The Search for a New Camp Site

LostViking

LostViking

Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,431
I have wanted to get out and scout for a new semi permanent site for a while. Today was the day. It was hovering around 30 degrees, and somewhat sunny. About as good as it gets around here this time of year.

So I threw a few items in the Tour and out I went. I had an idea where I was going. Up towards the upper end of my property. I had been up there for a New Year’s Eve fire last winter. I liked the general area, so that was where I was headed.

First things first, I made up a toggle to keep my pack off the snow.



With that out of the way, I scanned the general area.



I like this spot. It is tucked down in small ravine, sheltered a bit from the wind.



My dog was a bit odd. He didn’t seem to want to come all the way in. He hung out a ways and sniffed critter tracks.



I put my Opinel to work and sectioned up some small downed branches. Then I split them with the Outdoor Axe,



That little axe does a decent feather stick,


We have had some combination of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow, everyday for close to a week. So everything was wet, real wet. I used a small rock as a backstop, and set some dry pieces on the snow for a base. I scraped off what I could with my boot. But it was a crusty.



Some curls, feathers, birch bark and twine ready for the spark.



A better shot of the twine,



It caught on the first spark. But with everything being wet, it still took some fiddling to keep it burning.



Once I was comfortable it was going to stay lit, I piled on some of the bigger stuff I had gathered up.



Does anyone else notice the “Spirit Skull” at the top of the crotch? Or was it just me? It stayed there long enough for me to grab a photo. Maybe that was why the dog wanted no part of of the area.



I sat on the downed tree under my pack and enjoyed a few of these,



I tried for a few glamour shots, but nothing spectacular.






I have been heading in a decidedly more traditional direction lately. These were the tools that saw action today, my Hess Muley, GB Outdoor Axe, and Opinel #12 Saw. I really like this combination. They are small, light, and versatile,



Nothing monumental. Just a lazy Sunday afternoon in the woods, scouting for a new site.



I had my Bushman with me. You can see it hanging in a tree in the picture with the dog. But it stayed in the sheath. This was more recon than construction. That will come soon enough. If I settle on this location.


Pictures don’t do this knife justice.



I will do some more scouting. But I like this spot. It has character, raw materials, some shelter, and maybe a ghost or two. My mind was racing with the possibilities here.
 
Last edited:
Great pics LV! Looks like a nice way to spend a few hours, out and about with something to keep the cold out ;)
 
I like your style

i-VcSHjHV-L.jpg


You've got a nice spot there
 
that is indeed a nice looking knife :)

I have both the No 12 and 18 saws, really good bang for the weight (and buck)

what do you have your upper axe haft wrapped with?
 
Warden,

It is a steel collar, they come with it already in place. Some like it, some don't. I'm pretty neutral with it.

A few better shots and quick review from the interwebs
http://embersurvival.com/blog/gransfors-bruks-outdoor-axe-review/


The #18 is on my short list. I have a Silky Ultra Accel 240 for bigger work. But I really like the small, handy size of the #12. And I like the traditional look and feel of the Opinels as well.
 
very interesting, had never seen that model before, looks like the head was designed a little more for splitting than chopping- nice svelte weight too!
 
I see the skull in the flame like it was drawn on white printer paper with a black sharpie. Very cool you got to capture it with a photo.

I need to get out and do some scouting for a camp site as well! Great post lost viking.
 
This knife makes feather sticks and slices onions better than any other knife I own, period. And I have draws full of them. It will shave walnuts so thin I think you could read through them.

It is NOT a sharpened pry bar. But as long as you keep that in mind. I feel it is a great blade. Good enough that I have a Tiburon on order. If your main use is beating it theough logs. Pronably not a wise choice. But for knife stuff. It rocks!
 
I mostly just want one for lookin' at. But even if a knife's purpose is entirely aesthetic or just for hoarding away, I still don't like to spend money on junk. :)
 
LV, you are a better man than I Gunga Din. My days of winter outdoor ventures for fun are over. I have a couple of questions. When you took the photo of your dog, were you facing south? The ravine. It appears there's a bit of a grade sloping down to the spot. Is runoff during rain a concern, or might that ravine be a watershed area? Don't want to camp in a puddle when it rains if you can help it. I know you're an experienced outdoorsman and likely considered this.
The dog. You know him and I do not, but aren't you concerned he might have picked up the scent of a potential predator marking territory? Maybe one hibernating near to your site?
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Especially those of us too old and fat to have a desire to do it ourselves anymore.
 
Bob W said:
I mostly just want one for lookin' at. But even if a knife's purpose is entirely aesthetic or just for hoarding away, I still don't like to spend money on junk. :)
Click to expand...

