I am happy. lets have a giveaway!!!!!!

[tonym]

Thought id add to the thread with a pic I took a couple years ago. Its blown up and hangs in my bedroom. It always inspires me. Dunno why, but I LOVE IT.

You never learn

 

[j williams]

Ah, my first love. She left me though..... Tramp.

Kinda looks like one of those big head Aliens you always see abducting people.

 

[lvbuckeye27]

I love to take my boys to the creek to catch tadpoles and mud bugs. Good times indeed! Thanks for sharing!!

the best part is seeing them metamorphose (is that a word?) into their adult forms. nothing like watching those legs develop and the tail slowly disappear! i always had some helgrammites or some other aquatic bug larvae in thw tub too, but never got to see one hatch. i've seen a Monarch Butterfly break out of its chrysalis though, and that is a sight to behold!

 

[Maine_JMW]

... I still dont trust a clown either!

...
You mentioned ewoks and clowns... For me it was those damn flying monkeys in the wizard of oz. They still give me the heebie-jeebies :d

Thanks for bringing up the childhood fears guys. I'll definitely second the flying monkeys and as my wife says... "How can you trust a grown man who puts on makeup to get near kids?" No offense to any actual clowns.

J, very nice giveaway and I'm happy for you. I hang out here often, but I don't post much (too busy learning new stuff from you guys), so no worries if I don't qualify for the contest.

That being said, this thread got me thinking... First, I have very fond memories of being a kid (from 10 to 14 or so), and being a part of a summer program with many close friends that used to do an overnight camping trip about every other week. Most often we went to Sebago Lake State Park in Maine to a group site called Cub Cove. We used to run around all over the place for half the night through the trails and on the beach. I so vividly remember how the clear stars were from the beach, and the midnight swims were great. It was also on one of these trips that I spent my first night under the start w/just a sleeping bag. It was just an extremely carefree period in my life.

The second is more of a humorous experience, but still a great memory. My girlfriend (now my wife despite this), and I had the great idea to go on a camping trip while we were in college. We talked another unfortunate couple into coming along. I figured since I had all this camping "experience" when I was a kid (see above), I would be a great leader of the trip. Unfortunately, I had the winning combination of being too poor to afford real gear, and not having any practical knowledge to overcome that lack of gear.

We stayed at a tent site in a campground. I had a crappy $20 nylon pup tent that didn't come with a fly, but I did have the foresight to bring a large trash bag. By some miracle, I scrounged enough wood and did get a fire going for dinner which consisted of simple burgers and dogs. I'm sure I went through a half a box of matches to get it going. Things went OK until sometime in the night when the rain came (did I mention I hadn't checked the forecast?). I cut the trash bag and spread it over the flyless tent -- yes directly on the tent . Needless to say, my wife and I tolerated the dripping and puddling water for a while, but we ended up grabbing our sleeping bags and finishing out the night in my sweet 1980 Olds Omega (this was in around 1990). Apparently, the other couple had a better tent because they lasted through the night. In the morning, we threw our stuff in the trunk of the Omega and headed home.

Of course now, I have actually gained some practical knowledge (with lots more to go), and this is my idea of peace. Good fire, good food, and a great location.

From my trip to Lobster Lake in October of last year.

 

[j williams]

Great pic!! Funny story too!!

Of course you qualify brother! Thanks for posting!!

The clown comment is hilarious!!

 

[bigox]

My most peaceful time in the woods would be any of countless days spent in the woods alone as a young kid. I grew up on a small farm. During the summer I often packed a lunch, water, knife, BB gun and axe or machete and hit the woods and fields with my best friend Sammy. Sammy was my dog I had picked from a shelter. We patrolled thousands of acres and would spend the whole day by ourselves. We would normally only return near dark or when my parents would ring a huge cast iron bell mounted in the yard. Our favorite activity was to just explore the area. We would find old sugar shacks, roads, trails, and farm and logging tools. I would tell my dad about our findings and he would tell me about the history of the area as he also grew up in the same area. Sammy and I also built countless shelters, fished and hunted for snakes, frogs, turtles and interesting insects. The Praying Mantis was always my favorite! I normally had a "Red Dawn" fantasy running in my head about how I would protect the farm from the Russians.

My favorite time in the present was last summer. Every summer my wife and I take our nephew and 2 God children camping for a weekend. This year we had some fun and took them for a treasure hunt. We convinced them that we found a treasure map behind an old picture frame and that we needed them to help us find the treasure. I had the time of my life hiding the stuff and using sticks and stones to make signs so they could find it. Some of the treasure was in a hollow tree that was big enough the kids could get in it and some was under a huge boulder. The best was hung in a tree about 15 or 20 feet up. None of the kids are big enough to climb the tree or to handle a stick long enough to reach it so they had to work as a team to get it. It was a blast to watch them work it out.

