The kids were organized into teams of 8 kids or so to gather fire-starting material and they were supposed to cook a meal. I carried in most of Lamb's stuff--including lots of water--although she had a full back pack, too.
A school-affiliated naturalist, who has run other outdoor nature events and does a good job, led this event. A nearby property owner was kind enough to volunteer his land for the event.
Despite Lamb's plea to help out, I mostly stayed away. But when Lamb pointed out that other parents were helping out their kids, I helped a bit.
I don't think I did that much, actually. I did look for burnable materials in the areas that they seemed low on. But in total, my scrounging wasn't an out-of-proportion fraction. The kids were certainly energetic in this task.
I didn't even attempt to build the fire or try lighting it. That was up to the kids and the organizers.
I did handle the boiling and hot water used to cook some of the hot dogs and make hot chocolate. I figured the danger of one of the kids burning themselves by spilling that over-rode the lessons of how difficult pioneers had it for things that are simple and convenient for us. And I hovered to make sure nobody burst into flames.
Nobody burst into flames. And the kids learned lessons that in a perfect world they'll never really need to know except on camping trips:
Hot dogs may seem simple--and some kids just roasted them on the grill. But given that the kids didn't really seem to appreciate the concept of "cooking" food and apparently ate hamburger tartare, hot dogs were the way to go.
One girl near the end was in near tears at being cold. I gave her some cold weather advice, assured here we were soon leaving (the kids were pouring snow on the embers--the one nice thing about the conditions), and then Lamb got her walking around to warm up. Ten minutes later, she said she was feeling better.
At one point, Lamb said she was getting cold feet and I was half way through removing my outer socks to give her another layer when an organizer said they had spare socks. In the end, Lamb had fun on the camping adventure.
One of the naturalists mentioned it was fun watching her work. She fell but kept dragging the wood along, at one point. He admired the determination.
The kids seemed to have fun despite the cold. And it only actually lasted about four hours, really. Hopefully they gained an appreciation of what they have now. I mean, even "roughing it" did not involve me losing cell phone coverage.
I had the opportunity to remember why I hated my Army-issued boots. They kept me warm enough that day, and I shined them up to revive water-repellent properties--although I recalled that on winter drills when I was in the National Guard their only warming properties in real cold came from inspiring us to work faster to get inside the radio vans and turn on the heat.
The main issue I have with the boots is that they have poor traction on ice and snow. Since the camp site was on a slope, on two occasions I did a complete at-one-point-no-part-of-my-body-was-in-contact-with-the-ground fall, landing flat on my back. Both times, a nearby kid asked me, "Are you OK?" as if surely I must have died in the fall.
On the bright side, even the next day I had no aches. I keep telling myself I don't feel old yet, despite my advancing years. I guess I am OK.
After the second fall, I moved my backpack--the reason I kept returning to that point--to a safer location. So I guess I learned something, too.
Oh, and funny enough, when I thanked the lead naturalist at the end of the trip, he gave me his card and said if I was interested in volunteering, to call him. Perhaps from a distance I looked like I could be of use in the wilderness, but I'm a city boy.
