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

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i was climbing mountains in the snow wearing only shorts as a kid
 
Jake,

You're right about Baja. My best trip was an earlier journey with my father in 1968. We took the ferry from the mainland to La Paz, then drove nearly a thousand miles of dirt roads (that was before the paved road went in). We took several weeks. In one section we went three days without seeing another person. When we stopped at El Coyote Bay, within the Bay of Conception, the only structure was a makeshift fisherman's lean-to. Not another person there.

My father had been going to Baja since just after his WWII service. In fact, he and my late mother drove down and back for their honeymoon in the Spring of 1954. She was surprised to be getting car sick since she had been a stunt pilot and nothing usually bothered her. Turns out she wasn't car sick but had just become pregnant---with me. So when people ask me about my first Baja trip, they're often surprised when they hear that the date was around 7-9 months before I was born.:D

As you are no doubt aware, Baja is not a very hospitable place these days. I am no longer traveling there because of the drug violence, general lawlessness, and official corruption. Very sad situation.

Thanks again for the contest,

DancesWithKnives
 
Dad was always the outdoorsman. Hunting , fishing... My mentor. I wanted to be like him. There were woods across the street from where we lived. One spring day , I dont know the age, but barely old enough to be out by myself, I decided to hunt for mushrooms. Not expecting to find anything, I stumbled upon a patch of morels. Now , I had nothing to carry them in. A search began for a container. I found an empty paint can, filled it up and triumphantly left the woods , showed all the neighbor kids, headed home. I was the man . Those mushrooms were good too.
 
DWK2, you are right it is tragic that such a cool place is what it is now.

Dipbait, great story man. I am looking forward to mushroom season. Wont be long now!
 
This picture represents the quietness and solitude of stalking through Hawaii's rainforests with a good friend. It doesn't get much better than watching your breath leave your mouth and listening to a hundred native songbirds chattering hello to each other. The sun beam squeaking through the branches warms the soil and sends all our furred targets back to their dens.

Theres not a care in our world while we're in the mountains. Taking in only what is around us and not concerning ourselves with whats going on at home, work or at school. There is no greater relief than spending a day hiking the hills.

P.S.: I've wanted a CS carbon v for a while now...almost bought one instead of my woodland special. :)

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After splitting up, I hear my friends 20ga bark from over a ridge. I hike to meet him and help blood trail. Looks like a GREAT hit.

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Sure enough, we got to go home with a cooler full of pork. Not a better way to spend a day. Kinda goofy photo of my friend...spare him

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dipbait said:
This looks like a fun trip. Why is the water so orange?
Click to expand...

It is because the plants stain the water, I think it is the tannin in the plants that do it. Down in the black water swamps where I am from if you scoop up the water in a glass it is the color of strong tea. Chris
 
the ONLY way to stalk is with felt on your soles ;) Split toe give you the super swamper action up muddy hills.
 
For sure, I went on a few hunts back home with family and friends, used my tabis on a couple as well :thumbup:
 
When I was 10 years old my father took me to a "hidden" aspen grove of trees near Osier, CO
He spent his childhood and young adult years tending sheep in the area

He told me how he used to find arrowheads there
How there was some battle in the meadow
I found 2 arrowheads!!
(I lost them over time though:mad:)
I hope the old man didn't "plant" them!!....LOL
Who knows....

Then he took me into the aspen grove
It was filled with arborglyphs:eek:
He showed my my grandfathers name carved in a tree
An uncles name, a great uncle, some cousins.....
The oldest ones were from the very late 1800's
They looked like this:
D00205026.jpg

http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/images/D00205/D00205026Page.htm

He took out his Buck 110 and carved his name
I took out my Camillus Cub Scout knife and carved my name below his (with the date)
It was a kind of Colorado bonding thing I guess
Just like my dad carved his name below his dad
and his dad.......