Some of the treasure made up a PSK including Para cord, Fox whistle, countycomm flashlight, ferro rod, fatwood and a capsule of Vaseline impregnated cotton. Each of the boys also received a SAK Farmer. The girl of the mob just isn't mature enough yet. They each started their own fire and the boys looked at least a foot taller with the Farmer in their pocket!


Thank you for the giveaway and all the great stories!

 

[j williams]

Thats awesome. I bet they will tell their kids of the story of the treasure hunt!! What a great idea. I know they had the time of their lives....

 

[BarberFobic1992]

heres an essay i wrote for my english class. the assignment was to describe a place of some significance to you. im not the greatest writer (more of a math guy) so bear with me.
oh, and the indentations didnt copy and paste all that well, so it might be a tad hard to follow.

Brendan Gausvik
September 23, 2008
AP English Language and Composition

Beaten Path
A canopy of branches and leaves overhead, low-growing vegetation at my feet, tall natural pillars at my sides. I realize while retracing this well worn trail that there is no place better than this, no matter what the season. A square mile of untainted terrain, always there to provide what I needed. This wilderness haven behind my childhood home is an escape from the chocking smog that is “civilization”.
Years ago, this was a seemingly endless expanse of unknown. Every time I wandered in, I went a bit further, and began to feel more at home in this place. On some occasions I would become lost, usually from wandering in too far or from staying out past dark. At this point I would be reasonably scared and on edge. Suddenly, after turning a corner in the woodsy maze, I would be startled by movement or a noise. Looking around for the source of this noise or movement, I was relieved to be greeted by a gray squirrel foraging for nuts, or a nut-hatch climbing a tree in their peculiar way. When one of the many wild turkeys unleashed their soul-shattering guttural squawk, I hurriedly reversed my course, only to end up tripping clumsily over the many snake-like creepers, intricately intertwined into trees and paths alike. After such a fall or similar injury, I would immediately rush home as fast as I could; this inciting a blinking frenzy from my light-up shoes.
I notice some of the slashes I had made in the trees back in my Rambo days when I compulsively made such attacks with a pocket knife- a sort of coming of age present. The remnants and ruins of several forts I had made long ago on some of my pseudo-expeditions also catch my eye.
As the hike commences, I catch myself stepping over the natural tripwires and pitfalls, which I had memorized in my youth. I moved around long fallen trees, large boulders and patches of poison ivy, once found the hard way.
Reaching the less tamed part of the woods now, I see a family of feasting dear, eating their long-time favorite, the primroses. It reminds me of the family I had the observed while growing up. The family consisted of one mother and three young ones of the same ages, even though they were probably in their old age by now. The squirrels look the same as they did back then, grey, uncharacteristically large, and, when strangers are about, overly critical and argumentative. But even though they are all indistinguishable, I knew that they were descendants of the ones that I had seen in the past, because they were so comfortable with my presence.
A hewn stump along the path resurrects old memories. During the Blizzard of ’06 our power went out, and because the small town had no hotels, my family and I stayed in our dead house. To keep the place livable, firewood was required. We needed a lot of wood. So, being an outdoorsman, I took my axe and went off into my trusted woods and to this place where I stand right now, and cut down that tree.
As the screech of automobiles becomes audible, and the stench of civilization becomes apparent, I realize I have reached the end of this stray patch of wilderness, the end of my childhood timeline which is written along the path.

 

[j williams]

Very cool! Nice essay man. :thumbup:

 

[Marcelo Cantu]

Great thread!

Here's my loves hiking in northern Maine

I'll take a pass on the knife. Great knife.

 

[James_Terrio]

Man, if I didn't have spring fever before, I sure do now. I gotta remember catching a cloud in the trunk and the treasure hunt idea for my kid this summer :thumbup:

 

[Kat013]

This thread is awesome just for the stories. I don't know if I qualify, but this seems like a good reason to finally post some pics from my OR/CA from a year and some ago.

In summer of '07, my dad started talking about taking a trip down the NW coast for a week, flying into Portland and out of San Fransisco. Less than a year ago my spouse and I had split up, I only had a part-time job, was staying with a friend, and had a serious lack of direction in my life. My dad is getting on in years, and I hadn't been on a vacation with him in about a decade. He offered to pay for everything so long as I could cover my plane tickets. Despite knowing that I might lose my job if I couldn't get someone to cover me, I bought tickets.

