{"id":827,"date":"2013-01-23T01:05:09","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T23:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/?p=827"},"modified":"2015-04-28T00:18:20","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T22:18:20","slug":"keep-your-hat-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/keep-your-hat-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep your hat on!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was my first camping trip as a Boy Scout<\/span>, and already my life was in danger. For some reason, our scoutmaster had arranged for us to go camping \u2014 in tents<\/span> \u2014 in the middle of winter. Our survival skills would be put to the test, and the discomfort we’d endure<\/span> would, as they say, “build<\/span> character”.<\/p>\n

We inspected the tents and other equipment<\/span> we’d take to the woods<\/span>, and listened to words of caution<\/span>. The biggest danger to survival \u2014 and the one easiest to underestimate<\/span>, we were told \u2014 is hypothermia<\/span>. “Make sure you sleep with a hat on,” Mr. Mackowiak, the troop’s elder statesman<\/span>, warned us. “Thirty percent of your body heat is lost through your head.”<\/p>\n

We arrived in the forest after dark and pitched<\/span> our tents in the snow. It was indeed a cold night. An hour before sunrise, the thermometer next to my hat-covered head read 20 \u00b0F (\u20137 \u00b0C). Mr. Mackowiak’s own expectations had been trumped. “There’s ice in our cups!” he exclaimed<\/span> over and over.<\/p>\n

The things we learned<\/h2>\n

To a kid like myself from the city and suburbs<\/span>, this was a whole new experience. From that February morning at age 11 to the summer I turned 18, weekend camping trips taught me a lot. You’d think there wouldn’t be much to do in the woods, but the other Scouts and I always found educational ways to pass the time.<\/p>\n

We encountered<\/span> animals \u2014 raccoons<\/span>, mostly \u2014 and read their tracks<\/span>. We learned to keep our environmental footprint<\/span> as small as possible. We worked a lot with compasses; “orienteering” was its own discipline, and rightly so. We discovered how easy it is to walk in circles in the woods, Blair Witch<\/i>-style, when you think you’re walking in a straight line.<\/p>\n

We learned to use knives, matches<\/span> \u2014 and rifles<\/span> \u2014 safely. Cooking on wood fires led to some, well, interesting results. And making those fires was an art unto itself<\/span>; it’s not as easy as it looks. We’d spend countless hours comparing, testing and perfecting our pyrotechnic strategies.<\/p>\n

Staying warm was paramount<\/span>. As Mr. Mackowiak said, 70 percent of your body heat is lost through your head.<\/p>\n

In between structured activities, we’d engage in<\/span> myth-busting<\/a>. Does moss grow only on the north side of trees? No, we found. Can you focus the sun through a pair of glasses<\/span> to set things on fire? Sometimes. Can you condense water from the air on a hot day? Surprisingly, yes.<\/p>\n

An advanced class taught me some further skills: how to find natural shelter<\/span>, dismember<\/span> small animals, and know which forest plants are edible<\/span> and which are poisonous<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Put to the test<\/h2>\n

Naturally, all of this knowledge had to be tested at some point<\/span>. To join the exclusive order<\/span> of the most capable<\/span> Scouts, you must prove that you can spend the night outdoors alone \u2014 after making a fire in the dark. You’re given only two matches \u2014 two, because the first one always breaks, but only two, because in a real survival situation you might be down to<\/span> your last two matches.<\/p>\n

It was common for kids to smuggle in food and matches, but I believed in the principle of the thing. The first match broke as I tried to light it. I was more careful with the second one. Everything depended on it. I focused my energy and found myself holding a beautiful, small flame that I shielded<\/span> from the wind as I guided it to a small pile<\/span> of leaves and straw.<\/p>\n

Mr. Mackowiak, who had passed away<\/span> a year or two before, would have been proud. I could almost hear his voice reminding me to keep my hat on: “Ninety percent of your body heat…”<\/p>\n

So when people ask me, “What did you do in the Boy Scouts?” I tell them, “Lots of things.” Mainly, though, I tell them, “I survived.”<\/p>\n

\n

Language note:<\/b> “Keep your hat on!” also means “Stay calm or patient<\/span>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was my first camping trip as a Boy Scout, and already my life was in danger. For some reason, our scoutmaster had arranged for us to go camping \u2014 in tents \u2014 in the middle of winter. Our survival skills would be put to the test, and the discomfort we’d endure would, as they say, “build character”. We inspected … >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[225,187,212,134],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1777,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/1777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}