Back from our "Bare Bones" Trip(Pic Heavy)

H

hayseedw45

Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
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A group of us put together a trip to go and test our skills with limited gear. Our gear was limited to a folding knife, water bottle carrier and two external pouches.

The location was off of the A.T. in PA. It was just about 70 degrees when we were heading out on the trail.
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We grabbed a group picture upon arrival.

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Most of us went with AMK Heat Sheet's for shelters or covers and used contractor bags filled with leaves for a ground pad. We also ended up adding some hemlock bows to the bed. During the night the wind was blowing pretty good so that lean-to that I made wasn't doing much. About 00:30, I reached up and tore one corner down and covered me and my dog up with it. That warmed me up. Around 03:30 most everyone was up and had moved over to the fire and crashed there until daylight.

My set-up:
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Shelter in progress:
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Harpoon's:
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Gossman"s:
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We tried to keep the gear down to a Water Bottle Carrier with 2 external pouches( with what ever you could fit into them), folding knife and clothing being worn.

Harpoon's gear:
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Kahuana's:
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Here's a picture of my water bottle in the fire boiling water for drinking. (I painted the outside of it with black gas grill paint after seeing it on a video on Youtube. The water boiled 2-3 times faster than the uncoated bottles. The soot and resin from the fire didn't stick to them either. Clean up was easy and I'll just hit it again with the paint before the next outing.

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For cooking gear most had the guyot bottles and Snow Peak Ti set ups:

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Here's some blade porn:

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We made a side trip on the way out to a separate trail so some could do some rock climbing. The views were worth the climb:

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It was a good trip. We came up with some conclusions around the fire.

Big fixed blades are a must! We did it with our folders but it could have been much easier with them. A folding saw was missed even more I think. The wood was sparse and where there was would it was so thick that you couldn't swing and ax or a big blade.

I also think most would have rather had a Sportsman's Blanket rather than the AMK heat sheets. But then again if we had made our shelters near the fire the heat sheet would have worked just fine.

It was nice to see what worked and what didn't.

Here's my gear list for the trip:
Clothing:
-511 nylon pants & shirt
-Wool Shirt & Fleece hat
-Force Multiplier Boots
Knife:
-CS Pocket Bushman(I beat the heck out of this knife and it held up!)
Water/Fire/Food
-Maxpedition 10x4 Carrier
-Side pouch
-Camera
-Food(Tea bags, Instant Coffee, Cup of Soup, Spam Single & Metrx Bar
-Guyot Bottle & Snow Peak Ti cook set
-50 gal. Contractor bag in bottom of bag
-Belt pouch
-Ferro Rod & Striker
-VSCB's
-Sm. FAK
-Para Cord and Decoy Line
-AMK Heat Sheet
-Signal Mirror and Whistle
-Taurus 651 and spare ammo

Jerry
 
Wow ... that's a great area you guys picked to camp.

The rock climbing looked like fun :eek: ... a bit dangerous but still fun.
 
You mentioned preferring to have the Sportsman's Blanket rather than the AMK heat sheets. Is there much of a difference ?

Thanks
 
looks like a really cool trip!

would have loved to go...i guess i will have to give it a go sometime.

so were folding saws against the rules or was it simply that noone brought one? i almost always have my fiskars slide saw in the woods...it's so light i don't have a good reason to leave it behind.
 
Thats a cool trip you guys head. I love to hear what you guys like and would have liked to have. How much easier\harder was it with a larger group?? Been thinking of doing it again as soon as my leg feels better.. About the pants would you use them again or wear something else. I find cold weather at night bothers me the most.

Sasha
 
Man that must have been awesome, how much do you like the bushman, I looked at one at the local shop and didn't like the Locking system too much, does it break in after a while?
 
"You mentioned preferring to have the Sportsman's Blanket rather than the AMK heat sheets. Is there much of a difference ?"

They're a little less compact but more durable.

"so were folding saws against the rules or was it simply that noone brought one? i almost always have my fiskars slide saw in the woods...it's so light i don't have a good reason to leave it behind."

They were against the so called rules.

"How much easier\harder was it with a larger group?? "

Group size didn't matter at all.


" About the pants would you use them again or wear something else. I find cold weather at night bothers me the most."

Pants worked just fine. But it really didn't get cold that night.

"how much do you like the bushman", "the Locking system too much, does it break in after a while? "

That pocket bushman is a great knife for the money. It's a real solid knife. It really doesn't break in, you just get used to it.
 
We did a very similar trip in the Boy Scouts for our Wilderness Survival Merit Badge. But, in our case, we had to build a debris shelter and sleep in it. It wasn't what I call a comfortable night. Picture the S. Louisianna heat, and bugs, and rain. I don't think I slept at all, and nobody got a fire lit either.

At least we weren't cold.
 
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