At one point I was participating in a course that we were required to provide journal entries of the task we were doing. I found these old entries and thought I would share them (randomly) here. I will post pics and associated videos as I come across them.
11 Dec 2014
I selected to check out the area around High Valley, near the small towns of Ola and Sweet in SW Idaho. Its hard to believe that we are in the middle of December and I can get up into the area. The roads were pretty sloppy so I had to use 4 low in several places—mainly to not damage the roads.
My plan was to only do a recon, settle some of my gear in my pack, and just relax. I felt like I may have pushed Intermediate to a point that I was “on task” and not really enjoying it. So today was intended to slow down. In Intermediate- I combined a few task on outings–so my time in the woods was more about getting out—getting set up—-knocking out requirements. I let it become a second job, so this time, I am going to take my time and enjoy the experience.
After cruising around and drawing a few hasty maps of where I want to be in the spring (or rest of the winter if the area stays clear of the several feet of snow it gets) I decided I would build a fire, make some coffee, hang out and maybe nap.
I have ben intrigued by the one-stick fire concept so I figured if I was going to do a fire—well let’s just do one of those.
I selected a piece of yellow pine that had an awful knot in it. Batoning and splitting it to the required sections was pretty easy. I had it done in a matter of minutes….but getting the fire to light from the tinder bundle made from the stick was tough. It took me almost an hour to do what takes only moments when I have my fire steel in hand.
My mistake was not creating a large enough tinder bundle. My scrapings and shavings form the stick were only about the size of a golf ball— I neded more scrapings.
Once lit– I was impressed by how long and hot the fire burned- hot enough to make coffee and height was just over my knees at its apex.
Overall good day. Trigger is my normal bushcraft pal, but opted to add our black lab (Ranger) to the mix. He as always a pain in the @$$ on these trips.
Did use the Anorak my wife and I have been working on. Not turning in that one as an assignment since it has been a partnership—but will turn in the other wool ones I am making/have made.
Here is the video from the fire—I need to get my GoPro cams back into action—battery life on the iPod is killing me….
Adventure IQ 