The Bushman Chronicles!

So the fire starters worked out good for you? You happy with them? No food

 

oh they are heavy as hell , but i liked the fact i could sponge off hot wax onto dry mossy sticks and spread them around the fire.

personally i think the good old cotton ball still reigns supreme.

 

setting up the Eberlestock HalfTrak for tomorrow's outdoor fun. Surplus CDN Forces butt bag on the outside, holds all my food, 25' of Bluewater semi-static Assault line and TR GEAR Grabber grappling hook

 

It's amazing to me how you go into the woods with a knife or two and then just suddenly realize, WTF, I've got 9 knives on me. I know the old saying "one is none and nine....will get the job done" or something like that. I know, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.

Great stuff @Bushman5

 

That grapple hook is very mall ninjaish

 

Enter The Ninja - Die Antwoord





Hobo Camp, Grapple Hook hike Jan 21/2017 , 2 to 8 Deg Celsius, light rain to heavy rain

Loaded up the Eberlestock HalfTrak with 60 lbs of gear, including the new TR Gear Grabber Hook, and headed out to Hobo Camp. Rain was on and off, and some sun was peeking thru the clouds at times..

While I unloading the Jeep, a couple of cadillac SUV's all bling'ed out drove off the highway and up into the parking lot. Persian girl got out and let her dog **** right in front of the info booth/ map . Nice.

even nicer was the garbage they threw out their window as they left. Sadly a common occurrence here. 4 big steel garbage cans 4 feet from where they tossed their garbage onto the ground.

I rucked up and walked into the woods. Should have kept going for a year.

went straight to the big massive rock below Hobo Camp, to see its suitability for a semi permanent shelter and fire pit.

Nope. its in the middle of the creek...



so much for that shelter plan....it would have been ideal, large angled overhang to rest against, put a fire in front, shelter walls on the side, raised seating to avoid the cold wet ground. Oh well.

carried on and started crawling, literally up the steep slope. Slipped lots in the loose wet leaves and soil, gravity and a 60lb pack fought me every step.





side view of the slope



time for the Grappling hook to assist me up. Throw, tension, test, and use the rope to assist (not hold) me up. Works damn well.





there is a log under all those wet ferns



its a long way down the slope, ass over teakettle....



your not finding your way relying on moss here.....its covers all the tree....





the grappling hook can be used as a short climbing axe too.



old dead birch tree COVERED with tinder fungus and fungi



about 10" across



I think these are chicken of the woods fungi....if so , after proper Ident, i'm going back to harvest them





more loading

 

found a few fresh signs of deer



scored some birch bark for fire tinder



Surv-Tac 7 harvesting fatwood. Something very satisfying about being able to chop, then pry and not worry about breakage.









pierce, twist , split, easy and effortless, can be done one handed if need be



didn't find any suitable areas to build a better camp, so i rolled, slid, scrambled back down to the first Hobo Camp.Prepped the fire with lots of fatwood and used this small animal bedding i found on the way in, dumped with other garbage....



i assumed being shredded paper / cardboard pulp that it would light like napalm. NOPE, must be a fire retardant added to it. (i bet soaking this stuff in wax would be bad ass! )



pile of alder, cedar, and tons of fatwood and the pulp paper. Its ugly but it burned



lit the fatwood with BCB match from the KM matchcase group purchase as well as my antiqued brass zippo











had pepperoni and slabs of swiss cheese for dinner, topped off with a Eat-More bar for desert. Spent another two hours by the fire then doused it and headed out.

parting shots:





fin

 

Awesome.

That is all.

 

Nicely done!

 

that Grabber hook excelled at ripping down widowmakers and dead branches for firewood. I'd say it payed for itself already.

Going to add a YATES Ladder to the pack, , to clip to the hook, should be fun being able to get up into the trees or up steep rocks

 

Good stuff @Bushman5

 

I like the pictures. Awesome.

