Adventure Journal

Spring trip to Shirley Lake, Algonquin Park- May 2014

2014-05-29T16:56:00.000-04:00

TOPS B.o.B. Fieldcraft Knife, Etched, Striped and Polished

2013-04-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

For the past year now I've been using the TOPS B.o.B. Fieldcraft as my belt knife. This isn't a knife review, as there are plenty of better places to get that type of information. Needless to say that I'm happy with the knife and it performs.

I was lucky to be introduced to this knife while it was still being developed by the Brothers of Bushcraft. My first exposure to it was when I spent a week with Mors Kochanski, where Caleb Musgrave was field testing the prototype.

The prototype of the B.o.B. Fieldcraft

At this stage features like the bowdrill divot and the shango notch hadn't been added yet, but the blade and handle design were there. I was one of the lucky few who actually got to handle the knife before it went into production and even held audience as Mors himself critiqued the knife. Needless to say I was impressed as I was a first adopter.

Of course as I've stated before, I'm not a fan of epoxy coatings on my knife and so I stripped it. This time however, I wanted to save the laser engravings of the logos, so I decided try my hand as acid etching.

I took cues from this process, but modified it to a smaller scale. I coated all of the exposed steel that I didn't want etched with a clear nail polish, which is cheap and works to protect the exposed areas from accidentally coming into contact with the acid.

Rather than immersing the whole knife into a tank (which I don't have) with a whole load of etching solution (which is wasteful for only 1 knife) I built up a small retaining wall around the area of the logos I wanted using hot glue. I built up the wall layer-by-layer, allowing sufficient time for each to cool, so I could stack the next. The etching solution I used was ferric chloride, which it typically used to etch printed circuit boards (PCBs). This isn't something you can walk into a hardware store, so I sourced it from a local electronics hobby store.

To perform the etch, I filled the small reservoir with the etching solution and let it sit on the blade in 6 hour intervals. After the 6 hours, I would rinse the areas with water while scrubbing the logos with an old toothbrush During the etching process the material exposed to the acid turns dark, but while wash away with scrubbing to reveal the fresh material underneath. To achieve the level of depth I wanted I repeated this process over two days.

When I was satisfied with the results I removed the protective nail polish with acetone and began stripping the epoxy coat the same as I did for my ESEE knife.

The stripping process

The resulting etch and polish turned out really well

The final result, shown with my custom made leather sheath

Lessons from the Roof of Africa

2012-07-04T16:20:00.003-04:00

Exactly a week ago my fiance and I successfully climbed to Uhuru peak, the highest point in Africa located at the very top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest free standing mountain in the world. This challenge was without a single doubt, the hardest thing mentally and physically we have ever done in our life (so far).

We knew this challenge would test us, but we had no idea the degree that we would be pushed to. I came down with multiple symptoms of AMS (loss of appetite, fatigue, rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, headache...basically everything except vomiting) and combined with the environmental factors (glacial winds, -30C temps, exhaustion from climbing up scree for 6hrs across the ridge to Uhuru for 2hrs and then down the summit for 6hrs) made this the most miserable experience of my life.

...and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

While the rest of my group made it to the peak, the AMS forced me to fight for every breath and every step I took. My journey was quite literally [10 half steps - catch my breath - 10 half steps - repeat for hours]. It's hard to describe the challenge and what made it so tough. Telling the story now that we're no longer fresh I get the feeling that I cannot properly convey what we experienced, but imagine the conditions I've already described above and then add to that, that you're

Low on energy and weak, but can eat from nauseated and having lost your appetite
Thirsty; but every sip of water is frozen so cold that it drops your core temperature immediately
Your hands and feet are numb from the cold
You start moving to warm up, but you get exhausted easily and have to stop to catch your breath before you're warm again
stopping to rest allows the wind to cut through your "wind proof" clothing and chills the sweat that's collected on you within seconds
Your muscles are tired and sore, and your hips and knees begin throbbing with pain each step you take

So yeah...it was hard. So hard that you think about quitting...a lot.

I began to wonder why I putting myself through this ordeal. I didn't care about the view or the bragging rights or the nice certificate they give you at the end if you made it to the summit. I just wanted to test myself, and I got exactly what I was looking for. It was literally 8 1/4 hours of questioning my own resolve and then fortifying it to move forward one more step.

By the time I reached Gilman's point, I was the last up the mountain. AMS and exhaustion were taking their toll on me. I forced myself to drink hot tea the guides were giving me and tried my best to force down some biscuits for energy. I was warned that if I wanted to be able to continue on, I shouldn't rest at that point too long or serious AMS would begin to develop, and so I pushed on. For another 45 mins I traveled, pole-pole (swahili for slowly-slowly, the mantra by which you will conquer Kilimanjaro) and each step of the way my mind told me to turn back. I had made it to the summit after all, but deep down the fighting side of me knew I'd never be happy with just that. I had to make it to the peak.

Upon reaching another checkpoint - Stella's Point, my guide looked and me and asked me if I wanted to turn back yet. I'd reached a farther point, and now my certificate would reflect that. I looked at him, and without a thought I said

"I want to go to Uhuru Peak"

The moment you begin to experience Pulminary or Cerebral Edema your trip is done. You turn back, no questions asked, not fighting it or you will die. My guide checked me out to see if I was sick, and when I got cleared as being ok we began moving again. 1 1/2hrs later I was almost crawling on my hands and knees but I had made it. I gave everything I had to get to the top and left nothing in the tank to get back down. Thank God for the guides.

It took 6 hours for me to get back down, half on my own, half leaning on the guides for support. During a particularly difficult section down the scree my guide turned to me and said

"You're very strong".

This was the last thing I expected to hear. Here I was- the last person up to the peak, hanging onto my guide for stability, last one down the mountain...weak, slow and pathetic. So I inquired why he said that, and his response shocked me. He replied "Most people who get [as] sick as you don't make it up [the mountain]". I stewed on that sentance the rest of the way down and as I limped into the dorm area to finally rest, I was met by the other members of my group. They had passed me on their way down, and saw the rough shape I was in. A few even admitted if they had gotten as sick as I did, they wouldn't even have continued the the summit, echoing the very sentiments my guide tried to convey to me.

I sat on my bed, trying to make sense of everything I had just been through when our chief guide came in and sat down directly in front of me. Fataeli, a 60 year old man who has been guiding the climbs for the past 35 years had a very knowing and satisfied look on his face.

"I made it...I made it to Uhuru" I said to him.

He nodded knowingly, he already knew. He said he knew as he had passed me on my way to Uhuru and saw that I wouldn't stop until I had made it.

This got me to thinking. Through all of the challenges I faced, it wasn't my body that was trying to make me give up. No, it was my mind. My own mind was what was trying to convince me to turn back. The fact that I made it in the end is proof of this.

My mind was the weak link, not my body. The only reason I made it to the peak, was because I was willing to drive my body into the ground to get there. Because every time I began to doubt if I would make it, I just pressed on.

I later found out that only about 41% of all people attempting the climb make it as far as Uhuru (source). I consider myself proud and extremely fortunate to be counted among them.

Mountains will humble you. They will take any sort of arrogance you have and strip it away until the only thing left is the true representation of your character. How you fair is entirely up to how you cope with the challenge.

East Africa - Our Next Adventure

2012-06-13T11:24:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow my girlfriend and I will be heading to East Africa for two weeks. We plan to spend a couple days in Nairobi ('Nairobbery' as it's sometimes known, with its reputation for thefts, car jackings and con men) before heading out for a week's worth of travel across the Serengeti.

The pinnacle of the trip will be our attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro. At 5895m this is the highest point on the entire Continent of Africa, and will be the highest and longest trek we've ever done. Hopefully training and preparation will aide us on this trek and we'll make it to the summit before Altitude sickness stops us.

To say I'm both excited and anxious is an understatement.

Hiking "The Crack" in Killarney Provincial Park

2012-05-28T13:41:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we had the opportunity to join some friends of ours on their trip to up to Killarney Provincial Park. While a weekend out camping never really needs justification, we actually made the trip out so that we could do some hiking in the area and condition our legs for uphill hiking.

We decided to hike up to the "The Crack" a ridge found along a section of the longer 7-10 day LaChoche Silhouette Trail. This particular trail was only 4km to the ridge (8km round trip) and was fairly level for just over the first half the trek. At around the 2.5km mark the elevation began to increased 164m over the next 1.5km to the ridge.

Towards the end we were scrambling over the exposed quartzite which was extremely fun and gratifying.

