I'll never forget my night alone in the woods on that cold November night in central New Brunswick, Canada. I was in a survival situation for sure, all alone at night with nothing but what was in my vest where if I failed, I would die!...or at least fail the course and have to do it again. I was on my survival night at the Maritime College of Forest Technology. It was a night to test all we were taught in our survival class that prepared us for worst case scenarios when working in the woods. Being a fan of Les Stroud aka Survivorman I really liked the course and was looking forward to my night in the woods. That night really took away any romantic thoughts I had about being alone in the wilderness.
Each student was placed at least half a km apart in a large woodlot to get the true isolation feeling. We were brought in a dusk, shown the general area where we had to stay in and that was it, on our own. They put me on the top of a small hill that was covered in dead or dying and very wet softwood trees. Again, this was late November so it was already starting to get cold. My training kicked in immediately and I started setting up my shelter in an area that had as much firewood as I could see nearby and wouldn't get soaked if it rained. I managed to find the end of a large white birch tree wedged between two smaller red maple trees that made a great place to hang my small tarp I had in my Forest Technician vest. I strung the tarp, made a bed out of spruce bows and started on my fire. I got it started easily enough with my lighter and cotton balls soaked in Vaseline but it would only burn for 15 mins at a time. I'd spend time getting wood, careful not to sweat and become colder after, return to the site and repeat. I would sit by the fire for 15 minutes, the wood would burn then I had to get more wood. Everything was soaked so nothing was staying lit. The only thing they kept it going was the amount of fresh spruce bows I could throw on the great a fast burning fire ball. Eventually the fire seemed to be burning steadily on my own. That's when I decided to take out my little bit of fireball whiskey out and enjoy my night and take the edge off. I sat by the fire for awhile, made some beans , made some Chaga tea and noticed the fire was getting low again. I got up and started looking for wood again. I brought a small saw with me that I NEEDED to cut and decent wood to burn but after my drinks of whiskey I suddenly couldn't find it! "Maybe the whiskey was a bad idea" I said out load to myself. I looked around, calmly at first but panic comes quick when your fire is going out and it's getting darker and colder by the minute. After the fire was almost completely out I finally found it and quickly went to cut some more wood.
I had to go further and further from the fire each time to get wood until eventually I would sometimes lose the sight of my fire through the trees...not a good feeling. After I built the fire up the best that I could I decided to take out the tiny emergency aluminum bag I brought in my vest. I crawled into and thought, "that was a good night, time to go to sleep".
I woke up in the pitch black to the sound of leaves crunching near me ABSOLUTELY FREEZING! I was convulsing! I jumped up and moved to the fire and desperately got the fire going very slow key and my teeth chattered uncontrollably and my arms shook. I finally got it going and my immediate thought was " whiskey was a HORRIBLE idea!". It was at that point when the sights and sounds hit me all at once. The moon was full, lighting up the forest with its beans through the canopy. An owl hooted nearby and a coyote was howling in the distance. Squirrels played in the leaves nearby explaining the loud sound that woke me up. A gently breeze brushed my face as I took a deep breath in and smelled the cold fall air. It was a moment I will never forget and still is vivid in my mind.
The staff checked on me shortly after that and I seemed perfectly fine, because I felt perfect.
After a very long night of trying not to freeze the sun finally rose and I made my way back to the pick up spot back on the road. It was hilarious hearing the other students stories about the night. Some were right next to the coyote and even saw it while one student burnt his shelter to the ground! Haha!
It truly was an experience I will never forget and now think back on and smile.
