Friday afternoon Eric and I left home to pick up Jacob and head to the mountains to Camp Emerson. Camp Emerson is near the city of Idyllwild and at an elevation of about 5400 feet. We know that it snowed a couple of days before we were going to be there so we were prepared.
Upon out arrival we were greeted by a smile in the snow.
A smile for a greeting
We set up out tent in the snow covered meadow. it is actually just to the right of Jacobs head.
Eric and Jacob
We then went to our classes. Eric and Jacob were attending the Venturing Leadership Skills Course in building on the hill. My class, Wilderness First Aid has a more rustic or wilderness like setting.
Wilderness First Aid Classroom
As the evening wore on, the sun going down, it became colder and colder. I brought a pad to put in my chair to insulate my body as well as wore a light jacked covered by a heavier jacket as well as a knit cap. However, my feet were getting cold just by sitting on the snow and not moving. We all left the class cold. Especially the young men that came to class in their shorts and t shirts. I thought we were going to have living examples of hypothermia.
As for the night it was somewhere between 24 and 27 degrees depending on who you talked to. At 3:30 in the morning, Jacob taped me on the head and wanted to go to the bathroom. You teach the buddy system and he wanted a buddy to trek to the restroom building. When we returned, I looked at my thermometer and it was reading 30 degrees. I figured something like that because the moisture from out breath had condensed on the inside of the tent and frozen there creating small ice crystals that sparkled in the beam of the flashlight.
The boys finished there training Saturday evening and I took them down the hill where Janet picked them up. The came home to pizza and a movie in a warm home. I returned for our first aid scenarios. The ones where you find life like mannequins in the forest under the darkness of the night who have broken bones, knife injuries or just plain stopped breathing. You need to act quickly, determine what is wrong and render first aid. Most lived and a coupe did not. Better to learn on a mannequin than a living being.
We finished the class at about 4 on Sunday evening and I headed home. It was nice to be back. Best part was going out to dinner with Janet.
