Scouts from troop 49 returned from our Wilderness Survival Weekend. We survived the ominous downpour on Friday night from the Bomb Cyclone and luck seemed to be on our side all day Saturday and through the night. Our scout-made survival-shelters kept everyone warm and dry!

Our three days of training included shelter building, first aid, priorities of survival, signaling, water purification and advanced bushcraft knife skills. On Sunday morning, we cooked bacon on campfire using a shovel as a frying pan. Bacon never tasted so good after a long night in the wilderness.

The only requirement remaining for the Wilderness Survival Merit Badge is starting fires using 3 different methods.

Each of the following will count as a separate method and we plan on a fire skills class soon.

• • Ferrocerium Rod (Firerod) – Fine plant fiber (cotton, jute, seed buff, etc.)

  • Ferrocerium Rod (Firerod) – Fibrous Bark

  • Ferrocerium Rod (Firerod) – Paper Bark

  • Ferrocerium Rod (Firerod) – Resinous Bark

  • Ferrocerium Rod (Firerod) – Wood shavings/fuzz to include Resinous Fatwood

  • Ferrocerium Rod (Firerod) – Magnesium

  • Note – an empty lighter or spark wheel type firestarter can be used in place of a Ferrocerium Rod

  • Spark-Ember – Firerod to ember and then ember to flame (including charcloth, Shepard’s lighter, ember tinder, etc.)

  • Spark-Ember – Flint, steel and char material to ember and then ember to flame

  • Spark-Ember – Rock on Rock to ember to flame

  • Solar – Magnifying glass (flat, glass, glasses, binos, clear marble, etc.)

  • Solar – Parabolic Mirror (pop can, makeup mirror, hubcap, etc.)

  • Solar – Plastic bag filled with water

  • Solar – Ice sphere

  • Electrical – 9 Volt to fine steel wool

  • Electrical – 1.5 Volt to gum wrapper

  • Electrical – 12 Volt to wood pencil (MUST BE SUPERVISED BY ADULT)

  • Electrical – 12 Volt cigarette lighter (MUST BE SUPERVISED BY ADULT)

  • Friction – Bow Drill

  • Friction – Hand Drill

  • Friction – Pump Drill

  • Friction – Fire Roll

  • Friction – Fire Plough

  • Friction – Bamboo saw

  • Friction – Fire Thong

  • Friction fires using a team – if a team works together to create a friction fire, each participating member gets credit (possible troop activity)

  • Chemical – MUST BE SUPERVISED BY ADULT - potassium permanganate

  • Fire piston

  • Other method pre-approved by counselor (there are several other methods not mentioned here)