In Portland, I was agog at the trees. I'm in TX, but not the eastern half with all the pines. And as we made our way south along 101, the trees kept getting bigger. The trip was in the last week of October, but it was sunny and the perfect temperature the entire time.

Redwood National Park is heaven. I had my dad drop me off at the Fern Canyon trailhead, with instructions to pick me up a little further south in a few hours (he was not physically able enough to go along on this one). I ventured into a fantasy land...

where the light played in the trees and the mist...

surrounded by giants everywhere,

and things out of faery tales.

As I ventured further into this numinous place, I slowly became aware that the distant thunder of the surf never left me. I would need no compass here, if it were cloudy and I lost the path. Later on, having made the mistake of relying on a poorly-wrought map and then having wasted some daylight on the wrong path, the sound of the ocean would fill my senses as I forged ahead in the dark, seeking the shore.

At various points I crossed several small canyons spanned by bridges that looked far, far older than I. On one of them were two simple wooden seats and a plaque with the words:

You shall walk where only the wind has walked before
and when all the music is stilled
you shall hear the singing of the stream
and enter the living shelter of the forest.

That was my perfection in the moment. I was Home.

Whenever I feel like there is no reason to get up in the morning, no reason to keep going, I remember the Redwoods, and I can keep putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that one day my path can take me back there.

 

[Rockywolf]

Wow, a lot of beautiful stories and thoughts shared here. This is why I spend so much time on this forum-my home-away-from-home. Thanks for the contest Jake, you were my very first friend on BF, with that rascal Tony second. I will participate, but don't want to win. Your friendship is plenty for me. (I have too many knives anyway, bro).

Pics of the greatest 2 things I have ever, and will ever do: my sons.

 

[DWK2]

Mine would have to be the last time I took my late father on a camping trip. We went four wheeling and wilderness camping down in Baja California. Had a great time. I'll always treasure the memory since (like many of you) he was the one who got me started on this path.

DancesWithKnives

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Well now that I am all teared up (And I'll kick whoever's ass that wants to make fun of it- yup beaten by a cripple!) I guess it is my turn.

I did not have a very fun filled childhood. My dad died when I was 8 and my brother 6 months. My Mom was in a farm accident that basically mangled her hands, and we had a farm to run, no matter how small it was (quarter section) with our old machinery. There was a lot of drinking and fighting that went on and the woods were a way away from things. My family has much respect for nature though, and taught me how to use it but respect it (we were farmers not total hippies). I always promised myself that I would do things better when it was my turn.

I hope I am, at least they seem to think so:

(I had to throw the last one in there as it is actually Juli with 2 of our children- we just have not met #2 yet)

How could I not be happy (although I would be happier with a "new" knife!).

 

[batosai117]

Great thread :thumbup:

Here's something from my second trip to Philmont Scout Ranch:

The weather was cold, the rain made visibility a blur. My group of 15 was half way up the highest peak in Philmont, Mt. Baldy. We all knew it would be a difficult trip up, but still we pushed on. Further up we went, finally passing the tree line and on to loose rocks and steep edges.

We finally reached the top and as we did the weather cleared up for a moment. The view was breathtaking. Green as far as we could see, the trees looked like shrubs from our incredible height. The sky and clouds were so close it seemed as though we could jump up and grab them.

We now had the view of the great Eagle and the pride of saying,"we did it." It had to be the most peaceful lunch I've ever had just sitting up there and eating squeeze cheese and crackers with packed tuna as the main course.

Those were the good times of backpacking, it was the last time my crew was all together. After our two day bus ride home some of us lost touch and a few moved away. It was a very happy time being a Venture Scout in high school with absolutely no worries of life, money, or how things would be in the future as a "grown up."

That's my happy camping memory, there's several others, but that's one that I won't forget any time soon.

 

[kage]

Wow! There are some great stories and pictures here. Great thread and great giveaway, j williams!

I'm not the overly nostalgic type and I tend to not look back much, but this thread has got me thinking. I joined the military at 17 and my family didn't hear from me for over a decade and assumed that I died in some unpleasant place. It wasn't until I had a family of my own that I realized how important family is and it wasn't until just 3 or 4 years ago that I finally looked up my remaining family members.