A lot of the hikes we've been going on these past weeks have been to condition our legs and learn lessons for a pretty big trip we have coming up, and I needed to know how it felt to have the camera out for an extended hike. Basically I'll want to have a DSLR camera but have no idea how I'm going to carry it. This time around I had it around my neck and I think I did a pretty good job, having out the entire way until we started to ascend, but that point I put it away as it was swinging too much and became a distraction. After that I left it in my pack until we took a scenery break and I could pull it out, pop the lens on and shoot of few pics.

One thing that I under prepared for what how much water I figured we'd needed. I planned for 1.5L per person over 4-5 hours, but the day was so warm and sun so bright that we ended up going through most of that water just getting to the Crack. Even now as I'm writing this I'm questioning what I was thinking, because we should have been drinking at least twice that.

All-in-all it was a good time and we learned a few lessons to take away. With the trip coming up in the next few weeks we're scrambling to get everything prepared but I'd like to take the time to get at least another big hike in.

Mosquitoes, and Black flies and BEARS...oh my!

2012-05-22T00:03:00.000-04:00

Just returned from a long weekend in Killarney Provincial Park with some friends where we hiked "The Crack" trail, spent some time just enjoying the outdoors all the while trying our best to avoid the mosquitoes and black flies that plague the area at this time of year.

One our way home today we spotted this guy (above) and managed to take these shots while staying well out of it's way.

According to an old friend of ours from Ireland, I believe this encounter makes us "proper Canadians" now.

Canadian Bushcraft's Basic Hunter-Gatherer Workshop

2012-05-12T00:16:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I attended Canadian Bushcraft's last running of it's Basic Hunter-Gatherer program. I missed the Advanced version of the course that ran this past November, so I made sure to catch this one. The "basic" in the title is something of a misnomer, as it was not a prerequisite for the Advanced course that I had missed, but rather focused on more "basic" skills. More primitive skills. More primary skills.

Friday night we arrive and set up our sleeping arrangements and made dinner. It was a night to relax by the fire and be briefed on what we were up for in the coming days. Caleb started by giving us a quick and dirty explanation of the tools and skill of North American Indigenous people. He explained from an archeological viewpoint, the history of indigenous people could be broken down into three eras

Paleo
Archaic
Woodland

A very high level explanation of the type of tools use during each eras gave us an understanding of how they developed and which ones we were more likely to be able to produce in the event we needed to make them.

The people of the Paleo period developed tools closer to the end of the last ice age. The hunting tools they used were very large and very specialized for the type of game that they were hunting, specifically Mega-fauna. The tools created were used to hunt animals the size of Mammoths and required spear points such as the Clovis (which would easily be 8 inches long) to penetrating the thick hides.

As the Ice began to recede and the mega fauna began to die out, there was a shift in the type of tools used. In this Archaic period no longer could people rely on having large kills that would feed them for a long period of time, and there was a shift to more opportunistic hunting. Gone were the specialized tools and more generic variants began to emerge, which could take a wider variety of game that would be encountered more frequently.

As time passed, hunters began adapting better technologies through a better understanding of the materials they had and the game they were pursuing. More finely crafted stone and bone tools were created in this Woodland period and it is here we saw the emergence of the famous bow and arrow.

It was at this point that Caleb posed the question...if we were in a situation where we lost our modern equipment and had to fashion tools to survive long term, which era would the tools we needed most represent? The highly specialized tools of the Paleo? The one tool, many uses mentality of the Archaic? Or perhaps the more technically advanced tools of the Woodland period?

The answer of course, was the "swiss-army" style stone, wood and bone tools of the Archaic period.

The next point that was brought up was the need for food. Very often we talk about survival scenarios where food is very low on the priority list. This is a very good point, because depending on who you are, you might easily be able to spend 4-5 weeks survival on stored calories from your fat cells. Of course with proper preparation, you might very well be rescued before you ever need to take in any extra calories, which is why survival is very different from long term living.

There may however, come a point where you need to transitions from survival to more "self reliance". Allusions were drawn to the outdoorsmen of 100 years ago, George W. Sears and Colonel Townsend Whelen who took with them modern tools to acquire food, fishing rods and firearms. They spent weeks living in the bush, and were never caught using "pocket fishing kits" or survival style bows. Acquiring food was a big deal to them, and it showed through the type of gear they would take. Shelter items might be reduced to a simple canvas tarp, but a rifle, shotgun and fishing rod for acquiring food was always taken along.

The lesson? Learn how to use primitive techniques, but never rely soley on them. (Interesting point, Les Stroud in his Survivorman series tried endlessly to catch fish over many of his episodes. His only real success? When he brought a rod and reel.

The next morning we began our day stripping Willow saplings that would become our fishing spears. We used stone blades to separate the bark from the wood and and did our best to keep the strips as long as possible. The Willow was harvested the day before, which allowed the bark to come away cleanly and with ease, a trick I'm going to remember for future reference.

With the staves stripped and drying the in shade, we began to process the bark by separating the inner and outer bark. Being primitive, this was of course done with a stone knife flaked off from a piece of chert. To process the inner bark it was boiled in weak lye solution using a tin can. Traditionally this would be done by hot rock boiling, but for the sake of time we used a tin can in the fire. After an hour boiling, the bark was removed, split into fibers and left to dry.

With the cordage prepared we turned back to the staves which were now sufficiently dry to work with. The tip was sharpened, split and then buried in the ash of the fire pit to fire harden. We carved a third prone to be inserted into the split and create the trident. For my prong I used was Buckthorn because of it's resiliency (and why not harvest an invasive species?). I specifically carved away all the sapwood to reveal the super tough heartwood which would be my spear tip. Securing the middle prong was a matter of inserting the third prong, sealing with pine pitch, binding and sealing once again with more pitch.

At some point during all of this, I opened the split in my stave and almost created a crack that separated off the top prone from the rest of the spear. The fix for this was to bind above and below the crack where I wanted to keep the material together, and seal with pine pitch.

I took extra time to make sure my spear was complete because of the long split I made.

We broke for lunch, and after eating picked up our spears and began to head to the marsh. During this time Caleb suggested we take on the mindset of our hunter-gatherer, and stay focused on potential opportunities. Any animal, track, wild edible or medicinal plant presented an opportunity. You walked with all of your hunting and gathering tools because you never knew when you would spot a plant you needed or animal to catch. These tools included the digging stick, the fishing spear, the sharpened spear, throwing stick and "swatting stick" (a long forked stick which could be used to swat birds out of the sky, slap ground animals or even pin a snake to the ground).

I had particular trouble with the level focus required and attention to detail. Maybe my modern city dweller mind couldn't pick up on the minute details but this is something that need to work on in the future.

Harvesting Burdock root

After short walk, where we managed to identify and collect some burdock root and garlic mustard greens, we stopped by an entrance to the marsh that Caleb dubbed "ratroot road". In here he had found a patch of sweetflag (rat root) that had been forgotten about and likely not harvested from for 100 years. Picking some, and comparing it to Blue Iris, it is easy to see how closely related they are in appearance at this time of year. Our ancestors needed to know a high level of detail about the plants they used, this being an example...as one is medicinal and the other highly toxic (The blue iris can kill you).

Pink roots on the left is sweet flag, purple stalk on the right indicates toxic blue iris

We entered into the marsh and collected cattail shoots and roots, being mindful of where we were stepping as this was prime snapping turtle territory. Cattail shoots are in their prime at this time, as they're still quite tender and taste very much like a cross between cucumber and celery. The roots require some roasting, and are almost like sweet potato when cooked.

As an aside, Caleb mentioned that while turtle and frogs were fair game to our hunter-gatherer ancestors, in current day Ontario these reptiles are having a hard time propagating their species. As such, he usually leaves them alone to give them a better chance to continue the species, otherwise we would have had our bellies full of frog legs that night.

We continued on towards the lake, but not before stopping by a wood ant nest. Our ancestors were not above eating insects and larvae and we began breaking open the nest in search of larvae. Unfortunately it was either too early or these was no queen in this particular nest as we found no larvae, however the ants themselves tasted pleasantly like cider vinegar due to the formic acid they contained. A nest can be harvested twice a year like this without disrupting the colony beyond recovery.

As we continued along to the lake, we cut Alder and dogwood as materials for a fish weir. Traps like these were extremely beneficial to the primitive hunter-gatherer as they continue working without supervision. The weir in particular was a great tool as it left the fish alive within it until you came by to empty it.

