the anatomy of a trip gone awry, aka spitting crow feathers

Thanks! So on the map, would you opt for an old school paper topo map or and electronic GPS type map? Given your orienteering skills and temperatures encounters, I am guessing a topo. I like carrying one even on a river where the course is set and no deviation is anticipated. It can give some possible escape routes as well and some idea of one's progress even on a known rivercourse. Without one, years ago, I made the mistake of pitching camp too early leaving too much travel for the second day, and also traveling too late to find a usable campsite without having to paddle into near darkeness.

As to wood, one of my favorite cheats these days is hardwood smoker chunks from Walmart. One bag of really high BTU hickory wood lasts a long time. That is what I was using when I nearly melted my Bemco oven on my Emberlit stove. The thermometer read 700 degrees before I caught it and let it cool down. Red oak is next highest BTU I think. Fatwood is great and burns hot but too quickly I think without making a long lasting coal. Still it was good thinking bringing a quantity along.

I've never snowshoed in snow deep or otherwise but I can imagine that it would be night and day different depending on the snow condition... deep fresh powder vs crusty pack. Same for pulling the pulk.

Thanks again for sharing this with us. :thumbup:
 
definitely a topo; I am however going to take a leap into the computer age :D and get a smartphone soon which I'll load w/ topo maps- it should shave a little weight of my kit as it will do double duty as a camera and gps in one unit

never thought about wood chips, but that makes sense- no hardwoods here, but we do have a Walmart :)
 
Excellent idea on the smartphone. Downfall being charge life of course. Vs the advantages of multiuse. I'm sure you have gathered that I am old school and prefer paper topos. Heck you can always trim and burn the edges for tender if needed so I guess they are multi purpose too. :)

Back where I came from, Arkansas/Tennessee, we had plentiful hardwoods like oak and hickory as well as softwoods like pine. But here where I find myself transplanted in the Snake River plateau, it seems that aspen and willow are most prevalent. Still, even with hardwoods in my yard, I found it advantageous to get the bagged kiln dried chunks to take with me on river trips. It does make a difference when one has a canoe for a packmule of course, much like a pulk/sled. If you can find them though get the chunks not just small chips. Another source, often free, is discarded oak shipping pallets. A bit of a pain to break up into usable size but plentiful around many warehouse docks and one pallet contains enough wood for many small fires.

I know you likely had a real fireplace in the cabin awaiting you (or wood stove?), but have you bought and tried a twig stove? I've been impressed with the Emberlit I bought a couple of years back and will be trying and reviewing the multi-fuel one being made just down the road from me by TOPS, along with some of their more utilitarian knives.

I'm still learning what woods and plants are available to me here, very much ignorant at this point. But here is a BTU chart for most North American woods commonly burned.
https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm
 
I haven't pulled the pin on the smartphone, but have researched battery life- I was originally looking at an iphone 6 or 6+, but am now leaning towards the Samsung S5 just because of battery life- also the ability to bring a fully charged spare (iphones are sealed :()

yeah the cabin has a wood stove, small cabin so it does a good job of heating up the joint in a hurry

I have a couple of 4 Dog ti wood stoves and a stainless Emberlit, nice little stoves that save the weight of a fuel canister, the 4 Dog ones nest into a small nicely too. My fuel stoves have been mostly relegated to "winter" duty when I have snow to melt
 
I noted in today's news crawl that one showshoer was killed in an avalanche and a snowmobiler spent two days in a snow cave trying to survive. The dangers are very real out there and the cold and fatigue make rational decisions more difficult. Another point where Mtwarden gets kudos from me. I've been in life-threatening winter conditions myself (once) and more or less lucked out. In retrospect my decision to continue was not the best course of action. Only by luck were there not dire consequences to my poor decision making.
 
does the batteries of phones and GPS work in the very cold?
waterproof bag next to the body ?
I had enough trouble with flashlights freezing
also I found a pulk/sled much easier to pull as I did not sink in the snow with the weight on my back
trail breaking was much much easier
much less energy spent
 
Always a bummer not making a destination, but always much better than making satistics! Correct me if I'm wrong, are you the trail running cutthroat fisher?
 
^ batteries definitely drain quicker in the cold, more so when the device is on-best to keep it off unless needed; keeping them close to the body would be a very good idea and I always keep 3-4 hand warmers in my winter pack- they would help as well

definitely better w/ a pulk than a heavy pack :)
 
mtwarden said:
yup- that's me :D
Click to expand...

Haha, cool. This fall creek fishing everyone was complaining about how hard it was, I referenced you 'the guy that runs up mountains to catch beauty's' they all suck it up that little bit longer. Thanks for sharing your outtings they are spectacular!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top