Overnighter in the Tahoe National Forest and of course with our Survive! knives

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supertac916

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The beginning of our adventure started off with a local and snow plow operator telling us not to get lost and to make sure we're prepared. He said he has to join SAR teams every year to rescue people from the cities and unfortunately a few die every year :eek: Here in California people don't really like "harsh" camping conditions, so we only hiked about two miles from my truck to Rucker Lake. We ran into a pair doing the same as us, but they came unprepared. They brought no tools to process wood and they told us they weren't able to have a fire the night before. The sticks on the ground were too wet to burn, so we processed some wood for them and on our way out they said they had a fire for at least 30 minutes last night.

The weather conditions were perfect with sunny skies a high of 37 degrees and the night dropped down to 22 degrees. Snow was around 4 feet but we were able to find a spot where it was only 2-3 feet deep. The snowshoes were a must because just walking around camp without them we'd sink down to our knees. We didn't do any ice fishing because we weren't sure how thick the ice was at the current temps. Didn't feel like doing a polar bear plunge or dealing with hypothermia if one of us fell in. We packed in quite a bit of gear, but the only thing I'd leave behind next time is the rifle and extra ammo. Didn't get any target shooting in. The lineup of tools were two 5.1's, a 4.7, 4.1, 2.7, Bark River Springbok II, Barkie Necker II, Silky Big Boy, Pocket Boy, GF Small Forest axe, and a Wetterlings. Way more tools than we needed and all of them performed as expected. The saws and axes did most of the work and the knives were used to break down the wood into kindling and fire prep.

Sled's full of gear and going through creeks and wash outs.




Some of the lineup of knives and axes. It's missing my Necker II, my buddies Survive! 4.1, 4.7, and our Silky's.








Barkie Necker II is a great little knife for food prep


Morning fire while I make myself a Starbucks coffee.


Good morning shot of the tools I brought, but I forget to put the Silky Big Boy in the pic. That thing was a life saver because it chewed through fallen deadwood like no tomorrow.


All in all it was a great trip and trial run for us. We are planning to do a two nighter in March and eventually would like to do four nights. Hope you guys enjoy the pics.
 
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Awesome! Great pics and write up, thanks for taking the time to post that.
I can't stand being cooped up all winter, gotta get out there
 
Great pictures!! I look forward to hearing more, especially on the gear for staying warm while resting. Thanks for the thoughts on the silky saw too. What were your conclusions on saw vs axe vs hatchet? Sounds like you were glad to have them all! :) But if you were out there alone, would you have brought the same equipment in that department? Cheers man.

Oh, and nice top burning fire!!!
 
rcb2000 said:
Awesome! Great pics and write up, thanks for taking the time to post that.
I can't stand being cooped up all winter, gotta get out there
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It was awesome! We'll definitely be going out again and my wife even wants me to take her out :) Yes, you have to get out there because there's nothing like being in nature..
 
Hard Knocks said:
Great pictures!! I look forward to hearing more, especially on the gear for staying warm while resting. Thanks for the thoughts on the silky saw too. What were your conclusions on saw vs axe vs hatchet? Sounds like you were glad to have them all! :) But if you were out there alone, would you have brought the same equipment in that department? Cheers man.

Oh, and nice top burning fire!!!
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I was nice a warm with my setup. I used a 20 degree bag with a 15 degree liner from Sierra Designs, along with a wool blanket and two thermarests. I also used a reflective tarp under my pads to keep the ground from pulling the heat from my back. It kept the tent nice and toasty enough to where my water bottles didn't freeze, where the other guys woke up to frozen water. I slept a straight 7 hours without issue, but the other guys didn't really sleep well at all. I think the reflective tarp made a huge difference because we all had similar gear. That and I leveled out the snow beneath my tent because when the temps dropped the snow iced up and one of my buddies tents slid about 5 feet and he was sleeping in an awkward position.

I will say that the Silky Big Boy was the all out best performer when it came to wood collection. We had a nice selection of downed dry wood about bicep to thigh thick and the saw made short work of it. Comparing my Big Boy to my buddies Pocket Boy the Big Boy obviously beat the Pocket Boy hands down. It cut through the logs at least twice as fast. Pocket Boys are great for day hikes or summer backpacking trips, but when you need a lot of wood it helps with the bigger saw. The axes came in handy when splitting the wood into smaller and more manageable pieces. We could have probably used our longer knives like the 5.1 to baton and section out the wood, but it would have taken a lot longer than a few swings of an axe. At least for the amount of wood we processed it was nice having the GF Small Forest axe versus my Wildlife Hatchet. The axes did work at de-limbing and splitting, but again the saws were so much easier to cut the sections of trees into smaller logs. I don't think I'll leave on one of these trips without the Silky Big Boy, Small Forest axe, and a good fixed blade. The blades did great for the smaller tasks like breaking down the pieces into kindling, feather sticking, and making points on sticks to dry some of our gear over the fire, or to cook over. The problem we were running into was we had so many knives that none of them got a great work out. We were breaking down logs just for the fun of it after the fire was blazing.. :) If I were out there alone that's what I'd bring, but if I got lost in the woods with one of my Survive! knives I'd get by..lol

The top down fire worked awesome and my buddies were skeptical because the wood at the bottom layers were soaked and covered in snow from the recent snow and rain storms. I brought some berch bark to get the fire started and it worked like a dream. The fire burned for about 5 hours during the night and we started it back up in the morning where it burned another 2 hours. I'll definitely use that fire system again!
 