As we reached the water I had a close call and a very real reminder of how important it is to remain attentive to my surroundings. Walking over to a Basswood tree to harvest some young leaves to snack on, Caleb pointed out that I had just walked barefoot through a patch of poison ivy. Guess who didn't know poison ivy was red at this time of the year? Yeah..that's right...me. Luckily he noticed my error and we were able to treat it immediately with some crushed Jewelweed and Yarrow which were growing nearby. A note on the potency of the ivy, I didn't notice it until I got home and took off my boots but my feet were slightly irritated up to 3 days after this had happened...even after treating it within minutes of noticing.

We entered the water to construct the fish weir and I was surprised at how much material was actually required for properly constructing it. We used the Alder as fence posts and weaved a dogwood mesh in between. What the illustrations in survival books don't show you is the intricate weave you need to make through the fence posts in order to maximize the likelihood that your fish don't just swim away.

With the weir completed we began to have some fun with out spears. A little background, Caleb isn't all that impressed with armchair survivalists. He actually really, really doesn't like them. So part of making a tool of weapon with him means using it. The problem with a fish spear is that it isn't all that legal to use in Ontario. The solution? He carved a Basswood fish and weighed it down with a rock. This faux fish would "swim" and follow the directions of the waves coming in, very much like a real one would do when resting outside of the current...the exact situation you would use a fish spear to get one. The exercise was to slowly stalk the fish, circle it until you had a clear shot, and thrust into it with the spear, taking into account the refractive index of the water. Easier said than done. Stalking a fish, knee deep in water with the waves coming in on you and sand shifting under each step is no easy feat. If this wooden fish were real, it would have swam away countless times, a humbling reminder to take what you see on YouTube with a grain of salt.

I'm going to be honest here, I didn't have high hopes for this spear. I was doubtful it was going to work on a real fish, much less one made of wood. I was wrong. I lined up, took aim and thrust my spear into the water with so much force that the spear penetrated right into the Bass(wood) fish. I lifted my spear out of the water and attached to the end was the wooden fish, impaled by willow prongs. I was slightly in disbelief of what just happened and completely changed my opinion. With practice and knowledge, this was a viable way to get food.

After spending some time playing with the wooden fish, we finished up with Caleb explaining some other primitive fishing techniques. This included using natural fish toxins such as juglone (very illegal) and primitive fish hooks made from black locust and basswood fiber cordage.

We headed back to camp and rested up, roasting our cattail roots and had dinner. The night was spent by the fire talking bushcraft and outdoors related topic and at one point we even had surprise guests show up for a little while. One of the coolest things about being in the woods this particular weekend was that it coincided with the "super moon". The moon happened to be the closest to the Earth that it has been for decades appeared approximately 14% larger than normal, and the amount of light that the moon emitted illuminated the woods beautifully.

The next morning after breakfast our first lesson was the slingshot. While not primitive, the bands used can easily be bought and carried in a backpack, taken out only when needed. The lesson here was that for such an important item, it's a case where it simply just makes sense to bring a modern item with you rather than trying to replicate it with natural materials. We collected stones and spent the morning target practicing with a 12x12 target. Standing 50ft away, it was hard enough hitting the stationary target, never mind a rodent sized animal which was moving. Many times you have one opportunity to spot, sight and fire on animal before it is gone and if you don't have hours of practice in, you're going hungry.

With target practice over we headed back to camp to do some netting. As some of us have previously carved a needle and made tradition nets, Caleb felt it was a good idea for use to pass on some of the knowledge we had gained. His reason being that you don't really know something until you know it well enough to teach. Well, I tried. Teaching is hard and that is exactly why I don't do it. You need to take all the ideas and concepts floating around in your head and boil them down to a few concise words that describe exactly what you're trying to convey. Trying to describe how to carve a netting needle I found myself tripping over my words and using 50 where 10 might do if explained by a more experienced person. As a result, the person I was trying to teach didn't end up completing the needle before we broke for lunch.

As we ate Caleb took the opportunity to show us a number of different deadfall trap configurations that he preferred to the tradition figure 4. The traditional approach to the figure 4 is time consuming and takes a lot of carving to make the pieces, a luxury you don't have if you haven't got a steel knife and are trying to do it with stone.

The promontory peg, Sami figure-4 and Asian inverted figure-4

With lunch over the group split, half to learn the traditional netting techniques using a needle and the rest using modern materials to make the overhand knot survival net. While the technique is easier to remember, I found that it was a lot harder to find a rhythm to continue working, since without an easy way to set the knot to the gauge, you needed to focus more when putting in the knots.

After spending time on the nets we got a quick primer on the use of shaping bone tools. As Caleb explained it, he could spend a whole day teaching flint knapping one tool, but that same day showing multiple different bone tools. Working the bone and fracturing it along the cracks I wanted was dead simple. It took time, and patience, but there was no specialized skill involved, which made me very optimistic about using it.

Score, fracture, grind to shape. The entire process was as easy as that, however it took patience and attention to detail. The hardest part for me was identifying what kind of tool to make each shard of bone into, but that I think will come with practice and familiarity with the tools I would need. Spearheads, arrow points, needles and awls all come to mind. An interesting point for me was that the arrowheads needed to take down game are actually quite small. The large 1-2" peices typically associated with an arrowhead are actually broken spearheads, with true arrowheads being thumbnail sized. That for me was an interesting fact.

As the afternoon crept up the course was over, and after we packed up Caleb threw this to me:

A primitive spear he just made, utilizing the very skills he had taught us over the course of the weekend. This spear is meaningful to me not only because it was a gift, but because of what it also represents. I can now make this. I can identify all the materials, the steps required to process them, and how to assemble them into this final working tool. While it would take me longer to reproduce, I can do it...and that is knowledge I did not have before coming into this course.

Walking away with the spear was something tangible to remind me of what I had gained.

That is pretty awesome.

The Flint and Steel Fire

2012-04-02T14:36:00.000-04:00

Before the popularity of matches and lighters, the preferred fire starting method by early pioneers and mountain men was by flint and steel. The action of striking a hardened piece of carbon steel against a piece of rock (with a Mohs hardness higher than 7) sheers off a thin piece of the metal, igniting it with friction and creating sparks. When these sparks are caught by carefully prepared tinder, they form an ember which can then be blown into flame.

It wasn't actually until I met Mors Kochanski that I started using this method, as it was him that gave me my first set; a piece of English flint and a broken hacksaw blade.

I immediately began to practice striking and once I was able to consistently create sparks, Caleb Musgrave offered to assist me with producing a fire. We spent a few minutes preparing tinder and I formed bundle to accept the ember I was going to create. It did not take long for the sparks to catch and as soon as the cloth began to smolder, I added the glowing ember to the bundle. A few moments of adding oxygen and I could feel the heat radiate out, certain it was about to ignite with each additional breath and then...

...it failed miserably.

The ember simply grew until it consumed the whole bundle without producing a single flame. With the tinder bundle engulfed we started over from the beginning and took extra care when preparing the poplar bark we used as tinder. Perseverance payed off as I was able to produce a flame the second time around, you never get anywhere if you give up after your first failure.

Since then I've begun carrying a with me small tin with a piece of flint, broken file, charcloth and some jute twine.

I'm not always able to start my fires using this technique, but using it before techniques I'm more comfortable with at least gives me the practice I need to improve. Of course when I do get it, it is immensely satisfying.

Brand New Hultafors Axe

2012-03-16T14:39:00.000-04:00

Just won a brand new Hultafors axe from Northern Bushcraft Magazine!

Another awesome contest from an awesome publication. I reiterate that anyone interested in bushcraft and outdoors skills check out this magazine.

The winning submission?

"A little background on this pic...it was taken 2 years back and marks the first "successful" feather stick I had ever made. A breakthrough moment for me."

Easy way to learn Morse Code

2012-03-10T16:44:00.000-05:00

I found this while browsing online and thought that it was an excellent way to learn Morse code. Rather than memorizing what seem like arbitrary dash and dots, it gives a systematic way to generate the Morse alphabet when you need it.

Click the picture to make large enough to read.

Source: http://stuffofawesome.com/learn-morse-code-in-a-minute-1311620404-8104.jpg.html

Northern Bushcraft e-magazine - First Impressions

2012-03-03T12:21:00.001-05:00

I recently won subscription to Northern Bushcraft e-magazine through a contest that they held on Facebook. I've already read the first issue and have got to say I'm very impressed. It has a lot of useful information in it and knowledgable contributing writers. I would gladly pay the cost of a 2-year subscription I encourage anyone who is interested in Bushcraft to take a look at it.

