The Bushman Chronicles!

Nov 25/2018, rain, sleet, snow, "Wet Day At The Lean To Tour"

burned a tank of gas and drove all the way up to the lean to for a few hours of solitude and fire.

buncha pics.


after several animal encounters the last month I decided to stop hiking silently all the time. Brought the bike pump powered EcoBlast, a solid 120 DB's of horn.

walked up the cliff trail, and onto the powerlines clearing and let off a dozen or so long bursts. Figure any animal in a 3 km radius would bugger off after that. My ears are ringing.

short burst. Video does not do the horn justice - the camera mic cut the noise down big time.....its waaaaay louder in person.




macro of the soaking wet lichens and mosses

snow is down to about the 6000' mark

big bear paw print, was not here last weekend. I refilled the ecoblast to 150psi and let loose again with it. lol

another macro of various mosses and lichens. I like the one on the bottom left

seeing as it was pissing rain and sleet, and I had forgot my CDN pattern 82 smock (I wanted to get action photos for you guys for the Smock thread) I got the fire going hot with pine knots and hemlock. All i was wearing for a top was a thin undershirt and a british wool sweater. I was fine. Even away from the fire.


gathering water

took the smaller lower back pouch (JayJayBreconsUK Roll Pouch) i had removed to make way for the massive TYR Tactical lower back pouch, and reinstalled it ABOVE the TYR Tactical pouch. The fit is perfect.

all this food was stowed away int he smaller roll pouch (bag of bannock mix, large can of beef stew, 4 smokies and some cheese)

making bannock in the bag

poor mans reflector oven...LOL....works damn well though, I burnt my hand when i reach in front of the foil............

bannock on a stick.

burp.

smokies and beef stew

Breech Can (tinder tin) in the elements. 100% dry tinder. Sent this photo off to the owner (ADAM) of Empire Tactical. Hope he uses it in his catalog.

sleet started coming down hard, enough that I thought I better pack up and head out....in case the roads got bad (temps were dropping)

found a nice water hole on the way out...it fills up from all the moss on the massive rocks, and quickly. I filled up both my canteens using a canteen cup and the lil watering hole filled in quickly.


thats it, quick and dirty day trip. Round trip 240 km's......but nice remote area and no one to bug me for having knives or axes or a fire.

 

Like that air horn Bushie. Wonder if there is not a refillable pepper juice can that works on the same principle, like a mini fire extinguisher. Or could we make one....from a mini fire extinguisher.

Edit: you have bears, we have hogs. Both bad tempered omnivorous beast that would like to eat you, neither likes being made blind by a greasy mix of powdered cayenne and vegetable oil.

 

I’ll stick with my grizzly spray and horn....lol

The bears would probably love the veg oil

—————-

Unpacked some gear from the L.R.R.P.R. webbing after todays outing ....this is how wet it was today. All three Magpul DaKa pouches were soaked outside(dry inside). They were in the lower butt pack, covered with the roll top and the large lower back pouch.




Yellow daka holds signalling/marking gear. Dark green pouch is survival food high energy, drinks, OD pouch holds my micro binoculars

All of them worth their weight in gold

 

Love these posts Bushy.

I don’t always comment, but I do enjoy reading them and looking at the photos.

 

I'm the same way! ^

 

Dec 1/2018, cool, overcast, "The Wandering The Local Trails Tour, Triggered Woman Calling Police Because I Had A Knife And Bear Spray Tour"

Short day hike on some local trails, Wanted to out and play with the new TOPS Op7 knife. Too many people on the trails, Did not get much of a chance to chop, hack, slice with the TOPS Operator 7 acid wash edition blade. Dressed down for the local trails, no L.R.R.P.R. webbing, just my Scout Rig gun belt with a few canteen carriers , bear spray, and the belt knife. Dressed in blue jeans, boots, wool sweater and the Cdn Pattern 82 smock. Still upset a person.....

not even an hour into the hike, some uptight (insert choice expletives) woman on the trail talked loudly at me and asked why i was carrying weapons? excuse me? i said. Why do you have weapons on you, knives are illegal. Only Police can carry a knife and bear spray.

was she that *******! un-informed ? really? REALLY???????! I was freaking dumbfounded by her statement......I attempted to explain that knives are not illegal in Canada (and that she might want to read the Criminal Code Of Canada) , and that bear spray is legal for people to carry in the woods. Nope, dumb angry ***** was set in her ways. "You need to be a police officer to carry a knife and bear spray" . Then she snapped a photo of me and called 911.

