man those are some great pics..
thanks, man!
Very cool. I really need to get outside more. I got all this cool stuff I never use.
thanks! definitely, i find that i appreciate more what i have every time i go in the woods...then there's also the other side - i feel like a million bucks when i get back to the car and turn on the heat or in the house and see running water that's perfectly fine the way it is to drink
don't even get me started on the microwave!
great pics! those cotton like things look like milkweed pods. If it's common milkweed, certain parts make excellent eating at different times during the season.
thanks! good info, it gives me a lead into researching it more.
Your overnighter posts are always a treat and your photog. skills are outstanding. I could have done without the last pic though. That sent a chill up
my spine. Had I seen that on the way in,I would have made an immediate U turn home.
Thanks for the great post,now I'm off to get some Spam,spark up my chiminea and sharpen a stick
thanks! the camera did all the work, i was just the monkey pressing the button.
yeah, i was a little hesitant but i figured if i stuck close to well-travelled areas then i should be fine. reports say he used to be a park ranger (not sure if this park or other) and an experienced woodsman so he would've probably gone way deeper than i care to do on these types of trips.
Great, just great! Bravo!!
thanks!
as always, your adventures and photos are awesome. :thumbup:
thanks!
Another good one J, I can see why you like that setting so much. As mentioned the open feathery pods are milkweed seeds. There are other similar seed pods from butterfly weed, which I guess are in the same family, milkweed flowers are white, butterfly weed are orange. Milkweed is a natural depository for monarch butterfly eggs and food supply for the larvae. You seem to enjoy many aspects of nature, you might like fly fishing too...it's a total mental distraction from the "world"
thanks! i actually have an inflatable kayak and a couple of fishing rods and for a time i dabbled with it about 3 yrs ago. i didn't catch that many fish or the fish that i was looking for (bass and trout...pumpkin seed were the biters) so i got bored...now i just mostly mix hiking with mountain & road biking. i saw a couple of posts with packable fishing rods though which piqued my interest again...i might try hand-fishing on my next overnighter to see if my lucked improved before i go back to it.
good info on that butterfly! i'll make a note to check it out this spring and see if there's anything that hatches out of them.
Wow, great pics. You have such a geat looking place to camp and hike in. Somebody like orange handled knives too lol :thumbup:.
man I hope they catch the fellow on the wanted poster.
The fires pics with the sparks and there different designs was way cool.
How much does your pack wiegh when fully loaded on your back?
How far roughly do you have to walk to get to your place of camping?
Do you park in a parking lot or are you able to just walk out your back door kind of stuff.
Just wondering lol?
Thanks for sharing the pics and trip with us.
Bryan
thanks, bryan! i figured you'd notice those orange knives
my base gear with food and water is 18 lbs...adding in my winter jacket, extra orange knives for that one pic only
, and dslr i think it's up to 25 lbs now. i switched to lightweight gear only about 3 months ago...before that my overnighter load out was 40+ lbs, not including the 10 or so knives i like to test out
i live in nj but this was in ny where i frequent. the last time i hiked in nj was 2 yrs ago but i mountain bike here all the time - the trails are just as steep but just not as scenic (at least the areas i've scouted prior). the spots i frequent are about 40 mi north from me and there's plenty of parking on the trail heads.
not sure about the actual distance but the most i've hiked was 3 hrs one way to get there. this particular spot only took me about an hour...most times i just stop when i find a good spot to camp and lots of things to photograph.
this place is huge though, 46,000 acres so now that i've met my monthly overnighter goal i think i'll go back to doing more day hikes again to scout for more overnighter spots. i only have 3 spots that i regularly use and i'd like to add more.
Where you in jersey for your trip? Really pretty area!
thanks! this was in harriman in ny, just across the border from north nj.
Hiya folks, first post here. I'll do an intro post very soon, but I thought this was important enough to skip that.
JV3, you wanted to know what species the mushrooms are in the pic with the orange-scaled Spyderco knife...those are an Amanita variety, most likely A. Abrupta. This variety, and and most other Amanitas, are deadly poisonous. Even if you survive eating one, you will need a liver and/or kidney transplant.
Avoid ANY mushroom with that warty-looking top, they are very bad news indeed.
thanks for the head's up! no worries, even though i've been known to eat anything i draw the line when it comes to wild edibles especially mushrooms
by the way, welcome!
JV3 , I have to tell you that those are way cool pictures. Please keep them coming. Congrat's on getting a coal and being a real man.
You know when I was growing up I use to help my dad cut and burn brush piles .I would always try to start the fire on top of the stack like you do and dad would make me start the fire on the bottom. It's funny what you remember .
Hawkeye
thanks! hehe, now my next goal is to be able to get a coal with wood found in the field.
you're lucky you had brush piles to burn as a kid! i grew up in the city and the only thing i remember ever lighting was charcoal. we did have lax knife laws and no one looked at you funny if you had one with you at school so i guess it all evens out.
Awesome JV3!!!! You are an inspiration!
thanks!
looks like dried out milkweed. when I was a kid we used to find Monarch butterfly caterpillars on them and take them home to cocoon and watch them hatch! they seemed to love milkweed.
good info...thanks!
