Yellowknife
The Art of Woodcraft

Coed Ages 12-16

July 6-12, 2008
Cost: $675

There is a town in the Yukon Territories of northern Canada, called Yellowknife. It is a place founded by people who understood the ways of nature, and how to live in the small arctic forest and icy peaks with only the bare essentials. An axe, a knife, some string, canvas tarp, wool blanket and their food were all that they needed to build a home in the harshest environment.

This camp is a study of these skills, which are the foundation of success for almost any expedition, trek, backpacking trip, hike or campout. Skills of tent and tarp craft, useful knots and hitches, saw, hatchets and axe use, blanket bedrolls, flint and steel fire-making, caring for knives, gear and supplies, rawhide ropebraiding and many other important skills will be shared each day, with daily hikes where we put our new skills to the test through challenge games and adventures. The woodcarving of a small animal figure will help us learn more about wood, how it reacts and how to read the grain will enhance our fire-making and so many other carving-related skills.

Some of the skills and activities listed below form the core of the Yellowknife Camp curriculum:

◊ Knotcraft
◊ Saw, Hatchet and Axe Use
◊ Pitching a Tarp, Pitching a Tent
•  Blanket Bedrolls
•  Making Primitive Torches
• Flint and Steel Firemaking, Charcloth
•  Kindling, Maintaining and Banking Fires
◊ Tipi and Log Cabin Fires

•  Cutting a Sapling with Hand Tools
•  Caring for Gear and Tools (Sharpening & Cleaning)
•  Sapling Backpack Frame, for Blanket, Gear
•  Rawhide Rope for Camp Use, Firewood Collecting
•  Carving Wooden Animals
•  Map and Compass Reading
•  Springs, Boiling Water, Teas
•  Tarp Lean-To Camps, w/Reflector Wall
•  Exploring Hikes to Cliffs, Woods, Swamps, Meadows

Application for Enrollment

"When I first attended Tom Brown's Wilderness Survival School in 1984, the small class was filled with experienced outdoorspeople.   These were students who had hunted, fished, camped, gone backpacking and worked with hand tools proficiently.

Twenty three years later, most people attending wilderness skills programs have few of these kinds of skills, and mastery of these basics is rare indeed.

If you (or your son or daughter) attends this camp, I know that it will be an incredible boost to be able to know you can handle yourself in the woods, where most people falter.   We saw huge leaps in self esteem, confidence and life skills in last year's campers, and while we expected it to be good, we know we really made a difference in their lives....

If you want to have fun and get some skills with firemaking, hatchet use, knots, tents, cooking and all kinds of camp skills, don't miss this camp! "

Ricardo Sierra

Hawk Circle Founder, Creator and Executive Director