Oh ok....you go and call the police....LOL

I told her to tell the 911 operator that I would gladly meet an officer out at the parking area. I could hear the operator questioning the woman, "is he in the woods with the bear spray and knife" yes. "and where are you? " Lower Seymour Mountain. "Well whats the issue here?" asked the dispatcher. The woman said knives are illegal and bear spray is illegal , he has both on his person. "what is he doing with the bear spray and knife Ma'am?" dispatch asked. Well, he has the bear spray on his belt and the knife on his belt. "Ma'am, people are allowed to carry knives on their person, and bear spray when hiking, from your description it sounds like he is actually a very prepared hiker. He is not breaking any laws Ma'am. Well I don't like knives and he looks dangerous, there is no bears on these trails, I've walked these trails for years. "Ma'am, this is a non issue , we are not going to send out an officer because a hiker has a knife and bear spray in the woods. Especially the Lower Seymour Mountain, which in fact has a very healthy population of bears, cougars and other wild animals" and the call was cut short by 911 Dispatch

I politely told the ****! to have a nice a day and that i hope she does not run into a bear or other wild animal in the woods. Carried on my way.

getting tired of these people. Freaking idiots!~




dangerous man with knife and bear spray.



360 panoramic




jelly fungi

towering Douglas firs

one of two TOPS Operator 7 series knives. 5/16" THICK lol...its a BEAST

future fatwood harvest

big slabs of low grade (yet usable) fatwood

Mr Slug

funky mushroom

Bear Warning signs everywhere - did angry woman not see these??????? how could she have missed these? they go up EVERY LATE FALL in the area! . Really didn't get why crazy middle aged lady got triggered by the fact i was carrying bear spray and a knife. (Actually had 5 knives on me , only 1 visible.....)


North is that way? (using moss on a tree to determine which way is north will get you lost or killed here.....the moss is 360 deg around the trees...........)

super macro of a 1" wide patch of moss on a tree.

leaving room for tree growth.
huge mushroom.



more

 

explored an old trail system I have not been down before. Found the cliff face where several thousand tonnes of cliff fell into the river, creating a massive damn and a new lake.


mountain across the way


trail........



solar powered camera, cellular transmitter and seismic equipment to monitor the river bed.






500' drop down. The large boulder in the creek bed is about 60' tall x 50' wide. It came from up top and punched into the rock face on the opposite side. I recall that they had blasters clear the majority of the rockfall with explosives.


150 foot plus deep new lake created here. It goes back about 1000' feet. there is entire sections of forest submerged along the original river bed.



started getting dark in the woods, and I did not want to be on the slippery cliff tops at night. Headed out up the steep scramble double pace and got back onto the old logging road, now a horse trail and powerline towers access road.



some knife pics


literally pried the knife sideways.........

 

Dangerous man with knife and pepper spray....indeed. . The world need more of you Canuck...many more.

 

Have run into those types myself,hey,the wildlife has to eat too you know

 

yea i have no idea what her problem was. I also observed her yelling at some kids who had their dog running free. Its a leash free area. (although the District does recommend leashing dogs .....its not a bylaw up here in this mountain.

just one of those miserable people that likes to police everything and throw their weight around (and she had lots of that!)

Must be BBQ Becky's kinfolk.

 

Freakin' libtard b.... LOL
I like the look of that new blade of yours.

 

Dude, you just need to start wearing a purple toque with a bright pink pompom on top, it'll make you looks less threatening

Also, I hate recurve blades, but you're making me want one of those Operator 7 knives... 8mm thick slab of steel... Damn.

 

Dec 9, 2018, pouring rain, foggy, 1 deg C, "The Jungle Boot Field Test, Bushwack Thru Extreme Terrain, Campfire On The Cliffs, Take A Header & Impale A Branch On My Face, & Slog Thru Wet Muddy Hell And Brambles Tour.