Like many here I didn't have an ideal childhood. My father was always off anywhere but around us and my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer before she turned 30. We were living on Guam (my father was in the military also), an island paradise. When my mother was having her good days I would run off with my brother and friends into the wild. We left before breakfast and the agreement was that we needed to be home by dinner. (Those were much more trusting days, weren't they? I think my mother just enjoyed the alone time.) I spent the days exploring the jungles, beaches and caves and would forget about everything at home. Breakfast, lunch and snacks would come in the form of bananas, coconuts, mangos and other wild fruits of the rain forest and shrimp, fish and shellfish in the tide pools at low tide (I didn't know I was developing survival skills. I was just having fun!) If I remembered it I would bring a machete, but most days I just had the clothes on my back. We would explore the WWII Japanese gunner's nests in the cliffs overlooking the beaches (one even had a grave and a Buddhist statue still in it). We would climb through the destroyed tanks and APCs. We would pull bullets from the 50 cal. rounds and 30+ years later we could still use the gunpowder to start our fires. We would use coconut husk and palm fuzz as tinder. We learned to dig for clams and to "cook" them with lemon juice. We would use our belts to climb coconut trees. We would make bamboo spears and go spear fishing. We would eat hibiscus flowers because we thought it was cool. We would use rubber bands and shishkabob sticks to frog hunt. We would catch snakes with our bare hands and snap them like a whip to kill them (yes, we were stupid, no, we didn't deserve to live). We would dive the reefs with moray eels, rock fish, sea urchins and a rainbow of tropical fish. We would jump from the cliffs into unknown waters, just because we could. We would be kids and forget about all of our adult worries...and we could be kids again until we got home. How I miss those days!

I've traveled all over the world but I haven't been able to go back to Guam, even after a recent opportunity presented itself. It was my happy place and I know that that dream world will dissolve forever if I go back there. I don't want to lose those memories of childhood. They were too precious and too few.

Thanks for all of your stories and for bringing up some very happy memories.

Kage

 

[JK Knives]

Great thread from a generous guy, one who I am proud to call a friend! Glad you are in a good place in your life.

 

[troutfisher13111]

My first deer kill at the age of 15. Definitley my happiest woods moment. Thanks

 

[j williams]

Great thread!

Here's my loves hiking in northern Maine

I'll take a pass on the knife. Great knife.

Awesome pic bro!!:thumbup:

This thread is awesome just for the stories. I don't know if I qualify, but this seems like a good reason to finally post some pics from my OR/CA from a year and some ago.

In summer of '07, my dad started talking about taking a trip down the NW coast for a week, flying into Portland and out of San Fransisco. Less than a year ago my spouse and I had split up, I only had a part-time job, was staying with a friend, and had a serious lack of direction in my life. My dad is getting on in years, and I hadn't been on a vacation with him in about a decade. He offered to pay for everything so long as I could cover my plane tickets. Despite knowing that I might lose my job if I couldn't get someone to cover me, I bought tickets.

In Portland, I was agog at the trees. I'm in TX, but not the eastern half with all the pines. And as we made our way south along 101, the trees kept getting bigger. The trip was in the last week of October, but it was sunny and the perfect temperature the entire time.

Redwood National Park is heaven. I had my dad drop me off at the Fern Canyon trailhead, with instructions to pick me up a little further south in a few hours (he was not physically able enough to go along on this one). I ventured into a fantasy land...

As I ventured further into this numinous place, I slowly became aware that the distant thunder of the surf never left me. I would need no compass here, if it were cloudy and I lost the path. Later on, having made the mistake of relying on a poorly-wrought map and then having wasted some daylight on the wrong path, the sound of the ocean would fill my senses as I forged ahead in the dark, seeking the shore.

At various points I crossed several small canyons spanned by bridges that looked far, far older than I. On one of them were two simple wooden seats and a plaque with the words:

You shall walk where only the wind has walked before
and when all the music is stilled
you shall hear the singing of the stream
and enter the living shelter of the forest.

That was my perfection in the moment. I was Home.

Whenever I feel like there is no reason to get up in the morning, no reason to keep going, I remember the Redwoods, and I can keep putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that one day my path can take me back there.

Awesome story and pics. Thanks for sharing them!!

Wow, a lot of beautiful stories and thoughts shared here. This is why I spend so much time on this forum-my home-away-from-home. Thanks for the contest Jake, you were my very first friend on BF, with that rascal Tony second. I will participate, but don't want to win. Your friendship is plenty for me. (I have too many knives anyway, bro).

Pics of the greatest 2 things I have ever, and will ever do: my sons.
]

Thank you Steve, You da man!! :thumbup:

Mine would have to be the last time I took my late father on a camping trip. We went four wheeling and wilderness camping down in Baja California. Had a great time. I'll always treasure the memory since (like many of you) he was the one who got me started on this path.

DancesWithKnives

Baja is gorgeous! Great memories of that place!!

