Wow, what a wonderful day! After the blustery and bleak week we had, the weather really cleared up for the Raccoon Kits third outing of the season. The stormy weather leading up to this outing did much more than rattle windows and fill up road side ditches; the storms provided us with ample debris for shelter building. Navigating through cars and mountain bikers, the parents managed to get their boys dropped off safely and escape the crowded parking lot. After all the boys arrived it was time to get away from the chaos and gravel, hit the trail, and escape into peacefulness of the woods.
We made our way down the trail as the boys charged forward intent on exploring the beautiful forest that surrounded us. It was clear the gang was back together and all the boys almost left the mentors in the dust as the plowed ahead. Nothing a little crow call can’t fix. With a couple caws the boys looked behind them and quickly came back to the location the mentors had picked out for the opening meeting.
It was great to see everyone back in circle together. There was an infectious excitability in this group that was a clear sign these boys are growing ever more comfortable with one another. Some of the boys wanted to jump right into games, but it was important to revisit what we had already learned about shelter building. After a quick chat to set intentions for the day, each boy found a space to build their very own mini-shelter, implementing the debris hut techniques they had learned from their first outing of the season. Sufficient Y-Sticks, back bones, ribs, and debris are much easier to find when you are building a shelter sized for a mouse rather than an explorer, much quicker to build too. The boys had a blast working on their own mini-shelters, putting personal touches on, and keeping up chatty conversations with their neighbors. Despite all the socialization that was taking place, each boy showed an impressive focus and drive to build their mini-shelter considering their squirrelly energy during opening circle. Alas it was time for each boy to share their shelters with the rest of the group. We took a quick tour of the neighborhood and explorer after explorer talked about their mini-shelter, some techniques they used, and how it would be applicable to our upcoming full scale shelter building contest.
After wrapping up our last mini- shelter, one boy hollered: “HIDE!” and in a flurry of leaves and branches the boys were tucked away, camouflaged by sticks and sword ferns. A few more rounds of H-I-D-E and it was clear these boys wanted to play before getting to work on shelters. We organized some high energy games of Hungry, Hungry Martin where the boys tapped into their inner squirrel, sneaking and scurrying their way past the hungry martin to the safety of their tree. A couple of rounds later and it was finally time for our shelter building competition.
The boys were split up into two groups, briefed on the judging criteria (structure, resources, location) and set off to the races. Shelters were slow to take form as the first step, finding a good location, took some time. The boys were observant of drainages, widow makers, canopy cover, resource availability, and many other factors when deciding on their location. Soon they were scouring the landscape for Y-Sticks and backbones to begin the foundations of their earth shelters. This was much more difficult than the boys were expecting, and took some trial and error to figure out what sticks would work and what wouldn’t. But soon enough both groups had their interlocking Y-Sticks supporting a backbone and were busy breaking sticks to size for the ribs. After they got their ribs on it was time for the debris. One group picked their location next to a large mossy area and began layering the moss onto their shelter, but about a quarter of the way through they ran out of sufficient moss. The other group went straight for the leaves. Luckily they had picked a location near, but not under, a Big Leaf Maple that supplied gracious plenty debris for the earth shelter. As time ticked away, the boys picked up the pace running around scooping up as much debris as they could. But before either group could finish the clock ran out and it was time for judging.
The first group to get reviewed had an excellent location, fairly sound structure, and a little less than a foot of debris covering their shelter. This was an impressive feat given the time constraints, but still not quite a quality debris shelter. The second group’s shelter was a bit larger and thus not nearly as complete. That being said they created a decent structure and had laid down a nice bed of leaves inside to help insulate them from the ground. However, they still had a ways to go on covering their structure with debris, and could have used some more ribs on their shelter.
In the end, both groups were unable to finish with a passing grade by the judges(aka the mentors). That being said, these boys showed tremendous teamwork and perseverance given the short time frame they had to work with. They have taken the next step in the Art of Shelter and have begun honing their skills be it searching for sufficient resources, picking out a shelter location, or certain construction techniques and intricacies that can only be learned through experience. The boys learned today that it is ok to fail because in failure there is growth and opportunity: growth from the experience and opportunity to improve for the future. In the end no one won the competition, but we all won the day. We had a tremendously fun day of play and shelter building that went by far too quickly for explorers and mentors alike.
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