a few photos from survival school

Dusk during student expedition.  There was crypto-bionic crust (a type of algae) everywhere in our campsite.  If you step on the crypto, you destroy 90% of it in a single footfall, and it can take up to 200 years to grow back.  We tried to step in each other's footprints.  A lot of missteps and profanity that night.

After hacking through backcountry for hours, breaking out into a scene like this is awe-inspiring.  

This was the day I came up with the "door" innovation.  We were each making a "tent" out of our rain poncho.  I had my group tie our light wool versa-cloth to each end of the tent, to form a door.  Having the entire tent enclosed sealed in the heat.  

The next day, I overheard other groups telling each other about the tent door idea.  By the next night, most groups were doing it.  As I walked through camp, I saw a bunch of tent doors.  It was a very visual illustration of Viral Marketing and Word of Mouth Virality.

This structure was used to dry jerky from our sheep.  The jerky was excellent.

We crossed this stream at least 20 times on the last day.  The water varied from ankle-deep to waist-deep.  Our hiking boots got wet with each crossing, which was conducive to blisters.  Thankfully it was the last day.

We were given two days' worth of rice near the end. We didn't eat any until the last night of the trip. My cooking groupmates asked me to cook the rice, since I'm Asian.

I carefully washed all the rice. Then we learned slowly and horribly that you cannot cook two meals of rice in the pot meant for one portion of rice. Half of it burnt and the other half was still raw.

I spent 30 minutes scrubbing out the pot with a stick. My groupmates went hungry that night.

It was the lowest point of the trip. Later PJ asked me how bad I felt about it, on a scale of 1 to 10. I said 9.5.