The Baxter State Park Trip: Part Two August 2013.

                                                                                    The Hike:

We went for a five mile hike, and the scenery was beautiful.  Colleen got many pictures of the wildlife, the ponds, and the mountains.  The first pond we came to had a cow moose grazing in the water.  It just ignored all the tourists and hikers and just ate.  Colleen and I got about a dozen good pictures, and moved on.  Later on in the hike another moose crossed our path just ten yards in front of Sean. I have never seen Sean's eyes ever looked so shocked in my life.  Colleen and I went off the trail, and got some really good pictures of the moose.  We took pictures of the moose until the wind changed direction, and it noticed us.  The moose's head came up from feeding, and looked at us.  A voice in my head said, "Time to go".  I whispered to Colleen, "Lets go".  Colleen initially wanted to stay and take more pictures, but I was insistent.  We backed away slowly and quietly.  Standing less than 25 yards from an animal like that is something I will remember for the rest of my life. 

Time To Go.

Me Getting Started Down the Rapids

The Rapids:

Later in the day we went swimming in the rapids.  The rocks in the stream were worn smooth by the flowing water.   Going down the rapids was like riding a natural water slide.   Sean and I both loved it.  The water still freezing cold in August.  Sean and the other boy wanted to get out of the water while in the strong current, so we had to make a human chain to get them out.  No one was in danger
they just wanted out of the water without going further down stream where the water was calmer.

Human Chain

Time To Go Home:

Sean was torn between going home and going brook trout fishing, but could not decide which he wanted to do. As a result we did not spend another night at Baxter.  It was a wonderful trip and I want to repeat it.  Sean regretted going home early and would like to go back.  We are all in better shape now, and would like to go back and hike to the top of Mount Katadin the next time we stay.  If you have a chance to visit Baxter State Park please go and see it.  You will not regret the trip.  Until next time keep your knives sharp and your powder dry.

Me In The Rapids

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. 

Summer Fishing

I have been having a busy summer and have not been blogging much thanks to my computer dying, but I have lots to write about.  I have been doing some bass fishing in shallow, deep cover water with Colleen.  Before our last trip in June, she spontaneously said "Let's camp out in the bog!" (yup, she is a keeper!). We threw the camping stuff in the SUV, loaded the canoe, and went.  This was not bushcraft/survival camping; this was comfort camping to ease her into sleeping outdoors.  We pitched a tent and on the island and had a nice little campsite which was almost invisible.  It was HOT (in the 90's) and humid so staying warm at night was not an issue... staying cool was. It was very buggy, being a bog and all, but Colleen used Off with DEET with no complaints.

The fishing there is awesome! I caught a bass and Colleen caught the biggest bass I have ever seen. I am 19 inches from elbow to finger tip.  The bass was huge.  The bass were territorial and were guarding their spawning beds.  She caught her bass before sundown on the first night.  The next day I think we each caught a smaller bass 12 inches or so.

The camping was good and we learned a few things.  Like Colleen does not like sleeping on the ground we need a mattress, and Colleen needs her body pillow where ever she goes.  Also 90 degrees and high humidity do not make an environment suitable for cuddling.  Also, I need to lose more weight because after an hour sitting in a backless canoe chair, I am in a lot of pain.

The morning was brutally hot and by 7:00 am when I made my coffee on the Crusader Stove I almost didn't want it.  We were ready for home by 9:00am and packed it in.  It was an awesome little adventure.

Whats in My Bushcraft Bag: Shelter

lean-to and heat reflector

Shelter could keep you warm when your cold, cool when your hot, and protect you from the sun and other things.  I have two Walmart tarps made out of a windbreaker like material, a wool blanket, and seasonably appropriate clothing.  In the winter I set the tarps up as an lean too in front of my fire with a heat reflector behind i\t.  Underneath the tarp I place a disposable space blanket.  I will photograph this set up at a later date to show you when winter approaches again.  The picture underneath is similar to the set up I use , but the roof of the shelter is the tarp and emergency space blanket set up.  I would like to replace the tarp with a Grabber Space Blanket, a S.O.L Sport Utility Blanket, or a Cabelas Sportsman's Space Blanket.  They are grommeted tarps with mylar emergency blanket on the underside. These space blankets are some winter upgrades I would like to make to my bushcraft kit..

Cabelas Sportsman's Space Blanket

S.O.L Sport Utility Blanket

Grabber Space Blankets

In the warmer months I like to set my tarps up as an A-frame and make a hammock out of my wool blanket (military surplus army blanket) under it.  I drape a mosquito net over the A-frame set up.  A mosquito net is as important in warm weather in Maine as a wool blanket is in cold weather.  You cannot have a good nights sleep getting chewed alive, and you must also protect yourself from West Nile Virus.  The picture to the right shows a set up similar to what I use minus the mosquito net.  I am going to upgrade from a wool blanket as a hammock to a two person hammock for my girlfriend and I.   I will retain the wool blanket for use as a blanket, or a hammock for Sean, and I probably still use my Walmart Tarps instead of the space blanket ones that I want for cold weather use.

Trash Bag Tarp

Another emergency shelter idea to use in place of a tarp is a 50 or 55 gallon contractor bag/drum liner.  You cut the sides and leave the bottom intact you are left with small tarp.  Tie rocks into folded over edges of the bag/liner to use in place of the grommets to secure the bag/liner.  These are a good idea for short term shelter a day to a week, or supplementing/augmenting a shelter made from natural materials  This is a cheap option at less than a dollar,  I also have a dollar store disposable poncho, and a blue dollar store tarp.  I have been using the dollar store tarp as a ground cloth for a year and it is till intact.  Until next time keep your knives sharp and your powder dry.