Birthday Celebration

So yesterday was Dan Dejong's birthday. I think that our instructors planned a special day for him... or at least that's what it seemed. We started off the day about 30 minutes later than normal (woohoo, sleep!). So our class met at the parking lot of a park on the Mamquam River where we were given back our quizzes from the previous day (Dan and I both did very well). We then progressed into the woods along the shore of the river to learn how to tie tarps up properly. It was sooo cool and simple and efficient and effective that I don't think that I will ever go on big trips without my own tarp and lines. A few simple knots, some proper technique and a nice light tarp gives you a dry place to cook, a dry place to sleep, a dry place to be dry in etc. I loved it.
We then progressed to building debris huts which generally consist of debris... lots of it. Dan and my group built a sweet hut that you could look inside of and not see any light in. It was solid (sticks, leaves, moss, ferns, dirt, logs) and I think I would have even trusted it to keep out water. This opened up the possibilities for taking a little bush survival trip in the future. So cool.
Next we moved on to rigging up food caches. We learned how to use proper technique and how to tie your ropes so that you can suspend fairly large amounts of weight across a gap that is at least four meters from any trees and four meters up from the ground without even thinking of climbing a tree... ok so Dan had to climb a little bit but theoretically speaking... no tree climbing.
After this little adventure we set out to cross the gushing, glacier fed, frigid Mamquam River:) Oh the excitement was tremendous. We built pyramids of people so that we could break the water for those behind, and at the same time those behind supported the people in front of them. It worked very well until the River was over our heads and then we all got swept away in gales of laughter and shrieking. The best part was that after the second group watched our group get washed down the river because we couldn't even touch the ground, they decided that they could probably do it "better" than us so they got swept down the river as well. Good times.
So then we went over how to sharpen axes and knives and how to light fires even in the pouring rain and we were recommended to read the instruction manual on "How To Shit In the Woods", which deals with all the reasons that people fear going out into the backcountry related to personal hygiene. For example, the book dispels the rumors that bears are attracted to menstruation etc. (who'd have thunk it eh?):)
After a long hard day at the books, we ended class by rafting down the Mamquam river in inflatable dinghies that people like Aaron Richards had the brilliance and foresight to purchase for such events. It was amazing and Cory found a five hundred dollar digital camera abandoned on the beach with no pictures on it or anything! All in all we had a blast, and to top it all off when Dan and I got home, Dan's family was coming out to Squamish to take us out for supper in honor of his birthday! Free meal at Whitespot, no dishes to worry about and the incredible comedy of Steffen Dejong:) That is a recipe for a good evening.

PS.sorry for the lapse in postings... when we're out in the field I don't have lunch hours to write these things up cause I don't have internet at home and I haven't purchased a USB memory stick yet! Enjoy your summer guys.