- Joined
- Jun 3, 2010
- Messages
- 1,516
There is some knife content so maybe yea'll will like this. It's April but the snow pack holds on in the valleys and shaded areas within the hills. Getting what could be the last few chances to mess around in the snow.
Crystal clear water. Will cross multiple brooks, run-offs and streams. The melt is all about flowing water as snow changes from a solid to a liquid. Yea it's rather obvious but being within that transformation is another thing altogether. I am looking for something in the water.
That's some cold water.
Run-off is seemingly everywhere.
Impressive birch.
The bark is easy to harvest without harm to the tree. Going to be using this as well.
And I thought the last birch was big.
Speaking of impressive this Tulip poplar has 4 trunks two of which are very high. These aren't the tallest trees in the area.
3 weeks into the melt the snow is on the retreat but it's presents can still be felt.
I should of wore higher boots. LOL!
This is a nice spot for that ice tea.
The brook is crystal clear like the others. Should make for good tea however it needs to be boiled first. There are tons of deer in the area along with a multitude of other critters. Better safe than sorry.
I was hanging around those Tulip poplars for a reason. The inner bark of their dead fall tends to have much the same characteristics of cedar bark. The desired properties of a resource can be similar across multiple species.
Crushed the quartz to produce sharp angles. Not all quartz sparks the same so picked several different rocks. I could use this quartz to strike a spark off the knife's firesteel. The spine of the knife could also toss a spark from the firesteel as well. In this case I intend to toss sparks directly from the knife. I just made the sheath therefore haven't gotten around to putting a loop on the firesteel. It's snug right now but will loosen up with use. Gotta get to doing that.
I fluffed up some Tulip poplar bark into two bundles. The birch bark will be used as well.
Wood and stove ready to boil the water. Also have an Altoids tin with charred punk wood which has some history behind it.
I would need a bit of room so moved the knife, Tulip poplar bark, quartz and tin with charred punkwood. This punwood is part of a firechain which started when a single spark from carbon steel was caught by chaga 2 years ago. Each time the tin is nearly depleted the last fire must char material for the next few. If something should go wrong the chain will be broken. Eternal fire from the woods? Maybe..... Or at least till I screw up.
I made two bundles of fluffed bark. One will be used for a tinder bundle the other to char for the next link in the chain. Dumping what's left of the tin into the tinder nest, it's all or nothing.
The plan was to strike sparks from the knife 's spine using the quartz. Yea I could use the firesteel but that would be cheating. That said in firecraft there is no such thing as cheating. This activity is more of an ongoing skills practice.
The first shard crumbled however the second tossed good sparks which seemed to strike everything other than the charred punkwood. I was about to look for more rocks but a spark caught.
The bundle ignited almost instantly. I was caught by surprise because my plan was to walk it over to the stove which was only 10 feet way. Too rocky along the bank of the brook to comfortably sit. I had the stove already to go with birch bark loaded but almost didn't make it. So many chances for the chain to be broken but not this time. The stove burned high.
In fact too high. I placed the fuel in a spot which forced me to either reach over the stove or walk into the water. I was worried my synthetic hat might catch on fire. Kinda goofy goober of me.
Before boiling the water my firechain needed taking care of. The second bundle of fluffed Tulip poplar bark will be the latest link.
Altoids tins are far from airtight. The middle hole isn't needed but I like it in that some flames and smoke will escape from there. Granted they also escape from the hinges but when flames are lapping up the sides activity in the center is less overwhelmed making observation easier. I want the flames/smoke to stop exiting the tin before removing it from the fire.
Once cooled it's time to check things out. This is also another point of danger. If opened too soon it might start to burn. There is also the issue of was it cooked right? I don't have any proper organic materials near enough in case something went wrong. The fire would die long before anything suitable was acquired. Heck even my clothing were all synthetic. This was a bit of a screw-up on my part. If I want this chain to survive for years to come I need to be more careful. This isn't rocket science however everyone makes mistakes.
Better test the char. Yup it looks good! The chain is still alive.
With that business out of the way time to boil water for the tea. I really like the Core 4 stove. Boils water fast and is very UL. Then again why do I care about boil times as the entire process was slow. Yet I was practically timing the boil. Oh well I guess some habits are hard to break.
I let the tea sit in the snow to get cold hence ice tea from eternal flames.
Despite temps in the 60's with nearly no snow higher up in the ravine there was a chill in the air. My feet were getting cold from contact with snow and ice. Hands were numb from not wearing gloves and packing stuff up. It's like a little mini winter within the sheltered valley. Let the tea get ice cold despite the chill because it would be refreshing after my hike uphill.
Followed this deer path up part of the way. It was easier to see in person.
The path was heavily used by deer for sure. Kinda hoped there were no deer ticks about.
A rather bland wild edible. Partridge berries.
The mark left over from two flowers on the berry along with the time of year and leaf is proof positive of ID. However don't eat funky red berries in the woods based on an internet post alone.
Up above the little valley. Hiking off trail up hills can be tiring. Not a big deal unless someone doesn't keep active. Drank the ice cold tea as a reward. It was an entirely different world. Almost no snow with warm air compared to the sheltered valley. In this area a person can easily walk between the seasons.
