First introduction to Jegersberg

We all met at Spicheren ready for a day out in the snow and cold weather. We started walking past the university and the kindergarten Hokus Pokus. At the beginning of the path to Jegerberg we stopped to look at our maps to decide where we were. When we had established a location on the map we kept going, walking in the forest was very exciting and I found out the hard way that it is not good to be over dressed. I was wearing an Icelandic sweater which is very warm and walking up one hill I got way to warm and was beginning to sweat which is not good since when we stop to rest the sweat becomes really cold.

On the trip we stopped to make a fire and Len explained what is important to know when you try to start a fire. We got to know the hard we that before you start a fire you need to have everything ready instead of starting the fire and then when it goes out right away you have to go again to get more kindling or firewood. We also learned that you have to have some dry firewood as when the wood or kindling is wet it is almost impossible or very hard to start the fire. Since everything was covered in snow all the firewood around us was pretty wet and made it difficult to start the fire, but once we got it started we tried to dry the other firewood we had by placing them close to the fire.

When we had the fire going we had lunch and I gave Joey my extra woolen socks since he accidentally walked into water and got wet feet. There we got a lesson in always having an extra set of dry clothes, and woolen clothes stay warm when they get wet. Also in cold conditions you want to try as best as you can to stay dry so you don’t get sick. I also found out when I tried to take a drink in my water bottle that the bottle was frozen or the water in the bottle. That made me dread what was to come on other trips if on the first trip my water bottle got frozen.