350 mile survival field test

This is fascinating to read about.

I very much look forward to watching videos of the trip.

I've just started planning a similar trip, walking the Camino in Spain. I will take only a small pack and an opinel. I'm intending to survive daily on great Basque cooking and excellent red wine.
It may be ardous but I will endeavour to withstand any hardship, including teddy bears.

All the best to you, Mr Knapp
 
If you need a guide, I am willing to accompany you. I know nothing of the Camino but have experience with teddy bears and like wine.

Mark, I'm afraid your trek doesn't pass within crawling distance to liquor or grocery stores... you are on your own, bud.
 
Iblametheparents said:
This is fascinating to read about.

I very much look forward to watching videos of the trip.

I've just started planning a similar trip, walking the Camino in Spain. I will take only a small pack and an opinel. I'm intending to survive daily on great Basque cooking and excellent red wine.
It may be ardous but I will endeavour to withstand any hardship, including teddy bears.

All the best to you, Mr Knapp
Click to expand...

Dont think, you'll encounter survival problems (unless you get hit by a lorry of course) walking the El Camino de Santiago - its the walk with the most facilities, rest stops, restaurants around (supposedly).

Here a not very flattering account.

Included because of the mention of pit stops etc.

Not to discourage you from walking.

A (very) small pack should be enough).

Maybe wear a reflective vest due to stretches with traffic.

http://francistapon.com/Travels/Spain-Trails/10-Reasons-Why-El-Camino-Santiago-Sucks
 
Rick Marchand said:
If you need a guide, I am willing to accompany you. I know nothing of the Camino but have experience with teddy bears and like wine.

Mark, I'm afraid your trek doesn't pass within crawling distance to liquor or grocery stores... you are on your own, bud.
Click to expand...


No alcohol - abort, abort!!:D:p

On a more serious note - cant wait to hear more and see the sturdy HH knife in action.

Best of luck.
 
Iblametheparents said:
This is fascinating to read about.

I very much look forward to watching videos of the trip.

I've just started planning a similar trip, walking the Camino in Spain. I will take only a small pack and an opinel. I'm intending to survive daily on great Basque cooking and excellent red wine.
It may be ardous but I will endeavour to withstand any hardship, including teddy bears.

All the best to you, Mr Knapp
Click to expand...

Yes, yours will be a different sort of trek, not the same but still very much a worthwhile endeavor. Have fun.
 
Rick Marchand said:
If you need a guide, I am willing to accompany you. I know nothing of the Camino but have experience with teddy bears and like wine.

Mark, I'm afraid your trek doesn't pass within crawling distance to liquor or grocery stores... you are on your own, bud.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but he won't be eating any hoary marmots. I actually feel sad for him.:):) Not really, it sounds like a blast.
 
I expect you will have a wonderful experience. I've spent several summer months in Alaska...Anchorage, Fairbanks, etc. but I carried my .500 Linebaugh with 450 gr hard-cast at 1300 fps. Some of the guides around Anchorage seem to swear by the .500 Linebaugh, but there are various other big calibers these days. I'm most familiar with the old tourists tale of the little red berries and bear-scat, and I wish you God's help and a safe journey.
I realize that this is not your first pow-wow.
Will try to watch your YT videos.
Don
 
Rick Marchand said:
I make it a point to never eat anything that is referred to as hoary.
Click to expand...

As you know, I won't have the luxury of staying away from things with unflattering names. Hoary marmots are very hard to catch though. They are very vigilant. Everything wants to eat them. Porcupines are much easier to catch, I hope to find a couple of them.
 
bore said:
When are you going? Springs starting down here. Snows getting patchy.
Click to expand...

Just after Blade show, in June. My wife with her marksmanship cert. and my two killer watch dogs will be holding down the fort (that's in case there are any would-be thugs watching, thinking there are opportunities with the master of the house gone).
 
Sonnydaze said:
I expect you will have a wonderful experience. I've spent several summer months in Alaska...Anchorage, Fairbanks, etc. but I carried my .500 Linebaugh with 450 gr hard-cast at 1300 fps. Some of the guides around Anchorage seem to swear by the .500 Linebaugh, but there are various other big calibers these days. I'm most familiar with the old tourists tale of the little red berries and bear-scat, and I wish you God's help and a safe journey.
I realize that this is not your first pow-wow.
Will try to watch your YT videos.
Don
Click to expand...

