Camping

Last night, we went for a camping trip with our action groups. We went to a trail called Herman (I think it was Herman anyway) that led us to a glacier. It was just over four miles in and we got there without incident. We decided to camp out in a field of sand, near a river. This was a pretty big mistake in retrospect. It had rained earlier, so the wood in the area was already wet. Our camping spot would have been just as good a location to make a fire as the shelter of the nearby woods had it not started pouring not long after camp got started. It turns out wet sand and fire are not friends, and not having dry wood does not help.

Now, on the trip was a man named Brad Jennings. Brad is from Oklahoma, and he grew up on a ranch. The three summers before this, he has been fighting forest fires all over the country for a living. Brad has never failed to make us a fire, and its always been a big one.

Last night, however, was a whole different story. We tried everything on that fire. We had a hatchet, and used it to pull dry wood shavings form the core of some dead wood. Robert had a notebook with him, and we used the pages from it in a desperate attempt to create fire. We used some Old Man's Beard from the woods (usually a good fire starter) and eventually made a flamethrower using a Bic lighter and a can of bug spray. It was of no use, however. We went to our tents and put on some dry clothes. We packed up and headed back out.

Four miles hiking and twenty minutes driving later, we were back at UAS. Now, before we left, for food, we had been planning on making hobo pies. To make a hobo pie, you stick some meat (in our case, hamburger) some veggies (carrots, onion, green pepper, and celery for us) and some potatoes in some tin foil and roast it in the fire until you're reasonably sure the meat is cooked. We still had all the ingredients back in our kitchens, so we browned the hamburger, cut up everything else, put salt pepper, and another spice mix (can't remember the name) on the mixture, and threw it in the oven. It was delicious. If you're ever tired and soaked, I highly recommend it.

Well, as any Hitchhiker fan will be quick to point out, I did indeed forget to bring my towel. Never venture into the woods without one.