Loaded up the L.R.R.P.R. webbing with gear and food and headed up the Sea To Sky Hwy in the pouring rain. Stopped by the WestView Chevron and fueled up, and got some snacks. I normally DO NOT eat prepackaged crackers and lunch meat and cheese, but I had skipped breaky so i dug in. NOT BAD AT ALL......the quality of the snack pack has changed over the years...this one had summer sausage, provolone cheese and multi-grain crackers AND a KitKat choco bar! 10 crackers, 12 cheese rounds, and 14 summer sausage rounds. It was gone in like 2 minutes......



also bought some Lil Hotties hand-warmers, and some fruit/nut/protein bars





Despite the monsoons, there was a large amount of hikers vehicles in the parking lot. Some guy was unloading his pack form his car, saw me pull up and unload and don my gear, and asked me "so uh, hey man, whats uh, whats up?" I turned to him and his GF and said "what is up? what is down? i'm down with going up the mountains" , and walked away winking at them, with an absolutely completely psychotic grin on my face. They looked confused. "wtf just happened?" the girl said to her BF........

I left the parking area and hit the clay dump clearing. I came to really appreciate the Panama Soles on the jungle boots.....to access where i wanted to go (off trail, off highway, bushwacking), I had to cross the dump site of all the clay mix that the Highways Dept has dumped in the clearing (to deter people dumping garbage). The rain made the piles slick as goose crap. The clay mix squished out from the soles of the jungle boots as i slogged thru the piles.

Should have brought the Esee Lite Machete....the brambles get to be an inch thick and hundreds of feet long, and deep thickets of them. I used the 5/16" thick Tops Op7 to hack my way thru. I literally cleared this trail just last year. You would never know.



the SORD StormTrooper hand-warmer muff. I put my 2 zippo hand-warmers in the pockets, but they fizzled......i need to replace the burner caps. So i used the Lil Hotties hand warmers.....meh....they work ok....I think i need to get the 18650 Li-Ion battery powered hand warmers for these pockets.....those things CRANK out the heat. Despite the low heat output....my hands sure apprecited the lukewrm warmth the StormTrooper provided (with the handwarmer packets) I can see these this pouch being really appreciated by soldiers or hunters when sitting still for a long time in cold weather.


Hobo Camp #1 campfire is still untouched. Have not been here in like a year. (i think its been a year??? last time i had the tin can Dakota Stove set up here)



christ it was wet out. Just pouring down, about 2 deg C.

slogging thru a BC Jungle....big ferns, stomach height




drank both my canteens and refilled at the creek. This creek is here from about october thru may...then it just dries up to nothing.





this is what i bushwhacked thru.


did I mention its raining today? the entire cliff side was covered with rivulets of rainwater.



Impressed by the Panama Sole on the soft, loose, forest floor layers.


hacking with the Tops Op7


hard to see, but above the fallen log in the creek, there is a small black hole, slightly out in the powerlines clearing. Its a black bear den.



started the slippery, wet, loose terrain climb to the cliff bluffs. The rainwaters had soaked the forest floor, making even this basic scramble difficult and slippery.



the boots grip well, but occasionally you slide anyways, as the entire forest floor just slumps away.


more coming

 

Since it was so wet out, I located and gathered a Fire Force Multiplier - Fatwood! Burns 500% hotter than regular woods and ignites even when soaking wet (when prepped properly). Tops Op7 hard at work.


wet fern/moss/water soaked bluffs


another Fire Force Multiplier - the big semi hard pitch globules on the pine/hemlock/Douglas firs. I make a point of slashing "tree wounds" into the trees near frequently visited hiking / camping spots...to ensure a steady supply of sap resin (SPICE - The Spice Must Flow) for future campfires/emergency fires.

5/16" thick....makes feathersticks just fine

tiny fire. Yet HOT

piled on green boughs and sent up smoke for Dad.


MORE monday... my face is throbbing from slamming into a log.....lol

 

Great pics and write up,out there making friends...nice

 

nice stuff. that Tops seems to be treating you well.

 

Yea,those guards really come in handy when your hands are wet and slick with mud and moss/lichen slime.

 

CONTINUED.....

I was actually enjoying the monsoon rain, soaking me.



I wanted to get out into the rains today with the fully loaded L.R.R.P.R. webbing and see how heavy it gets during these BC winter rains. I can safely say it adds about 3lbs of extra weight to the webbing.



The wind changed direction and suddenly my massive column of smoke started pouring down the cliffs, right onto the highway about 30-0 feet down..........Traffic started to slow from 110km's / hour to around 60km/h......brake lights flashing. A car going the other way stopped and a man got out, looking intently at the cliffs and the approx 100,000 cubic feet of smudge smoke that was pouring off the cliffs....hmmm....better burn off that smudge pile quickly and shut er down.

it was getting pitch black in the forest anyways, so i broke out the 2500 lumen headlamp and started heading out. The terrain was brutal, wet, covered in leaves so you couldnt tell what you stepping on, and the fog was rolling in bad. Could barely see even with the flood light on the headlamp. The mist bounced everything back, even on low settings which were useless anyways as far as seeing anything.

The descent back should have taken less than 45 minutes. Instead it took me about 45 minutes just to get above the creek.

and then hilarity ensued.

I was walking on a giant douglas fir tree that had fallen years ago, a route i take often. But the decay process is sped up with the heavy rains and the freezing/thaw cycles we have had. The top of the log was a little softer, crumbly than last year.

I felt the thin cedar root on the top of my boot and literally in a millisecond knew what was about to happen. As i got tripped up, I put myself into a tuck and roll and fell 6' off the log, then rolled down the 75 deg slope about 10' or so and slammed my face into a rotten log and my hands into the ground. I felt my shoulders trying to pop out but the snug wide webbing straps prevented any movement.

slightly winded and stunned, i pull my head off the rotting log and instantly knew i had a bleeder on my forehead. Noticed a hard thin branch stub on the rotting log, covered in blood. A foot to the left was another one, much larger, it would have taken my eye out or worse had i slammed into that one. Got real lucky .

Cursed some choice words. Checked my shoulders, all good, man that was close.....checked all the gear, no blades popped out of their sheathes and stabbed me as i rolled/tumbled , the axe was still in place, and I was surprised that the bear spray magnum can had not broken (top plastic spray head) . Double checked for missing gear, wiped my bloody face off and kept bushwacking. Gonna feel that in the AM...LOL

cleaned up.


carried on thru the now extremely heavy rain and fog and brutal terrain. Soaked right thru, but warm.

One thing unique on the North Shore Mountains, is the tendency to end up in gullies. I always try to aim 100' higher to a landmark when dead reckoning, the slope of the mountain will subconsciously make you go downwards, even when you going upwards/parallel to the mountain (make sense?) Thousands of lost hikers here end up WELL BELOW where they intended to go. Reno Lewis can get into this phenomena better than I . (and please do Reno!)

So despite NOT being lost, i knew exactly where I was, exactly which tree I was heading towards, the rains and mists and that downward slope gently guided me into the gully BELOW my intended landmark. Now i was in bramble , clay mud hell.

Took an hour to cover 50' of ground. I ended up spending a good part of that hour, climbing a 45 deg clay slope, or trying to. I had flashbacks to trench scene from ww1/2 film footage, where the soldiers are trying to go over the top but they are slipping/sliding constantly or being literally swallowed up by the dirt and clays. I was crawling on my elbows trying to get over that last 2' of damn clay, kept sliding down.

I was now filthy. Pants, boots, smock, hands, webbing, all covered in leaves, forest floor material, clay, dirt, sand. Now i was really soaked.

I started laughing......what else do you do? the situation will not change, might as well grin and bear it. I did feel a very large pang of guilt though for getting my Dads truck seats dirty when i finally got back to the truck.....they were pristine....

The rain did wash a lot of mud off me during the 500' walk back on the easy trail.

L.R.R.P.R. webbing on the tailgate. (front view). I am continually amazed at how freaking heavy that load out is, yet when you put it on it feels lighter. Its pushing 35lbs (winter kit loadout) .



despite that heavy rain, the smock stayed somewhat dry inside, this is an inside the jacket photo.



I had to run the AC on max for about 30km's , to deal with all the moisture inside the cab of the truck.

Got home , irrigated the hole in my face, hung all the wet gear up and got ready for work the next day. Knew i was going to feel that hike and face bash big time....

fin