I actually built my own .500 Linebough at the same time his came out. I've even killed some bears with it. I also have an extended one on a .357 maximum frame that I started and haven't finished yet.

As you probably read, this walk is to test my 1911 survival knife that is mated to the Colt 1911 Auto.

I'll probably not need the gun at all, but really it's just a noise maker. Shooting a bear would be my very last resort. I don't want to kill a bear, that would be a really good way to ruin a perfectly fine walk in the mountains. The law requires that if I kill a bear, in defense of life and property, that I salvage the skull and hide and surrender it to the state. That would be a logistical nightmare during a 350 mile walk.

You are right, it's not my first pow wow, I've been a bear guide for many years, logged thousands of miles in bear country, blah, blah, blah but still I know anything can happen. I have a healthy respect for the fuzzy beast.

Thanks for your well wishes.
 
Hi, Mark,
John Linebaugh built mine in about 1996. Love to shoot 450's @ 1000 fps at the range. Accurate beyond belief.
You obviously have a great deal of experience. I didn't know that. I always figured that I'd need a 155 Howitzer if I ever hiked the Brooks Range. Seems like we had enough hikers getting picked off just walking the trails around Anchorage.
I admire your tenacity? to do that walk with the 1911 Auto. I have a few, and I love 'em, but I'd be reluctant to shoot a griz with solids anywhere but in the skull, and even that might glance off.
Well, friend, do this safely and you're sure to have a good book for us to read some day.
 
Mark Knapp said:
I actually built my own .500 Linebough at the same time his came out. I've even killed some bears with it. I also have an extended one on a .357 maximum frame that I started and haven't finished yet.

As you probably read, this walk is to test my 1911 survival knife that is mated to the Colt 1911 Auto.

I'll probably not need the gun at all, but really it's just a noise maker. Shooting a bear would be my very last resort. I don't want to kill a bear, that would be a really good way to ruin a perfectly fine walk in the mountains. The law requires that if I kill a bear, in defense of life and property, that I salvage the skull and hide and surrender it to the state. That would be a logistical nightmare during a 350 mile walk.

You are right, it's not my first pow wow, I've been a bear guide for many years, logged thousands of miles in bear country, blah, blah, blah but still I know anything can happen. I have a healthy respect for the fuzzy beast.

Thanks for your well wishes.
Click to expand...

Mind if I ask what your day job is? Because your off time sounds like a dream!
 
Awesome trip.

Lots of grizzly talk; how do you feel about moose Mark Knapp Mark Knapp ? Are .44 magnums--like the Redhawk--popular to run hot up there? I don't think I'll be getting a .500 Linebaugh anytime soon. What are your altitude gains?
 
AdamFuzzyballs said:
Mind if I ask what your day job is? Because your off time sounds like a dream!
Click to expand...

I make knives for a living. I view the testing of these knives as part of my "day job". I'm also a big game guide and fishing guide since 1985. I've guided all over Alaska including Kodiak, the peninsula and now I spend most of my guiding time in the Brooks Range. I have commercial fished and been a full time trapper but I don't do those things much anymore. I think i'm the luckiest dude in the world to be able to do what I really like to do.
 
Phixt said:
Awesome trip.

Lots of grizzly talk; how do you feel about moose Mark Knapp Mark Knapp ? Are .44 magnums--like the Redhawk--popular to run hot up there? I don't think I'll be getting a .500 Linebaugh anytime soon. What are your altitude gains?
Click to expand...

I think a good hunting load in a .44 magnum would be great for moose (we've taken a few black bears with that round). Moose don't often move much after the first shot giving you plenty of time for a follow-up if needed. Moose are the easiest species to hunt with a bow up here, hunting them with a .44 wouldn't be much different. I guided for a moose last fall that was with three others, we stalked to within 20 yards of them. We typically hunt in altitudes of 800 feet up to 2000 for bears, moose and caribou. Up to 4500 for sheep.
 
Didnt the .480 Ruger calibre really catch on in Alaska?

Ive shot it an quite liked the caliber (in a Super Redhawk)

I want a Freedom Arms badly (not necessarily in 480 - more likely .454 Casull (with the ability to shoot .45 Colt) or one in .45 Colt)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top