Wilderness Camp & a Becker !

G

Greebe

Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Messages
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Update -- Scroll down for the trips photo's.


OK, seeing Mikes thread on his first hike made me think that I need to get my butt out for a little time in the woods. So I figure why not head out tomorrow morning for a day in the woods.

I have not spent any time in the woods most of this winter as we had our second son before Christmas. I have been really missing going out. My wife and I used to take out our first son for day camps every weekend the first 6 months of his life as he was born in the first of the summer. However it is harder now with two of them.

I should go start a remodel for a customer tomorrow, but the heck with it, I think I am going to take the day off and spend it in the woods. I could use the solitude for my sanity more then getting started on this job a day earlier. That is the great part of being your own boss. The downside is I don't get paid for my day off.:rolleyes:

So I figure I will post about going out here before I do, that way I can't back out and you guys can hold me accountable if I play hooky on my day of playing hooky out in the woods.:D

I figure I will bring my old hawk, the BK-7 and the BK-2 I have on loan. I will bring a small pot, some grub to cook in it, and a camera to document the day. I will set up a camp with small cooking fire and make the fire with one of the flint and steel kits I make. I haven't made a fire with matches in years so no reason to start. Maybe I will cut a piece of rhododendron and carve a spoon while I am out there.

Any request for things you guys might like to see? I can do a how to or something if you guys have something you are interested in seeing.

I will post some pictures tomorrow night after I get home.

Greebe
 
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You'll have two of my favorite Beckers with you. Definitely would like to see them get some love. I've been loving the beauty everyone has been showcasing in their hike threads the past couple days. I'd love to see more of that since I need to live vicariously through everyone here until I can get out this weekend.
 
All of what you said sounds good. Just get out and enjoy the day.

Be safe and have fun.

Jeremy
 
Will do. I might take some HD video while I am at it.

Having kids is kind of a drag. When I was living in Alaska all I did was spend time in the bush. Hunting, trapping, fishing, and trying to survive was all I had to worry about. Now, well the kids seem to take all the priority and I never make the time to go do the things I like. Hehe, maybe I will tell the wife I am going out on an overnighter. That would be fun. Then I could spend the rest of the week out there and meander back home Friday.:D Hehe
 
Greebe said:
Having kids is kind of a drag. When I was living in Alaska all I did was spend time in the bush. Hunting, trapping, fishing, and trying to survive was all I had to worry about. Now, well the kids seem to take all the priority and I never make the time to go do the things I like. Hehe, maybe I will tell the wife I am going out on an overnighter. That would be fun. Then I could spend the rest of the week out there and meander back home Friday.:D Hehe
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Having kids is...having kids. On the upside of that situation, you get (eventually) to drag them out into the woods with you. They might even enjoy it and get you out more. A lot of my fondest memories from when I was on the "kid" side of the equation was camping with the fam and fishing with my dad.

Enjoy the day. With luck, your little ones will be begging to go soon enough.
 
granitestateofmind said:
Having kids is...having kids. On the upside of that situation, you get (eventually) to drag them out into the woods with you. They might even enjoy it and get you out more. A lot of my fondest memories from when I was on the "kid" side of the equation was camping with the fam and fishing with my dad.

Enjoy the day. With luck, your little ones will be begging to go soon enough.
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Yeah Mike, I think once they are older it will be fun to take the boys out and teach them my skills. I just don't care for babies or toddlers all that much. Maybe I just don't care for kids all that much I don't know.:D

Everyone says I am a great Dad, but after toady of being home with the kids while my wife was a t work I sure don't feel like it. These little humans are hard. :eek:
 
Alright I have my pack put together for tomorrow. Ha, I am not bringing the little yellow dump truck, it just ended up in the photo. :cool:

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Here is what is in my Maxpedition FR-1

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Here is one of the steel strikers I made a few years back. The little rod is for knapping the flint as it gets dull.

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I have never taken bacon when hiking but I am thinking about it after seeing "The Warrior's" post making bacon on his day trip. Usually I just kill something to eat, but my hunting license is expired.
 
