THE TRAILHAWK JOURNEYS: Baguio Wilderness Survival Class

I HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF giving a survival training someday for outdoor guys based in Baguio City. Must be because Baguio is the center of the tribal peoples of the Luzon Highlands. I believed that their heritage and culture are still strong that primitive living skills are just second nature for them. Never in my dreams until, one day, a guy named Gary contacted me and we set a schedule of March 11 and 12, 2017 for that.

Going up to Baguio would be a long bus ride from Manila and to Manila – from Cebu – would be 90 minutes by plane or 24 hours by boat. (In the old days and where competition was stiff, it took just 18 hours!) I opt for sea travel to remove the stress of quick transfers that are inherent in airplane travel. I choose March 8 as my departure so I would have enough time to move comfortably about in my journey to Baguio. It was not to be. When passenger sea travel to Manila is a monopoly, it happens. No options.

In the process, my departure for Manila got moved several times and my temper came to its last straw as the frequent rescheduling threatened to jeopardize my training class schedule in Baguio. At the last hour of 21:00 of March 9, the slow boat detached itself from the Port of Cebu and sailed north. The boat arrive the following night (March 10) and it left me the quick transfers that I disdained to happen and the long queue for the ticket and for the bus.

The bus did leave as scheduled at 23:30 of March 10 and I catch sleep as much as I could as it went its way up to Baguio. I arrive at 04:00 of March 11 in Baguio City and it is very cold. I was just wearing a t-shirt and a flimsy long hiking pants. Some passengers went on their way while some opt to stay inside the heated terminal but I just want to stay near a bonfire at the back of the city tourism outpost to wait for Gary.

From the bus terminal I was whisked by Gary, Pandoy and Quintin to Crosby Park in Itogon, Benguet. The facility is owned by Benguet Mining Corporation and it had seen better days. It is located on top of a hill where some of the participants had already set up their shelters since yesterday like Doc Mike, Vera and Loco. As with most of the highlands landscape here, Benguet pine trees dominate the scene.

Still groggy from a lack of sleep and a still missing breakfast, I set up my Silangan Outdoor hammock and an Apexus sheet between two stout pine trees. The Benguet Highlands is perfect hammock country, that is if you can prevent the shivering cold winds crawling on your back. It is still the season of northeast monsoons and the amihan would be carrying the cold winters of Siberia, Japan, Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula to the tropics.

The guys are preparing breakfast. Gary is baking a bread that he would cook Bannock style while Loco has his own idea of bread on a frypan. Any of those are perfect for any empty stomach like mine. I get to eat their unusual but warm bread and it is just as filling as if I am eating traditional Filipino food. Some of the participants arrive with Quintin like Johnson and Kerubin. Another participant, Charleston, arrived later.

I have two previous students present: Pandoy who attended one organized in Montalban last February 2016 and Michael in Cebu on November 2016. The duo are serious blade enthusiasts but have different philosophies with how they treat and use their knives. I would ask them to assist me instead although the number of participants can be managed comfortably by my lone self.

At 09:00 I start the training for the BASIC WILDERNESS SURVIVAL COURSE, an outdoors educational activity designed for tropical wilderness settings of jungles and rugged highlands, which I first offered to the mountaineering community and to emergency responders in October 2013. It is intended as a three-day training but, when clients insist for two days only, I can only yield. Definitely, I would not accept doing it in one day.

The first chapter is Introduction to Survival. Survival situations demand that you stay tough  after the initial impact. Mental stability and toughness are very important characteristics of a survivor. You must develop a survival mindset. Do not engage in prolonged mind games of fantasy and false hopes. You should rein in your mind so you would not release excess adrenaline and cause you more confusions in a very stringent moment.

The best thing to do is stay still and fill up your lungs with oxygene. Your brain needs it most to help you process thoughts. You are now in a high state of agitation and so does your brain. Your brain will be in hyper mode, collating and processing many thoughts all at the same time which is beyond human capacity. We can do so one thought at a time. Just stay still and breathe regularly, supplying your blood system with oxygene.

In the hierarchy of needs and of nutrition in a survival situation, water is always on the top of the scales of both. Rightly so, for we are in the tropics and humidity plays a big role. With that, we surrender perspiration by the acts of our exertions and by what the climatic conditions imposed on us. Along with the lost moisture, is our body heat which we let go without our knowing.

When you stay still in one place, you lessen wastage of moisture and body heat. Then you confine the latter by setting up a shelter (if you still have one) or make one from scratch. That is the second need. The third would be food then warmth. Although food, and even water, would give you warmth, but heat from a naked flame or from the rays of the sun or from a person’s body is solace. Last is security which would complement well with the rest.