Bob for "Lookin' At" it would be hard to beat for the price. The wood on all the Hess knives I've seen is pretty snazzy. The handles are finished nicely. I'm told the blanks come from GEC on all their knives except the Outdoorsman. Folks seem comfortable with that. It is 1095 steel. So good, but not spectacular. Perhaps prone to rust more than some like A2. personally, I think super steels are overrated. But I'm a Luddite.

No knife is perfect. If I were to pick nits. The blade itself could be finished a little better. Not in edge grinds or sharpness, they are spot on. But the satin finish of the blade could be better. To me that is a purely aesthetic issue, so I can live with it. Especially in a user. As a gazer, it should be noted.

I really like the sheath. It amazes me how simple sheaths are, and yet how complicated it is, to get one right. It doesn't rattle, it holds the knife securely, I can get it in and out, without slicing the retention strap. And it sits nicely on my belt.

The sheath perhaps rises to the top more in a user than a gazer. Just because of the frequency of use.

I also have a love hate relationship with aluminum pommels. New they look fine. But they bruise easy and can look cheap and worn over time. Most are easy enough to tune back up. But Brass, or better yet nickel silver, would be a better option. The problem then arrises. The the added weight from the heavier material throws off the balance of the knife.

I have two Buck 119s and the Balance is decidely different when you move from aluminum to brass. I think on a smaller knife like the Muley, that contrast would be even more pronounced. So it's a trade off. Again, as a show piece, that may be less important. The Muley is nicely balanced as it is.

I tend to look at knives like spouses. If you focus on all their good atributes. You will always be happy with them.

If you focus on all their short comings, you will never be happy with them.

Full disclosure. I have owned this knife for several years. It sat pretty much unused. At first I found it just too pretty and delicate to use. So it never got into the rotation. Recently in a desire to down size. I decided to sell it for lack of use. I took it out for some photos. I just couldn't put it down. I compared it to some of my older Marbles Knives. It is very similar. Although, I would give the fit and finish award to the Hess.

So I decided rather than sell it. I would put it to use. I dove in the deep end of the pool first. I took it out and started making feather sticks and wood curls. Fully expecting the thin edge to roll. Much to my surprise, it didn't. But even more unexpectedly. It worked the wood better than all my other knives.

I ran it length wise down a stick and just chuckled at the thinness of the shavings. And at the ease with which this knife produced them. I thought it was an anomoly, so I tried a different stick, from different wood. Same thing happened. Before long I had a hat full of shavings. To be honest, I was like a young Scout. My enthusiasm for this knife just exploded.

I came back in that night and looked it up on the internet. Just to see what other folks thought about it. There just isn't much out there on these knives. Also, I tend to discount certain reviews depending on how they are written. Many folks who handle their first quality knife, no matter what it is. Think it is the best thing since sliced bread. For many, I believe it is their first sharp knife. I take those with a grain of salt.

Without out physiaclly counting, I would say I own 20-25 Bushcraft style knives at this present time. With many others moved on to different sets of hands. This is not my first sharp knife. I could fill milk crates with custom knives that I have bought and sold. They were all wonderful highly finished knives. This little knife just won me over. It does what I need it to do. I am a pretty honest guy. If it falls apart in a year, I will make it known. But I don't see that happening.

This knife is not a batoner. At least not for me. That being said, the wide, flat pommel with soft rounded edges makes it an easy knife to drive through small twigs and branches to get them split down to the small kindling needed to start fires. I call it palm splitting.

I bought this knife as a small game, and hunting/camp knife. In my search of the interwebs. I see Hess actually calls it the Muley Bushcraft Knife. I don't remember that designation from when I bought it. Maybe they, like everyone, else leaped on the bushcraft marketing train. For me, it is proving to be a fine example of that genre.

My outdoor tools get worked. I try not to abuse them. And they certainly get well cared for. But they earn their money and their reputation. Be it good or bad.

So, after that long diatribe. Suffice it to say, this knife isn't junk. It is not a Rockstead. But it is far from junk.

I hope that helps you.
 
Last edited:
bootzon said:
LV, you are a better man than I Gunga Din. My days of winter outdoor ventures for fun are over. I have a couple of questions. When you took the photo of your dog, were you facing south? The ravine. It appears there's a bit of a grade sloping down to the spot. Is runoff during rain a concern, or might that ravine be a watershed area? Don't want to camp in a puddle when it rains if you can help it. I know you're an experienced outdoorsman and likely considered this.
The dog. You know him and I do not, but aren't you concerned he might have picked up the scent of a potential predator marking territory? Maybe one hibernating near to your site?
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Especially those of us too old and fat to have a desire to do it ourselves anymore.
Click to expand...

Bootzon,

Awesome post, with some very astute observations.

First off, I love the Kipling reference. My father used it often. I just hope I don't follow in Din's footsteps. At least not for a while. When I was a kid and we'd be working. My dad would shout "Din, water!" We would take a break, have some water and get back at it.

