New Place to Hike: Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust

Approaching Dead River

The Dead River Picnic Area

Last year Colleen and I found a new place to hike.  It was Colleen's first real hike and she did well.  The Kenduskeag Steam hike was all flat.   Collen found the place for us and it is an easy hike until you start up the mountain, and even then it is not too bad.  Colleen and I are in better shape now so it would be even easier now for us.  The trail lakes a long winding route around the mountain until the last 1.1 mile when you really just head straight up it.  The first part of the winding trail takes you by Dead River if you go left down the hill you can walk right down to Dead River.   If you go down the hill you will find a picnic table and a small barbeque grill where you can have a small fire.   The picture below shows the view from the picnic area.  The picnic table and barbeque are behind me to my left.  It is very peaceful and totally worth the steep climb up and down the trail on this little side trip.

Start of The Hike Up Mountain

The part of the trail before you start up the hill is almost like logging road and easy to walking.  The real trail at least in my minds looks like the first picture on left.  That seems like the real start up the mountain.  If you notice the steep incline going up you will see that Colleen is going to have some problems with her choice of footwear.  She did not have hiking boots, so she wore a pair of her running shoes.  She has a bare foot style of Brooks running shoes that offered minimal support.  Her feet and ankles were going get beat up on the walk down the hill.  I had on a pair of Asics stability shoes that offered a lot of support.  We decided to get her a pair of hiking boots before the next hike like this.  The view from the top was amazing.  This was the hike that got Colleen is hooked on hiking.  If you are in Maine this is a nice place to check out.  There also great swimming, and other hikes.  Until next time keep you knives sharp and you powder dry.

Me at the Top

A Very Self Satisfied Colleen

Penobscot Narrows Bride in Upper Right of Picture

Cutting Tool Review: The Mora HQ Robust Knife

Mora HQ Robust

A year ago I had gotten a Mora HQ Robust Knife for my step-son Sean.  I gave it to him on the Baxter State Park Trip.  I wanted him to have a Scandinavian ground knife that was sturdy, and easy to sharpen.  I wanted the knife to have a high carbon steel blade.  I did not trust Sean to keep the high carbon steel blade blade oiled to prevent rusting so the knife needed to be inexpensive.  The taking care of the knife was a valid concern, because Sean lost it about three months later.  My family not having the knife anymore is the reason I am using stock pictures of the Mora HQ Robust from the Internet.  I have always wanted to try a Mora knife myself, because they are a polarizing knife in the outdoor community.  People seem to either love or hate them.  All of the previously mentioned criteria made getting Sean a Mora an easy choice. 

My impressions about the Mora HQ Robust Knife were all positive.

The blade thickness at the spine is twice as thick as the Mora Companion, one of Mora's most popular knives.  The picture on the right shows the Robust on the left, and the Companion on the left.  The spine was about as thick as my Enzo Trapper.  The spine had a nice 90 degree angle which makes it good for striking sparks off a ferrocerium road, and scrapping tasks like gathering cedar bark for tinder.  The high carbon steel blade threw sparks when I struck it with a piece of quartz.  Enough sparks that if I had a piece of charred cloth I would have another combustion device.  Maine does not have any naturally occurring flint or chert, so quartz was my only choice.   You can usually get one or two good strikes off Quartz before it crumbles.  The blade was sharp, and stayed sharp for quite a while.  It batoned, and then made feather sticks for the fire with ease.  It never really dulled on me.  It just needed a touch up on a Japanese water stone like a month later. 

The handle was comfortable, being of some kind of rubber coated
plastic.  The handle felt ergonomic, and did not fatigue the hand.  It provided for a good grip even when my hands were sweaty, or wet.  Inside the handle is a rat tail tang that runs the 3/4 length of the handle.  A lot of Mora's detractors criticize this feature of the knife, thinking it makes for a weak knife.   This tang is reinforced by plastic.  I have had no issues with it bending or breaking, and I did some extensive batoning with it.

