Meet WAS

This week Wilderness Awareness School (WAS), our sister school up in Washington, came to visit. They outnumbered us 2 to 1, and were quite a scent to behold fresh from a weeklong plus van expedition all over California. They had some strange customs, such as tying shoes while hanging their butts over benches, but we practice many of the same cultural points in our programs and in general we felt a solid kinship between our two groups.

We greeted each other with songs in the evening. We sang WAS into the garden, and greeted them with hugs befitting old friends.

We began the day with a wander in the morning. I took my burden basket, the one I’d made in one of the early NE classes, because I intended to gather firewood for a solo fire meditation later that evening. We found lots of cool things on the wander.



What is this plant?



Check out this wasp!






Whose hole is this? It was approximately 9 or 10 inches wide and 7 or 8 inches tall at maximum. The throw mound was huge. (Now with knee prints! A WAS-er had stuck his head in just before I got there.) The tunnel curved back to the right a short way, opening up into a round chamber. I wonder if it’s occupied, and where the digger is now.



These digs were just west of the big one, approximately 6 feet near. They were also large.



I returned to camp early, laden with firewood that I’d gathered on the way.



A nifty trick: if you need short sticks but all you have is long ones and no tools, wedge them in the crotch of a tree and push. A little sweat, and they snap quite nicely. Remember to thank the tree.



That afternoon, Native Eyes worked hard to prepare for our fires. We set up tarps, split wood, gathered kindling and tinder, and worked communally on lighting our central fire.

Finally, as dusk faded to dark, we separated to our individual fires, to spend the evening in personal meditation.