 

I like it, if it wasn't so cold over there it would be a tempting place to visit

 

^ we have multiple climes here...ranging from artic to rainforest to scrubs lands to desert, alpine, etc...

lytton BC gets hotter than Aus...

 

LORD BADEN POWELL Trail Hike & the "Kitchen Sink Ice Scramble" new pack shakedown test, North Shore BC Canada Feb 12/2017.

As usual, Friday Nights fling with a lady friend and multiple local craft brews put a kibosh on doing anything Saturday, other than hitting The Wolf & Hound Pub for a late brunch . Puttered around the house all day Sat, playing StormFall on the PC.

Sunday......got up at 0530 hours , made coffee, fed PipSqueak and MissCopper, picked up where I left off on StormFall, and by 0900 hours i was back in bed, two big cats piled on me keeping me toasty warm.

finally got going.....left the house at 1300 hours Sunday Feb 12. Sunny, dry, cold, still craploads of snow on the ground.

rucked up with the new pack Mikea made, and hit the trails on the North Shore.



nice catch



not one of these trees is old growth. There used to be nothing here but HUGE spaces in between each massive douglas fir or cedar tree...some over 5 feet plus in diameter. This is third gen growth. (but logging is bad kiddies.....it destroys forests...stop logging.....) LOL.......



sunshine blue skies tall woods



jumble jamble of left leaning right leaning fallen down and upright trees



new pack from Mikea. It rides nice. Real nice..



bad lighting but you get the idea of how the pack sits, even without a waist belt it never felt heavy on the shoulders. Even though I loaded it up with everything and the kitchen sink....





slipping and sliding on ice trails



not bad here...got worse further down





tree fell over and the massive root ball lifted the trail walk out of the ground.





green green green and green.



icy waters











while at the creek, a lovely medium black happy go luck dog ran up and said hi. Gave him scratchies for about ten minutes until the owner slipped and slid and walked up. Lovely girl, red checkered jacket , blue jeans., slight accent, friendly, and reminded me of someone , just couldn't put my finger on who she reminded me of. Chatted a bit and then i carried on.

Saw her again later , she smiled and said hi again. Again i couldn't put my finger on who she reminded me of.......but she was dreamy. Didn't seem to care that there was a Scrapyard Son Of DogFather big knife hanging off my multicam pack.

I carried on.....the afternoon air chilly.

trail rack.



more

 

about ten minutes later my cell beeped,notifying me of a new youtube video .

Survival Lily had uploaded a new video several days prior,. So i watched a few minutes of the video. Didn't even clue in to the clothes she was wearing in the video.......red checker coat, jeans, boots, ...........

on and up.

Green Pools, about 1/2 klick up from the Blue Pools.



falls



enough moss to stuff one big garbage bag...



mist




Suddenly it hit me........BANG!

the girl i had chatted with earlier, had a red checkered jacket and jeans. When my cell beeped and I looked at the video that Survival Lily just posted , there she was....red checkered jacket and jeans!

NO WAY! identical accent! CLOTHES! hair! FACIAL features!

could it be i just ran into and briefly chatted with the one and only Survival Lily?



I actually ran back up the trail trying to catch up with her but I was at least 30 minutes behind her.....too far back and the trail conditions did not allow anything more than a fast walk/scramble.....ARGH!

got back up to the bluff overlooking the creek and the sun was dipping low....this place is always magical when the sun sets.........



backpack



backpack back by the river,







parting shot.......

Esee 6 (from @Reno Lewis ) and custom backpack (from @mikea )



thats it. 5 hour woods bumble and a possible chance meeting with Survival Lily!

 

Nice looking area.

 

Dude! You lucky f*cker!

Hiking the trail of my namesake (Baden) and you meet Survival Lily... Wow.

 

im not sure Reno, the dog she had was jet black......the dog in her vids is different...but her facial features, mannerisms and accent, way of talking and eyes, and glasses and clothes were identical.....

 

one can only dream?