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The small details like leveling the ground under your tent makes all of the difference.

I have heard the reflective blanket really helps out with the temp.
 
Awesome!


These are the threads that make this subforum awesome. THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this. This is a breath of fresh air!
 
No problem guys, I'm glad I could share the experience. The other two guys definitely realized the value of a good packable snow shovel as well. They brought their military style folding shovels, which aren't the most efficient and leveling or shoveling snow. It was an awesome trip and we're planning to do some two nighters coming up. Looks like we have a list of people that saw our FB posts, who told us we were crazy that want to join us next time :)
 
Looks like that was a nice little adventure! Thanks for sharing.

Your comment about the SAR team rescuing people from the cities kind of reminds me some of the times I've been 4wdriving on beaches/sand dunes and come across other guys who are stuck in the sand mainly because they haven't lowered the air pressure in their tires. It's fun pulling them out though!
 
Wow, so I pulled this page up earlier and started replying before you responded to Hard Knocks. I had written"

"Nice! That trip looks like a blast. Thanks for taking us along. Very cool you could help out some fellow adventurers.

My big boy 2000 is one of my favorite toys...... well, tools. Between the saws and big knives did the axes get much use?"

You answered my questions really well before I could ask them!

Any idea how much all your gear weighed? Glad to hear you packed well enough and smart enough to stay comfortable. I don't know if you saw my post in another thread, but I was JUST reading Dave Canterbury's book, and when he talks about the 5 C's of survivability he said "You can gauge someone's experience level in the Woods by how well he or she sleeps at night". I applaud you, sir!
 
Karoi said:
Looks like that was a nice little adventure! Thanks for sharing.

Your comment about the SAR team rescuing people from the cities kind of reminds me some of the times I've been 4wdriving on beaches/sand dunes and come across other guys who are stuck in the sand mainly because they haven't lowered the air pressure in their tires. It's fun pulling them out though!
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It's definitely nice to be able to help others out. I just hope when they saw the tools and how we built our fire. They maybe stopped and thought of what they need for their next trip. I figure all of us will do stupid stuff and I came on bladeforums a month before our trip to ask more experienced guys about their setups. Personally, that's what I enjoy about the outdoors, backpacking, and hiking. I always learn something new and can maybe teach friends a few things or help strangers. I'm definitely not an expert and far from it, but helpin other people out of a jam does feel good. :)
 
Hard Knocks said:
Hahaha! That's awesome! Thanks for the reply and the thoughts on the equipment :)
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Anytime, I like comparing different tools. Gives me an excuse to use them..lol It is awesome that some others want to join us. I think we're up to 5 more guys interested in going on the next one. I'll turn them into knife addicts too..lol
 
Silver Needle said:
Wow, so I pulled this page up earlier and started replying before you responded to Hard Knocks. I had written"

"Nice! That trip looks like a blast. Thanks for taking us along. Very cool you could help out some fellow adventurers.

My big boy 2000 is one of my favorite toys...... well, tools. Between the saws and big knives did the axes get much use?"

You answered my questions really well before I could ask them!

Any idea how much all your gear weighed? Glad to hear you packed well enough and smart enough to stay comfortable. I don't know if you saw my post in another thread, but I was JUST reading Dave Canterbury's book, and when he talks about the 5 C's of survivability he said "You can gauge someone's experience level in the Woods by how well he or she sleeps at night". I applaud you, sir!
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I didn't weigh my gear, but it was pretty easy compared to summer camping. The only weight I'll drop next time is my rifle, ammo, and spare Zebra stainless steel pot. I found myself using my little cheap grill grate, MSR pan over the fire, and my Jetboil Mini Mo. Melting snow wasn't efficient over the fire in the pot. It was easier to get water from the creek and getting a rolling boil with the Jetboil. I also saved a lot of weight by not having to carry extra water compared to the summer. The best part was having a good sled. My pack probably weighed 20 lbs and the rest was pulled in the sled.

I haven't seen your post, but I'll have to look it up. I like Dave's shows and I'll have to check out his book. I've learned at least the basics over the last several years. I usually like experimenting with different gear, read, and watch other peoples videos, than going out and trying it. The sleeping portion is a must for me because going ultra light and being miserable isn't some thing I want. It's my time off from work and the woods with good quality gear is my idea of a vacation. Granted I would like to try some of the bushcraft shelters, but haven't actually tried any. Most of the forests in our area don't allow primitive shelters to be built with natural materials due to damaging the natural landscape. I appreciate the compliment though. Just learned after many sleepless nights in the past and adjusting accordingly :)
 
That looks like one hell of a trip!
This next storm should leave plenty of white stuff up there.
 
Standard78 said:
That looks like one hell of a trip!
This next storm should leave plenty of white stuff up there.
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It was one hella of a trip and a great time! We were only at 6,500 feet because if we went any higher the snow is 10 feet deep. The storm starting tomorrow is suppose to dump another 5-10 feet on top of it. This has been one of the best winters in the last decade from what I recall. I'm just glad we made it out with perfect weather between the two storms. The snow machine driver asked if we were going to stay into Wednesday because he was wondering if he might have to come looking for us..lol I'm planning another trip up there with just my wife and I in February and the guys want to do another one in March and April. I'm hooked.. :)
 
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