Camping with the Hiking Buddy

W

_Westy_

Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
312
I took last Friday off and went and did some camping. Weather was a little crazy - started out 70 and sunny on Friday which soon turned into a nasty storm Friday evening with high winds, rain and cool temps. Things dropped off into the 40's Friday night, barely hit 50 Friday before dropping back down into the mid 30's Saturday evening. It made for a perfect weekend to put some gear to the test and kept a lot of folks away from the camp grounds so I had the place to myself for the most part.


Camp consisted of my Eureka Timberline XT and a new ENO Doublenest that I picked up the day before I went out. I had the Granite Gear tarp already and by chance it was just big enough to cover the hammock.













Had a pretty good fire going before the rain set in Friday even with all the rain I had a bit of coals that I got reignited between storm cells to warm up a bit while cooking supper Friday evening.




I tossed a couple ears of sweet corn next to the fire and grilled up a couple chunks of venison backstrap from this past seasons kill.




Still managed to nail a medium rare in the dark, cold and rain. Pictured is my old Aurora that was gifted to me by a good friend.




Had a little shine with me to keep things warmed up...




Breakfast time, coffee up first.





Water is ready




Snow peak Coffee drip







View of the lake, freshly ground and brewed coffee - Life Is Good!




After my first cup of coffee it was time to get to cooking bacon - homemade bacon.




Ready to be pulled...




In go the eggs...





After breakfast Saturday I broke out the Hiking Buddy and did a little fire prep, whittling and make up a set of stakes for the tarp. Here was my first attempt at a feather stick. I've got some practicing to do but it did the job.














Flint & Steel




It was fun to get the flint and steel back out, it had been way too long since I've started a fire using this method. Taking pictures of this process proved challenging.




Catching the spark...





Wrapping the char cloth in the jute twine nest...




It was windy as hell so it didn't take much to ignite the jute...




Fire on the first attempt!






Did a little relaxing mid-afternoon in the hammock...




Friday evening it was time to feast - fresh blue crabs, oysters and an elk stew. We started by prepping the blue crabs.













Ready to pull!







Oysters - did some on the 1/2 shell and some Rockefeller







And finally the elk - my buddy shot this with his bow in Colorado his first time out.





Gear: Fiddleback Forge, Coleman, Yeti, Eureka, Feathered Friends, Osprey, Thermarest, ENO and a few others were well represented over the weekend.


If you have seen my Terrasaur thread I mentioned I like orange (my sleeping bag and my Black Diamond Mirage tent are a couple of my other orange pieces of gear).


















I brought out several knives this weekend and the Hiking Buddy was my go to blade. I really enjoy the overall size, weight and blade profile on this model. It fits me just right for a lot of tasks and is easy to carry.
 
You hit this one out of the park Matt. What a fantastic thread. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I'll say it again, I always enjoy your threads. I admire the ability of yours and so many others here that have the skills to take such phenomenal pics and put together these amazing threads. They fire me up. I can't wait to get out on my next trip.
 
Great effort on putting together an enjoyable thread. The blue crabs took me back to when we lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the Elk a distant reminder of my college days when a buddy received a package from his father with Elk steaks & chops......best wild game I ever tasted. Thanks for sharing !

Peter
 
Nice! Looks like a great time. I'm just waiting for a nice weekend that I can sneak away for a night or two and spend some time in the woods. It's been a while and I could use it.

Food looks awesome! I've got two freezers with a lot of elk and deer left over from last year, you've inspired me to take some next time I'm out in the woods. Normally I don't because I hike back into wherever I'm camping, I'm going to take the extra weight for a fancy meal next time! Looking forward to seeing your Terrasaur in some posts like this in the future.

:thumbup:
 
Holy cow! GREAT trip! Boy the Timberline is a dry tent! Soft shell crabs and oysters camping, oh my! Great looking Hiking Buddy as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing!

-Will
 
Great photos and great trip. I consider myself a gourmet canp cook as well, and it looks like you cooked up some incredible meals. Elk and venison especially!! Glad to see your hiking buddy made it out too. The hiking buddy and handyman are my favorite fiddleback models.
 
Awesome post! Lots of great pics. It looks like you ate well. The crabs look amazing! Well done.
 
Very nice post, thanks for sharing. Gourmet food while camping. Couldn't get any better :thumbup:
 
MajorD said:
You hit this one out of the park Matt. What a fantastic thread. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I'll say it again, I always enjoy your threads. I admire the ability of yours and so many others here that have the skills to take such phenomenal pics and put together these amazing threads. They fire me up. I can't wait to get out on my next trip.
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Dave - glad you enjoyed it! You know we really should plan a long weekend camping trip sometime.


I absolutely love to cook and try to go all out on at least one day on these camping trips. This one in particular we ate pretty good every day. Between the wild game and the seafood, we had it made.
 
_Westy_ said:
Dave - glad you enjoyed it! You know we really should plan a long weekend camping trip sometime.


I absolutely love to cook and try to go all out on at least one day on these camping trips. This one in particular we ate pretty good every day. Between the wild game and the seafood, we had it made.
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Great idea Matt! I will absolutely take you up on that. We just have to get our schedules coordinated.

Unfortunately the only drawback to your plan is I am allergic to shellfish.:mad: I was in my late twenties the first time it hit me. I love shellfish so this is the worst kind of allergy.:(
 
MajorD said:
Great idea Matt! I will absolutely take you up on that. We just have to get our schedules coordinated.

Unfortunately the only drawback to your plan is I am allergic to shellfish.:mad: I was in my late twenties the first time it hit me. I love shellfish so this is the worst kind of allergy.:(
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We can work around that Dave - as long you aren't allergic to bacon. I can't camp with someone who can't eat bacon. :D
 
Being from the land of Dungeness and Kings, I've never eaten a blue-shelled crab. So you eat the whole thing, shell and all? And the guts as well?
 
trestle said:
Being from the land of Dungeness and Kings, I've never eaten a blue-shelled crab. So you eat the whole thing, shell and all? And the guts as well?
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trestle - these were soft shell blue crabs so they had molted their hard shell and are still soft. You cut off the face/eyes, remove the gills and abdomen and then you can eat the rest. Absolutely delicious.
 
_Westy_ said:
trestle - these were soft shell blue crabs so they had molted their hard shell and are still soft. You cut off the face/eyes, remove the gills and abdomen and then you can eat the rest. Absolutely delicious.
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one of the guys i used to work with told me the soft shell crabs were delicious. to eat them you just close your eyes and don't open them until you are finished:p
 
Awesome thread _Westy_!! And awesome pics!

May I ask what camera and lens you used for those pics? The sharpness is phenomenal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hey NCBirdHunter - the food and food prep pictures and the pictures with the flint and steel were taken with my Nikon D3200 pair up with a AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm F1.8G lens. All the others were taken with my iPhone 6+. Mother nature helped me out with some ideal natural lighting.
 
Love the pics W. Where about in C IL is this campground?

My wife and I favor the local Sangchris park and have camped at Clinton Lake before but are always ready to find another "great spot"

:)
 
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