Just another walk in the park

kgd

kgd

Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
9,786
Today was actually a long walk, shorter on pics than usual. I left my doorstop and walked through the Spring Garden ANSI and on into the Ojibway Prairie. Usually I drive the the 3 km or so to the prairie directly but my wife wanted the car and I decided it was time to see how much bush time I can stick to while making my way from my doorstep to the prairie. Turns out probably about 75% if you stick to the trees. Not too bad.

A good omen right off the bat with a redwing taking off from his perch through my viewfinder.

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Then as I got into the Spring Garden forest I came across this solitary morel. Yum, so I harvested it.

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The mayapples are now in bloom. Fruit should be ready later in June.

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Also gathered a few fiddleheads as they are just about done now.

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It was a very wet day. Its been thunderstorming for the past 3 days and all the wood was soggy and soaked. Of course, I just had to take my hobo stove instead of my trianga given the more difficult fire opportunities. When you see a fatwood tree, and there are only a few in my little prairie, and its nasty soggy, then you better partake of nature's napalm.

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Today I was carrying my custom ordered Breeden Big Paw, named because of the extra sized handle (5" handle) and 4.5" blade. It looks a little unbalanced from the visuals but it is a great blade. The thickness is 5/32", thick enough to be thick but still a good slicer.

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The absolute sogginess of everything disuaded me from attempting bowdrill today. I probably should have started my fire with bowdrill, but with the extra long walk I was feeling a little less inclined to do so. Maybe if I had Joe along with me I would have attempted it. Plus, I was hungry and had to get that hobo stove started. So I resorted to the ever popular flint and steel method.

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I decided try something a bit different. After catching a spark with the charcloth, I bundled it into jute twine. Then I just jammed the jute bundle into the feeder hole of the stove. I then blew it into flames while the jute was stuck into the stove. This worked great!

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On the menu today, Mr. Noodles cooked in onion soup mix with a morel and a few fiddleheads tossed in!

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Enjoying my meal in the squishy bowl with my 40 second fork. Okay, I suck at carving. You can see a tasty morel morsel in the top of the bowl. Yum, the morel + onion soup was just devine. The fiddleheads taste like crap whether eaten raw or boiled.

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Beta frolicking while I enjoyed my lunch.

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I walked a bit into the prairie and found some great tinder.

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Then I came to this stand of trees that my buddy Joe and I were trying to identify during the winter. It turns out they are Sassifras. They have a strong citrus scent to the twigs when you snap them. Today I dug up the roots of a shoot and sure enough it smells like rootbeer. The final piece of the pie was the leaf shape which was just starting to come out now. The classic mitten shape.

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I harvested a little bark to try some sassifras tea. Yeah, I know the FDA says it causes cancer. So does eating BBQ steak.

Beta making sure she got fully nasty for the walk back home.

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Thanks for viewing the thread :D:D:D
 
Awesome post and pics k!

Good to see that morel put to good use too. :thumbup: ;)
 
Great post, kgd. I'm really keen on that hobo stove! Looks like a great little item to toss into a day pack. I may have to see about building one of my own, now.

Thanks for sharing!

Best,

- Mike
 
Looks like a dang good day! I'm pretty keen on that hobo stove, too-seem like it would be perfect around here when a campfire isn't needed or wanted.
 
Great stuff Ken, I really the look of that Big Paw....definitley my kinda favoured proportions !

Beta reminds me of Maisy, that's exactly what she would do just before heading home !
 
Nice Ken! I took the older 2 out looking for morels today too! We didn't find any, but we sure had a blast.

B
 
Awesome photos as always Ken. That shot of the red wing taking off is a great one! Thanks for reminding me about the sassafras. I know we have it here...or at least did when I was a kid anyway, my brother used to make sassafras tea all the time back them. For some reason I thought he used the roots...or maybe that was gensing he added. That Breeden big paw looks like a good field knife. I like the 5/32 steel too on smaller knives, they still slice well but are pretty tough too.
 
such amazing photos, looked like a great day.

Beta looked like she really enjoyed the day as well.

BTW - I love that name Beta for a dogs name, very cool.
 
Between your Trangia setup and the pictured gassifier, you win "stove guy" of the year award for best setups. :)

Great setup and pictures. It's going to cost me :)
 
great stuff Ken.. always love your pics man..:thumbup: that soup looks delicious...:)
 
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