Bit Of A Wander; Fauna, Flora, & A New Hiking Buddy

[Mistwalker]

The little Fiddleback that I picked up at Blade is called a “Hiking Buddy”. So yesterday, when I took a break from work to walk around the general area and check on the progress of some of the wild edibles, I took it on its first hike.

Lots of green

Lots of Queen Anne’s lace

Autumn Olives coming on

Black Berries in need of some rain

Lots of young Sassafras

Nightshade (Horse Nettle) coming on too.

You can see last year’s fruit still around these plants, a definite indicator that it is unsafe to ingest.

Onion seed heads doing their thing.

The growth cycle of the Ocoee fruit (Passiflora and Passion fruit). These pods….

Open into really interesting looking flowers.

Then they get visited by lots of insects.

Then the fruit develops

Wont be long till some are ready t eat.

Still trying to figure out what these are, the heads are the size of baseballs.

Saw a couple of young bucks. These were shot off hand at distances of about 200 and 120 meters respectively, so not the greatest photos.

Found a good bit of fatwood, some really rich stuff.

Not a bad haul

I think the knife will live up to it’s name just fine, I like how it handles. It handled whittling fine curls in some really hard dogwood very well.

.

 

[komondor]

Outstanding photos. Nice knives, too, of course!

 

[Mistwalker]

Outstanding photos. Nice knives, too, of course!

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed the photos. Loving the new knife!

 

[BBQ BOY]

I believe the purple flower is a passion flower.

 

[Mistwalker]

I believe the purple flower is a passion flower.

Nope, as i said, Passiflora (Passiflora Incarnata to be exact), or passionfruit and known by my ancestors as Ocoee, and what the Ocoee river valley is named after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora_incarnata

 

[Adventure Sworn]

Great photos I love it. I'm a big fan of Fiddleback knives; you know a Fiddleback when you see one.

 

[TheGame]

That knife definitely looks like a good hiking companion. Company that with a chopper and I'd be set. Thanks for the pics bro.

 

[Rockywolf]

Gorgeous pics and knife. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JUST1MOR]

Mist buddy, great shots of a really nice looking area to go out in. I wondered how long it would be before that knife had some shavings on it, from your comments about it, I knew you would be like a kid with $2.00 in a candy store wanting to try it. I know I would have been . . . :thumbup: Really interesting color matches, pretty unique combination of the handle and blade.
Thanks again for letting us tag along with you, always good information & can learn some interesting stuff from your posts.
Be safe.

 

[BRL]

Great photos and information, and it's nice you got an excuse to show off your new FB!

 

[Fiddleback]

You take really wonderful pictures Mist. Those are cool. It would have been nice to get in a hike with you before you went home. Maybe next year!

 

[OldPhysics]

Now ... I feel like a dummy. I stared and stared at several Fiddleback hiking buddies, but didn't take one.

Fortunately, if I wait, I'm sure Mr. Roy will make more.

 

[chainring]

I'm going to show my kids these pictures. Wish we had country like that around here! Pics of a mesquite tree and some prickly pear, anyone? Awesome thread, Mist.

 

[mtwarden]

nice knife- do you have the specs handy?

look up salsify (goatsbeard) on the baseball sized seed head, looks close

 

[tknife]

Great pics! That Hiking Buddy is awesome, the handle looks amazing :thumbup:

 

[pitdog]

Awesome pics as usual buddy those Ocoee fruit flowers are amazing !

That Fiddleback knife looks too nice to use, if ever I get one from him I'm gonna have to ask him to make it ugly so I'll use it !!!

 

[The Warrior]

Excellent photos, thanks for sharing. That is one sweet looking blade, btw. :thumbup:

 

[The Warrior]

Looks like Meadow Salsify, or "Yellow Goat's Beard": http://montana.plant-life.org/species/trago_prate.htm

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/yl_goatbeard.htm

 

[Mistwalker]

Great photos I love it. I'm a big fan of Fiddleback knives; you know a Fiddleback when you see one.

Thanks, and yep, Andy definitely has a distinctive style.

That knife definitely looks like a good hiking companion. Company that with a chopper and I'd be set. Thanks for the pics bro.

Thanks, I teamed it up with a folder and the machete, makes a great team

Gorgeous pics and knife. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Rocky, glad you enjoyed them.

Mist buddy, great shots of a really nice looking area to go out in. I wondered how long it would be before that knife had some shavings on it, from your comments about it, I knew you would be like a kid with $2.00 in a candy store wanting to try it. I know I would have been . . . :thumbup: Really interesting color matches, pretty unique combination of the handle and blade.
Thanks again for letting us tag along with you, always good information & can learn some interesting stuff from your posts.
Be safe.

Thanks, I do love this area, always glad when somebody learns something. I love the color scheme of this knife. I was exhausted when I spotted it and I still couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Great photos and information, and it's nice you got an excuse to show off your new FB!

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed the post.

You take really wonderful pictures Mist. Those are cool. It would have been nice to get in a hike with you before you went home. Maybe next year!

Thanks Andy, I had hoped so too, but I don’t think anybody is ever really up to a hike right after Blade…maybe this autumn I can come down and check out the area around the lake. Are there any islands on that lake? I have been thinking about getting a canoe.

Now ... I feel like a dummy. I stared and stared at several Fiddleback hiking buddies, but didn't take one.

Fortunately, if I wait, I'm sure Mr. Roy will make more.

I mainly felt unfortunate for not having enough money on me to pick up a few others, but I have to remind myself how fortunate I really am. Yes, I’m sure he’ll make more, he’s been driving nuts with them for months. I’m just sort of glad he didn’t have any Recluses or Lady Fingers on the table, I would have spent more money than I should have.

I'm going to show my kids these pictures. Wish we had country like that around here! Pics of a mesquite tree and some prickly pear, anyone? Awesome thread, Mist.

Thanks Chain, glad you enjoy the photos. Actually I’d love to take a walk through an area with mesquite and prickly pear with my camera and take developing pictures of the fruit, and the life in the area, so yeah I’d love to see pictures.

nice knife- do you have the specs handy?

look up salsify (goatsbeard) on the baseball sized seed head, looks close

Thanks, and yep;

7-3/16” over all
Blade 3-1/8” long
1/8” O-1 steel
Box Elder burl scales
Black micarta bolsters

Thanks, I’ll look that up.

Great pics! That Hiking Buddy is awesome, the handle looks amazing :thumbup:

Thanks, and I think so too. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and text Andy late Friday night to see if it was still available. I got lucky and it was

Awesome pics as usual buddy those Ocoee fruit flowers are amazing !

That Fiddleback knife looks too nice to use, if ever I get one from him I'm gonna have to ask him to make it ugly so I'll use it !!!

Thanks bro, I think they are even more amazing in person when you can see them move in the breeze.

Andy really doesn’t do ugly per say, at least in my opinion, but he can do more utilitarian. The others I have gotten have micarta handle scales, which is better for edc carry in this region.

Excellent photos, thanks for sharing. That is one sweet looking blade, btw. :thumbup:

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed them. I’m going to look up the Salsify.

 

[upnorth]

Great thread, thanks.