Michigan Gathering Pics

[kgd]

Well, perhaps not really a big gathering. Bryan Andrews rented one of the rustic cabins in the Waterloo Recreational Area just outside of Ann Arbor, MI. The 20,000 acre park has a series of trails and lakes with all kinds of activities. The rustic cabins had about 12 bunks in them and were outfitted with a wood stove that kept things nice and toasty.

My wife and I and Bryan, his two adorable kids and his friend stayed at the cabin for the weekend. We also had visits from Rupestris and Mike on Saturday. You can see a shot of the cabin in the background, and the four knife nuts in front of it.

We arrived at about 7:30 pm on Friday night and managed to just pull in as Bryan pulled off peach crumble dessert from his dutch oven. Man, talk about good timing. The next morning, after breakfast, we all sort of went off in our own directions. Becky and I went on one of the trails and were gone about 5 1/2 hours.

Lots of trail shots, but unfortunately, this time of year it all looks pretty similar. The terrain was quite nice for hiking though. Hilly enough to enjoy the scenery but not too steep to tire you out. The snow started out fairly hard in the morning, but became pretty slushy as the weather warmed. Both of us ended up stripping most of our layers of clothing as we progressed through the trail.

That warm weather played its tricks on some of the critters. There was a major hatch of these little black critters at the beginning of the trail.

Also, lots of scat throughout. Hmm, wonder what this guy was eating???

Found a tree that fell across the trail and decided to engage in a bit of maintenance. Took out the SOD for a little chopping.

 

[kgd]

Rupestris later teased me about "actually using your scrapyard knife" as he looked at the wear marks starting to appear on the coating.

 

[kgd]

The Breeden Big Paw posing a bit. I carried this one all day baldric style since my gortex pants do not have belt loops. The baldric was just a piece of cloth strapping I had. It was really comfy to carry that way!

We approached the look-out and stopped and had a little bit of lunch. Just the pre-packaged 'sidekick's' shell pasta and followed that up with some hot chocolate. Nothing like warm food on a winter hike!

Then finally back at the cabin, we just relaxed by the fire and had a nice little meal of re-hydrated food. This was the first time I tried Mountain House brand, purchased from REI. It was pretty nice. You add in 2 cups of boiling water to the package itself, seal it back up and let it sit for 10 minutes. Becky and I shared the Mexican Chicken and Rice which tasted like Chilli with rehydrated chicken chunks. We also shared a smaller package of beef stroganoff and we were completely full.

That was about it. Rupestris and Mike came by at around 11:00 am on Saturday and they hung around until about 4:30 pm. They were admiring a bunch of knives that Bryan had brought and then did a little hunting for small game.

Becky and I met them after our hike and we just sort of hung out around the cabin and enjoyed an outdoor fire. Bryan had brought his stock of Breeden and JK knives for us all to handle and have a look at. I really liked the feel of the CUB knife as well as the JK bushcrafter. Rupestris also brought a bunch of clear, re-sealable paint canisters which are perfect pieces of kit. He also brought some sanding pads of 1000 and 3000 grits which were great. Finally, him and Mike made some awesome braided paracord bracelits that contain about 10 ft of cordage. Somehow, I became the luck recipient of one of them. This thing is great!

It was really good to just sit around and chat with the guys over a beer and admire each others blades. Rupestris had his modded Old Hickory cleaver turned into a big Nesmuk and his gorgeous damascus Williams blade to show. Mike had a really cool ivory slip joint that he made himself. All and all it was a great time. We all agreed to try and meet up for one of the Michigan gun and knife shows this coming April.

 

[tacticalsteel]

Great photos! Good going gang! I love that Breeden!

 

[tonym]

Great pics KGD! Its alot of fun getting together with the fellas around here.

Looks like you had a great time, thanks for sharing!

 

[Josh K]

Michigan winters are the best. Wonderful pictures there.

 

[KuRUpTD]

Looks like a really good time ... thanks for taking us along.

That Breeden is pretty sweet.