One particularly cool aspect was a direct result of it being a digital magazine. Through the articles are embedded videos which provide a more in-depth look at the concepts being conveyed in the pages. This is the first time I've seen this and I feel it really compliments the text and allows the reader to get a better understanding.

Looking forward to the next issue and seeing this publication grow.

A free preview of the first half of the emagazine can be viewed by following this link

2012 Mew Lake (1st Winter Camping Trip)

2012-02-23T19:58:00.002-05:00

Well I'm back from my first winter camp without any limbs lost to frostbite. This trip was a lot of fun, and taught me a lot about spending extended time outdoors in the winter. Most of the things I thought would be an issue turned out to be business as usual, and it was the little things that I overlooked that ended up causing the most issues.

Setting up the tent was the first example of thing. I had planned for a few cases which I thought was exhaustive enough for staking out my tent, but you can forget about snow stakes or deadman anchors. The ground was too hard to peg, the snow was too shallow to stake, and far too powdery to bury an anchor that would hold. That was as far ahead as I thought it through, and now none of my options were available.

The solution I finally came upon was to break off large blocks of snow and anchor the ties outs to them using paracord.

Ad-hoc solution to rigging the tent up, tying corners to ice boulders and sealing gaps with snow.

This by no means was as secure as stakes, and I could not tension the lines as much as I wanted to prevent drafts. I used our shovel to pile up walls and bury sections of the rain fly, using the insulative properties of the snow itself to seal off any areas I didn't want the wind to penetrate. There was still plenty of breath-ability, but it reduced the heat loss to convection that we experienced.

The snow shovel really saved me here. It is completely necessarily, and should be part of the arsenal of anyone who plans to do some winter camping. We used the telescoping kind normally reserved for emergency kit in the trunk of the car, but it might be worthwhile to upgrade this to surplus e-tool or an aluminum alpine shovel.

Having the car really helped out with hauling gear because we managed to bring a lot more equipment than we normally do.

All packed out. Ordinarily I'd cringe at seeing this much gear...this time not so much.

Being our first winter trip we ended up packing much more gear we normally do, to be safe and minimize being caught off guard. Extra clothes and outerwear to ensure our comfort during the day, warm dry clothes to change into at night and and of course extra blankets.

Dressing for sleep involved 3 layers of clothes

Base layer/ wool socks
Fleece layer
Outer layer

Our sleep system included 4 layers as well

a cheap quilt-type barrel sleeping bag opened up on the tent floor
sleeping pads
sleeping bags, jackets wrapped around our feet
final blanket on top

Warmth wasn't a major issue throughout the night, except for my face. From what I understand you don't pull the sleeping bag up over your face as doing so traps moisture from your breath, which will then freeze. Being mindful of this I made a point to breath through the opening in my mummy bag and not pull my face in. This lead to me waking up numerous times the first night to find my face extremely cold. The second night I pulled the top blanket well over my face and slept underneath it with my head exposed from my sleeping bag, this resulted in a much more comfortable sleep.

As always, getting up in the middle of the night to pee is the most irritating part. There is nothing quite like knowing you have to get up, and finally buckling. Unzipping the bag I felt the warmth escape as I scrambled to put on my frozen boots and exit the tent. I did manage to get great view of the clear stary night sky and some shooting stars as a result though.

Fire was obviously a major part of being comfortable, once the sun went down. I prepared the fire pit early on in the days so that all I would need to do later was introduce a flame and have a decent fire going.

As soon as dusk hit, I made a flame with my flint and steel kit and we had a fire up and running for the rest of the evenings. We ended up burning through approximately three times the amount of wood we would normally use in the summer, and this was with us being conservative with our fuel supply.

I chose to use a Pyramid style fire this time, because it helped burn larger sized pieces of wood and threw out consistent heat for many hours with very little maintenance.

Dealing with the cold during the day was less of a concern than I thought it would be, but we managed to luck out in terms of the weather.

We got a late start on the 2nd day. Waking up and getting out of bed on cold mornings is a pretty monumental task even in a heated house, so you can imagine how hard it was to leave the comfort of our sleeping bags. We ended up not breaking camp until after brunch and spent a few hours snowshoeing across Mew lake.

Breaking fresh track over a frozen lake is incredibly satisfying.

I found as soon as we started snowshoeing that I was breaking a sweat, so I quickly removed my jacket. Sweating in the winter time is a huge danger, as moisture pulls heat away from the body much quicker than air. One of the benefits of layering clothing is that it allows you to strip off or add pieces of clothing to regulate your body temperature more precisely.

After a few hours we headed back while we still had enough daylight left to navigate with, to get a start on dinner.

One thing I did not expect was how much more time is required to do the basic tasks like meal preparation and clean up. Cook time was greatly increased and food cooled down so quickly, you had to eat fast if you wanted to eat it hot enough to warm you up. It was a challenge to keep water liquid, as it quickly froze if left around too long unattended. Canned food that contained water was also prone to freezing solid in the can...and while we could get it out after a little heating over the fire, I found I had the best success cooking food that was initially dry(ish) and had moisture added to it during the cooking process (instant mashed potatoes, rice, stir fry, ramen noodles).

Washing dishes in the cold is not fun either and even after heating the water it still sucks the warmth out of your hands so quickly that it becomes painful to move your fingers. We eventually decided that for the remainder of our trip, that we would quickly rinse our dishes and then completely wash them in the nearby comfort station where we had hot water and didn't need to expose our hands to frostbite.

Our final night out was much colder than the first. At some point I had to relieve myself and lost all feeling in my fingers before I even made it back to my tent. Working the zippers on my sleeping bag was almost impossible, it took a good 15 mins of shivering and then another 20 mins before I warmed up again. I got just a very small glimpse into how detrimental hypothermia can be and how quickly it can set in.

Overall I would say it was a good experience and am glad that I did it. It gave me a lot to think about and I now have some ideas on what I need to improve for the next trip cold weather trip out.

Maybe one day I'll be able to work up to camping in the winter without a car nearby, but I'm not in a rush.

Preparing for my first Winter Camp

2012-02-13T14:33:00.002-05:00

This weekend I'll be going out with a group to partaking in my first winter camping experience. While we will be in a designated campsite and have the luxury of bringing a car full of equipment, this is still a fairly significant milestone as it marks my first foray into spending nights out in the cold.

The presented a problem to me. Of course I have gear, but the majority of what I have can be considered "3-season" equipment, that is, it was designed with spring/summer/fall conditions in mind. How then can could I reasonably make the transition into winter treks without having to invest hundreds of dollars into buying brand new specialized gear?

Of course this is a problem that has been encountered many times because, and because I have no intention of messing around with hypothermia and so a lot of research has gone into how to stay warm both at night and during the day. Of course I have invested in better quality cold weather clothing, but was surprised at what could be done to 'winterize' the gear I already had.

Tent
The first discovery I had was that the key difference between a 3-season tent and a 4-season tent is actually structural, since a 4 season will likely have to support the extra stress of snow and high winds. In terms of insulative value, there isn't much difference between what the 4-season offers compared to the 3-season.

Fortunately for us it's been a fairly mild winter so far, and so we're not expecting a lot of snowfall. At this point, warmth has more to do with the quality of clothing, sleeping bag and sleeping pad.

Clothing
As stated before I did a bit more investing in clothing, upgrading different parts of my base, mid and outer layers. I won't go into more detail that this, since it's way beyond the scope of this post. The key thing to remember is that layers are important, and each one has a specific purpose that should not be ignored.

Sleeping Bag
My sleeping bag is a SnugPak Softie Elite 3, which is rated to -10 extreme. I usually like assume a 10 degree tolerance for comfort and that the rating would be the bare minimum needed to keep me from dying. With that said, I will be bringing extra blankets for insulation, a luxury I can afford since we'll have a car.

Sleeping Pad
I've had my self-inflating pad for a few years now and would be foolish not to bring it. The sleeping pad adds a lay of insulation between the ground and body which makes a world of difference. The cold ground can suck the warmth out of the body very quickly and be deadly.

Other notes
One thing I almost overlooked was a method of staking out the tent. I take for grant that in the other seasons I can hammer stakes into the ground and have a fairly secure setup. In the winter, this doesn't work as well as snow doesn't hold on to the stakes. So how do we get around this?

Anchors
This could be bags filled with snow, rocks or a "deadman's anchor" made from sticks or tent stakes. All work well but involve digging a hole and then burying the anchor and stamping down the snow on top to secure.

