Winter Survival Trip

Each winter, the Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program travels to the north-central mountains of Washington state to practice winter survival skills.  This trip includes building and sleeping in snow shelters, wintertime ethnobotany and wildlife tracking in the snow.

The week started out with students participating in a snowshoe race.  In this race, students strapped snowshoes they made out of willow branches on to their feet and challenged themselves and each other to see who could make it to the finish line with snowshoes intact.

Here is a short video of the race, with all the thrills and spills included:

 
Students also worked on building a variety of snow shelters including snow trenches and quinzees.  Here is an example of a quinzee in progress:

This type of shelter takes a great deal of work, but is also very warm and well-insulated when completed.  Here are 3 students, Torin, Joanna and Rob showing off their completed quinzee.

Here is another student, Kristian, demonstrating a trench shelter.  There are a variety of different trench-type shelters, and this one utilized pine boughs as part of the roof structure.

On another day of class, a group of students hiked to the top of a ridge above the valley where the snow shelters were located.  Here apprentice instructor Shaun, and student Elan take a moment to pause and take in the beauty of the snowy landscape that surrounds them.

Snow provides a vast white canvas on which the tracks of many creatures are written.  Getting familiar with the tracks and other sign in the winter landscapes is a source of enjoyment as well as a potential life-saving source of knowledge.

Students learned to read the fascinating stories told by the tracks left by creatures such as long-tailed weasel, ruffed grouse, mule deer, red squirrel, and raven. Here students follow the trails of 2 coyotes that wove their way through the snowy ponderosa pine forest.

Here student Rob makes sure to utilize all of his 5 senses to engage with the scent mark of a coyote.  Every species of canine has a distinct scent, that one can learn to recognize with practice.

As we explored the forests, we occasionally came upon the old remains of kills sites from various predators.  Here Ted takes a close look at the spine and hips of a mule deer.

Another group of students went into the woods to learn about the use of different plants for wintertime survival.  Here is Georgie showing them how to harvest cambium from a living Ponderosa pine tree.

Here is a closer look at the cambium.  The cambium is the layer underneath the bark which transfers nutrients throughout the tree.  This is edible on many kinds of trees, including all pines.

The winter trip was a great success, and we are grateful for all of the fun, learning and sharing that happened for everyone in the class.

Expect more updates from the Alderleaf Crew soon!

(All photos courtesy of Alderleaf students, Kristian B. and Coley A.)

Naturalist Challenges

The Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program just completed its final week of school before several weeks off for winter break.  Our final week of classes included bird language studies and working with traps and snares.

The final day of class before break was a day of naturalist challenges.  Both cohorts got together and worked in groups in a friendly competition to see who could earn the most points in each of the various challenges.

One challenge was the naturalist scavenger hunt, which included mapping a detailed map of the Alderleaf Property, and recording as many species of flora and fauna as possible... all within 1 hour of time! 

Here, instructor apprentice Shaun helps students Ryan, Roy and Alan identify some of the more challenging plants.


The next challenge involved making a friction fire as quickly as possible, and making it hot enough and high enough to pop a suspended water balloon.  The catch is that they could only use fire wood found in the forest during the challenge.  It happened to be a very wet day, which made this especially difficult.

Here student Scott blows on a tinder bundle after placing a coal in it in hopes of getting a fire.

After a great deal of effort, and team work, here is what the moment of success looks like:

Here is Sean, a successful member from another group just after the balloon was popped.

Victory is evident by the big smile and the numerous droplets of water that came from the exploding water balloon.

The final day before break was a blast, and there was much fun and celebration.  We look forward our Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program students returning from break.

Look for more updates from Alderleaf in the new year!

Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship

Alderleaf Wilderness College teaches many classes, one of which is the 10-weekend long Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship.  This is an in-depth extended study into the field of wildlife tracking that includes both basic and advanced tracking concepts.

During the second weekend in December, students in the class spent Saturday focusing on ecological tracking: looking at wildlife evidence in the landscape such as trails, beds, chews, scrapes, scats and other sign. On Sunday, the students spent practicing the skills of trailing.

Saturday started with a close look at a skull found near the creek on the Alderleaf property.  We all looked closely, and worked together on determining what species the skull belonged to and what predator likely killed and fed upon it.

This is the skull of a Douglas Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii), and the likely predator was a weasel, as demonstrated by the chew marks and indentations of the canines in the brain case.  Weasels often feed on the brains of small mammals, as the brain is a very fat-rich organ.