Our body has four hypothetical storage tanks that needs to be replenished from time to time during survival. First is constant rehydration that would offset dehydration. Second is food that would give you nutrients, carbohydrates and proteins. Third is sugar which is converted by enzymes for your adrenaline rush. Fourth is fat, hardest to find in the tropics yet are wrapped as tissues in our body.

The topic for the next chapter is about Water Sanitation and Hydration. The first chapter had mentioned the importance of water during survival. Water could be sourced from natural springs, water seeps, man-made water holes, flowing streams, the atmosphere and from plants. It could be refined through boiling, by chemicals, exposure to heat, through filtration and by desalination. It is wise to cache water in your survival camp or just travel early and take advantage of shady places and breeze if you happen to have less.

We move fast to the third chapter which is about Knife Care and Safety. The knife is a tool and should not be used to what it was not designed for like digging latrine holes and as pry bars. It is a vital piece of equipment that should be properly handled and cared for because it is your link to your surviving. In all my trainings, knife etiquette is learned first before you touch a knife.

Besides my rules, there is a knife law that forbids the display, even of concealed carrying, in public places unless you are in a lawful activity, which we are in right now. A knife should be in a sturdy sheath when travelling - for safety - and should be unsheathed when at home to keep it from rust. There are many kinds of knives and it is important that you know the parts, blade shapes, grind styles and the tang designs. You must also learn how to field sharpen a knife.

After the much appreciated instructions about the knife, we move on to Survival Tool Making. Making a tool is essential in survival or even when not in that situation. I showed them the most basic of tools like the digging stick, traps and snares from pieces bamboo that I was able to obtain, and the batoning stick. Since bamboos are rare in the higher elevations, I let each carve a spoon instead from pine wood to practice their dexterity with the knife. I settled for a cup of brewed coffee while supervising their practical exercise.

I was able to finish four chapters in the morning and we have to observe noonbreak. I noticed that it is not that cold today. It is in a warm 24ºC. I boiled water using my Swiss Army Emergency Burner for my Japanese miso soup which would be my simple meal. I am tired and I lacked sleep but this is not the time to show weakness, not while you are working. Outdoors education vis-a-vis survival instructor is now my bread and butter.

Aggravating my physical drain is doing this training for two days instead of the desired three days. You feel the pressure and the instructions are very much compressed, leaving almost out the finer details which could have made the lectures most appetizing, most interesting, as I could insert situations and experiences to the students. Anyway, the hammock is an inviting proposition and I sneaked into its comfortable clasp for a nap.

Refreshed after 90 minutes of siesta, I continued with Notches and Lashes. There are five basic notches that are used regularly in bushcraft. These are applied in shelters and tool making. Again this is an exercise of knife dexterity together with the baton stick which lets me rest for a short while. Lashing a cord to join two sticks or a different object are very important with this process. For this part, I showed them three basic lashes.

We go next to Simple Shelters. Before setting up one, it must be noted that you should be in the safest of places. It should not be near streams, dead trees, trails, water sources and underneath a forest of combustible trees. As you can see, we are in a forest of pines which is a very combustible one but the trees are not so close to each other and allows breeze to move in between. You should take advantage too of early evening thermals.

Simple shelters are essentially man-made or natural. Natural are caves, rock overhangs, tree cavities and underneath fallen trees. Simple shelters could be synthetic ones or made from natural materials or a combination of both. As it is a simple shelter, you could only enjoy it in a very short span of time since your purpose is just to survive from the elements until such time you are rescued or walked your way to civilization.

When you have a shelter, your next step is to find food. The next chapter is Foraging and Plant Identification. Foraging food in the wilderness or on unfamiliar terrain can be very taxing to the mind. When you are stressed and hungry, you tend to remove all caution. Looks can be very deceiving in the tropics like fruits, leaves, nuts, roots, flowers and mushrooms. Likewise, you need to evade harmful plants while travelling your way in a jungle.

Short term food would be grub, tree snails, fresh-water shrimps and crabs and frogs. These can be picked by hand. Cook it if you must to remove parasites and bacteria. Long term food are meat from mammals, fish, birds and reptiles. For that, you must use a weapon, traps and snares. Traps could be anything designed to lure prey into a simple contraption of a hollow bamboo or a dam of rocks. It must work with the terrain, with gravity and the habits of creatures.

Snares are more complex. It has a spring mechanism and a trigger mechanism which would be initiated by the prey. Showed the students a very common snare employing a pressure-trigger mechanism. It could catch anything from birds to goats. Then again, you must use bait so prey would be lured to step on it. A single trap or a single snare would not yield you a catch but a trap line of 20 to 30 snares or traps would after ascertaining where would the prey would most likely pass or visit.

