The last night of every summer is dedicated to the Final Debrief. Each division finds a place for themselves, usually in their “living room” when weather allows for it. The goal is to think back through the summer and pull out specific highlights and takeaways.
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It was very clearly a race, even though never explicitly stated. At times, I pulled ahead; sometimes, another one of the five front-runners managed to get around me and take the lead. Even though we were hiking with 30 other people, they were unaware of the intense competition taking place at the front of the group. All of us wanted to be the first camper to the campsite. Not that we were going to get anything special for getting there first; it was purely for bragging rights, a way to demonstrate that this hike wasn’t even a challenge for us.
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Every camp has their own language; nonsense phrases that every camper recognizes instantly, everyday words that definitely don’t mean everyday things. Once in a while, you might even find yourself slipping a camp word into a conversation with non-camp friends, and be met with bemused stares until you realized that they have no idea what you were trying to say. Here’s a helpful glossary of the uniquely Yagilu terms you might hear thrown around.
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As a follow-up to the help that Chaverim of Rockland County offered to YAGILU last week. Chaverim of Rockland County came to Camp Yagilu Wilderness for some wilderness training. Tani Prero, director of Yagilu Wilderness, and counselor Chezky Steiner taught the volunteers of Chaverim about using a map and compass, navigation, and the psychology of someone who is lost or running away.
Tani and Chezky first discussed some of the background to a rescue. When dealing with a lost person, they explained, it’s crucial to know where they are coming from and how much experience they have with being in the forest. One of the first rules experienced hikers learn is that if they get lost or separated from their group, they should immediately stop moving. This way, they prevent the likely outcome of just getting themselves more lost, farther and farther from where rescuers will be looking for them. However, there is a significant chance that even an experienced hiker will lose their head from fear, exhaustion, or a sense that the trail is just a few feet away – when of course it isn’t. To counteract that, Yagilu teaches their campers to sit down, have a snack and a drink, and say to themselves, “Hey – I’m lost!” before starting to blow their whistles, trying to attract rescuer attention. This deliberately calm attitude helps them think straight in a stressful situation.
Chezky and Tani explained both mindsets and the impact each would have on a search-and-rescue mission. They also pointed out that a runaway has a very different goal in mind: he either doesn’t want to be found, or more likely has a specific destination in mind that he’s aiming for. Figuring out the likely destination, such as a recognizable landmark or family in the area, is the surest way to narrow down the search and find the runaway.
After exploring the psyche of a lost or runaway person, the group moved on to navigation. How do you find your way through a forest, especially if you’re searching a section without paths or trails? Chezky has been teaching his Yagilu 3 campers these skills for more than five years before their bushwhack hike. A bushwhack is a hike without trails, using a map and compass to navigate towards mountain peaks and other areas. Chezky gave a hands-on demonstration of how to read a map’s contour lines, which denote elevation changes and are crucial to planning routes when hiking. Tani and Chezky also taught how to orient the map, the difference between magnetic north and true north, and useful navigation tips and tricks.
In the end of the day, mistakes can happen for even the most well-trained and well-prepared hikers. With the skills they learned from Yagilu Wilderness, Chaverim will be even better prepared to help those in need in Rockland County!
What sounds harder to you: Hiking for 10 days, carrying all your gear on your back? Or sitting alone for six to eight hours, with no one but yourself for company? (If that doesn’t sound too hard, think about the last time your phone died and you had to wait in line somewhere. Most people get fidgety waiting for just five minutes). Well, Yagilu 2 just did both!
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One week. 3 hikes. Lots of walking.
Y1, 2 and 3 are all going on a hike this week. Y1 is heading out for 2 days, Y2 for ten, and Y3 for a 7-day bushwhack hike.
Read moreThe climb to the top surprised me this time. In addition to the sounds of a nice family from New Jersey, happy children, a relieved and pleased dad, and the calming sound of a flowing stream, I heard other noises. Other noises that I didn’t instinctively recognize. I knew the birds calls, I hear them all the time. And I’m intuitively familiar with the patter of hikers’ steps in the forest.
But this time, I heard barking all the time. The family who I led on this hike brought their dog with them. We hiked with a dog. A big golden retriever, full of doggy excitement and exuberance. Many hikers bring their dogs along but this was first experience hiking with a dog. And boy was it fun. He splashed in the river, ran down the mountainside just to fetch a stick, and even got in a fight with a swan and a goose. I’m kind of thankful no bears showed up this time. I wonder how he would have reacted.
When a family goes hiking together, they share such a wonderful experience. They come to a calming place in the forest, and they are away from the computer, video games and TV that distract people from conversation. And they embark on an adventure together. The dog too was part of the fun. I watched as the father and children shared a new experience, they learned new skills together. And in this group, they learned the ways of the forest together.
They took responsibility for each other. They looked out for trail markers, they helped collect wood for the campfire, they prepared dinner, they took turns using my knife to sharpen sticks to roast their marshmallows. They put up their tents, they helped each other unroll their sleeping bags, they figured out how to put up a fly tarp (and its a good thing they did, because it poured that night!).
They also took care of their dog, who after a long day of hiking (and fighting with geese) was so exhausted he just lay down on the floor and shivered himself to sleep.
The sleep that people experience after a day like this grants them a profound feeling of restfulness and peace. Their bodies feel good after all the exertion, they feel happy after a day of discovery and relationship building, and they feel satisfied to have worked and accomplished together. Sleep like this celebrates the day’s accomplishments.
The smiles the next morning shone brightly, albeit groggily. Everyone had a good night’s sleep, protected from pitter-pattering raindrops, we davened an inspired prayer. Another fire, a hot breakfast, and a challenging hike later, the bodies were tired again, but the moods and happiness soared. Even the dog was back to his normal, exuberant self.
