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Ben Davis
classmates (from left)Levan Warthaw, Antonio Fox, Sarah Davis, Lisa Queen and
others check their bearings before entering the woods during an orienteering
clinic at Eagle Creek Park. -- Kelly Wilkinson / staff photo |
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A test in the woods
City kids learn to rely on a map, a
compass and one another.
Orienteering Participants
use detailed topographical maps and compasses to find their way to
checkpoints hidden around an area such as Eagle Creek Park. Some race from
checkpoint to checkpoint, while others take their time and enjoy the hike.
For more information on the sport, go to the Web site for the Indiana Crossroads Orienteering club.
By George McLaren
For information on
True North, an adventure education company, call 1-317-876-1871; or go online.
October 26, 2002
Levan Warthaw had his backpack
crammed full of stuff before he
headed into the woods at Eagle Creek Park on the school field
trip.
.Lunch? Check.
Snacks? Check.
Water? Check.
Bible? Check.
"You brought your Bible?"
another student asked him.
"I'm not trusting you
all," responded Levan, 16.
As it turned out, the group of
city kids who spent the day in the woods
made it back safely, their faith
intact.
Few of the Ben Davis High School
students had ever hiked in the woods.
None had ever used a map or
compass to navigate in a park, said teacher
Rachel Helbling, who organized
the trip. Helbling has taken students
on such field trips elsewhere,
but this is the first time she has taken
Ben Davis students.
Helbling's earth-science students
study geology, meteorology and
astronomy. Being able to
understand where things are -- and how to
find them -- is an important
skill for the students.
Before heading to Eagle Creek
Park last week, they learned basic map
and compass skills in class and
practiced during a scavenger hunt
around the school building.
The field trip, Helbling said,
"removes science from a book and the classroom and makes it real. And I
hope it inspires a love of learning that can travel to any class."
For this assignment, the students
received navigational instruction from Jeff Coates, who runs True North.
The former Galyan's employee now
teaches kids and adults about basic wilderness skills or team-building and also
helps train adventure racers.
Coates taught students the skills
necessary for orienteering, a sport in which participants navigate through the
woods to find hidden checkpoints in a given period of time. The idea was to
find the checkpoints and avoid getting lost, and he handed out detailed
topographical maps of the park.
"This is your day to have
your 'Survivor,' " Coates said. He urged students to keep their maps
oriented correctly and to check their direction frequently.
"Trust me, if you don't know
which way you're wandering in the woods, you'll get lost," Coates said
before turning the 120 students loose in the park in groups of about eight.
Parent volunteers and a number of
National Guard soldiers served as chaperones to keep the kids on track and get
them back on time, but the helpers avoided giving out advice.
Shrewd choice (into thicket)
The groups scattered quickly
except for Levan's classmates, who took their time at the start, checking and
rechecking their map, studying their compass, pondering which direction to go.
Finally, they chose west -- and
headed straight into a thicket of woods.
"Are you sure you're looking
at it right, honey?" asked Ashley Dorsey, 15, a sophomore. "I am not
going through there."
But she did, following the others
as they weaved their way through the forest for about 100 yards before emerging
on a park road.
After nearly 25 minutes, the
group was still wandering around looking for their first checkpoint, which was
about one-half mile from the shelter where they started.
"I think we're doing OK.
This is the first checkpoint. Once we find this one, we'll start warming
up," Levan said. "It should be coming up here soon."
Only moments later, Levan's group
spotted other students crouching off the road. They raced to the checkpoint and
marked their scorecard with a red hole punch, then headed off for the next
target.
But they walked right past it and
accidentally split into two groups -- one went north, one went south -- before
rejoining and finding the checkpoint and its hole punch.
Building confidence, the students
quickly tallied three more checkpoints and headed back to the shelter to meet
the 45-minute deadline.
Sgt. Ryan McGuire, a National
Guard recruiter who tagged along on the hike, knew the novice navigators were
having some trouble at first but let them work it out.
"I think this is a great
skill," McGuire said. "It's something everybody uses, even if they
never go out in the woods. They need to know how to read a road map. Plus,
they're working on their teamwork."
Enthusiasm grows
Helbling checked in with each
group as they returned to the shelter.
"They're doing really well.
Everybody comes back, and they're all fired up," she said. "They're
having a good time, and I think the fact that they're finding checkpoints means
they're learning it."
Coates wasn't surprised to hear
the students hadn't taken the most efficient route at first.
"The best way to learn it is
just to get out and do it," he said.
The groups headed out to three
different courses, taking about 45 minutes for each. Some charged back to the
shelter, holding inflatable animals they found at checkpoints. Others trudged
back in, clearly worn out from a day of hiking.
Devon Walton, 16, said he had
never hiked in the woods before.
"At first, I didn't want to
go. Now that I've come, it's fun," Devon said.
"Earth science is the land
and everything that's in it. And that's what we're doing."
Looking at a map in a classroom
is a lot different than interpreting it in the woods, he added.
"This is moving around in
it. You don't know where you're going," said the Ben Davis junior, who
served as the group's "pacer," to help measure how far they had
traveled by counting how many steps he took.
Antonio Fox, 15, carried a
compass during the outing.
"To me, it's a challenge,
something you can grow to like," Antonio said.
Many of the students experienced
nature in a new way, too.
Devon saw his first wildlife
outside of a zoo; Antonio noticed "all kinds of birds, like 20 different
kinds."
Justin Jones, 17, and his group
met about five deer coming along a trail.
"A whole bunch of 'em just
jumped out of nowhere," Justin explained, waving his arms for emphasis.
"One came out, then another
came out. I was like, dawwwwwg."
Helbling said she was surprised
by how little experience her students had with nature, and their exposure to
the outdoors made the field trip a success
But more important, she said, was
how engaged they were in the process of evaluating their location and using a
map and compass to succeed in their mission.
"That was the scientific process at work, as far as I'm concerned," she said.
George McLaren covers outdoor recreation and nature. He can be reached at 1-317-444-6232