September 29, 2008
Today, a bustling twenty-ninth of September, happens to be the day before Expedition 2. We are at the point in the semester when close bonds have been formed and tears will be shed upon parting, yet a positive attitude towards having a great time with a new group of people is embraced. In fact, just minutes ago, a few of us took part in a love seat (consisting of 6 people piled into a single chair), in which we sang the bittersweet tune of Love Shack.
This expedition will be different from the last in that the entire trip is not solely devoted to hiking. Rather, the first three and a half days will be spent at one campsite while we all get to use super-intense tools to do trail work (guess well find out what that means...) in cooperation with the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. At lunch on the fourth day, we get our re-ration and then spend the remaining six days on and off the trail. Another signi
ficant difference between this expedition and the first is that we may have hiking days in which the faculty and apprentices will be out of sight. We all cant wait to be out again! The games that will be played, the laughs that will be shared, the hikes, and just being out away from society makes an expedition an experience of a lifetime.
We spent all day today prepping for this great expedition. The four groups are headed to Mt. Elbert, Massive and Yale for ten days. And, well, things feel different this time around. For starters, although we are with new hiking and tarp groups, it feels great to be with anybody since we have all gotten close over the past few weeks. Our friendships from campus mean this time
were not about to embark on an adventure with a bunch of strangers.
After morning chores, each of the hiking groups met together, studied the maps, went over the projects that we are going to do up at the mountains, and also talked about group goals like improving kitchen and personal hygiene, staying optimistic, and traveling independently. The real getting ready part was just as busy as the first time; we rationed the food, divided the group gear, and packed our backpacks. However, since we had experience from the first expedition, it was much easier and we finished earlier and saved time to clean out our cubbies, organize belongings that have been thrown around campus, and to say goodbyes to friends outside of HMI.
As another form of preparation for the second expedition, we just finished taking a Wilderness First Aid course. The WFA (Woofa) course was taught by the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS. The first n
ight we learned CPR and rescue breathing. Apparently, despite what the movies say, CPR only works a very small percentage of the time. The next two days were spent studying Wilderness First Aid. The wilderness part of Wilderness First Aid implies that you and your patient(s) are at least an hour away from definitive medical care. One of the main take-home points we learned is that in the wilderness we have to improvise our methods of helping people based on the resources available and time until rescue.
The best part of this course was doing simulations. During these simulations we would act out a real life situation. The vast majority of the time the simulation consisted of two rescuers and one patient. All of the patients had storylines, and we would work to find out what happened to them. Another thing that we learned in the WFA course was not to get hurt in the wilderness. It not only is a huge problem for you, but it is also a hassle for your hiking buddies. After the two and a half days of classroom instruction, lectures, and simulations we finally acquired a WFA certification. We were not done yet though, after the 20 hours of class time we had to take a test for P and P about the WFA course. But now we are ready to use our skills (even though we hope we don't have to).
And were off on another journey.
By: Dan Prior, Mo Yang, and Geoff Long