There are all kinds of reasons why we may find ourselves unexpectedly outdoors and potentially not ready for it. A wilderness survival class at KPC this weekend intends to prevent that, by explaining the basics of how to stay sheltered and warm without all the comforts of a properly planned trip.
Amber Sweetland is helping organize the two day course. She says one of the main goals is to simply tune into your surroundings and get more comfortable being outside.
“(We’ll establish) a base level of knowledge of what the resources are and what you can do with them. There’s no physical requirements, so it’s whatever you’re capable of doing. There will be some who are much stronger and will build bigger shelters and there’s some that will be much smaller and will learn to make a very basic, rudimentary shelter.”
The class will be two full days at KPC, but not overnight. Sweetland says the instruction time will be fairly relaxed. In addition to learning how to put together some basic shelter, knife skills will also be taught along with primitive fire building, without lighters or other modern methods.
But, Sweetland says, civilization won’t be far away.
“I’ve gotten the question ‘do I have to go to the bathroom outside in the cold?’ No, you do not. You can come back inside where you can leave your purse or wallet or whatever you would like and you will have access.”
The course is from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, cost is $100 and spots are limited and registration closes Thursday afternoon.