Snow stakes
Specifically designed to hold in deep snow, these stakes aren't as likely to put up from the snow when hammered in.

At the end of the day, all the research I do will not match the lessons I will learn from actually going out and doing. Still, it pays to be prepared and I would rather be over prepared than under...

The Return of Survivorman

2011-11-22T22:51:00.001-05:00

Les Stroud just posted the following on his Facebook page:

well the cat got let out of the bag but here it is....yep:

SURVIVORMAN RETURNS!!!!

and I am upping the anty: i will be heading out for TEN days this time (instead of seven)

I have been in talks with the networks for some time to make this a reality and it all happened on Friday...in fact in three weeks I head out for the first one

I dont want to sound pretentious but my only reason is YOU....you have all been so kind and all requested I do some more that I thought - "yep....i should head out and show once again how it's really done!" still no camera crew - still real survival

wish me luck - send me positive vibes....lets have a blast this time!!! I'm actually quite stoked about heading out again...I remain extremely proud of my series Beyond Survival. But doing Survivorman again now is strictly for the pure enjoyment of the skills and as I said - for my fans. Feel free to post this up for me on the various survival forums and blogs that are out there to help get the word out. stay tuned! Les Stroud

Stripped and Polished ESEE 4 Knife

2011-11-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

My ESEE 4 (or RC-4 as it was known when I got it) is what I consider to be my first real bush knife. I've pounded hard on this thing during use and never once has it failed me. ESEE produces a heck of a knife, no complaints there.

You're rarely if ever, going to find a knife that suits your needs completely and there have also been a few modifications I'd wanted to make to it. Last Spring I finally got around to making those mods and I've had a whole summer/fall to test them out, and am thoroughly happy with them.

So how do you take a great knife and make it better?

First off, I've never really been a fan of the protective epoxy coat. Wet weather and humid conditions can ruin a high carbon blade very quickly and the ESEE 4 was designed as tough survival knife to function in all environments, so the blade was given a epoxy coating to protect the exposed steel. This has never really been a problem for me, and since the coating has always prevented me from using the spine as a firesteel striker I decided I wanted it gone.

Stripping was done using a dremel buffing attachment.While the epoxy was removed on all exposed steel, I left it on under the micarta scales. It seems counter-intuitive, but my rationale was that I could spot and clean up any surface rust, but I didn't want moisture to ruin the blade where I wouldn't see it and catch it early should rust occur.

It was at this point that I noticed there was some pitting on the surface of the blade. My best guess is that since the blade is coated, there's no need to grind out these small imperfections in the blade stock. For me, I'd have to spend some time reducing them since I wanted to bring the knife to a near-mirror finish.

With the pitting mostly removed I proceeded to bring the blade to a mirror finish by using a felt buffing wheel loaded with green stropping compound. This took a lot time and I had to stop frequently to make sure I wasn't heating the blade and ruining the temper.

I finished up by polishing the blade by hand using flitz and shop towel.

Next up was the edge grind. ESEE knives come from the factory with a 40 degree V-grind (20 degrees per side), and is wicked sharp. I however, prefer a convex secondary bevel for a full flat grind knife and this was easily done using an old textbook and some wet/dry paper. I used three grits, starting from 220 then moving on to 600 and then 1500. A good trick to use when convexing a knife is to run a sharpie marker along the edge of the knife where you are grinding. This gives you a quick reference to see where material is being removed and where you need to focus your efforts to thin out material.

With a final stropping I managed to get my knife shaving sharp with only a few hours of work, and been very pleased with the results. So far the knife has handled everything I've thrown as it without rusting or tarnishing and the edge has held up to intricate tasks (carving netting needles, pot hangers) as well as processing wood for fire (splitting, feathering) with minimal upkeep.

My First Trip to Killarney: Hiking Silver Peak in the rain

2011-10-25T11:46:00.000-04:00

A few weekends ago I made a trip out to Bell lake in Kilarney Provincial Park with my girlfriend and her family on a 3 day trip. Our goal was to hike up to the summit of Silver Peak, the third highest peak in Ontario. This would be my first time in Killarney, and attempting Silver Peak, though most members of our group have made this climb numerous times before.

Killarney is known for it's picturesque scenary (members of the Group of Seven were known to paint here) and on the eastern side of the park, Silver Peak is a big part of that. The exposed white quartzite on it's peak is known to glow brightly in the sunlight, giving the mountain it's name and at 1782ft up, it represents the highest point of the La Cloche mountain range. The view from the top must be spectacular on a clear day; I wouldn't know, but more on that later...

We started our trip early Friday morning and by the time we reached Kilarney it had already been raining for a full night, and it wasn't letting up. We packed our canoes and began paddling towards the site which would make the next day's hike the easiest.

After paddling through the rain for 20 mins we made our approached and were disappointed to find that it was occupied by another group.

We turned around and paddled to the other side of Bell lake where we could search for other available sites. On our trip to the other side, we passed by an island connected to the mainland by a walking bridge. As we paddled by we were spotted by a curious dog who saw us from the shore, and to our surprised he made the trip out from the mainland across to bridge to come say hi to us.

As we came to free sites we began scouting them out to compare which fit our needs the best, finally settling on #88. We unloaded the canoes and began to set up camp, with the rain letting up enough for us to set up our tents and base area without much wetness. It always surprises me how quickly camp chores can be completed when there are enough people who are experienced and know what tasks need to be completed.

With plenty of free time left in the day took the opportunity to collect and dry firewood while exploring the area. As it turned out there was a small waterfall not too far from our site, and the kids with us wasted no time in exploring the local fauna.

This time of year the sun sets by 6pm, and it's a strange feeling to be tired because of the darkness only to find out it's 7:30pm (stranger still is to hear kids who planned on staying up until midnight ask to go to bed at 8pm).

I find that being in the bush and disconnected from technology is like hitting a reset switch for my body. It knows when to sleep, what time to wake up, how much to eat and how much to drink. As a result I actually tend to get more restful sleep, wake earlier, eat less, drink more water...all while performing more work than usual. So taking cues from my body, I headed to bed (turns out it was around 9pm).

The next morning we woke up to more rain, and this time it didn't let up. We ate a quick meal of breakfast sandwiches and coffee and began paddling off to the trailhead. We paddled exposed on the water for about 40 mins with the wind and rain blowing on us the entire time; even with rain gear it was clear this was going to be a wet and cold climb.

When we got to the trail, we pulled the canoes on shore. In the time it took to get everyone out of the water and secure the gear, we had all chilled because of the blowing wind and wet conditions- the only option to stay warm was to keep moving and so we headed off.

2 1/2 hours of non-stop hiking. That's how long it took to reach the summit. The entire trail isn't long, only about 5.7 km, but the trail is rocky and last 1km-1.5km is straight up steep exposed quartzite, which tends to get slick when wet.

With the constant rainfall and the nature of water taking the path of least resistance, the trails we were on literally turned into small streams, and the the steep sections into miniature waterfalls.

More than once we found ourselves jumping from wet rock to wet rock in order to cross areas that had become flooded out.

We took minimal breaks to hydrate and snack, because the moment we stopped moving our core temperatures began to drop.

Once we reached the summit we spent 5 minutes "enjoying the view" while we were hit with 50km/hr winds and sprays of mist. The peak of Silver Peak is about 60ft shorter than the CN Tower so I have no doubt the view would have been spectacular on a clear day, but we just didn't have the kind of luck.

The climb down turned out to be more treacherous than the climb up. Not only were we more tired this time, but I suspect that we may even have been a bit dehydrated due to the lack of hydration breaks. Ironic that we were so wet and yet were lacking water. I took two falls on the slick rocks, the first time injuring my leg and the second time barely catching myself on a standing tree as I slide off the slick quartzite and almost down a steep muddy drop.

The paddle back was an adventure of it's own. With the winds having picked up while we were on our hike up the mountain, we were treated to high waves out in the middle of Bell Lake. Already exhausted after the hike, our saving grace was that the wind was blowing in our favour, coming at our backs. I kept my canoe tighter to the shoreline when the waves got rough, but we were still treated to swells strong enough that we could continue forward without even needing to paddle for certain stretches.

Back at camp we built a fire to dry out our rain soaked clothing. Once we changed into dry clothes we were treated to hot bowls of chili and mugs of warm mulled wine. There's nothing quite like a hot drink by the camp fire to breath life back into you after a cold, wet day.

I think it's safe to say everyone slept very well that night.

