- Joined
- Nov 27, 2004
- Messages
- 3,124
Hi All,
First thing last Thursday, my girlfriend and I set out on a four day backpacking trip on the Western Uplands trail of Algonquin Park. We returned to civilization on Sunday evening. The trip was absolutely fantastic - great weather, minimal mosquitoes, and no ursine entanglements. It being her first serious multi-day outing, we kept a reasonable pace and restricted our hiking to the vicinity of Maple Leaf and Maggie Lakes. There were plenty of opportunities for photography, and I have included quite a few pictures below. Before getting to the views from the trip, I thought I would touch on a few knife, survival skill and gear-related themes.
On this trip, it seemed fitting to carry my JK Algonquin Combi-Edge Knife (ACEK), which I designed with such outings in mind. I attached a Koyote PSK knife to the exterior of my ACEKs sheath. Combined with a Leatherman Wave (which I brought along for the saw and pliers), these knives handled every task that was required of them, from light chopping, carving and fire prep to fish cleaning and food processing. My girlfriend carried a belt knife that I made from a Mora blade.
Here are a few shots of the sharp stuff.
I confess to having a bit of a bias when it comes to the ACEK, but I found this to be an excellent knife. It is mid-sized, with a comfy handle and enough heft to allow for chopping. The blade is wide and reminiscent of a Nessie in shape, with a convexed front portion for general use and a scandi section near the handle for wood shaving.
The Koyote PSK knife really impressed me on this trip. Christof grinds a heck of a convex edge! I actually used the PSK as my primary knife for trout cleaning, where the razor-sharp edge efficiently sliced through skin and scale. My ACEK took care of the head, tail, and fins. The PSK gets the award for smallest knife I have ever used to clean a decent-sized fish. It was a pleasure to take two examples of the work of W&SS resident knifemakers along for this trip.
All-told, my pack (a McKinley 75 L) weighed in around 65 lbs, with most of that weight being food, water, cooking gear, and our tent. It was much heavier than it would have been for one of my solo outings, but since I had my girlfriend along, I didnt skimp on good food and comfort items!
My UCO candle lanterns were also a useful addition to our kit. They allowed us to conserve flashlight batteries while attending to post-sundown tasks like dinner cleanup and food-treeing.
Top gear awards went to my new GSI backpackers grill and my Katadyn Micro water filter (actually an old Pur filter, but Pur was purchased by Katadyn). The filter consistently and quickly produced clean water free of any taste, and the grill, which was a bit of a luxury in terms of its extra weight, did a great job with veggies, bread, and fish. I also recently purchased a few surplus (but unused) waterproof tent footprints for use as improvised tarps, and I cant recommend this highly enough. Many camping stores sell off the extra footprints for last years tent models at a discount, and they are generally waterproof, light, and come equipped with grommets and / or tie-down straps. On this trip, I brought a Mountain Hard Ware four-man tent footprint, and used it as a tarp to stow our gear under. It performed admirably, was lightweight, and only cost $20!
During this outing, I took the opportunity to show my girlfriend how to build and maintain (as opposed to just start) a campfire, how to tree food in a bear bag, how to whittle chopsticks, filter water, and fillet a trout. She took to these tasks like (pardon the pun) a fish to water. Teaching campfire maintenance is a particularly important aspect of wilderness survival instruction. We started with materials gathering and processing, and moved on to initial preparation, ignition (using fire steel and PJCBs), and airflow maintenance.
Im sure that I will think of some other skill-related items to discuss, but for now, on to some photos of Algonquin!
Ill begin with a few images of the local fauna, both edible and otherwise.
This gorgeous snake was one of several that spent its day basking on the rocks near the shore at our campsite on Maple Leaf Lake.
A shot of the trout that served as dinner for two on Saturday night. It was a hefty, healthy, and delicious specimen. Caught it using an X-Rap lure, casting along a current where a shallow bay opened into the lake.
We also saw a Blue Heron, hummingbirds, loons (my personal favourite), beavers, a muskrat, fox, and of course chipmunks, toads, frogs, and squirrels. Came across some wolf, moose and deer tracks, but no signs of black bear.
Obligatory fishing silhouette:
Obligatory campfire shot:
More to come! Thanks for looking.
