The Bushman Chronicles!

And here I avoid going out in the rain.

 

^ its just water man.

we shower every day....

 

Hot shower.


Hot.

 

hahahaha....

don't get me wrong Bro.......i love a hot shower, but there is something about going out into the woods and getting soaking wet, cold, dirty, and covering a lot of steep terrain, working the lungs, heart, muscles, etc.....

its mind over matter.

 

Dec 22, 2018, rain, dark, windy & cold - "The SIEGE STOVE Cookout, Steep Terrain Hike, & Grilling Food 20 Yards From An Unseen Bear Den Tour"

Finally got a chance to get outdoors and try out my new SIEGE STOVES Titanium flatpack wood stove. I also bought a set of of the Titanium Cross Members, which can be used to turn a tin can into a wood stove. (Review as soon I can) and the Large Grill (also in Titanium )

Started out the well groomed walking trail, I made my way to some lesser traveled trails. Today I had some people friendly gear, my new DIRECT ACTION Ghost backpack (this one in Adaptive Green). Fantastic packs, I now own 2 of them. Normally I hike with my multicam L.R.R.P.R. webbing, but it seems to make people "concerned" and upset.

in the overcast cloud cover the light was poor.....the pack looks almost tan.......this is a theme you will see me mention a LOT with these packs....they change color depending on the light. Not "actually" change color, but they look different under all different kinds of light.

rounding out the kit was my HydraPak water bladder with pressurized squeeze tube. This thing kicks ass, you can irrigate wounds, squirt water at the dog, suppress a small fire, and of course hydrate.



leaving the trail i headed down thru the forest. And by down i mean a steep 60deg slope.



Easter Island Statue reject...left here in BC by the lil gray men I call it "FrumpyGrumps"



this fungus need big googly eyes......



massive douglas fir, and my TOPS Operator-7 in murdered out black

 

Part Two (SIEGE STOVES first burn in and cook out!)

found a nice boulder to set up my new stove on. The Siege Stove (flatpack) fits VERY nicely into a Hidden Woodsmen flat pouch. The Large Grill is too big for stowing in the cordura pouch, but its going to get greasy anyways...so a plastic bag is better. The entire flat pack stove, 2 sets of toasters, and the grill pack down to just under 3/4" flat. Stows away VERY nicely in a flat zippered slot in the backpack!



Siege Stove , Toasters all set up, ready for the first burn!

I packed the stove full of charcoal and mesquite chunks (i live in a Strata building, and we are not allowed to grill....so its literally been about 3 years since i have been able to grill food)


small Magpul DAKA suppressor pouch with my firekit. I used a storm match to get the charcoal lit


the toasters have enough space to pop in a bagel half. The aroma of the charcoal and mesquite in the woods was incredible.......

food prep area.......lol....... (see the pack? its a bloody different color again)


I did not check the bagels and they got a little burnt. I find its best to rotate the bagels/toast every few minutes to prevent burning. The side mounted toasters work EXTREMELY well.

3 hot dogs cut in half , in the grill. This grill is brilliant....nothing falls out, and you can control the cooking by simply flipping it.


I seasoned my dawgs with my mixed herb and spice seasoning, both sides.



secured hot dogs.



almost ready for grillin'!


dawgs on the grill!




could not ask for a better hike & grill area.

 

I brought some sharp aged cheddar, good and strong.




HA! love the grill marks. (Dalmatian Hot Dogs! ) I did leave these a few minutes too long on the stove, but they tasted amazing! nice smoky mesquite, herb and spices flavor.

does not get any better than this. I made two of these giants


when i went to break the stove down, I dumped the coals and the titanium components cooled off in about 3 minutes. Nice heat patina!

all stowed away ready for my next cook out in the woods, wherever I may roam.


I'm pretty damn impressed with that lil stove, toasters and grill. There was hardly any smoke when i was getting the stove going, and none when grilling (to be fair I was using charcoal lumps and lean fat hot dogs.....I think regular twigs and wood would some a bit more until they were embers......, and fatty sausages, hamburgers or steaks would definitely smoke a lot as the fat dripped on the coals. .

its a nice compact flatpack stove with a lot of features....some that are very subtle.....like the micro ridges on the top of the stove...they can hold steel kebab skewers!

I will be reviewing this stove more as i use it. This was the first time i actually had a chance to burn it in and use it. I'm liking it a lot.



Once i had packed up my gear, I headed back up the steep hill......and froze in place. I did not notice that bear den in the embankment on my way down. The entire time I had been cooking food too........20 yards away........

I figure since the wind was coming DOWN the hill towards me, the occupant of the bear den (black bear) did not smell me or the food odors or smell of charcoal and mesquite....the wind was strong and low in the woods, and heading downhill, away from the den . I got off lucky this time. I got close enough on my way up the hill to see a black ball of fur, about 90lbs or so curled up inside the hole under the embankment. I have never been so silent or swift as today, going back up the steep hill to the trails.


small den is just under the lowest branch

 

Awesome stuff with the stove bushy! Man I just ordered from the hidden woodsman if I would have know I would have ordered the bag lol

 

Phone him! Probably not too late to add to your order

 

Lol I might do that! Got his number handy?

 

looks like Malcom is email only.

 

Lol I emailed him but thanks bushy

 

Dec 30, 2018 - clear skies, cool, " The Scowling Prune Face Skag Incident, Bemused Elderly Brit & His Deaf Terrier, BushWack Down & Thru The Overgrown Wet Forest, MaxWell House Instant Coffee Overlooking The Seymour River & The Hammer Back Up Thru Hell At Dusk, Yell At A Bear Tour"


whew! say that 3 times fast!

My original plans this weekend fell thru at the last minute. I had planned to have a lady friend stay with the House Panthers for 3 - 4 days while I drove a buddy and myself out to Manning Park BC, (image link) for winter camp and snowshoeing in amazing mountains and 12' deep snow.


We had planned to leave my truck plugged in at the Manning Park Lodge (free parking and block heater hookups if you know people ) snowshoe back west towards the Skagit River Trail with the UHMW pulk i built full of camping gear, back west towards the Sumallo Grove area along Highway 3A, camp overnight Saturday, then head out along the old Engineers Road back to Manning park, camp out sunday night and finally back to the Manning Park Lodge , all round about 120km's (ish )

Friday at work, buddy sends me a pic, his right leg in plaster elevated in a hospital bed. WTH? he had been telemark skiing Thursday night, hit a very steep section of snow covered ice, lost control and ended up slamming hard sideways into a tree. Instant break on his femur. His ski partners stabilized him, one stayed with him and bundled him into a sleeping / bivy bag (buddy heat, crawled in with him) while the other skied out and got Ski Patrol for the extrication. He might be home with his GF for New Years but he might be in the hospital for a bit.

so instead of heading out East this weekend , I slept in Saturday and puttered about the apt, organizing gear, setting up a lightweight Scout webbing rig, cranking music and drinking beers and eating food. Still have not gotten around to doing dishes or cleaning the kitchen......LOL!



Today I headed out to the North Shore, for a quick and dirty hammer hard session down and up a very steep section of forest i have been wanting to explore.

I dressed pretty normal, tan Anorak, wool hat, blue jeans (oh SHUSH @Reno Lewis ) and my surplus leather boots. Plus a very downscaled webbing rig.

on the main trails past the cemetery and parking area, I ran into an older lady, 65ish, prune face, short white hair, walking her mangy poodle (<<yea that type of blue rinse person). I said hello and happy new years.

She SCOWLED so hard and bitterly I thought she was having a seizure. She pulled her depressed looking mangy poodle hard on the leash, hard enough to make it yelp, towards her and just stared at me with a 'I just drank piss and vinegar" look.

oh. ok. What crawled up your dusty dried up unused ..............

I carried on, almost double pace, was feeling good and loose. Long strides , quickly made my way to the "off trail" exit.

As I rounded the final corner, a Jack Russell terrier, quite old and gray whiskered, came around the corner. I normally can get ANY dog to come over for scratchies, but this one was a stubborn old mule dog. Cataracts, grizzled old fur, and apparently stone deaf. just kept slowly walking by the side of the trail, sniffing every few feet and correcting its direction. A few minutes later his owner rounded the corner. We exchanged greetings and i commented on his dog. Oh yes, mr jack is 18, deaf, blind and ornery his owner said in a classic British accent. Had him for years, walk this trail every day he navigates by smell. We chatted for awhile, then went on our separate ways.

