Maine Coastal Survival and Foraging Trip (Part 2)
by George Hedgepeth
The area we were in was certainly beautiful, but it had disadvantages for us as well. Thousands of residents of the Great Eastern Megapolis
vacation in the area every summer, and it is easy to see why! However, a fragile natural area cannot support that much traffic without being degraded unless there are restrictions on human use. In order to not damage the Island we were visiting, we had to compromise our usual practices. We took more gear and supplies on this trip than we have on other training expeditions in the past few years.
We were not in a position to take fresh bark and saplings to build lodges from areas scheduled to be timbered. For shelters, we would use tarps we brought in with us. We would be careful to limit our use of fire and make sure our hearths were on bare rock below the high tide line to avoid damaging the thin soil. We also brought in containers of drinking water, because we had no idea of how much (if any) water we might find on this island.
So, this was not a particularly hard-core survival trip. It was a highly enjoyable experience, however, and was filled with opportunities to learn in a
really interesting environment. I missed some of the more
primitive techniques on this trip, but I would go back any time.
On To PART THREE
(Pictures Coming Soon!)
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