Peche Island Get-together (tonnes of pics)

[kgd]

Yesterday we had a really fun get-together. Due to a few last minute cancellations it turned out to be an an all Canadian member crowd. Magnussen, Rick's cousin (Scott), Jimi Wade, Jnyiri (Jozsef), Stabman (Mark) and his wife and myself showed up. We spent the morning walking around the park and its trails then had a BBQ and campfire. Under Rick's guidance we made about every type of fire possible: 1) ferro rod, 2) fresnel lense, 3) bow drills, 4) flint & steel, 5) cell phone batter/steel wool. We had a few edibles identified for us - day lilies and burdoc root. A bit of emergency cordage demo. Navigation, sun dial and orientation by moon and stars. Rabbit snares. Finally how to make things to throw at logs -knife throwing, spears, Apache throwing stick, random piece of steel that rick found on the ground and sharpened into a throwing spike.

The food was great and the company is better. The day lasted from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. So hold onto your hats as here comes the photos.

We'd like Doc's opinion on this. Poison ivy leaf growing from a full tree (not just a tiny bush). The branch in the shot is part of the plant. Is this poison oak?

Came across a fallen tree and put some of the choppers to service. Here is one of Jimi's own primitive mini machete choppers in action.

Jimi also had a big bowie with him.

Joszef had a gransfors bruks axe - very nice!

Rick got pretty enthusiastic also. He brought out his latest and greatest mini-, ultra-light chopper.

Some of the trees in the park are huge! Joszef in the first shot and Rick in the second.

Some cool twisted vines

Rick cutting out a section of grape vine as a water source. He cut out about a 5 foot length and was able to get a 30 or 40 mL of water dripping out of it.

 

[kgd]

Another strange vine. Really large and a strange bark pattern. Doc - any idea?

Stabman by the river

Some day lillies

The key to identifying them as discussed in the past thread is the root clump with the multiple tubers. You want to stay away from the ones with just a single tuber as they are iris' and are poisoness. On the day lily, you can eat the tubers themselves or the lower part of the stock right where the plant in the shot is being held by the thumb.

Jimi - who is going meatless for the past few months took a real liking to the day lily delight!

This willow tree was a burl factory...

Random knife picture - Breeden on the willow bark

Rick preparing a tinder bundle at the beach and about to demonstrate the fresnel lense for producing fire.

 

[kgd]

Sometimes you try things and they don't work 100% of the time. Rick could get his tinder bundle to smoke successfully but not to form a persistent coal.

He then switched to a piece of punkwood, commonly used as a coal extender much like tinder fungus. This readily converted the heat from the fresnel lens into a burning coal.

I was impressed. When the sun was right and the tinder (punk wood) was found to work, the whole process was only about 2 minutes to fire!

Rick demonstrating the sundial technique. Place the stick in the sand and mark the shadow with another stick. Wait about 15 min. and mark the shodow line with another stick. Draw a line that intersects the two sticks and you have an east to west line. With the direction of the sun moving of course to the west.

A huge patch of day lilies.

 

[kgd]

The old ruins of the Walker homestead. This is the person who owned Hiram & Walker and producer of Canadian Club.

Burdock tuber, another edible.

Mark (Stabman) trying his hand at his first bowdrill. Success!

 

[kgd]

Rick in some bow drill action...He foraged for all his own materials except for the cordage and used the double stick hearth. It worked great!

Snare making

 

[kgd]

Playing with a throwing stick..

Rick throwing knives and getting one to stick (after a few tries )

Here he is demonstrating his sneak up and throw a spear technique. Notice the classic Rick mischievous expression..

 

[kgd]

Fire hardening one of the spear points

Joszef cooked up some mighty fine Italian sausages fireside. They were delicious!

The bread was a bit hard and Rick got a baton to help his split the buns

No - actually they were delicious!

One of Rick's blades and Joszef's GB - I thought they made a very handsome pair

All that sausage got a little attention

 

[kgd]

Rick demonstrating the flint and steel method. Jozsef following through and he managed to get his tinder to flame using the technique right off the bat.

