Last Sunday, 16 brave Minneapolis members partook in a six hour Wilderness Survival Class conducted by Seekers Wild. Everyone showed up bright and early to Battle Creek Park in St. Paul and prepared to face the unknown. Before we started the survival class our instructor, Derek, broke everyone up into two teams for several activities. The first activity we tried our hand at was starting fires using bow drills. It was a difficult task but most of us were able to produce smoke and an ember. A few even successfully started fires like some genuine pioneers.
The next task was to learn how to collect water from the wilderness. Our instructor took two jugs of water and poured them all over the grass to mimic rain. He handed each member a thin towel and had them race to see who could collect the most water in three minutes by soaking up what he had dumped out. We joked that the teams could receive 10 extra points if they drank the water they collected and surprisingly each team had one extreme member who actually did when dared!
After breaking for lunch we learned about wild plants and how to identify which are edible. After about 30 minutes we found over 17 types of edible plants. Some of them tasted like garlic, green beans and coconut. We hiked to the top of the bluffs and learned how to build a shelter. Despite only having 20 minutes to gather supplies and build the shelters, they came out pretty great! The last thing we did for the day was walk down to the basin of the park. We all grabbed foam sticks or bows with foam arrows and played a wild game where we had to tag each person hidden in the field to get more points for our teams. It was hilarious and everyone had fun pretending they were a part of the Hunger Games.
Everyone had a great time working, building and learning with one another. It was a fantastic way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon. This is what you have to look forward to when you’re a member of Events & Adventures!