When I was about 14
We went back to the grove and did it again
I have tried to find the grove on subsequent trips to Colorado
No luck
Luckily, my cousin knows where it is at and is gonna take me there next time I am out there :thumbup:

I learned alot about arborglyphs
Historians are finally starting to recognize it as valid historical "sources"
Historians now study tree carvings to gain better historical, cultural, and ethnic insight into North America’s past. Nearly every early culture, starting with the American Indian, has produced arborglyphs and many if not most have disappeared.
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The Basque sheepherders used them as "bulletin boards" and sometimes for pornography :eek:
"Jose..Meet me here in the fall"
"Juan is going back to Spain next spring"
Etc

The life span for aspen arborglyphs is like 80 years
After that they become unreadable or the tree dies
There are a few organizations trying to document them before it is too late
Our leader, archaeologist John Kaiser, took us to several areas of the forest where we found many names and dates, as well as drawings and even entire poems on the tree trunks. The herders cut the tree lightly, using pocket knives or nails, to create the desired design. After about a year, the tree “cured,” and their carvings became visible. Recording is important, because aspens live only about 80 years, then fall to the forest floor and decay.
Click to expand...
I have been in touch with Prof. Mallea of UNR
Basque immigrants from the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain came to the United States between 1860 and 1930. They left thousands of aspen trees carved with names, dates, poetry, and pictures marking their sheepherder duties that supplied mutton to the early Western mining camps. They, more than any other ethnic group, are being studied using arborglyphs carved over the last century.

Dr. Joxe Mallea, Basque History Instructor at University of Nevada, Reno, is the leading source of Internet information on arborglyphs, and more specifically, the Basque connection. Tree carvings have never been studied in such detail as the “glyphs” being documented by Dr. Mallea (over 20,000 arborglyphs to date).

“It can be said that the Basque sheepherders contributed more to the practice of tree carving than any other group in the western United States. Indians, trappers, early explorers, scouts, and prospectors spent considerable time alone in the wilderness but did not record their names and movements on trees or rocks like the Basques did” says Dr. Mallea. Mallea is fast becoming a one-man campaign to expose tree carvings to the popular media.
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I told him I wanted to document the grove near Osier for future generations
I guess I have to take a a short digital movie and the GPS coordinates for the study/data

BTW..the best way to make arborglyphs is to use a thumb tack and LIGHTLY score the bark:cool:
http://www.passportintime.com/summaries/97/or97a_sheep.html

http://www.arborglyphs.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Through-Aspens-Carvings-California/dp/0874173582

I have run into a lot of "hidden" arborglyphs up in the Rio Grande National forest
Some of them are way off the beaten path
Most of them are from 1910-1940
It's kind of a hobby for me now
Looking for arborglyphs....

After the arrowheads and tree carvings I caught a bunch of brook trout outta Osier Creek and my dad fried em' up in his old Coleman,green stove and a cast iron skillet
I used to LOVE pumping that tank!!!!!:D
Just some lard, flour and a little bit of black pepper
Mt. Man style!!

That was one of my most memorable wilderness/camping moments

Thanks for the opportunity
I have enjoyed all the stories so far
I don't have any CS knives yet....
 
Awseome story Trent!! And I learned something new from you to boot! Really interesting stuff. Im gonna keep my eyes peeled for some next time im out!!
 
I'm not entering the give-away, I wanted to say thanks for the stories and the opportunity to win :-)
 
I really don't care about the knife. There is a place where we hunt and when I walk through their I feel at peace. I can not explain it, but my cousin feels the same way. His place is about 500 yds away. So when I die, that is where we are going.
 
Jake,
Thats pretty cool of you, and I'm not looking to score the knife, some one who has been around the forum longer deserves that, I just wanted to share my story on it.
I grew up in Northern Connecticut and was lucky enough that our neighborhood bordered a small wooded ridge stretching towards the North. I remember being around 6 or so at a block party and my best friend Rob and I went out on one of the trails and ended up getting lost, we were just about feeling hopeless and came through a group of trees right into the back yard of one of the houses hosting the block party!!! We ended up spending our lives in those woods, finding a couple of great bass ponds, doing some hunting and just hiking around. I still love to go up there when I visit home and Rob is still my best friend living in the same house he grew up in having bought it from his parents when they moved South. I'll never forget those woods, the views into the valley, the bass we caught, the deer we dragged out and even the raspberry patches we found!!!
-matt
 
Really great stories guys, thanks for sharing!!!!!

The Winner is Spooky!!!!!!

Thanks guys it was fun!!
 
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