Day 8: Winter Adventuring
Welcome back, everyone! It’s been a packed couple of days since the last time the Winter Adventuring group updated everyone! We’re excited to tell you all about it.
On the 12th and 13th, we split off into two groups. One group went to a frozen lake with Tolik to experience ice fishing; the other half stayed at UTS and learned about orienteering from Kolya.
The ice fishing group woke up at 5:30 am, preparing everything we needed to go out. We had a lot of equipment and tools to prepare before heading out, so we quickly gathered everything and packed it into a van. We departed UTS around 6:00 am and drove roughly three hours north of UTS, and as we drove, we quickly began to see more snow and ice around us! The lake, typically full of water, was covered by a foot of ice! As it was a Sunday morning, many people were fishing on the lake.
As we unloaded our vans with all our equipment, we headed to the lake, where Tolik guided us through ice fishing and how to set everything up correctly. The lake was very icy, and as we tried to walk or glide around the ice, many of us would slip and slide; it was quite hilarious. We stayed on the ice for a few hours; unfortunately, we could not catch any fish. Although we couldn’t catch any fish during that time, every one of us was able to experience a lot of joy as we spent our time on the beautiful lake of the Adirondack. A memory and scenery that we will never forget. One can gain so much from ice fishing, especially patience, something we all need daily!
Now let’s not forget about half of the group that stayed behind and learned of orienteering from Koyla!
You may be asking yourselves, “what is orienteering?” Well, orienteering is a sport where individuals use an accurate, detailed map and a compass to find points in a landscape. It can be enjoyed as a walk in the woods or as a competitive sport.
We were excited to learn how to use a compass and properly guide ourselves. After Kolya explained how to use and follow a compass properly, we went into nature around UTS and challenged ourselves through a small and fun scavenger hunt. We had to work as a team and support one another to find the clues.
Both groups were able to experience ice fishing and orienteering, which made everyone extremely grateful to experience something many of us never imagined we would ever.
The next day, our schedule included learning about medical bags/supplies, using our wood stoves inside our tents, and spending a night outside with our tents and most of our gear!
On the bright and beautiful morning of the 15th, waking up from our night in the woods, many were able to get a good rest. We have one more day left at UTS before heading out to the Adirondacks! With that in mind, we all packed our bags and headed back to the UTS building. Later that morning, we learned about prepping our hiking bags and took time to prepare everything we needed for our week-long journey. A little before noon, we headed out as teams to buy our meals for the next eight days out in the woods! Everyone was very excited, and we all rushed inside the stores to get everything we planned to make and eat. When we returned, we all brought our groceries inside and prepared them to take with us; we cut certain food into smaller pieces, transferred food into ziplock bags, etc.
As we were preparing everything, we were later informed that we had to wait another day due to the warm weather melting the lake we needed to hike across. Of course, many of us were excited to leave as soon as possible, but because of this extra day, we had more time to prepare ourselves fully. Yes, preparing all the external things we need to go adventuring, but we also need to prepare our hearts to have the right intention and attitude to have the best experience out there.
Generation Peace Academy
Kenichi Ishibashi & Yoselin Reyes
Bloggers, Winter Adventuring