Related to these is the chapter on Food Preservation and Cooking. If you can eat a deer all in one setting, well and good. You are very fortunate to still possess a healthy appetite. Meat rot in a short span of time. During survival, meat can be preserved and its edibility can be extended for a few more hours to several months. You can boil it. You can dry it. You can smoke it. Or you can cook it with its own oil from its fat.

Fish can be preserved by drying and by smoking. Fruits can be digested after a drying session and provide you natural sugar. Common rootcrops, has high starch value, and should be cooked, by all means possible, to remove toxins and poison. Famine rootcrops need to be immersed in running water for five days before cooking. Salt and vinegar are good food preservatives. Vinegar can be sourced from any palm.

Last chapter for the day is Fire, Fuel and Campfire Safety. You cannot make a fire if one or all elements are not present, namely: fuel, heat and air. Lately, they added a fourth element – chemical reaction. Fire-making is 80% common sense, 10% skill and 10% perspiration. We are talking about the friction methods. Your fire can start if you can acquire and identify the right tinder, if you are in a dry place, and if you have the patience.

Aside from friction, there is the conventional method which are matchsticks, lighters, ferro rods and the flint and steel. Then there is solar magnification which can be done with any lens, reading glasses, water and even ice. Then you have pressurized air, exemplified by the fire piston. Since I do not have the luxury of time, I limit my demonstrations to the flint and steel, which I paired with charclothe, and the ferro rod. I showed them how to make a tinder bundle. 

Showed them how the bow drill method is made and spun. Unfortunately, I could only make thick smoke as sawdust embers refused to light up my tinder. It is now late afternoon and dusk is just around the corner. I let others try the bowdrill, the ferro rod, and the flint and steel. All my charclothe are exhausted to smoke and flames. Unfortunately, we cannot do with the bamboos because there are none in our location.

The day ends and the promise of dinner is up in the air. I decide to transfer my hammock to another part as the ones I placed earlier is now exposed to strong winds which I have not felt before. After hitching it up, I turn to cooking milled corn which I brought from Cebu. I was expecting a very cold evening and milled corn would have helped me in staving off cold. The Swiss Army Emergency Burner is very efficient and I just used broken up twigs.

Johnson and Kerubin cooked rice and sardine-laced corned beef on big pots employing a tripod system of cooking they learned from my lectures. The cooking fire simply became a campfire after dinner and is now the center of evening socials. Strong spirits supply the yarns and storytelling into a more animated evening which crept into the early minutes of the second day. By then, my long awaited sleep is now a possibility.

Woke up at 07:30 of March 12, the camp seems deserted. Everyone are still asleep or just remained invisible. As my steps shuffled the soft pine needles, I could hear somebody stirring inside a tent and another a yawn. Slowly, people appear and the bench where the food are placed are now ringed by them. A firebox becomes alive and a kettle is settled over it. A good strong coffee starts the day and soon I get to taste the vegetarian fare made by Vera and Doc Mike as my light breakfast.

The second day start with Customizing the Survival Kit. It is better that survival kits are made from scratch than bought commercially because a survival kit’s size and its components depends upon the type of the activity you are indulging in and the kind of environment you are going to visit. Your personal preference still matters. The components should include the medical kit, the replenishment pouch, the repair kit and a small knife. It could all be integrated in one container and should be waterproofed. 

Next comes Navigation and Understanding Trails. It is more on traditional navigation which use the natural terrain, shadows and the sky fixtures for travel; avoiding obstacles and exposed areas; and knowing how to identify signs on trails made by both animals and humans. Following that is Understanding Cold Weather. During survival, exposure to the elements is expected. There are five physical mechanisms that steal away body heat and the things that we should do to keep us constantly warm.

The last chapter is Outdoors Common Sense. This is the subject matter that I based from my yet unpublished book, ETHICAL BUSHCRAFT. It is about trail courtesy and behavior while on the trail; choosing the best campsites; practicing stealth camping; increasing individual safety and security; wildlife encounters; and introduce people the idea of Blend, Adapt and Improvise.

We finished the training with a blade porn. It is a traditional bushcraft activity where all edged tools are laid on a ground sheet to inject another round of useful conversations and to encourage closer camaraderie among the participants. Gary then presented me a framed certificate of appreciation signed by, no less, than the Mayor of Baguio City, the Hon. Mauricio G. Domongan. Along with that is a small stainless steel pot, a stainless cup and a small lantern.

From Crosby Park, we went on our separate ways. I am with Gary, Pandoy, Loco and Michael in a car driven by Quintin. We stayed for a while in a bus terminal to send off Pandoy and Loco. Gary invited me and Michael to his home to tidy up. My first bath after three days! We treat ourselves later to a superb dinner of pork ribs in one of Baguio’s more popular diners. We walk back to Gary’s home and spent the rest of the hours on the front steps of the condo talking and devising ways to empty four big bottles of Red Horse Beer.

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