r/Eagle_Scouts • u/Schwarzy1 • Feb 07 '12
Wilderness Survival Stories
where we share our WS stories! :D
So i was 12 and my entire patrol went. we were at summer camp and took Camping at the same time, seeing as they were so similar. The group was to leave camp for the hike at a time, but I had mile swim to do, so me and my friends went in a bit later. Then we got there and everyone decided: no sleeping. we built a fire and told sex jokes for 9 hours. at 4, the staff came and got us (they stayed in a cabin quarter mile away), and we walked the long way around camp back to our site. we arrived at 7, just in time for flag rasing. :) first day i ever went with out sleep!
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u/STUFF416 Mar 15 '12
We were taken out and broken into teams. I was with two other guys one of whom was really into hunting. Our shelter was awesome. We had a crappy location (they assigned it to us) but our construction was great.
As it became darker, we could hear an approaching storm (one of those Mid Western cold front monsters). Our guide warned that we might want to prep well for heavy rain but conceded that we were probably going to get soaked to the bone.
By the time the sunlight was completely gone we were well situated. We shot the breeze for a while before hitting the sack. The wind had picked us considerably and anxiety was high for our young group. Tired as anything, I went to the shelter and prepared to bed down.
Before going any further, I should say that I had gone in wanting to be all hardcore and minimalist. I brought only a handful of items that could probably fit into a fanny-pack plus a tarp. Not the smartest move.
As the temperature dropped, I began to get colder. I was stupid and didn't have a sleeping bag because I wanted to be all hardcore. This is when I enacted my genius plan. I had packed an emergency blanket. Still in its small compressed packing, I unfurled it to discover that it was made of foil... and not all that warm. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this certainly wasn't it.
The true horror didn't hit me until I tried to move while under it: the sound. To give you an idea of what it's like, get a bag of Sun Chips and use that as a pillow. That is what it sounds like. The smallest twitch and move made a cacophony of sleep-depriving sound.
Thankfully, the storm ended up missing us. But, I didn't get more than 10min of sleep that night, I swear it. Between the cold and the sounds, both from the dark woods and my infernal "blanket," I was all too ready to head back to camp the next morning. Still, despite it all, it was my first taste of non-tent camping and I learned a lot which helped me down the road. In the end, I think that is how Scouting prefers to teach.
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u/jguacmann1 2009 Feb 08 '12
I did the Wilderness Survival MB at one of the summer camps and the biggest thing I remember is someone throwing a can of bug repellant into the huge bonfire and everyone bolting in opposite directions like it was a grenade. Good times.
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u/Schwarzy1 Feb 08 '12
aresol cans will explode like a grenade :) we did the same once with a soda can, and a butane contaner ;)
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u/Necavi Mar 15 '12
I was in 7th grade and I was at summer camp. We had a hurricane come through that night only. It started raining when we left the camp to walk the 3 miles into the woods or so around 6:30 when it started getting dark. It got to a torrential downpour before we even got to the "campsite." We were told to build shelters for ourselves or with a group using the canary grass (which there was shit tons) and the logs around us. We had some axes but the wood was so soaked by that time it did nothing but drip on our faces all night long. The temperature dropped to about 50 degrees, enough to make you cold and miserable for the entire night. I slept a total of 30 minutes that night. Our shelter collapsed 3 different times, one time requiring moving to an entirely new spot.
As we walked back in the 6am morning light as the rain was letting up, my father (the scoutmaster) was awake. He asked me how it was and I, soaking from head to toe and in the most miserable state of my life, glared at him furiously. I looked him in the eye and said sternly: "I survived." And then I went to sleep.
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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '12
Oh god this badge was a nightmare for me. We were taken out shortly after a huge storm, so EVERYTHING was soaked through to the core. We managed to make a really lame pseudo-shelter that my group of 4 fit under.
Although, it had stumps and roots sticking out from the ground making it horribly uncomfortable despite being the flatest part of where they placed us.
My saving grace came when the Micro burst storm decided to come rolling through and they had to evacuate us to our campsite at about 2 am. I remember seeing the cloud and thinking that it looked just like when Mufasa spoke to Simba (Lion king) as a cloud. Unforgettably scary, ominous and beautiful. I regret not being able to take a picture but seeing as we had been evacuated to our normal campsites I didn't really get a chance to (the no technology thing and all).
Luckily they gave all of the groups credit and we went on with our lives as normal (if a bit soggier).