I had another opportunity to "Get Outta Dodge" this month, so I grabbed it. I went into the Golden Trout Wilderness again, to a new location. Hoodlums in the know will remember it as the infamous Dead Cow Camp. (Don't ask... It has to do with Aliens, or something...)
I was horse packed in on Monday, the 22d, by the good ole' boys from the Cottonwood Pack Station, and spent the rest of the day setting up. For the next few days, I spent a great deal of time unwinding... Sitting around in the sun, taking short hikes, playing with some projects, doing my therapy work on myself, basking in the silence & solitude, and contemplating the wonders of Ibuprofen! ;-)
The weather was just grand. During the day, it rarely went above 70 degrees F, while the nights got down into the high 20's. There was usually ice in the coffee can in the mornings... Not a single cloud to be seen the entire week.
The country is pretty intense, with lots of rocks, and sand... Actually, decomposed granite. The views were pretty nice, tho...
One of the things I wanted to try out was a prototype by a local knife maker. I am looking for a forged, full tang version of the world famous Mora knife, a Scandinavian design that has been around for centuries. Here are the two: Proto on top, the Mora on the bottom. I will take my feedback to the maker, and we'll work on it some more...
The Mora was my constant companion, always around the neck, never in the way. It served most all of my cutting and whittling chores the best I have experienced so far. Highly recommended, if you can stand the cost... I think they are a whopping $9.00 now, from RAGWEED FORGE.
Another project was the comparison of two potential fire bow bearings made by a friend. I have had some poor luck with some bearings. One, a deer antler, heats up and binds just as I'm getting into the short strokes. Here, I have one of Teflon and one of Delron. As you can see, the Delron bearing melted from the heat. The Teflon bearing hardly heated up at all, it is so slick...
I had purchased a Cold Steel Bushman, having heard so much about them... It was only fair in performance, I think... It tended to twist in the hand when chopping, and the thickest willow it would chop through was about 1/2". It would literally bounce off of stuff that the Simonich Aurora would sail right through. However, we're talking $20 worth of knife vs. $400... It would do in a pinch, I guess.
The little stream that ran through this big meadow, was just a ditch in most places. It was readily noticeable, however, by the grass and thick willows that grew alongside.
Here, you can get a feel for the colors that were beginning to show, due to the freezing nights.
A nice little waterfall...
Downstream a short distance, the stream dives under this boulder field. The picture does not show it very well, but the boulders actually rise up in front of me, as I take the pic... There are boulders the size of Volkswagens here. I would be very interested in knowing the geologic event that caused this, it is really impressive.
Here, I am standing at the top of the hill, overlooking the boulder field going down to the next meadow. It is a long, long way to the bottom...
Looking downstream from where I was standing in the last pic.
Close by, there was an old cowboy camp... There was a little meadow for feeding the stock, and an old fire ring, rock tables, and a log someone had shaved off the top for use as a bench seat.
Just to the right was a natural spot for storing supplies, or for a Hoodlum, it would make a great emergency shelter.
And on the same subject, doesn't this look like a Hoodlum two-room condo?
While out on another one of my hikes, I was looking for some potential survival type campsites. I came across something interesting... Two rocks, about 3 feet apart, with pine needles spread between them... Hummm.. A decidedly Hoodlum feel to that one!
In a spot only a Hoodlum might look was another interesting object...
Now there is only one person, who might be in the area, who calls me "Wild Bill"... Eric!
Yep, one of Eric's stop-overs on his trip. At this time he was many miles south of me, and had already been in the wilderness for a week.
Look at the view from his camp...
So, guess who strolled into camp a couple of days later?
WoodsDrummer or Woods Bum(er)?
Eric found a place for his bed, and began to move the needles in....
Right in the middle of this pile of rocks we were camped at, was a small "room" formed by the sides of four straight sided rocks. It was perfect for getting out of the wind, and Eric would fix dinner in there. We'd sit and yack for hours until bedtime. With just a handful of fire, it was pleasantly warm in there, even with the low night time temperatures...
Speaking of cooking dinner, I tried out a new Titanium Sierra Zip Stove. An innovative design, it uses a single AA battery to blow pre-heated air into the fire chamber. Like a tiny forge, it gets really hot. It is pretty fuel efficient, but must be tended constantly, as it burns the fuel quickly. One can run it on very small twigs or pine cones, however, and need not gather any large wood at all. A nice little tool for when fuel is scarce, or you wish to keep a low profile.
I was trying out a new tent, a Black Diamond Megamid. Pretty interesting concept; a square based, pyramid tent, it has no floor. I just strung a line between two trees, and hung the tent up. I staked out the base, and moved in. It offered a tremendous amount of "floor" space inside, and I kept a lot of gear in there...
The floorless design really reduces the weight a lot, and eliminates all concerns about tracking dirt inside. That's a Good Thing for me.... ;-)
Here's another project of mine... I cut a really long piece of willow, stripped it of bark, and tied it to a tree to straighten it out somewhat and to dry for a couple of days. The water was crystal clear, and it was really tough to get up on the trout without spooking them. The long pole made it almost like cheating. Almost...
I cut a hole in the butt with the SAK awl, and tied the end of the line there.
I then ran it up to a loop of snare wire at the tip, and back down again, where I tied on a fly. I had the ability to cast out to twice the length of the pole, but obviously did not need it here. The major use for this setup is to pull the line back, and vary the length of line hanging from the tip. As you can see in this pic, I have the tip within a couple of feet of the water.
Bass fishermen will recognize this concept as a "flippin' stick".
One of those beautiful Golden Trout.
Now here is some innovation for you. Eric made this knife from some material he found out there, a pair of pliers, a file, a rock to beat it into shape, and another knife to fashion the scabbard.
I used it to work with some willow, and it is surprisingly handy. Here I formed part of a figure 4 trap trigger.
In addition, it just looks damn cool...
However, all cool things come to an end, and the week passed quickly.
On Sunday, the 28th, the packer showed up to haul me out. A few hours later, Eric and I were scarfing down burgers & ice cream in town. Another great vacation!
The long trail home......