 

[Fonly]

Hey K, do you want a baltric, I can make and send you one from some Orange cord I have, It has a breaking strength of like 70 pounds or soemthing, so its not Para cord or any thing, but it makes for a nice baltric.
The one I have is 52" in length and sits right at my belt area. It also has a little over 50' of rope in it, never have to much rope!

Just measure a bit of string, tell me what length is good for ya and Ill get one made!

Awesome pics BTW!

 

[mtnfolk mike]

great pics KGD... :thumbup: looks like a fun trip...

i have never experienced a winter quite like that.... they're a little different (warmer ) here on the Ca. coastal mtns...

 

[Brian Andrews]

Thanks for the pics Ken. It is cool to see the photos of your hike. I didn't know you busted out that dog for some chopping

I should be beaten. I took along my nice camera, and didn't take a single photo! That is what I get for taking 2 kids to chase around the place

jds1 also showed up for a bit on Friday before you guys got there. Much thanks to him for the firewood we all got to enjoy. He brought out a nice GB axe to play with too!

Rayban does some nice leatherwork too!

 

[kgd]

Hey K, do you want a baltric, I can make and send you one from some Orange cord I have, It has a breaking strength of like 70 pounds or soemthing, so its not Para cord or any thing, but it makes for a nice baltric.
The one I have is 52" in length and sits right at my belt area. It also has a little over 50' of rope in it, never have to much rope!
Awesome pics BTW!

Hey Fonly, thanks for the offer. I think Becky is going to try making one of those up, so I'll give her a shot at it. She had a chance to examine Brian's who had a couple of them, one on his camera and one with his scandi bushcrafter.

Brian - thanks for making all the arrangements it was a perfect weekend for us! All except the cut on the finger As we were sitting around having a beer, I remarked to Rupestris how I haven't cut myself in about 1 mo. Rupestris then commented that he hadn't cut himself in about a year. About an hour later, I was just whittle a piece of wood and talking to my wife when my JK suddenly dug into my pinky finger. Nothing too bad, but so much for my cut free streak Rupestris, I think you can look forward to 12 cuts in the next week or so by my reckoning.

One of the things I didn't mention was Brian's bushcraft scandi blades, the ones he makes. F&F are really nice on them and it is actually a much bigger knife than I thought it would be. Its a real winner of a design!

 

[myright]

kgd - great pics, thanks for sharing. The color of the handle on that Breeden is waaaay cool

 

[Mack]

Great pics. Looks like you had some fun.
I'm jealous. You were drinking one of my favorite beers too:thumbup:. I haven't had one in a while.

 

[cmdionne]

Looks like it was a great time, I was just too busy to make it out.

 

[rayban]

Sorry I missed you guys, but at least I got to meet Brian and his beautiful family.
I went off and found a hiking trail head and got into the woods for a couple hours...I had a great time, and I think " I found it".....

 

[Rockywolf]

Looks like a wonderful time. I like the Mountain House foods-yum. And a great beer to wash it down! Good thinking!

 

[kgd]

Sorry I missed you guys, but at least I got to meet Brian and his beautiful family.
I went off and found a hiking trail head and got into the woods for a couple hours...I had a great time, and I think " I found it".....

Yeah its too bad we didn't connect up. Maybe next time!

Rockywolf, there used to be a time when us Canucks used to be able to claim that we had good beer. Now, the U.S. has awesome beer that is available everywhere. I'll love the brews down there now! Sierra Nevada is a great tasting IPA!

First I had of the Mountain house foods. Much better than I anticipated. The beef stroganoff was just heaven!

 

[Wandering_About]

Looks like a great weekend trip! If y'all weren't so far away I would have been there.

 

[vic2367]

great pics

i just know all you guys had a great time :thumbup:

 

[sicily02]

Hi all,
ken great pics as al ways. Like rocketbomb said if it was not so far away I would sure have liked to go up and meet you all. To many things I want to do and not enough money LOL .

Take care,

Bryan