The next day we packed up out camp and made the short paddle back to the outfitters. The wind was still in force so a 20 minute paddle ended up being almost half an hour

After going through what we did to make it to the top of Silver Peak the day before, it only makes sense that the day we were leaving we'd be graced with the "mildest" weather of the trip. Fairly clear skies, with no rain...and what that in the distance? I believe that's Silver Peak, with a clear view of the park.

Hopefully the next time I come we'll have better weather. I'd like to come a few weeks earlier, before all the leaves fall so that we can see the colours.

A Summary of my 5-Days with Mors Kochanski (Part 2)

2011-10-17T16:17:00.000-04:00

My last post gave a more structured summary of the course. There are however, bits and pieces of knowledge I gain that Mors brought up, which I felt were important and hadn't been addressed in anything else I've read. This concepts didn't fit into any particular category, so I'll make a point to mention themhere.

The distinction that primitive living IS NOT the same as survival. In his experience Mors has found that indigenous people know very little about teaching survival, since from their perspective the skills that they know are just what it takes to live day-to-day. A true survival instructor will be able to recognize and emphasize the areas you are deficient in and would need to address if put in a survival situation.

75% of the knowledge encompassed by a person living 1000 years ago would be solely dedicated to the flora present in the areas they live in. The usefulness of each plant, which parts to utilize, the seasons they are useful, etc. The remaining 25% would be devoted to fauna, shelter, fire, and other skills. This was particularly humbling to me as I am particularly weak in this area.

Reflector fires are a misnomer and should actually be known as re-emitter fires.

Your clothing is your primary shelter. Dress properly and you can spent a winter night in the Boreal forest with nothing more than a large (correctly built) parallel log fire.

Diamond Willow fungus, Calamus (Ratroot/Sweetflag), and Balsam resin are what Mors turns to in the forest to remedy any illness or injury he encounters.

(1) Diamond Willow Fungus (2) Ratroot (3) Balsam

You have mastered the flint and steel fire when you can build a fire from striking a sewing needle on the bottom of a tea cup

The importance of fasting. It's funny that more often then not people fixing on methods of acquiring food in survival, whereas Mors exalted the benefits of not eating. By not eating you put yourself into starvation mode that allows your body to use stored fat. Eat something, even small and the insulin surge takes you out of that mode and your body tries to burn glucose again. This forces your body to metabolize muscle tissue until it switches back to burning fat, actually worsening your situation.

In a survival situation the sole goal is to last until rescue. If you've done your trip planning properly, someone will notice you're missing and will likely send rescue to look for you. Survival and wilderness living are not the same.

A stone ring placed around a fire isn't very useful at prevent forest fires and actually prevents you from utilizing the fire to it's full potential. A properly built fire is built on TOP of a stone platform, so that oxygen and freely flow through the fire from underneath.

A properly made survival fire in the Norther Boreal forest requires hug sized pieces of wood, laid out in a parallel log fire configuration. The heat radiating out from it should force you to stand 1 meter away from it to be comfortable. Mors found this fire setup to be optimal for fuel usage and utility because the heat that reaches you is strong and uniform enough to warm your whole body or dry wet clothes (ie. no singed clothing).

Through his own testing Mors claims that the heat that reaches you from a fire follows an inverse cubed law. That means the heat that reaches you at 2m from the fire is 1/8 the warmth as if you were 1m from the fire.

A Summary of my 5-Days with Mors Kochanski (Part 1)

2011-10-11T22:40:00.003-04:00

Photo courtesy of School in the Woods

It's been almost a month now since I spent almost a week learning from the man who literally wrote the book on Northern Bushcraft.

The course was held by School in the Woods and took place on 40 Acres by the Credit river in Norval, ON.

This visit marks the second time they've hosted him here in Ontario. In the 5 days I spent with Mors there was no want for more information. The man always had something to say, and it was not uncommon to stop every 15-20 steps on a hike for him to explain some useful plant or tree that caught his eye. This of doesn't mean the course was haphazard, we had plenty of structured lessons, both lecture and hands on work to gain experience with.

Photo courtesy of School In The Woods

In no particular order:

Emergency Whistle

Made from a single thin strip of aluminum- you don't carry the aluminum with you, it can easily be salvaged from an empty pop can, soup tin or any other garbage you might happen to find or have on you
A whistle can really save your voice if you're trying to signal for rescue, and these things can get wicked loud. I was surprised at how functional they are.

Folded containers

Photo courtesy of School In The Woods

We used butcher paper as a stand in, but these folded containers are just as easily made from Birch Bark
The usefulness of a device to boil water or a container to hold items should not be overlooked, as without one you aren't able to stay hydrated safely

Netting

Craving a netting needle an gauge out of any suitable wood means you're able to travel light and produce a tools when the need arises, rather than carrying it with you
Traditional netting techniques are simple once shown and can readily produce a gillnet, throw net or even impromptu hammock depending on the tensile strength of the available cordage.
Nets are a passive technique, meaning they can catch food while you're away, focused on another task

Grass cord / rope

Mors produced this grass rope right before my eyes in less than 5 mins.
No one was able to break it, and it's made from simple grass.
One trick to making stronger, more reliable cordage is to keep tension on the two ends while twisting.
Mors told us a story of a school bus running into a ditch when he was on a field trip with kids. Before a tow truck even arrived, 21 students collecting grass and twisting it into rope were able to produce a cord strong enough to pull the bus out of the ditch using the Kochanski flip-flop winch.

The Kochanski Flip-flop Winch

2 logs used as levers, 1 rope with one end tied to the object to be moved and the other to a stationary object.
One lever "flips" the cordage over the second lever, and the the second lever "flops" back over the first.
You have a winch with can move a tremendous amount of weight with very little effort from the operator.

Bucksaw

The bow saw can be made in the field with a saw blade and natural materials, or the frame can be packed as well.
Extremely efficient at processing larger sized pieces of wood. Staying warm in the Boreal forest requires wood of hug sized diameter, and lengths 1.5x the distance from nose to outstretched finger tip.
The 4ft bow saw shown above was gifted to Carl Chambers, instructor and owner of School in the Woods by Mors.

My own bow saw made after the demonstration.

Roycroft Pack

The Roycroft pack is a simple way of carrying a large amount of gear with minimal equipment.
The tarp can be used to set up shelter at camp once you arrive at your destination, and then used to bundle the gears again when you break camp again the next day.
Mors provided us anecdotal evidence of students he taught who stopped using their own packs and switched to the Roycroft pack because they found it much more comfortable and effective.

Skii Shoes

The skii shoe is a functional snowshoe than can be made in the bush.
To most people, the traditional snowshoe is tennis racket shaped shoe with sinew or cord criss-crossed throughout to hold the weight. Indigenous people did not use these as field expedient shoes, and to build a functional pair actually took many weeks by skilled craftsmen.
The skii shoe offers a soluation if you need quick method to walk a long distance through the bush in deep snow.
Estimate each support to hold 15-20 lbs of load (if I remember correctly), and then build the shoes accordingly.
One of the tests to become an instructor for Mors is to build a complete pair of skii shoes in less than 2 hours start to finish.

Principles of a bush knife

Mors cutting down a live sapling using nothing but a knife. I've read about and tried this method before but was never really successful until I saw him down it right in front of me.
Mors favors traditional Scandinavian styled knives, 4-6" and fairly thin blades.
A longer upsweep on the belly of the blade gives more cutting surface
The knife must be able to produce 4 distinct curls on a single stroke of feathered wood. If it can't do this, find one that can.

A Kochanski feather stick. This used to be a baseball bat sized piece of seasoned Aspen.
A razor edge takes wood carving from being a chore to an enjoyable task

Kochanski Scarf

Made out of parachute material, the Kochanski scarf is a folded rectangle sewn on all edges except 12" in the middle of one side. Length spans outstretched fingertip to fingertip
The scarf can be used as a neck protector, a bivy, a bed, a quilt, a head wrap, a wind screen, face mask, snow blindness filter and more.

Lean-to

Photo courtesy of School In The Woods

Mors took to time to inspect a lean-to shelter that we found on the property and point out a few key things to note (which visible in the picture above)
The horizontal brace supporting the roof should be on the other side of the trees. If the cordage holding it up was cut or snapped, you would be sleeping in a deadfall trap.
The pitch on the roof needs to be steeper in order to shed rain efficiently
A wind break should be created on one side only. If both sides are open, a breeze can pass through, but if both sides are closed then a vortex of air is trapped between. Choose the side which blocks the prevailing wind
Build the shelter in forested areas which exhibit patches where nothing grows. Typically it means no moisture makes it down from the tree canopy and you'll benefit from this
The fire should be 1m away from the bed. Further than that, and it burns too much wood to maintain; closer and it isn't hot enough to sustain itself without you constantly adjusting it.

