wildlight wrote:Although in saying that- I've also noticed a rise in numbers of people out there with laminated mini-spreadsheets and schedules, "doing" the trip "by the numbers" rather than simply "enjoying" the simplicity of just being out there, on the trip…
I take map and compass and have a rough idea of where I am going. Take bearings only when I have to and mostly follow the landforms from the map. That way you are not dependent on having got all the previous steps right.
The spreadsheets may come from the Duke of Edinburgh scheme where, if done properly*, the exact route is marked out before you start, with locations and bearings for everything. The kids are expected to work out their own route and follow it, documenting where they went and what they saw. They hand over the plan before they leave so that if anything happens, rescuers know where they are likely to be. The teacher/supervisor does not travel with the kids, but remains separate behind them following the same route, so the kids have to work out everything themselves.
* I said properly, because I have met a number of DoE groups over the last few years in the bush. The whole idea of the DoE is to demonstrate self-reliance and independence, the ability to manage yourself safely in the bush. Yet many (particularly private) schools regard it as a feather in their caps that all students have completed the DoE. Accordingly, kids are made to do it whether they want to or not.
So what happens typically is that instead of travelling in small groups of 3 or 4, they end up in huge groups (over 40 in one case) accompanied by a bunch of teachers with no real bushwalking experience. They follow an exact line from point to point that someone has decreed they should follow, irrespective of the difficulty of that route, eg, straight across the middle of a swamp instead of walking around the edge of it. Or taking a line down the side of a spur in thick scrub rather than following the top of the spur down and going from there. Alternatively, they follow marked tracks in national parks.
And instead of being independent, they are directed by the teacher what to do. "You over there, you near the tree,..... soandso get some water, you three get .....". It is all making a bit of a joke of a scheme that was designed to prove that kids could be independent and look after themselves.
This post is copyright by davidmorr. Permission to reproduce elsewhere may be granted on application. Please PM me for details.