That's about it for this little excursion. Thanks for looking.
Crystal clear water. Will cross multiple brooks, run-offs and streams. The melt is all about flowing water as snow changes from a solid to a liquid. Yea it's rather obvious but being within that transformation is another thing altogether. I am looking for something in the water.
That's some cold water.
Run-off is seemingly everywhere.
Impressive birch.
The bark is easy to harvest without harm to the tree. Going to be using this as well.
And I thought the last birch was big.
Speaking of impressive this Tulip poplar has 4 trunks two of which are very high. These aren't the tallest trees in the area.
3 weeks into the melt the snow is on the retreat but it's presents can still be felt.
I should of wore higher boots. LOL!
This is a nice spot for that ice tea.
The brook is crystal clear like the others. Should make for good tea however it needs to be boiled first. There are tons of deer in the area along with a multitude of other critters. Better safe than sorry.
I was hanging around those Tulip poplars for a reason. The inner bark of their dead fall tends to have much the same characteristics of cedar bark. The desired properties of a resource can be similar across multiple species.
Crushed the quartz to produce sharp angles. Not all quartz sparks the same so picked several different rocks. I could use this quartz to strike a spark off the knife's firesteel. The spine of the knife could also toss a spark from the firesteel as well. In this case I intend to toss sparks directly from the knife. I just made the sheath therefore haven't gotten around to putting a loop on the firesteel. It's snug right now but will loosen up with use. Gotta get to doing that.
I fluffed up some Tulip poplar bark into two bundles. The birch bark will be used as well.
Wood and stove ready to boil the water. Also have an Altoids tin with charred punk wood which has some history behind it.
I would need a bit of room so moved the knife, Tulip poplar bark, quartz and tin with charred punkwood. This punwood is part of a firechain which started when a single spark from carbon steel was caught by chaga 2 years ago. Each time the tin is nearly depleted the last fire must char material for the next few. If something should go wrong the chain will be broken. Eternal fire from the woods? Maybe..... Or at least till I screw up.
I made two bundles of fluffed bark. One will be used for a tinder bundle the other to char for the next link in the chain. Dumping what's left of the tin into the tinder nest, it's all or nothing.
The plan was to strike sparks from the knife 's spine using the quartz. Yea I could use the firesteel but that would be cheating. That said in firecraft there is no such thing as cheating. This activity is more of an ongoing skills practice.
The first shard crumbled however the second tossed good sparks which seemed to strike everything other than the charred punkwood. I was about to look for more rocks but a spark caught.
The bundle ignited almost instantly. I was caught by surprise because my plan was to walk it over to the stove which was only 10 feet way. Too rocky along the bank of the brook to comfortably sit. I had the stove already to go with birch bark loaded but almost didn't make it. So many chances for the chain to be broken but not this time. The stove burned high.
In fact too high. I placed the fuel in a spot which forced me to either reach over the stove or walk into the water. I was worried my synthetic hat might catch on fire. Kinda goofy goober of me.
Before boiling the water my firechain needed taking care of. The second bundle of fluffed Tulip poplar bark will be the latest link.
Altoids tins are far from airtight. The middle hole isn't needed but I like it in that some flames and smoke will escape from there. Granted they also escape from the hinges but when flames are lapping up the sides activity in the center is less overwhelmed making observation easier. I want the flames/smoke to stop exiting the tin before removing it from the fire.
Once cooled it's time to check things out. This is also another point of danger. If opened too soon it might start to burn. There is also the issue of was it cooked right? I don't have any proper organic materials near enough in case something went wrong. The fire would die long before anything suitable was acquired. Heck even my clothing were all synthetic. This was a bit of a screw-up on my part. If I want this chain to survive for years to come I need to be more careful. This isn't rocket science however everyone makes mistakes.
Better test the char. Yup it looks good! The chain is still alive.
With that business out of the way time to boil water for the tea. I really like the Core 4 stove. Boils water fast and is very UL. Then again why do I care about boil times as the entire process was slow. Yet I was practically timing the boil. Oh well I guess some habits are hard to break.
I let the tea sit in the snow to get cold hence ice tea from eternal flames.
Despite temps in the 60's with nearly no snow higher up in the ravine there was a chill in the air. My feet were getting cold from contact with snow and ice. Hands were numb from not wearing gloves and packing stuff up. It's like a little mini winter within the sheltered valley. Let the tea get ice cold despite the chill because it would be refreshing after my hike uphill.
Followed this deer path up part of the way. It was easier to see in person.
The path was heavily used by deer for sure. Kinda hoped there were no deer ticks about.
A rather bland wild edible. Partridge berries.
The mark left over from two flowers on the berry along with the time of year and leaf is proof positive of ID. However don't eat funky red berries in the woods based on an internet post alone.
Up above the little valley. Hiking off trail up hills can be tiring. Not a big deal unless someone doesn't keep active. Drank the ice cold tea as a reward. It was an entirely different world. Almost no snow with warm air compared to the sheltered valley. In this area a person can easily walk between the seasons.
That's about it for this little excursion. Thanks for looking.
