Base camp days
From WildWiki
With the change in travel to flying out to Utah, we spend 1-2 days either at Moon Lake or Black Fork campground on the north side as a "base camp" before heading into the wilderness. The learning objectives for these days are to orient students to the program, course, and each other as well as build and accelerate relationships across brigades and groups. And, of course, to ACCLIMATIZE! With that in mind, below is a sample curriculum for the "Base-Camp" days.
Return to Courses Page or Mountain Curriculum Page
Day 1
- Arrive by bus from Salt Lake City in late afternoon. Set up camp and teach AW First 72-hour lessons on food, cooking, etc.
- Hold AW Expectations Talks that night.
Day 2
- Challenge Education activities in am. Set-up mobile initiatives for groups to go through to help build relationships and inclusivity. This should build from the AW Relationship Building Activities done on campus. Divide into random groups (do not break into brigades yet). Below is a sample flow:
Morning
9:00 am Ice-Breakers and Trust Progression
10:00 am Initiatives (simple and portable to do at campsite)
11:00 am Whole Group Initiative Super Maze
Afternoon
Go through food- Break into piles by cook group. Ration out fresh food, cheese, bread, etc.
Pack-packing lesson
Possible shakedown hike?
Evening
Stove and cooking lesson. Have groups cook first meal like it is a backcountry meal (do pasta, stir fry, or something else easy). Have instructors with each group to walk them through basic cooking and stove skills.
Good time to have final brigade time and do AW Relationship Building Activities. Also, frame your first official hiking day*- do a TCP of the day and show the group to demonstrate good leadership skills.
- Be prepared that the following day pack-up and start-up will take sometime (it will be the first time they all have to get everything in their packs).