Best,
- Mike
First thing last Thursday, my girlfriend and I set out on a four day backpacking trip on the Western Uplands trail of Algonquin Park. We returned to civilization on Sunday evening. The trip was absolutely fantastic - great weather, minimal mosquitoes, and no ursine entanglements. It being her first serious multi-day outing, we kept a reasonable pace and restricted our hiking to the vicinity of Maple Leaf and Maggie Lakes. There were plenty of opportunities for photography, and I have included quite a few pictures below. Before getting to the views from the trip, I thought I would touch on a few knife, survival skill and gear-related themes.
On this trip, it seemed fitting to carry my JK Algonquin Combi-Edge Knife (ACEK), which I designed with such outings in mind. I attached a Koyote PSK knife to the exterior of my ACEKs sheath. Combined with a Leatherman Wave (which I brought along for the saw and pliers), these knives handled every task that was required of them, from light chopping, carving and fire prep to fish cleaning and food processing. My girlfriend carried a belt knife that I made from a Mora blade.
Here are a few shots of the sharp stuff.
I confess to having a bit of a bias when it comes to the ACEK, but I found this to be an excellent knife. It is mid-sized, with a comfy handle and enough heft to allow for chopping. The blade is wide and reminiscent of a Nessie in shape, with a convexed front portion for general use and a scandi section near the handle for wood shaving.
The Koyote PSK knife really impressed me on this trip. Christof grinds a heck of a convex edge! I actually used the PSK as my primary knife for trout cleaning, where the razor-sharp edge efficiently sliced through skin and scale. My ACEK took care of the head, tail, and fins. The PSK gets the award for smallest knife I have ever used to clean a decent-sized fish. It was a pleasure to take two examples of the work of W&SS resident knifemakers along for this trip.
All-told, my pack (a McKinley 75 L) weighed in around 65 lbs, with most of that weight being food, water, cooking gear, and our tent. It was much heavier than it would have been for one of my solo outings, but since I had my girlfriend along, I didnt skimp on good food and comfort items!
My UCO candle lanterns were also a useful addition to our kit. They allowed us to conserve flashlight batteries while attending to post-sundown tasks like dinner cleanup and food-treeing.
Top gear awards went to my new GSI backpackers grill and my Katadyn Micro water filter (actually an old Pur filter, but Pur was purchased by Katadyn). The filter consistently and quickly produced clean water free of any taste, and the grill, which was a bit of a luxury in terms of its extra weight, did a great job with veggies, bread, and fish. I also recently purchased a few surplus (but unused) waterproof tent footprints for use as improvised tarps, and I cant recommend this highly enough. Many camping stores sell off the extra footprints for last years tent models at a discount, and they are generally waterproof, light, and come equipped with grommets and / or tie-down straps. On this trip, I brought a Mountain Hard Ware four-man tent footprint, and used it as a tarp to stow our gear under. It performed admirably, was lightweight, and only cost $20!
During this outing, I took the opportunity to show my girlfriend how to build and maintain (as opposed to just start) a campfire, how to tree food in a bear bag, how to whittle chopsticks, filter water, and fillet a trout. She took to these tasks like (pardon the pun) a fish to water. Teaching campfire maintenance is a particularly important aspect of wilderness survival instruction. We started with materials gathering and processing, and moved on to initial preparation, ignition (using fire steel and PJCBs), and airflow maintenance.
Im sure that I will think of some other skill-related items to discuss, but for now, on to some photos of Algonquin!
Ill begin with a few images of the local fauna, both edible and otherwise.
This gorgeous snake was one of several that spent its day basking on the rocks near the shore at our campsite on Maple Leaf Lake.
A shot of the trout that served as dinner for two on Saturday night. It was a hefty, healthy, and delicious specimen. Caught it using an X-Rap lure, casting along a current where a shallow bay opened into the lake.
We also saw a Blue Heron, hummingbirds, loons (my personal favourite), beavers, a muskrat, fox, and of course chipmunks, toads, frogs, and squirrels. Came across some wolf, moose and deer tracks, but no signs of black bear.
Obligatory fishing silhouette:
Obligatory campfire shot:
More to come! Thanks for looking.
Best,
- Mike
that's some beautiful country man.. i love all the campfire shots..:thumbup:
