Call of the Wild: Reporter learns survival skills at isolated Garrard camp

If one of us tumbled off a cliff, knowing the difference between a slip-proof knot and one that would constrict and suffocate meant life or death, one of many skills we learned during a basic survival camp for stranded people held July 12-13 at Halcomb’s Knob in Garrard County.

The program was an introductory lesson in a progressive series of camps that build on basic steps, according to Boyd, who rolled years of outdoors experience into a curriculum with instructors Jacob Hettich and Chip Blakeman.

The ground school demonstrated a variety of skills including fire-building, temporary shelters, compass-reading and water-purification with items commonly used in camps or on hikes. An advanced course this fall will teach food foraging, puncture wound and gun-shot care, and other skills.

Our group included Berea College students — three from Vietnam and Bangladesh — an experienced Hazard camper and a family, all of different outdoor skill levels. Several, like me, were inexperienced campers. We had the night of our lives.

I grew up in coastal Florida, a flat, alligator-infested and hellishly hot place where masochists, homeless people, and drug traffickers hang out in the woods. I also didn’t expect to spend the night and quickly headed back to town for food and a sleeping bag.

Rule number one, always come prepared because you never know if you will be stuck overnight in the woods, according to Hettich. Rule number two, get into shape before you take up hiking. I found the main path after 15 minutes of painting and looping, a frightening reminder of how easy it is to get stranded when you are still in earshot.

The first 72 hours are critical to getting out alive, Boyd said, since people die of exposure or dehydration after that time. Finding someone in the mountains or heavily wooded areas is even more complicated, Boyd added.

“After 72 hours, they’re not really looking for a walking, talking human being, they are looking for a body,” Boyd said. “You hear of people wandering off of the course, especially in the Gorge area. This class teaches people to prevent that and to take the right gear with them so if they do find themselves in that situation, they can deal with it.”

No piece of equipment can replace common sense, according to Hettich. “After dark, quit moving and stay put. If you can’t see in the dark you can’t see what you are walking into or walking over. In Kentucky, that’s how a lot of people get into trouble.”

“Its not just about going camping,” Blakeman said. “Whether you like bicycling or hiking, or just walking in the woods and taking pictures. You might be in taking a picture of a red-tailed hawk and take a step or two, and the next thing you know, you’re lost, especially if you have undergrowth.”

It was warm and sunny when the class descended down a path into a clearing to learn about fire-building and compass reading. Two paths branched off the main route and looped around in a steep climb, a frustrating mistake later for me.

Walking in circles is a deadly way to walk away from rescuers or become dehydrated, Boyd said. “You may be yelling at each other but sounds echo,” Boyd said. “You could be walking away from each other or even parallel to each other.”

People often panic when it begins to rain and run for their car, not knowing they are going the wrong way, Hettich said.

“A lot of people come to Kentucky to camp but they get into a lot of trouble because they don’t realize how quickly the weather can change,” Boyd said. “They don’t realize how rugged the terrain can suddenly become, especially when there is a lot of underbrush.”

Boyd rotated a clear glass compass over a map to demonstrate navigation. Pinpointing a precise location to exit is almost impossible unless you are an experienced geocacher, Boyd said, demonstrating how a few degrees equaled a mile or more from a fixed site.

“Try to find some place near a town or a highway,” Boyd said. “When you get there throw rocks at cars. Someone will call the police and they will find you. You are better off explaining yourself down at the precinct than winding up dead in the woods.”

Another rule: Take enough fluids to last for a day trip. You never know when you are going to get lost, said Blakeman, but a felt cloth can be dropped into a puddle to soak up water that can be filtered or treated with tablets. Avoid caffeine and other diuretics since they will dehydrate you, Boyd said. A clear glass or plastic jug actually is one of the best tools you can have, Boyd said, since sunlight kills many bacteria that are found in natural water.

Few skills are more useful or dangerous than chopping wood for a fire or shaving it into a dull point to drive it into the ground for a temporary tent stake.

Hoisting that ax over your head is a sure way to slip and slice open your leg, Hettich said. Worse yet, the blade can bounce and slice open your head, Boyd demonstrated. And whatever you do, don’t try to drive a stake point into the ground with an axe. Use a rock or a tomahawk, Boyd said.

“Watch out for the triangle of death,” Hettich said, demonstrating the correct method of chopping wood on the knees to reduce impact zones.

The most critical parts of surviving being stranded are water, fire and shelter to protect yourself from the elements. Small branches are a snap to carve into stakes or to use as firewood, but always cut away from yourself, Hettich said as he demonstrated a cross-body motion.

Dried wood is dead weight, we quickly learned as we tried to shave it into sharp points. You have to use fresh wood for carving or burning, our guides explained as they showed us how to sharpen knife blades.

A leather belt can be used as a strop, Hettich said, but a cheap multisided nail filing block is a cheap alternative. “If it wears out, you just throw it away,” Hettich said. “You don’t have to spend a lot on it.”

One of our group, Tran Nguyen, quickly mastered the art of carving. With a few deft slices and v-notches she produced stakes sharp enough for a kebab while the rest of us struggled to make two.

Another rule: Trouble flows downhill. So does your blood. “Never sleep with your head below you feet unless you want to wake up with the mother of all headaches,” Boyd said.

Blood pools in the lowest part of gravity, Blakeman explained as he showed us how to crawl in and out of a hammock, a cheap and sturdy bedding alternative that also can be used to pack gear or a person in an emergency.

We carefully searched the ground for flat spots away from trees where spiders and other insects live. The woods are quiet through the day but you never realize how much lives there until you are flat on the ground counting the number of ants, ticks, and other life forms you observe crawling everywhere but through you.

Na Cao, a Berea College student, is anxious to share that experience when she begins teaching. “When you have that connection with the forest, you love it, you don’t need someone to tell you about the environment,” Cao said.

At night the woods are a different world, a cool and noisy place that make you feel you have been dropped into a culture where you don’t speak the language.

Sleeping on the ground is painful. So is sleeping on a slant. As the others slept, I closed my eyes and meditated, counting the sounds.

Hearing is more acute when you don’t see. So are touch and smell. Ants have a sweet odor and they stomp when they walk over leaves, I learned as I listened to the crickets and the bullfrogs jabber at each other. After the moon rose a coyote bayed, close enough to hear but far enough away not to be a concern.

I drifted off to sleep to a dream of fire, only to wake up wrapped around a small tree inhabited by an unhappy ant colony. Not long after that we got an early surprise visit from Blakeman’s blind border collie, Annie, who happily made her rounds checking to see if everyone was still there.

Trees are a good place to brace your feet, Brennan Taylor said the next morning when he shook out his shoes to make sure there were no spiders inside.

It was a lot more pleasant than how Nguyen woke him up earlier.

“I’m really afraid of bugs,” Nguyen said. “I felt one of them crawl over me and I shot Brennan in the face with bug spray. I didn’t remember I did that. It was a very eventful night.”

For information on upcoming camps, call 859-925-9936, or visit www.halcombsknob.com.