Well now that I am all teared up (And I'll kick whoever's ass that wants to make fun of it- yup beaten by a cripple!) I guess it is my turn.

I did not have a very fun filled childhood. My dad died when I was 8 and my brother 6 months. My Mom was in a farm accident that basically mangled her hands, and we had a farm to run, no matter how small it was (quarter section) with our old machinery. There was a lot of drinking and fighting that went on and the woods were a way away from things. My family has much respect for nature though, and taught me how to use it but respect it (we were farmers not total hippies). I always promised myself that I would do things better when it was my turn.

I hope I am, at least they seem to think so:

How could I not be happy (although I would be happier with a "new" knife!).

Great pice! Thank you for entering, and sharing your thoughts!

Great thread :thumbup:

Here's something from my second trip to Philmont Scout Ranch:

The weather was cold, the rain made visibility a blur. My group of 15 was half way up the highest peak in Philmont, Mt. Baldy. We all knew it would be a difficult trip up, but still we pushed on. Further up we went, finally passing the tree line and on to loose rocks and steep edges.

We finally reached the top and as we did the weather cleared up for a moment. The view was breathtaking. Green as far as we could see, the trees looked like shrubs from our incredible height. The sky and clouds were so close it seemed as though we could jump up and grab them.

We now had the view of the great Eagle and the pride of saying,"we did it." It had to be the most peaceful lunch I've ever had just sitting up there and eating squeeze cheese and crackers with packed tuna as the main course.

Those were the good times of backpacking, it was the last time my crew was all together. After our two day bus ride home some of us lost touch and a few moved away. It was a very happy time being a Venture Scout in high school with absolutely no worries of life, money, or how things would be in the future as a "grown up."

That's my happy camping memory, there's several others, but that's one that I won't forget any time soon.

Thats a great story!! I bet that it was something out of this world!!

Wow! There are some great stories and pictures here. Great thread and great giveaway, j williams!

I'm not the overly nostalgic type and I tend to not look back much, but this thread has got me thinking. I joined the military at 17 and my family didn't hear from me for over a decade and assumed that I died in some unpleasant place. It wasn't until I had a family of my own that I realized how important family is and it wasn't until just 3 or 4 years ago that I finally looked up my remaining family members.

Like many here I didn't have an ideal childhood. My father was always off anywhere but around us and my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer before she turned 30. We were living on Guam (my father was in the military also), an island paradise. When my mother was having her good days I would run off with my brother and friends into the wild. We left before breakfast and the agreement was that we needed to be home by dinner. (Those were much more trusting days, weren't they? I think my mother just enjoyed the alone time.) I spent the days exploring the jungles, beaches and caves and would forget about everything at home. Breakfast, lunch and snacks would come in the form of bananas, coconuts, mangos and other wild fruits of the rain forest and shrimp, fish and shellfish in the tide pools at low tide (I didn't know I was developing survival skills. I was just having fun!) If I remembered it I would bring a machete, but most days I just had the clothes on my back. We would explore the WWII Japanese gunner's nests in the cliffs overlooking the beaches (one even had a grave and a Buddhist statue still in it). We would climb through the destroyed tanks and APCs. We would pull bullets from the 50 cal. rounds and 30+ years later we could still use the gunpowder to start our fires. We would use coconut husk and palm fuzz as tinder. We learned to dig for clams and to "cook" them with lemon juice. We would use our belts to climb coconut trees. We would make bamboo spears and go spear fishing. We would eat hibiscus flowers because we thought it was cool. We would use rubber bands and shishkabob sticks to frog hunt. We would catch snakes with our bare hands and snap them like a whip to kill them (yes, we were stupid, no, we didn't deserve to live). We would dive the reefs with moray eels, rock fish, sea urchins and a rainbow of tropical fish. We would jump from the cliffs into unknown waters, just because we could. We would be kids and forget about all of our adult worries...and we could be kids again until we got home. How I miss those days!

I've traveled all over the world but I haven't been able to go back to Guam, even after a recent opportunity presented itself. It was my happy place and I know that that dream world will dissolve forever if I go back there. I don't want to lose those memories of childhood. They were too precious and too few.

Thanks for all of your stories and for bringing up some very happy memories.

Kage

Awesome. What a way to grow up! Thank you for sharing!!

Great thread from a generous guy, one who I am proud to call a friend! Glad you are in a good place in your life.

Thank you John. Thats very nice of you brother. :thumbup:

My first deer kill at the age of 15. Definitley my happiest woods moment. Thanks

Lots of hunting stories on here. I have never taken a deer, but I do remember the first time I shot a Quail. Awesome feeling. Thanks for sharing!!