RIO HONDO — Sidney McGinnis held the hemp rope strong, squinting the morning sun as she looked toward fellow scout Carolina Requena.
Carolina, 12, neatly sliced the length of rope, then handed it to Ethan Vasquez who used it to fasten a blue tarp around a metal pole.
“I used two half hitches,” said Ethan, 12.
Ethan and other scouts were working on their wilderness survival merit badge Wednesday at Camp Perry Winter Camp.
About 100 scouts from Scouting BS troops throughout the Valley had gathered for the event, which began Monday, said Carlos Garza, Winter Camp Director.
“They have to sleep outside without a tent,” Garza said. “They are making their own shelter.”
The wind swept playfully across the grounds, bringing the rushed battle cries of kids involved in a game near the pavilion. Small gusts of wind, harmless in themselves, presented annoying challenges in the building of shelter and the making of fire.
The camp was alive with young scouts expanding their skills as cooks, campers, archers, mechanics and first aid skills.
The emergency preparedness merit badge most captured the attention of Nadia Noriega, 14, from Troop 4301-G.
“I’m doing personal management, emergency preparedness, communication, public speaking, and archery,” said Nadia, as she waited to shoot an arrow into a target.
“Emergency preparedness, it teaches me how, if we’re in a situation that wasn’t planned, there’s a safe way to evacuate and to bring everyone home safely,” she said.
The thick whistle of propane fire at Michael Hall’s cooking class sent signal with a signal word: food.
Jathan Ramos, 15, was stirring hashbrowns in a skillet, rushing away and teasing everyone with brief wisps of smells.
At the next table, Luke Villanueva, 16, stirred hamburger meat, ensuring it browned well before being stored for Thursday’s meal.
“We’re preparing the meat for foil-packed pizza tomorrow,” explained Hall. “They are going to do the Dutch oven and the foil-packed will be cooked in there.”
Cristian Mendez, 16, had stepped up to give several scouts quick lessons on knots and other skills to help them move into the rank of Life Scout. This to qualify them for the 2023 National Jamboree in July.
“I’m teaching them some knots, orienteering skills, how to map out a camp, some lashings in order to build structures,” said Mendez, a Life Scout.
“It’s going great, all of them are learning quickly, easily,” he said, as a boy worked on his clove hitch not.
Such vitality and industry against the backdrop of the COVID period was refreshing and filled with promise and resurrection. Two years ago, Camp Perry, as did many other places, stood dark, idle and silent, with everyone sheltering in place and thinking of uncertain futures and happier times.
This week there was a sort of renewal.
And there was a sort of poignancy about the wilderness survival class, emblematic to the new wilderness of severe challenges appearing out of nowhere and crucial acquiring of new skills and capacities to overcome those sudden occurrences.
“They are going to start a fire three different ways without using a match,” Garza explained. “Right now for the weather they are building a windbreak shelter.”
Sidney, Carolina, Ethan and James Margo, also 12, gathered with a sense of joy and optimism as they cast sparks from flint and steel to light a cotton ball.