Note the 3/4 Rat Tail Tang

The sheath was a rigid friction fit plastic.  The sheath is something Mora's detractors criticize, but to me it was an asset.  I have always been a fan of the hollow handled survival knifes ability to carry things in the handle,  but hated they were weak due to no tang.   Using Ranger Bands (inner tube used as rubber bands) I was able to secure a button compass, needles, hooks, sinkers, mono-filament line, snare wire, a whistle, can opener, and a ferrocerium rod.  People who call the sheath cheap are just not looking at its full potential.  If you look at the photo on the right you can see all the stuff that was carried on the sheath.  The whistle, can opener, button compass, and fishing/sewing kit were secured under a four inch long ranger band.  The snare wire and ferrocerium rod were secured with two one inch pieces of Ranger Band, over the four in piece of Ranger Band.

A Lost Opportunity the Mora 511

The knife cost was about twenty dollars when I bought it from Amazon.  Now it is going for $13.50 from Amazon.  The price point alone makes this a pretty darn good knife.  My first exposure to Mora knives was when my Uncle Wes showed me "bait knives" that were about eight dollars a knife.   He said, "you could just get a half dozen of these, and throw them away"  This was about ten or more years ago, and had not heard of Mora knives yet.  These were the knives he was talking about in the picture on the right.  They were Mora 511 knives in stainless steel.  Mora knives are inexpensive, priced like they are disposable, but they are a good quality knife built to last.  Looking back I wish I had bought a half dozen.   Live and learn.

I love Mora knives, and feel a lot of the people who hate them are probably knife snobs.  I did not want to admit I liked this $20 dollar knife as much as I like my $100 Enzo Trapper, but it was the truth.  My recommendation is give them a try, and keep an open mind.  This would not be my first choice for a one tool option,  but this, and hatchet or Bahco Laplander saw would be an awesome combination.  Until next time keep your knives harp and your powder dry.

Baxter State Park Trip: Part One

 The Baxter State Park Trip.  August 2014

My girlfriend Colleen, and I have been planning this trip all summer.
Colleen reserved a wooden lean-to campsite in the park.  In the lean-to next to us was a nice couple that we knew, and their son.  We were going to spend the weekend with this couple. My group, and the other couple were going to take turns preparing meals.  In preparing for the trip we had to figure out how to bug proof the lean-to.  We looked online for bug nets but they started at $29.00 for one net, and were small. One a whim we went to Maine Military Supply, and looked for a military surplus bug net, and found one large enough for the three of us for $15.00.  It was a good buy.

Packing:
I have done nothing but bushcraft/ survival camping for the past ten years until I meet Colleen.  The last trip I took with a lot of gear was when I was still young enough to be living at home with my parents.  So lets just say I was in shock that bordered on trauma when I had to pack all the stuff for the trip.  We had coolers, totes full of food, cameras, two Coleman lanterns, a Coleman stove, my bushcraft bag, two cast iron pans, an enameled dutch oven, a futon pad, blankets, and sleeping bags.  When I was packing, Colleen could tell I was over whelmed by all the stuff, and helped me pack it, and organize it.  Too honest she took over, and I was happy for it.  I did the lifting she told me where to put it, and it unstressed me.  We packed the Blazer from bottom to ceiling with half the passenger area folded down for extra cargo area.

Food:
One of the goals was for me to make bannock on the campfire, and cook as much on an open fire as possible.  I was largely successful the only thing I cooked on the Coleman stove was the baked beans, and smoked sausage, because everyone wanted hot food, and wanted it now.  I had made the baked beans, and sausage at home the night before, and reheated them on the Coleman stove.  Colleen who hates baked beans loved my beans, and ate heartily.  Colleen made awesome trail mix for us out of peanuts, mixed nuts, m&ms, and chocolate coated toffee candy, and I loved it.   Colleen made meatloaf and potato hobo meals, which I cooked them on the campfire in two cast iron skillets.  I made home fries with smoked sausage which we ate with eggs on the campfire in my cast iron skillets.  The other couple made chili one meal, deer meat another, bacon and eggs for a breakfast meal. We all ate well that trip.  You will notice I mentioned bannock at the beginning of the paragraph, but did not talk about it again since, well that is because I am saving it for another Learning From Failure blog entry.