Sounds like a great day. Looking forward to pics.
One of my daughters loves the dirt, bugs, lizards and stuff. Says she likes to camp, but when I give her opportunity to camp or hike she always declines. So we usually get one car-camping trip per year right now. Hoping that'll change as they mature.
Funny - I get those "what a great dad" comments a lot. Which is nice - but when I'm watching them, I'm forever wondering if I'm doing it right and why they seem unable to follow simple instructions. (But their teachers love 'em.)
So, go - enjoy a day in the woods. Work will still be there tomorrow!
You could use the dump truck to dig the fire pit...
;)
 
Haha, I made it back. Wish I could have stayed longer though. I will post some pictures this weekend.
 
Alright here are the photos of my trip. I just spent the daylight hours out and set up a small fire and had a little R&R.

Here is the road out to my destination.
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My old pal enjoying the ride.
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One spot I stopped but had no places to set up a camp. I liked this spot because of the pine trees, but it was too thick to even walk in.
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Here is the area I decided on for a day camp.
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The mosquito's were really bad. It reminded me of Alaska. So the first thing I did was to make a fire. This usually seems to do a pretty good job at keeping the bugs at bay.
I used my trusty flint and steel that I made a few years back. I used some birch fluff as I call it. It is the very fine stuff that comes off of paper birch. It is not birch bark per se, as it is just the thin part and not the heavier bark. You can get this off of living trees with no damage.
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A few seconds later and I have fire. I have a video of the process I will post later.
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More to come.

Greebe
 
So after I got the fire going, I decided to get some food cooking as I had not eaten all day. I usually like to hang my pot over the fire and cook which requires a few poles.

First thing was to get a sturdy pole. I like to cut a green pole if I can as I hate having a old dry rotten pole break and drop my pot in the fire. For all the tree huggers out there I found a tree that was still alive but had been damaged. The entire top was broken off and looked like the sapling was not going to make it. Plus it was in a area that it would have been in competition for resources and light. Better to thin an area and have the other trees grow better.

Overall the BK-7 did pretty well. Not as quick as my old tomahawk would have done, but sufficient enough if I was only to have the knife.
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Next thing was to get a dead stick with a crook in the end. Carved it to the right height and then pushed it in the ground. The other end is stuck under a rock that decided to place itself in the perfect spot. Now the post is just hung on the end and let the water boil for my food.
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Here I am hanging out in my little day camp.
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While I was waiting for my food to cook I decided to mess around and see how well the BK-7 would chop through a dead and quite hard birch tree. This task was a little much for the 7. At this point the handle scales despite having been tightened pretty hard at home started coming loose. Booo...:grumpy:
You might notice a little blood on the handle of the 7. She jumped out of my hand when the handle scales loosened up.
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Even after all the chopping the 7 still was very sharp and sliced through the bark like paper.
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The patina was still holding up pretty well at this point.
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The food finally cooked and I got out one of the spoons I carve out of cherry this past summer and dug in.
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After eating I set up the hammock and hung out. :D
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Right after getting in the hammock something started coming towards my camp from down wind. The dog was unhappy and I grabbed my pistol and hoped a bear was not coming to say hi. The dog gave a short chase and it was gone. I am guessing it was a black bear coming out of hibernation. I am not too worried about them as they don't get too huge here, but better safe then sorry. The area I was at is called "Bear Haven" by the locals because of the high concentration of bears. This made it a little hard to get back in the hammock and relax so I started carving a spoon just to see how the large BK-7 could do finer tasks.

First spitting the piece of greenwood.
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Then batoning the ends square.
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Then a little roughing out and here is where I got before stopping.
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Basically I just used the 7 like I would one of my small carving axes. For me it is not as accurate as a dedicated carving axe and lacks the weight to carve efficiently. However if it was all you had it would be sufficient.

Greebe
 
Overall the BK-7 did pretty well. It was a fun knife to take out. The steel in this knife is really nice. With all the chopping and cutting it is still razor sharp. I like that in a knife and think they have nailed the heat treating which I really appreciate.

It is a nice knife, if you don't have one you might look into getting one.

Greebe
 
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