Fun times navigating campus with a map and compass!
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Archive for April, 2008
28
Apr
Lost and Found
28
Apr
Staying Found
This week focused on using a map and compass to stay found in the woods. We worked on orienting and reading a map, following a bearing, taking a heading from a map and taking declination into account. It was a pretty cerebral week with a significant amount of “class” time but the students got to put their skills into action into two orienteering courses around campus. On Friday, we headed over to Cowassock Woods and Ashland Town Forest where all of the directions were given in terms of compass headings. Folks experienced a few twists and turns but were able to find their way back to the trail head just in time!
click here to visit the Sudbury Valley Trustees site for a full map and information about this area
28
Apr
maps of campus
click here to see a brief document with information from Silva on how to use a compass
Above are some maps of campus to help you practice your map and compass skills. Use the checkpoints on third map to design your own course. Remember that the declination for this area is about 16 degrees west of true north.
26
Apr
Orienteering
On Tuesday we started the orienteering portion of OA. We each recieved a compass and learned about how to use it. On Wednesday we put our new skills to the test where we were given bearings in either true north or magnetic north. If our bearings were given in true north we had to add 15 degrees for the declination. Starting in the center of the quad we used our first bearing and made a sighting to take us to either, the door of the Bottom Floor Boys common room, Ms. Duke’s office, the door to the theatre, the top of the hill on the quad, or two areas of the room building. At all these places there was a letter and the order of the bearings made a word. On Thursday we worked more on our orienteering skills; however, this time we worked all over campus, at each different place there was a word and once we found all of ther words the first letter of each spelled a new word.
20
Apr
lashing challenge
The Challenge: Create a free standing structure(s) that would allow the OA faculty advisors to safely climb up and through the 5′ hanging tire on the school’s ropes course. The students were only allowed to use staves and twine and had 40 minutes to design and build their idea. Click on the triangle below to see if they were successful!
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20
Apr
Tippling Rock
We went out to hike around Tippling Rock in Sudbury on Friday. The weather was clear and hot at about75 degrees! Accessing the area from Boston Post Road we traveled through the area taking note of the many new trails that have been added. In fact, we took a brief detour following one of these trails before quickly realizing that we were heading down the mountain instead of up! Once at Tippling Rock we were afforded great views… even seeing the skyscrapers of Boston to the East! It was a great hike and I think we all were happy to spend such a gorgeous afternoon in the woods!
Click on the thumbnail for the full size image
Click here for more information about hiking in this area.
16
Apr
learning lashing
Download Welcome Home
Enjoy this photo montage created by one of our very own OA members by clicking on the triangle! He chronicles the construction of an A-frame shelter by the group just one day after learning the square and diagonal lashing!
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14
Apr
Building a Shelter
Last week we learned how to build a shelter using lashing and knotting techniques. It was really cool because we were able to actually take the skills we had learned and apply them to do something bigger than we could have ever imagined. The finished result absolutely amazed me. It was beautiful and could easily fit two people. What is even more amazing is that all we used was branches, leaves, sticks, and twine. The ending result was a sturdy structure. Though it took our group about an hour and a half to complete, it was worth it. I was disappointed when we had to take down our fort. I really wanted to keep it up to see how it could last through the weekend. Taking it down was a lot faster than putting it up. It was also a lot less fun. Untying lashes is NOT fun! Overall, it was a really cool experience. How many people can say that they built themselves a shelter using nothing more than sticks and twine?