Super Shelter

The Kochanski super shelter is Mors' attempt to recreate the benefits of an igloo using modern materials which can be packed in a kit.
Igloos (1) insulate (2) provide shelter (3) block wind (4) reflect warmth within the structure
The super shelter pictured above was built by 4 people in 30 minutes. It requires bedding, a reflective mylar sheet, clear poly tarp and parallel long fire to be considered complete. The exercise was to demonstrate building the structure.
A coffin shape is more effective at retaining warmth than a rectangle.
The whole shelter can be moved without being disassembled if the Flip-Flop winch is employed.

Signal Fire

Mors claims that this method shown to him by Tom Roycroft is superior to the standard tripod method that is known to most people.
The thick bundle of kindling and the closer proximity to the ground created a heat column that pushes the signal smoke through the tree canopy better than the common tripod
The downside I found was that it took much longer to collect the necessary material. It took 8 people close to 20 mins to create a bundle the size in the first picture.
I think this is great method for a signal fire, but I would spend the time to work on it only after first creating a tripod, which typically can be erected in around 20 mins by one person.

Next up: A Summary of my 5-Days with Mors Kochanski (Part 2)

Reflection: 5 Days with Mors Kochanski

2011-09-23T12:22:00.001-04:00

It's been a week since learning from one of the masters of Bushcraft, and each day I find myself reflecting on the experience and running to my notebook to draw some diagram or write down some tip or technique that I neglected to take down at them time.

The thing about being around Mors, is that no matter if it's sitting around a campfire or hiking into the field, he always he some nugget of wisdom to pass on. It can be overwhelming, and for someone like myself who's only a few paces into my learning journey there's a lot to take in. I only spent 5 days and there's only so much that can be passed on, or even absorbed in that timeframe. Yes, I left knowing a little bit more and improving on a number of skills, but I think the most important things I left with were the longer lasting lessons.

The importance of structured instruction
Since I've started this journey I've done most of my learning comfortably, at my own pace, using resources that I could access on my own. This meant books, DVDs, websites, forums and of course YouTube. I've always known that self study could only take me so far and that I'd need to learn directly from a more experienced instructor, but I've always put it off.
- I'll wait until I can do X, then I won't feel like an idiot trying to learn Y.
- I'll get more out of it if I go in knowing more, so I can ask better questions
- Some other half-hearted excuse
The truth is, I learned more in those 5 days than I could learn in a year on my own...and it's important to note that. Practicing a skill or building something, is different that watching it performed in front of you, which is different than watching it in a video, which is different than reading about it in a book. Yes, they're all valid methods of learning, but they work best in conjunction with each other...not independently.

The importance of being around like minded individuals
This is one area I had no idea how much would impact me. Discussing and exchanging ideas with people on forums is great, but it can't replace the camaraderie built by actually being on there. One piece of awesomeness was Caleb Musgrave of Canadian Bushcraft picking various wild edibles and handing them to me to eat as we walked. Educational AND delicious!

Trying out new gear
Being around likeminded people also means being able to try out other people's gear and ask their opinions on them. I tried out a Gransfors Bruks axe, and even managed to convince Caleb to let me handle the prototype for the new Brothers of Bushcraft Fieldcraft knife being developed by TOPS; an impressive knife, one I think I might have to add to my collection once it goes into production.

The importance of being challenged
The act of attending this course took me out of my comfort zone and put me on the spot. I was surrounded my individuals who had years more experience, and much more dirt time that I have. This made me a little uncomfortable since I'm relatively new, but it also gave me to opportunity to learn from many people, each with their own expertise and philosophies. Yeah I was there to learn from Mors, but I also gained a lot by talking to and being instructed by all of these knowledgeable people.

Coming away from this experience I made a few friends, and learned more than just bushcraft.

Thanks Mors

2011-09-16T23:23:00.000-04:00

"The more you know, the less you carry"

Thanks Mors, I'm that much closer to carrying less.

Learning from a master

2011-09-11T20:15:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I leave to embark on a 5-day adventure to learn from one of the most skilled Bushcraft instructors alive today.

I wrote previously of a chance meeting that put me in touch with the owner of a local school who had plans to bring Mors to Ontario, but unfortunately I missed out on that opportunity. He contacted me out of the blue a few months ago to let me know Mors would again be coming out here and asked to see if I was still interested. I knew that I could not let it slip again.

Mors Kochanski authored the book that has been my bushcraft bible, and is highly regarded as one of the most skillful and knowledgable instructors alive today. His is the one book I return to, and even having read it cover-to-cover I always come away with some new trick.

I am very excited to be able to take part in this experience. Looking forward absorbing all the knowledge I can.

2011 Cyprus Lake National Park - Georgian Bay Trail

2011-09-09T16:02:00.000-04:00

2011 3 Day Algonquin Trip Summary - Rain Lake > Sawyer Lake > Jubilee Lake

2011-08-24T23:06:00.011-04:00

For a number of years now I've been wanting to introduce my group of friends to interior (or back-country) camping a see who enjoyed it, possibly building up a small team of like minded adventurers. This year I managed to pique the interest in a medium sized group of people, and planned to take a group of 9 people to Canisbay Lake in Algonquin Park. Canisbay Lake is a drive-in site park, but is also an access point to canoe routes in the interior. The plan was to arrive and then paddle out to the lake sites and stay, but be close enough to paddle back to the outhouses and shower facilities for those who wanted them. The best of both worlds so new members of the group could slowly gauge their comfort levels.

Slowly during the course of preparations the group dropped from 9 members to 4 and I came upon the realization that we no longer needed a "hybrid" style camping experience. I asked the remaining group members if they were interested in taking the trip a little further into the interior away from modern conveniences and they all responded positively.

I got on the phone with the parks reservation system and changed the trip to 2 nights on Jubilee Lake, through access point 4. The new trip consisted of paddling through Rain Lake, a portage of 310m, paddle through Sawyer Lake, a portage of 550m and finally arriving at Jubilee Lake where we would make base camp and stay for the duration of our trip.

Day 1
We arrived in Kearny and picked up the permit from the park office in the community center and canoes/PFDs/paddles from Canoe Algonquin which was located close by. The drive from Kearny took another 35mins to the Rain Lake Access Point.

Once there I gave a short tutorial to our two new members on how to portage a canoe and taught them the basic paddling strokes they would need to know (J-stroke, draw stroke and sweep stoke).

We packed the canoes, one with my guests and their bags, the other with myself and my girlfriend plus our packs, my tools and the food barrel. With canoes packed up with our gear, we took off on the beginning of our adventure.

Rain Lake is not a large lake, and I'd been here before. This year however, the water level of the lake was lower than I remember and in certain areas I found that our canoe would get snagged on fallen trees that we just below the surface. Our partners with a lighter canoe managed to get by without a problem though.

We took our time soaking in the scenery, and just enjoying being in the canoe. It was the first time for my girlfriend and I being in a canoe since last year and we just wanted to have fun with it.

When we reached our first portage we did two trips. I took one canoe ahead of the group while the rest took turns portaging the canoe and carrying bags. Once we brought all of our gear over to Sawyer Lake we took a 20 min break to hydrate and snack on some GORP and pepperoni sticks.

A group of "adventure dogs" came by with their canoe guides and we made friends with the excited pups. A few tried begging for snacks but luckily we held strong and eventually the adventure dogs were on their way. After our break we packed up again and headed back on the water. My partners were surprised at how short the paddle across Sawyer lake was compared to Rain Lake. The orange sign indicating the portage spot was a little harder to find however, and they paddled off in the direction they thought the portage should be, while I hung back and kept scanning the coastline for where the map told me it should be. I finally found it as I pulled up closer to the shoreline and noticed it was affixed to a tree that had bent forward and was on the verge of falling into the lake.

There are times you're going to question the map and your orientation. When push comes to shove, the map is usually right.