Here is Rick's fire kit (missing the flint in the shot. The lid has the fresnel lens used to start the fresnell fire shown earlier. The tin contains his striker and flint piece, a pile of char cloth, a small tin used to make char cloth on the coals, some true tinder fungus bits and jute pieces for tinder. Overall a remarkable and very well put together kit. We used every part of it over the course of the day to make a pile of different fires. This is a kick-ass bush tool!

Rick also showing that you can get a spark from the spine of an O1 knife. I managed to get my Breeden to through a spark from the flint too!

Two of what Rick refers to his - too ugly to sell knives.....I fell in love with the straight spine one with leather handle slabs. Those leather slabs are incredibly comfortable and warm to the touch. They also look fantastic in person.

A group show next to the RC-6 for size reference.

That taps me out for pictures. Hopefully others can post theirs!

 

[tonym]

That looks like fantastic time!!

I bet you guys had a blast, I'm jealous!

Thanks for the awesome pics Ken!

 

[caine]

WOW You really made my day. Those are some of the best pics Ive seen In awhile. Awesome. Looked like you had alot of fun

 

[mneedham]

KGD,

Awesome pics:thumbup::thumbup: Looks like you guys had a great time!

 

[Carolina River Rat]

That's a healthy-lookin coon. Good pics.

 

[dbltap45acp]

I agree, some of the best since I joined this forum. I wish I could have been there.

 

[Jnyiri]

It was very nice and long day( least for me). I don't have to many pics but here are a few.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

It was nice meeting with You all.
Sorry about the pics I don't know why so blurry.

Jozsef

 

[North]

Looks like a nice time! Thanks for sharing the good pictures.

Bill

 

[Guyon]

Great set of pics. Thanks for sharing.

Man, that island looks like a kayaker's dream. Lots of lagoons to explore.

 

[stabman]

It was a great time.:thumbup:
I'll post more pics at some point, but right now I don't seem to be able to get them to upload.

 

[kgd]

Good stuff Joszef....The handsome one in his shots, you know the guy in the red shirt, is kgd

Guyon - lots of folks enjoy Peche Island for kayaking. You have to brave a pretty strong current from the mainland (about 500 m), but after that it is smooth sailing. Right now, people have the luxury of no bugs!

 

[Sharp Eye]

Looks like a great time.
Nice pics.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Looks like you guys had a great time, made all the better by Rick's up close and personal sharing of skills. :thumbup: The weather looks like it was good, as well.

So on to the questions -

We'd like Doc's opinion on this. Poison ivy leaf growing from a full tree (not just a tiny bush). The branch in the shot is part of the plant. Is this poison oak?

What makes you think this is a Poison Ivy leaf? Because it is trifoliate?

I have long been on the understanding that Poison Oak is not relevant to Ontario, but in the interest of giving you guys authoritative information, I went to the books. From Shrubs of Ontario, James H. Soper / Margaret L. Heimburger, ROM, 1994, ISBN# 0-88854-283-6, page 279: "Poison Oak is a name that should not be applied to plants in the Great Lakes region. It more properly belongs to two species that do not occur in Ontario, one in the southern states and the other on the Pacific coast."

The other thing is that all the pictures of Poison Oak I could find shows rounded teeth on the margin, unlike the picture you posted.

A couple of links to Poison Oak, here and here.

To aid ID, more information is needed, things like is it opposite or alternatately leafed, the length or lack of the leaflet petioles (typically Toxicodendron species have leaflets where the terminal leaflet has a long petiole but the lateral leaflets are very short or nonexistent.) Are the leaflets hairy, either on the topside or underside, ........... well, you get the idea.

Remember when you were here, I told you about one time confusing Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo) with Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron rybergii) for a moment, until I checked whether the leaves were opposite or alternate (Manitoba Maple has opposite leaves whereas Poison Ivy leaves are alternate). Both Poison Ivy and Manitoba Maple leaves are quite variable in appearance and can resemble each other considerably.

As to the warty looking vine, I have no idea. Is there a nuclear generating plant nearby?

If anybody knows, though, I would like to also.

Doc