Overnight fieldtrip (topic: forest winter)
When? 31.1. – 1.2.18
Where? Jegersberg, Kristiansand
Our first overnight fieldtrip took place close to the lake Øvre Jegersbergvann in Jegersberg. The walking distance from the UIA was about 15 minutes. The main aim of this field trip was to test our individual gear in winter conditions.
According to the Allemannsrett which became effective in Norway in 1957, it is allowed to build up a camp for 24 hours and make a fire, if a distance of at least 150 meters to the next inhabited building is abided.[1] This law allowed us to set up our camp and fire. After examining the area for an appropriate camping spot, my two fellow students and myself decided to build up our tent on a relatively ground-level space in a forest area. To build up a camp in a forest has the benefit that it is more windless and sheltered in comparison to a camp on an open area. Unfortunately, we hadn’t have checked the tent equipment in advance with the result that we hadn’t had an inner tent. Therefore, the main learning outcome of this fieldtrip for me was: Make sure to always check all of your gear in advance! But even without an inner tent I felt really warm during the night due to a footprint, a good isolation from underneath (foam + inflatable mattress), a good sleeping bag with an inlet and the fact that my two fellow students and myself were lying very close together and therefore warmed each other. Also, I wore woollen underclothing and woollen socks, which heats up the body better than other fabric.
After setting up the tents, all students of one country presented different games of approximately 10 minutes such as “chicken in a hen house” or “tic tac toe”. After each game, we stood in a circle and reflected and finally scored the games from 1-10 points according to criteria such as: fun, dynamic and cognitive.
During our 15 minutes cooking competition with storm kitchens we had the task to cook a delicious food in only 20 minutes with few groceries like couscous, meat and spices. After cooking one “taster” of each group scored the meals according to criteria such as appearance, nutrition and flavour. A good nutrition should cover carbohydrates, protein and vitamins. When camping in the winter it is very important to enable those criteria in order to get new energy and lift up the mood. As a full stomach warms the body up during the night it is advisable to eat something before going to sleep. When camping in the winter it is also a good idea to pre-cook the meals in advance, in order to save gas and cooking time. Also, we should keep in mind that there could be difficulties when using gas cookers in temperatures sub-zero. After cooking and eating our own meals under the common shelter (tarp) we spent the free time to build up a fire and hike through Jegersberg with head torches. A hike before going to sleep also warms up the body. The next morning we packed our gear and made sure to not leave any rubbish behind us.
[1] BITTNER, S. (2009): Friluftsliv. Ein pädagogischer Ansatz mit Parallelen zur Erlebnispädagogik? Augsburg: ZIEL – Zentrum für interdisziplinäres erfahrungsorientiertes Lernen GmbH.