You are spot on with your direction. A line struck between the camera and the dog would point almost due south.

Like you, I took the dog's aloofness as a cautionary sign. The first thought that ran through my mind was a bear den. For better or worse, I live on a dead end road, that backs up to a lot of wilderness. I hike this area a lot. It is not uncommon to come upon fresh bear scat every morning. Not right by this potential site, but within a few miles. So it stands to reason, there is that posibility.

I have seen a few. Usually bounding off in the opposite direction. Last year was dry, so I think it brought them down lower looking for water. During one stretch, I walked by a fresh drop, five days in a row. I even commented to my wife, there was probably a bear standing over mine, thinking the same thing.

We have a large coyote population. I can sit by the fire at night and hear them howl. Some times unnervingly close. It raises the hair on the back of your neck. I can often go back to one of my sites and see tracks a few days later.

We have a decent deer population. And in the last few years, some moose have migrated in and remained in the area. There is a small but growing moose population here. Expanding Moose populations can somewhat diminish deer populations, and increase dog populations. I saw this in northern Minnesota. Wolf packs with healthy moose populations in their area were roughly 20% larger, than their none moose counterparts.

At 56 years of age. The predators and I have come to somewhat of an uneasy truce. They don't actively try to kill me, and I don't try to kill them. With both sides understanding that could change in a heartbeat. And giving each other their much needed respect.

I worry about the dog a bit. He is ten and fading. I used to have a Bluetick hound. I never worried about him with coyotes. I actually saw him in action. He was a skilled dog. This guy, not so much. But in truth, at his age, there might be worse way to go. But that would end the truce, so I work to avoid it, as much as possible.

As to the actual location. Again, you bring up a valid point about water collection. If you swung from the dog, past the fire in a clockwise direction the ravine slopes down some in a westerly direction. This whole area of the Adirondacks was exploited for it's raw materials. First for its Iron Ore, and later for its timber. There are the remnants of two forges within a few miles of my house. I have no shortage of trees or rocks. I am more worried about the lack of flat usable ground once the snow melts off. It is not my typical site, perhaps that is what appeals to me. I should have a better handle on it in a month or two, when the snow is gone.

My father received an intensive and unforgiving, three year camping and site selection education in the mountains of Korea. Courtesey of the U.S. Army. He taught his son well, about both site selection and water run-off. I still miss the days in that old canvas shelter half.

Your post resonates with me.
It would seem you spent a great deal of time in your woods. I know some day mine will end. I hope not for a while. But I don't wake up as refreshed as I used to on the ground anymore.

I hear a lot of cautionary tales from folks who encounter predators. Even my neighbors, who seem to only go out doors to get to their cars. They see bears, coyotes, wolves, and cats, as life ending menaces.

Myself, I more afraid of getting killed in the Jeep on the way to town for coffee. This Thanksgiving, I lost a great friend with whom I camped with often. It wasn't a wolf or a bear. It was cancer.

A lot of things scare the crap out of me. Fortunately, most of them aren't in the woods. Although, I do worry a bit about getting stomped by a moose.
 
looks like an awesome outing! how fast does that opinel cut compared to a bahco? i know it's a lot shorter but more along the design of the teeth? i know a silky out-cuts a bahco.

i can't see the spirit skull but i do see a pig snout with one hole :D
 
JV3 said:
looks like an awesome outing! how fast does that opinel cut compared to a bahco? i know it's a lot shorter but more along the design of the teeth? i know a silky out-cuts a bahco.

i can't see the spirit skull but i do see a pig snout with one hole :D
Click to expand...


JV3,

I have never used a Bahco. I do have a couple of Sikys, a Pocket Boy and an Ultra Accel 240.
I would put it on par with the Silkys. It also cuts on the pull stroke. Obviously shorter than the 240. So it gives up some there.

I am finding it to be a great little saw. The 240 Silky is a cutting machine. But you wouldn't want to carry it around in your pocket all day. Not an issue with the Opinel.
 
The Hess looks like a great knife for knife chores. I think folks tend to get a bit too focused on full thickness tangs for strength they don't need in the first place unless your thing is beating it with a baton with abandon. I am a Blackjack fan and really like the 125 and like the feel of the 124 for a woods knife in a smaller package and leather sheath.
 
Nice post man, and thanks for the pics and thoughts on the Hess knife. I have been thinking about picking up the stacked leather version of the same knife. I like hidden tangs when the tang is made properly. When done right they may not be sharpened pry bars, but they can be a lot tougher than people think. I have a few hidden tang knives made by Ed Martin. My partner and I have been using them in wilderness skills studies and for instruction for several months now with no issues, and we baton and truncate with them.

20160221_181343.jpg
 
For some unknown reason, I have been unable to copy and paste a post into this thread? Sorry the following is broken up into different posts.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top