Brothers spend three days in Florida wilderness

Brothers spend three days in Florida wilderness

Freshman Blake Johnson, his seventh-grade brother Gavin and their dad recently spent three days and two nights in the wilderness at North Florida Survival & Adventure, a survival skills school in Ocala. Participants learn how to navigate through the Florida environment and its dangers.

“We learned what to do if you were in plane crash or if you get lost in the woods,” Gavin said. “Even how to make a fire from scratch and make shelters.”

The students were taught how to cook their own food as well. But the Johnson brothers did not hunt. Instead, they ate bugs and plants.

“I ate a cricket leg,” Gavin said. “But I spit it out because it was not good.”

They set up camp with three other people and their instructor, Steve Claytor.

“Halfway through the trip we started running low on water,” Blake said. “So, we went to a creek and our instructor had to purify it with iodine so we all could drink it.”

They enjoyed cutting down trees and collecting palm fronds for their shelter, but nighttime was something the boys hated.

“It got very hot and humid in the tent,” Blake said. “One night it was dewy, so water was dripping on my face.”

Both boys said the floor was uncomfortable to sleep on and the bugs were annoying.

“It was hard to sit down for a while because then you would start to see ants crawling all over your legs,” Gavin said. “We also saw a bunch of big cockroaches.”

While the boys used the bug spray, it did not protect them from wasps.

“Multiple people in our group were stung,” Johnson said. “We were harvesting materials and we broke open their nest.”

Overall, the boys said they enjoyed the trip.

“We are grateful for this memorable experience,” Blake said.

By Violet Castillo