Patricia Sautter was given the opportunity to open the Primitive unit in 1970, after a two-year hiatus, and her report acknowledged a few rough spots, but she hoped that one more year would straighten out the program.

The new site was located on the piece of property which was in the process of purchase and she had enlisted the help of Mert, the caretaker, to build the platform and brace the tent, which was built over a gulley. When it rained, leaks appeared in the tent, so Mert and Patricia rechecked the cement blocks under the perimeter, and checked the slack of the tent to make it fit better.

Succint directions were given to find the unit in her report: “When going by the road to find the site, one goes completely out to the end of the road leading into camp and takes a right turn. About a quarter of a mile down this road, one will find a tractor path on the right side. Turn down this path and follow it, and it will eventually take a big swing to the right through an opening in a wire fence. One should continue along this path for approximately another hundred yards. After this, one should come into a little clearing, which will be as far as one is able to drive. The campsite is just a ways ahead of this clearing, and our tent platform and orange outhouse will be good guides to help one find the unit.”

This was the summer the bright orange outhouse was built, over the hand-dug hole. “It was something else!”, she noted in her report of the new building. The campers kept the outhouse clean with disinfectant and lime, which kept the odor down. The building had to be “fly-tight” in order for it to be legal, so rocks were piled along the edge and covered with sand. (Rain meant this was an ongoing process.) It was also a given that a new hole would have to be re-dug the following season.

“For ventilation, we relied on the warped sections of the plywood where two boards came together to form a corner,” said Patricia of the one “window” for ventilation. (Her future plan included a real screen window.)

 

The girls built a unit box, which served as a tabletop, staging area, and storage for the pots, pans and equipment. Although she mentioned her group did not enjoy lashing, they managed to fashion a table for a drainer.  Patricia had even brought pots and pans from home. (The unit box was left all winter when they finished.)

Outpost (or Primitive) had their own firebowl and they saved their ashes for the rainy days to soak up the water. Harder wood was obtained from the lodge to cook with, since it made better coals, but the softwoods of pine and poplar that grew so readily in the surrounding woods was also used.

Three pages of qualifications for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels were included in her report, with a section on survival camping. Badges were earned by completing the tasks listed. She set up a mock situation for survival campers and allowed them to bring a jackknife, silverware, sleeping bag, jug of water, clothes they were wearing, five matches, a hatchet, some twine, a package of Saltine crackers and some Bisquick.

They were to stay out in the woods for a day and a half, and set up camp. She requested they find food, eat edible plants, make a shelter, form wood piles, dig a fire bowl and even set up animal traps. “My group was not thrilled with survival camping, but it was a good experience for them, so I would urge your group next year to do it.”

Her group had nature scavenger hunts, invited other cabins out to visit and eat meals, and took a five-day canoe trip down the Manistee River, paddling over 112 miles!

She ended her report with a list of likes, dislikes and suggestions for the future, but wrote, ”I really enjoyed myself this summer and I hope my campers did, too. I hate the summer to end, but there will always be more summers to come. I just hope the Outpost unit can survive in the camping program this time.”

The third year “Tricia” spent some time in Primitive with her first year girls. “I went out for breakfast with another unit and they could not start a fire, so I got a fire lit with no matches. There was just one tiny ember of coal and I added some weeds to get it started. Well, my reputation preceded me, because by the time I got back to my group, they already knew that I had saved that unit’s breakfast. I do remember we cooked a lot.”

Were you ever in Outpost with Patricia Sautter? What do you recall of your adventures in this unit?