Yesterday we started our 21st bushcraft semester course, our 11th since relocating our immersion programs to the field school in Masardis, Maine. It’s significant because now we’ve run more of them here than at our old base in New Hampshire. It’s also the first semester course where we’ve been able to accept the GI Bill as tuition, and we’ve got two veterans here as living proof.
So far we’ve had a lot of laughs, two warm days, two cool nights with no bugs, and a lot of hands-on learning. We’ve been working with axes, fire, campfire cooking, edible wild plants and knife use. Later this week we’ll be building our first shelter and getting out for our first session on the water learning the traditional canoe skills of the region.
And like the beginning of every course, I’m tired after a long day and looking forward to settling down in my wall tent and closing my eyes. But sitting here in the loft of the guide shack, looking out the window at the colors of the sky as the sun sinks behind the northwest horizon, there’s nowhere I’d rather be more than right here at the field school. More to come soon.