Students then headed to the field and very quickly located some fresh coyote scat in a meadow.  Upon closer inspection, we noticed that the scat contained a segment of a tapeworm in it!

In the same meadow, students found 4 different kinds of vole sign, including: trails, scat, feeding sign and a vole nest.  Then, as we were walking into the forest we ran into a tiny insectivorous mammal.

This little Trowbridge's shrew (Sorex trowbridgii) is one of the smallest mammals in the world, and is a very active insect hunter that hardly ever stops moving.  We have seen their tracks before, but it was great to see the animal itself in action.

We ended our day by exploring the edge of a beaver pond, and watching a kingfisher catch and eat a small trout.  It was a wonderful day in the field, and we all left excited to learn more.

Watch for more updates soon!

Weekend Wilderness Survival Course

During the final weekend of November, students from the public participated in our 2 day wilderness survival course.  They learned skills to help them take care of the four basic needs of : shelter, water, fire and food. 

Here are some photographic highlights from the course...

Alderleaf instructor Connor O'Malley teaches students the step by step method for building a debris hut.  Here students are adding "ribs" to the "spine" of the shelter.

Here weekend survival students have fun working together to stoke the coals in the wooden bowl burning process in preparation for primitive water purification. They utilized a local native plant, common horsetail (Equisetum arvense) as natural straw to focus on the breath on the coals and encourage them to burn hotter.

Here students use primitive tongs to move red-hot stones from the fire in order to boil the water in the bowls they have just hollowed out.  It takes skill and speed to move these stones, as they are incredibly hot!

Here another student from the weekend wilderness survival course demonstrates his figure-4 dead fall trap.  This simple trap is used in survival situations to trap small game as a source of food.


This short course is an excellent introduction to the major areas of study in the realm of survival skills.  The weekend was a great deal of fun and serious learning, and we were even blessed periods of sunshine.

Here is a video made by one of the students from this course that shows some more of the highlights:



We will be offering this course and more in 2013.  To see the dates check out our Calendar of Courses.

Permaculture, Stone Tools and Advanced Fire Making Skills

Over the last several weeks of November, the Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program students have engaged in a variety of classes.  This included stone tools, advanced fire making, knots and another session of permaculture.  Here are some of the photographic highlights

Here is a photo of some of the blades made from basalt collected locally during the stone tools class.  The large stone in the lower right is the anvil, and the rounded stones near the lower center are hammer-stones.

These are the finished primitive stone knives made from the same stones.  They blades were lashed with cordage and attached with pitch glue.

During our advanced fire making day, students worked with all natural materials harvested from the landscape to create bow-and-drill friction fire kits.  Here, student Christine digs for cedar rootlets, which can be used in place of cordage.

Here, student Coley demonstrates a bow with one of these cedar rootlet cords.

On another class day, students Christine, Elan, Riley, Beth, Alyssa, Austin and Rob test out a frame work they lashed together during their knots and lashings class.

Students Yusef, Caitlin and Jeremy work together to can applesauce during a permaculture class at Alderleaf.

Here is a look inside the pot during the process.  You can just see the lids of the jars being heated, in order to seal them.

Here is student Pete, happily displaying the bounty of a good canning session: spiced applesauce!

Keep an eye on our blog for more updates to come very soon!

Olympic Peninsula Field Trip

Last week students in the Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program traveled west to the Olympic Peninsula.  Our first stop was the Makah museum on Neah Bay.  

 

On display were artifacts from a village that was buried in a mudslide some 500 years before.  We saw instruments used in whale hunting, cedar boxes and clothing, a reconstructed long house, and ceremonial objects. 

Next we were off to Lake Ozette to explore the coast and see where the village of Ozette once stood.  In order to get to the coast we hiked through the forest and learned about the plants, trees and mushrooms growing there.

On the coast the students climbed sea stacks.  Sea stacks are vertical rock formations standing in the sea that were formed entirely by wind and water. The formation process usually begins when the sea creates cracks in the headland, causing them to later collapse, and forming free-standing stacks.

Nereocystis, bull whip kelp, was found all along the shore.  All seaweeds are edible and excellent source of minerals, especially potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, iron, zinc, boron, copper, vanadium and nickel.

Instructor apprentice, Jeremy, found bear and cougar tracks on the beach!

 Makah petroglyphs etched into the Wedding Rocks, a cluster of shore-hugging boulders.

