South Shield

Advanced Wilderness Skills

Learning advanced and traditional wilderness living skills offers incredible value to our experiences in nature and adds to our growth as individuals, even in today’s modern world. Some of these values include:

• Building our confidence to travel in the wilderness and not feel dependent on modern technology if it fails.

• A much greater ability to adapt to emergency situations in the city when disasters occur, and our modern conveniences fail.

• The ability to travel lighter with less gear and less money spent on our trips.

• An opportunity to deeply integrate our life with the natural rhythms of the world and feel more directly connected to the land that supports our life.

• The opportunity to travel through the woods like our ancestors once did in search of materials and all the wonderful encounters we have on these journeys.

• The great feeling of re-living an ancient tradition and connecting with our heritage.

 

Primitive and Survival Fire Making

Fire teachings I can share with you include: starting fires in wet conditions, the use of all natural materials, flint and steel, primitive bow drill and hand drill friction fires, improvised survival fire starting, traveling with fire, proper sight selection for fires, torches to light the night, primitive fire cooking, and using fire to help create other bush crafts.

Fire is something that is often taken for granted in our modern world. With the flick of a switch we have heat in our homes, light in our room, and often a picturesque fire in our gas stoves. With the snap of a match and some dry paper we have a fire in our outdoor pit.

One thing that I notice over and over again while guiding trips and teaching wilderness skill programs is that we as a culture have lost much of our ability to start fires in real wilderness settings and without the use of modern materials such as dry paper, dry store bought wood, gasoline, and Bic lighters. I have encountered many people in their teens or older that do not have a clue how to start a fire out of natural materials, let alone start a fire after it has been raining for 3 days.

At one time, not to long ago, these skills were essential to the survival of the human race. Without fire, we did not have heat, we were unable to cook our food, and we could not create light in the night.

So why learn to start fires the old way? I have a few very good reasons:

1. Let’s say your out on a fall canoe trip and you flip your canoe an hour before dark or maybe your out on a spring day hike with few supplies and can’t find your way back to the car. In scenario one, your paper is wet, maybe you’re lighter too, you are getting cold, and you need to dry your sleeping bag out to make it through the night. In scenario two you have nothing to start with. The night is getting cold, you are starting to shiver, where are your modern conveniences now?

2. The ability to start a fire in a wilderness setting and under all kinds of conditions can be an incredibly empowering experience. It creates confidence, and connects you with a tradition of fire building and keeping that is thousands of years old and made our culture what it is today.
   

3. Fire building has many lessons to teach other than the act of building a fire itself. It can teach patience, teach you about topography and paying attention to your surroundings, about the qualities of plants and trees and much more.
   

Bush Crafts

I have practiced a fairly wide range of traditional and modern bush craft skills and am constantly on a quest to experiment and learn new things. Specific crafts and skills can be requested and will be taught depending on the materials available, group skill level, interest, and the time of year. Bush craft skills are not limited to this list on below. I am always willing to experiment with crafts I have not tried myself and learn with the participants. Some of my greatest lessons in bush craft have come through trial and error. This allows us the opportunity to learn together.

When the program and craft allows for it, I often encourage participants to harvest their own materials. This creates an opportunity to talk about our ecological impact and sustainable harvesting ethics. It also gives participants the opportunity to get closer to the earth and strengthen their connection with the natural world.

Potential bush crafts and other skills we may cover:

- Bow Drill fire making kits - Basket Making

- Leather Work - Water Proof Containers

- Primitive Cooking techniques - Bowl & Spoon Burning

- Stone and Bone Crafts - Bow Making

- Hide Tanning - Tool Making

- Nature Inspired Art - Felting

- Herbal Medicine Making - Processing Wild Foods