I got to the little gap in the shrubs and trees and by the main trail and disappeared.

the start of the forest at this point is a salal brush choked steppe, nothing like what was ahead.


waist high Salal


start of the descent thru hell.


my new Bark River MACV-SOG Recondo blade (thank you @Reno Lewis )testing some fatwood
and so it begins.............




bushwacking thru the salal, i ventured over to the small creek loudly crashing down the cliffs in the distance.




quite the steep ravine, even steeper than the stuff i was sliding down.



left my mark, cats ears and initial.



if you blindly crash thru the salal, beware the aftermath.........sudden 80 foot drop into space. You don;t even see it until you step into it. I came so close to stepping into the void.........

 

light load out today. Butt pack, 2 canteen pouches, two utility pouches with food/mess kit, knife. And blue jeans! -



the descent was so steep that i literally walked straight down the soft embankment, jamming my heel into the soft forest floor. Better than rolling an ankle.

everything soaked....but cedar,,,,,,,


250' tall trees towering over me.

the transition point from the salal hill to the steep descent. salal to ferns......
back checking the egress direction, i knew i would be ascending the steep hill at night and all landmarks would pretty much disappear.


Mists Of Seymour River rolling in.
halfway down. Getting steeper.


not to mention pretty much impassable. Had i a machete..........however i did not. So i had to zig zag and pick my way down, thru, over, under, the thickets.
Fern closeup. So many ferns. So many ferns hiding the tripping hazards under their broad spread of leaves

believe it or not, I actually breathed a sigh of relief when i reached this point. It was easier than the last 1/2 KM


looking back


more

 

moss.....ferns.......undergrowth....everywhere......



you have no idea how happy i was to get on the Forest Express Way - a 5' wide fallen Douglas fir with a few nurse trees growing out of it......it as like an expressway down the hill

massive tree fungus and the MACV-SOG Recondo

270 - 300' tall giants. I may return here with my BigShot line launcher, and tree ropes. There is an eagles nest in one of the tops of these giants. the tree right of the dead snag is about 5' diameter.

Seymour River

the Scout Rig.
been a few hours since i have had coffee. I bought a big jar of Maxwell House Dark Roast instant coffee and repackaged some of it in an old vit C container.


damn strong cold coffee
"MRE's" Meals ready to eat. Also had mac & cheese pouch in the mess tin.




I spent some time just leaning against a tree and looking/listening to the river and forest, while sipping on brutally strong dark roast coffee. Chatted with @Reno Lewis for a bit about where i was,. NEVER EVER trust your cell phone "apps" in regards to location. My "location" as given by the topo map app, put over 18 KM away, in MetroTwon BURNABY.....(i was on the North Shore )

Good 'OL Google Earth gave me the correct Coordinates,and I relayed these to Reno.


ate a few granola bars, chopped with the RECONDO knife and drank coffee. It got darker and darker in the forest

finally headed out , NOT looking forward to almost 3/4 KM of 75 deg slope climb.

cinched the webbing tight, drank one of the canteens, and just fricking HAMMERED up the brutal terrain. On all 4's.....scrambled hard and fast, steam billowing from my hat, hands, clothes, I I just fricking crawled, scrambled, ran, to the point where i had to stop because the sound of my heart was deafening. Just hammering in my chest. Then i let loose again and peaked the final hurdle to the main trail

headlamp shots. Lots of "exertion" vapors present



Drank the second canteen at the trail head and started to walk down the trail network back towards the truck.

had my headlamp on HIGH (2500 lumens) and spotted a small black bear under the powerlines, in the undergrowth, about 80 feet away, clawing the ground digging for food. I yelled and stamped my boots and ran towards it, bellowing. It lit out 0 to 100km/h down the trail and into the forest. I followed up my bellowing with a bear banger, it went off about 20 feet from the bears ass. ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!! KAAAAAAAAAABBBBBOOOOOOOOOM! and away the bear went , racehorse speed..

got back to the truck, steam just billowing off me in the cold air.

Distance traveled today: Less than 3KM.

exertion level: EXTREME

best day i have had in a while.

 

Good stuff man!

That giant fungus with the Recondo on top almost looks like a Reishi.

Also, what's that little compass you're using?

 

Brunton Tru-Arc3

got it at the hippy dippy eco store MEC (its a real bang for the buck!)

 

Great looking adventure bushy! You do look scary so I understand the old lady

 

haha

 

Very good pictures and post. But, You got a new stove and had to drink cold coffee! . I hate cold coffee! Thanks for sharing!