In the morning we were back in the vans and headed south to the Hoh Rainforest, where we learned about old growth forests and animals who live there.

The park is home to the largest unmanaged herd of Roosevelt elk, Cervus elaphus roosevelti, in the Pacific Northwest.

Roosevelt elk feed mainly on ferns, shrubs, and lichens from the rain forest, as well as meadow grasses. 

Pileated Woodpeckers are often associated with mature and old-growth forests.  They need standing dead wood for nesting and as a food source.  Pileated woodpeckers eat wood-boring insects and insects that nest in trees, including long-horned beetles and especially carpenter ants.

Picea sitchensis, Sitka spruce, dominate the park.  They reach heights of 80 meters with a trunk diameter of 5m and can live for over 700 years.

Another amazing field trip with Alderleaf, thank you to the trees, plants, the waters and our students...

 

Learn more about the Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program.

Survival Priorities: WATER

Water is one of the key survival priorities, and it is vital to make sure your water is safe to drink.  One of the oldest methods for water purification is boiling.  This week (October 17th) students in the Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program got to practice using a primitive water boiling technique that involves a coal-burned wooden container.  First, they worked on making these containers - often called coal-burned bowls - so that they could purify water from a local stream.

Students Kristian and Bethany utilize their breath to encourage hot coals to burn down into the top of a log round.

Here Scott, Kristian and Bethany utilize the hollowed out stems of horsetail to focus air down on to the hot coals.

Once the burning process is completed, water is added and glowing red-hot rocks are place in it after being cleaned off to get rid of the ash.  Within a short time the water will start to boil and steam dramatically.  This is a very satisfying part of the day, as you can see by the faces of students Nick, Allan, Ethan and Austin.

Once the water is finished boiling, the rocks are removed and the leaves of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)  are added for flavor.  Students Joanna, Bethany, Alyssa and instructor Michelle look forward to drinking this primitive wild tea.

When one of the water containers sprung a leak, students Christine and Torin utilized a creative approach to the problem by using a form of natural epoxy: pitch mixed with charcoal.  This simple solution kept their water in and allowed them to enjoy their success in the form of vitamin C-rich tea.


Keep an eye out for more updates soon from Alderleaf!

Shelter and Fire

The first few weeks of the Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program have passed.  Students got to learn, practice and challenge themselves with a variety of important skills.  They got to sample fall wild edibles in the ethnobotany class, learned how to identify tracks in the wildlife tracking class and spent a week in the Oregon dunes practicing tracking and trailing skills.

They also learned how to take care of the essentials of survival, which includes shelter building and making fire from friction.

Here students Coley, Ethan and Riley add dry, fluffy debris to the inside of the shelter for bedding.  Other students worked on the outside, adding sticks as "ribs" and then covering the shelter in several feet of debris for insulation.

As the shelter went up, it was important to check it from the inside out to make sure no spots were missed and no holes left to let in the cold air or the rain.  Here Riley crawls in to have a look and let the others know where to put the materials for the greatest effect.

Here student, Austin, carves a new spindle for his bow-and-drill friction fire kit.  A spot of autumn sun shines on him as he works.

Alderleaf instructor Michelle teaches student Joanna how to make a bowline knot, to help secure the cord onto the bow.  It is key to have it properly attached, so that the spindle can spin quickly and consistently.

Austin puts all the parts of his kit together, gets into the proper form and spins the spindle until it makes a coal. Other students around him continue to work on their first bow-and-drill kits.

It takes some serious carving, sweat and patience to get your first friction fire.  Fire is one of the most important survival tools, it can purify our water, cook our food, and get us dry and warm after being soaked by the winter rains.  Fire is at the center of so many tasks in the wilderness, and through it we reconnect with all of our ancestors, who all once depended so much on fire to keep them alive, warm and fed.

Watch for more to come soon from Alderleaf!

Welcome AWCP Class of 2012-2013!

Another school year is now underway and the nine month Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program (AWCP) is off to an fresh start.  This year Alderleaf has two cohorts of Certification Program students.

We are pleased to welcome all the wonderful new students of cohort 1...

 

 And cohort 2!

 

 

We are excited to get to know all of these enthusiastic, focused and passionate new students.  It will be an amazing journey helping them learn more about the natural world around them and their relationship to it.  The energy they bring to the class is palpable and there is no doubt this will be an amazing and unique school year.

More updates to come soon!