This portage was a little harder, not because of the length but because I got foolhardy and tried to carry the canoe and my pack in the same trip. Filled with tools for the group, a tent and personal gear my pack was easily the heaviest of the bunch and I tried to take it and portage my canoe in one go. I got about halfway before I started tiring out and by 3/4 I was just telling myself to put one foot in front of the other. I had no idea where the end of the portage was and finally about 50m away from the end I felt like my back was going to give out from the load and called out for my girlfriend to help unload the canoe from my shoulders. I planned on coming back for it, but she insisted on trying to portage it the rest of the way. She got it onto her shoulders and was so happy that she wanted a picture. In my state I was exhausted, frustrated and actually pretty pissed off at myself for having to give up and lashed out at her by telling her she was selfish and it wasn't the time for pictures. It totally killed her enthusiasm and put her in a foul mood for what should have been an exciting accomplishment. I ended up apologizing for being such a jerk, and explained how I was taking out my frustration on her for not making it the whole way.

Not impressed.

With things better we saw the other guys catching up behind us with their canoe and gear. We packed up and set off to look for a decent site to spend our 2 nights.

Jubilee lake is shaped like a horseshoe and at the top of the curve was what I thought might be a good spot. It had good view of both sides of the lake, had a back that was facing more remote forest and was far enough away from other camps that we'd have plenty of privacy.

When I stopped by to scout out the location, I found it had even more benefits such as a waist high rock outcropping which could act as a table, decent flat ground for the tents and some logs someone else had set up as a bench and sitting area. We unpacked the canoes and began to make camp.

This site gets the thumbs up

I set up camp the same way I'd prioritize my needs in a survival situation. It helps me practice my though pattern and helps me to analyze the situation I'm currently in and decide which need needs addressing first. This particular time our work-flow was

Shelter
We cleared the ground of debris set up tents
Water
One team begin pumping water through the filter to fill the dromedary bag and replenish our empty bottles
Fire
Secondary team began to search for tinder, kindling and fuel wood. Once I had enough I started the fire while my partner kept bringing back armfuls of fuel.
Food
Began cooking while team 1 continued pumping water and my partner retrieved more firewood.

Lunch was a simple meal of Kraft dinner with fried spam. The spam I pre-sliced the night before and froze in a ziplock bag. Minimal garbage, and the bag could be sealed to minimize food smells.

Those who didn't cook, clean up, and I scouted out a place to hang the food barrel for the night while we had a few hours left of daylight. When camp was clean we each had some free time to explore or relax as we saw fit.

One group decided to take the canoes out again to try their had at fishing, while I stayed back at camp to process the wood that had been collected.

Once light started to fade I stoked up the fire and started getting dinner ready. One benefit of staying in the same camp site is that the complexity of the meals can be so much more, and I prepared a dinner of steak fajitas and rice cooked in chicken bouillon.

Fajita fixin's

For dessert I made a cake like bannock with cranberries and dosed it with a good helping of amaretto and rum. In retrospect I could've eased up on the rum as I can still smell it in my mind as I write this.

Rum soaked cake bannock

One things I'm saddened by, is that we were out in the middle of nowhere and yet could hardly see the Perseid meteor shower since it actually occurred during a full moon this year. Ah well, next time.

With full bellies and tired muscles we went to bed.

Day 2

This was a much more relaxed day and we had the whole time to explore and simply make improvements. I woke up to find my guests already up...turns out they hadn't slept very well. I cleaned up and with hygiene out of the way to retrieved the food barrel from the trees. Breakfast was a thawed carton of pasteurized eggs with the rest of the frozen spam.

After we clean up camp a few of us decided it was the perfect weather for a swim. The water was cold and there was a lot of organic debris where we were, but there's nothing quite like swimming in a lake and washing off the sweat and salts from the day before.

We dried up a few of us decided to paddle around the lake looking for dried firewood. I prefer this method to pulling wood from the forest, because more often than not, the wood on the shore edges are dry and sun bleached...not having had time to start to rot. There is also the advantage of piling the wood into the canoe and having the "horse" do all the heavy lifting as you cart your spoils back to camp.

The others started to work on processing the firewood while I made a tripod with which I could suspend my billies from. We made lunch of angel hair pasta that was quite good for little effort...I think I'll pack it on future trips as well.

I got complaints that the water filter wasn't working and so I took over water pumping duties at this point. This was fair since I hadn't taken my turn yet the whole trip, and found that the organic material in the lake was really taking it's toll on my pump. I must've spent 40mins just pumping and cleaning the thing before it would start to flow at a reasonable rate again and by the time I had 5-6L of water I didn't feel like filling the dromedary anymore. Luckily I had people more than willing to tag out with me so I filled all the empty bottles and passed the responsibility (and empty bag) on.

The view while pumping water through the filter

Dinner is where my tripod really came into it's own. I had frozen chili in an empty 1L milk carton and it was defrosting the whole trip. It was even still cold when I pulled it out of the food barrel! I didn't want it to burn and so I kept the fire small and let the chili slowly come to a boil over 1 1/2 hours or so. There's just something about keeping a watchful eye on something you're cooking and letting it do it's thing slowly that makes it so much more fulfilling.

To go with the chili I made a simple bannock, but added shortening to the mix. The goal was something more biscuit like, but without the flaky layers. The bannock cooked extremely slowly, and I found I had to turn my billy into a makeshift dutch over by suspending it over the fire and laying coals on top to cook all the way around and right through. Of course, it burned....but only slightly.

While dinner was being prepared I overheard some commotion and ran to see what was up. Turns out far off in the distance, someone had noticed a black speck on the horizon moving. A bear? A moose maybe? At least, that what I think it was...I really wish we could've taken the canoes out to investigate, but the sun was setting quickly and it was not something I was willing to risk.

We sat down to eat our chili and bannock and slowly built up the fire as the darkness crept in.

At some point in the night a branch or twig snapped in the dark woods behind us. Not uncommon when you're in remote back country, but my two new adventurer buddies became obsessed with it. I thought it was strange that they were letting their imagination run wild on the second night, but looking back I think they were too tired to care the night of day 1.

Nothing calms the nerves like a cup of tea. Earl grey, hot.

For the rest of the night any crack or grunt in the darkness was met with questions about bears and large predators. There's nothing quite like going to sleep listening to two grown men whisper in their tents about whether a bear will eat them in the night.

Day 3
We woke the morning of the last day to find a bright warm sun shining down on us. This was quite the contrast from the overcast days we've had up until this point, though it's not uncommon for all of my camping trips to be rained out. Just bad luck I suppose...or good luck depending on how you look at it (I sure do get a lot of practice building shelters and starting fire with wet materials). We ate a breakfast of pancakes to fuel up for the journey back.

With everything pack up we paddled back across the lake back to the portage to Sawyer Lake.

This time around I learned my lesson decided to take too trips. Carrying the canoe separately from my pack was definitely a lot easier to make two run, even though you triple the distance you travel. This tactic might work well for shorter portages, but I'm not so certain it would be as effective on portages longer than 1km.

Packless, I can make good time carrying the canoe over the portage

While portaging the canoe ahead I passed my friends who were trying to do a two man carry, with their packs on. As I passed by, I heard one of them yell and remark that something had bite him. I put down my canoe and rushed over, to find two red marks in the area that was tender.

"A snake bite" I thought, as I tried to look around for the snake that bit him.

No luck! Now I know that no snake in the park is supposed to be venomous, but when you're in a situation where you're far from medical attention, you start planning strategies for the worst case scenarios. We get him to drop all of his gear and escort him to the end of the portage, where I inspect the wound again. There's no blood, and the looks as though only one of the marks is swelling. Actually it looks a lot like there's only one puncture mark...from a wasp! More than likely he just got stung by an angry wasp, but there was no way to tell for sure...or so I thought. One the route back, in the same exact spot my other friend got stung by a wasp, and this time we SAW the wasp make the sting and fall away! The little bastard! Fully relieved we pick up the rest of the gear plus what we drop on the side of the trail and made our way back to the end of the portage.

I gave my friend some insect sting relief pads to help with the pain and swelling and at this point we start noticing more and more wasps hanging around our location, and not wanting a repeat, we quickly pack our canoes and head out onto open water where they won't follow.

At our next portage I graciously allowed me girlfriend to portage the canoe the whole way...and this time I was kind enough to take a picture like she originally want.

All is right with the universe again

With the gear all transported, we stopped here for a small snack and hydration break. The last one of the trip. We took the time to soak up the calmness of the lake, the silence of the forest and the warm breeze before heading back to the hectic pace of the city.

With our break over, we paddled back to our launch point and packed the cars for our trip home.

Coming Soon: Trip Summary - 3 Day Trip to Jubilee Lake, Algonquin Park

2011-08-16T00:08:00.001-04:00

Sometimes a hike is just a hike...

2011-07-30T14:52:00.002-04:00

...and sometimes you get sucked into a bog.