Survival Camping - Part 2

So after catching and cleaning our dinner, (yes, now i can pull guts out of fish successfully and without the slight bit of squeamishness.... fish oil is good for the cuticles, right?), we also collected water from the stream to purify by boiling it over the fire... and had a delish dinner of trout ramen!

Day 3: After a very restful night's sleep (seriously, i slept so hard that i drooled all over the hoodie i was using as a pillow) aided by earplugs (take that, crazy howling creatures!), i was ready to conquer day 3... we took our backpacks and decided to hike across the creek and along the Highline Trail to find a place so i could construct a shelter...

After scanning the area to make sure i wasn't going to build where i would get crushed by a dead tree falling over or flooded by a river of water when it rains, i set to work dragging over fallen timber for the framework....

Cutting some boughs for the next layer creating a windbreak and waterproofing....

And harvesting ferns to cushion my sleeping area and plug up holes in the shelter for waterproofing....

Then comes the fire circle (well, semi-circle) along with a handy dandy wall for reflecting the heat into the shelter.... pretty spiffy huh? :) Aaaaannnnnnnddd.....

After stuffing my emergency blanket up top to help catch the rain.....Voila! A first rate, kick butt shelter that i think even Dave & Cody from Dual Survival would be proud of! i did it all by myself, and just in time for the rain... it rained for a good 45 minutes and we stayed dry and cozy! i was so stoked with my success that we opted to make our final night's camp here...

While dad went down to the creek to catch the rest of dinner, i got a first rate fire started in record time!

Our last lovely dinner...

Then settling in for the night... now if only i could have done all that the first day! I had such a rockin' shelter that i didn't want to leave... i'll have to save learning how to set snares for another trip.... and although there was one squirrel who ventured close enough to have a close call, i didn't have to shoot anything (which i was secretly glad.... i can live on fish)... We did see one deer and a flock of wild turkeys, but suprisingly not as much wildlife as i expected...

So all in all, after my shaky start, i felt successful in my quest and feel like i may have stumbled upon a bit of mojo in the process... i definitely feel like i would be an asset now, especially if i was hiking and encountered an unexpected injury or weather change... and the best part of it all... My manicure held up in spite of dirt, splinters, fish guts, scales, and sharp objects....i didn't even break a nail! Kudos Heather, (my nail chick)... you rock!