great night sleep believe it our not.We were up at sunrise the next day, cooking yucca, observing how to boil water in a plastic container, and talking about first-aid. While hiking out we stopped to cover primitive trapping methods, and other techniques to kill small animals/reptiles.
Update:
Since I wrote this I've had a few questions about water purification. The instructor did indeed have 1 water purifier for the entire group. We also drank from a source and filtered water through a handkerchief
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Thoughts
- Loved it!
- Wished it were one day longer so our stomachs could get over the adjustment period and be able to more easily focus on some of the technical stuff such as traps.
- It really illustrated how much work everything is. In no way would we have been able to accomplish the tasks at hand after hiking all day as some of these survivor-type TV shows illustrate.
- The information and method of presenting it was invaluable. A very good and knowledgeable instructor. Nothing beats hands-on.
- As this was a broad skills course I'm now looking to take some more specific classes.
Gallery
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Mojave DesertLinks: |