Fire:

At Baxter they do not want you to bring your own fire wood, so they sell it to you.  This keeps you from potentially bringing in insects that could harm the forest.  The wood they sell is all cedar scraps from after they make the planks you walk on the wet parts of the trails.  A lot of the cedar was wet, and needed to be split to get at the dry wood inside.   I did not bring a hatchet (have not bought one yet), nor did the other couple.  I did bring my Becker BK2, and just batoned the kindling to expose the dry parts of wet wood.  My step son Sean took the Becker BK2 to the other couple, and put on a batoning clinic showing them how to turn logs into kindling with a fixed blade knife.  Sean loves the Becker BK2, and wants it for his own.  He turned logs into pencil sized kindling when he got bored.  I am going to give him the Becker BK2 when I can afford a Condor Knife and Tool Hudson Bay Knife to replace it.  The Condor is only $40, and the Becker BK2 is $75 he might be getting the better deal.  I used my Enzo Trapper, and Sean's Mora HQ Robust Knife to make feather sticks to help get the fire going better that.  I also gathered a lot of birch bark from dead trees on the ground and dried it.  I also batoned with both the Enzo Trapper, and the Mora HQ Robust.  They both have Scandinavian grinds and held up to the rough use, and were still sharp enough to make feather sticks.  I will do a review on the Mora HQ Robust knife another time.

The First Hike:
We hiked from the campsite to a nearby waterfall it was only .8 miles, but it seemed to have gone on forever until some one pointed out we had only been walking for ten minutes.  It made me think I am going to make some pace counter beads to help keep track of distance (ten beads is a kilometer).   We got to the waterfall, and it was beautiful.  There was a mist from the spray from the rapids upstream, and the waterfall below.  The water from the stream was ice cold, even colder than the ocean is right now in Maine.  It is painful until your feet go numb.  Colleen was rocking her new Tevas, and was not afraid to get them wet.  Colleen got some beautiful pictures of the waterfall.

Continued soon in Baxter State Park Trip: Part Two

I am trying to get caught up on my blog after being gone for a year, due to not having a computer.  I am trying to mix in a little bit of what is going on now, and what happened while I did not have a computer to write about it.   Until next time keep you knives sharp, and your powder dry.

Bushcrafting Buddies New and Old: Changes in My life in the Past Year

My life has changed for the better from a year ago. My Blogging for a while is going to be a combination of  what I am doing now, and what I did last year when I did not have a laptop.    I am excited to tell everyone what I have done in the past year.

Luna and I Doing Couch to 5k

 I have lost 25 pounds and am getting regular exercise.  That last 25 pounds represents a 100 pound weight loss over four years.  I used to be 325 pounds.  I have had a lot of help with exercise from the lovely Colleen, and new friend Luna.  I have switched to a low carb paleo diet and the weight has melted off me.  My weight plateaued at 250 pounds three years ago, and thanks to Colleen switching us to a paleo diet the weight has come off in like two months.

I have a step-daughter who is going to college in a few days.  Her energy, and the vitality she brings to our house will be missed.  I wished I had more time with her to do things that I never thought I would do like going to field hockey games, and family sit down dinners.  The realization that I wish I had gotten to see more of her games came to me when I saw some Junior High kids practicing getting ready for the season to start.  I was a for twenty years of my adult life I was a bachelor, so I never thought these would be things I would ever experience, let alone miss.  My life has taken some really interesting turns in the last year and all of them were positive. 

Sean, my step-son as always is ready to do anything outdoors.  This last month he has learned to snorkel.  He was intimidated at first, but now takes to it like a duck to water.  The video you see is his break through with the snorkel and he has never looked back.  Excited to be taking him to the Caribbean in May, where he will have lots of opportunities to snorkel.  

Somebody Likes the Woods

I acquired a new bush-crafting buddy almost 6 months ago. She is cute, and quite the swimmer.  Her name is Luna, and she is willing to go anywhere anytime. She loves running with me, and hiking.  She is a water dog, loves too swim, and will retrieve anything you throw in the water.  She has two settings play, and sleep.

Somebody Likes the Water

I asked Colleen to marry me, and we are getting married in Mexico in December of this year.  I proposed on Old Orchard Beach in March during a getaway for her birthday.  In addition to the engagement,  she sprained her ankle badly, but toughed it out, and we had a great weekend.  Colleen encourages, and supports me in all my outdoor endeavors and is usually my willing companion on outdoor adventures.  There is nothing in life that she does not support me in and am happy be able to spend the rest of my life with her.