This past Saturday, Paul Smith’s students Erik Samia (also a part of the Osgood Pond Semester) and Isabella Padrón brought their capstone project — a backcountry survival clinic — to the VIC and the Osgood Pond yurt site. Eight students signed up and made the trek out, learning (and also teaching) skills ranging from basic gear to shelter and fire building.
Osgood Pond Semester instructors Bethany and Andy went over some of their go-to survival techniques and approaches, many of which were learned over the course of nearly 1,500 combined field days leading groups of teens in wilderness therapy programs in the Adirondacks.
Thanks in part to dry and comfortably cool weather, energy was high throughout the day, and by the end everyone had navigated the woods blindfolded, built fires and creative shelters, and walked away with handcrafted bow-drill sets.
A big thanks to everyone involved! We hope to do more clinics like it.
Click on a photo to enlarge.
The day broken down, from the mental skills to the hands-on ones.
Gear piled aside one of the yurts.
This awareness activity challenged a blindfolded participant to be led through the woods to a tree — one he or she would have to find again later on without having seen it.
One blindfolded student, a guide, and an unexpected visitor.
This energetic husky didn’t stop moving for long.
A partially built debris shelter, a quick, warm and effective way to get through a night in the woods.
Fire mounds, consisting of plenty of sand, keep coals from potentially reaching roots and can be easily dispersed to follow LNT principles.
Izzy working on a fire.
The students went 10-for-10 in their fire making.
Another fire atop a small primi-mound.
A cheddar, avocado and hummus wrap about to be cooked over open flame.
Hot lunch.
Some students eat while another works on a figure-four trap in the background.
A survival course as part of a capstone project.
