"Survival trip"

I haven't done much posting about wandering, I've realized. I'll get back to it eventually.

Last Friday I went on what my buddy Matt kept calling a "survival trip"—the idea being that we just go out with (more or less) nothing for a night and just practice skills. He brought just the clothes on his back and I think he was a little bummed that Clay (the other guy who came with us) and I brought knives. I also brought water, which was frowned on. My bad. (And a blanket, which I didn't use.)

We basically started trying to get a fire going right away. And failed. For hours. The hand drill stuff we had just wasn't working out.

Some nice big blood blisters to show for my efforts.

We debated building a shelter for a while, and relocating to do so, but in the end we all agreed that the weather was going to hold off and if it did start to rain (it was in the forecast) we could move under some trees and keep relatively dry. The rest of the day was largely wandering around, scouting out areas, and looking for food.

The spot we settled was alright: It had nice scenery and there were a bunch of river grapes and an apple tree so at least we'd have some food, but as we found out later in the day it was rather high-traffic. If/when we do it again we'll have to pick a more secluded location.

A lot of tracks along the riverbanks, as you might expect.

Something in the weasel family I think. Tracks were in the 2-2 pattern typical of weasels and their kin.

Blue heron I believe.

Racoon and some others.

A pretty cool day in all.

After ditching the hand drill we went to the bow. Matt was trying to get a cedar kit together using stone tools while I worked on a backup using basswood. We tried cedar rootlets but they all broke on us. I think, had we prepped for it more and used our time more wisely throughout the day, we easily could have gotten an "all natural" fire going; but as the day got shorter and our need/desire for fire grew stronger we just wanted to get one started. We were just about to give up and go to our shoelaces (which we had set a goal not to use earlier in the day) when Clay found a section of rope tied to a nearby tree (a product of being in a well traveled area...). Technically it fit a use what we find goal.

As I started working on it some guys in an ATV pulled up, and as I worked the bowdrill in my underwear (having just gotten out of the water) they just looked on. They turned out to be not much of a bother, more interested in what we were doing than most people would probably be and not offering any snide remarks or any "I got a lighter you know!"s. As soon as the fire was lit they were on their way. I guess they have a good story to tell about the guy in his underwear who started a fire rubbing sticks together they found in the woods one day. (Clay pointed out that the story might start with "These two long-haired hippies and this weirdo with a mohawk ...")

Anyway, a last little bit of scenery.

And then the next day when we were setting up sweatlodge stuff there was a praying mantis on a pile of birch bark. I tried to get the camera as close as I could get and she started swatting at it! Pretty cool, even though it meant all of my pictures ended up a bit blurry.