Well, Here are some pics of my recent trip into the High Serria's.
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In-Field Journal entries are like this:
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After-trip comments are like this:
I wasn't alone on this boondoggle, here is a line-up of the usual suspects... Myself, Eric & Wally.
07-18-01
Arrived pack station 1630 hrs. Met Wally & Eric, had dinner. In bed at dark. No sleep at all...
07-19-01
Up at 0500. Bkfst of 1 Ramen noodles & Eric's coffee. "Good for degreasing engines and killing brain cells." (The Matrix)
Gear at pack station 0700. Looong pack in. Arv. base camp 1215. Wally & I are wiped out. My back in spasms and strained left knee making shelter.
Made tube tent w/ plastic. Spreader sticks too thick, tore plastic. Duct tape no good. Need to find better tape.
Eric caught fish for dinner. In bed by 2030 - Back in spasms.
The country is grand up there, and here are some shots of the country Eric said "We had to put up with".
07-20-01
Cold night. Bed slipped during night, opened shelter & leveled duff better.
Wally re-engineered his shelter today. Snugpac sleeping bag sucks.
Some of our activities included:
EATING!!! By far the most important, or we would not have spent so much time doing it, right?
Pemmican, corn, bannock, potato flakes for bkfst. Seasoned w/ salt & curry.
Yuck...
"Hoodlum Kitchen"
You can get the water to boil faster, by suspending it over the fire...
Home comes the Fisherman...
Eric saved the tin plate some sweet rolls came in, and used it for several meals... Here, he also makes some bannock pizza.
Used Eric's rifle to take my 1st Marmot. Baked in coals in tinfoil w/ sweet & sour sauce. Tasted good, but like a piece of rubber.
Eric made a stove out of discarded materials found in a cowboy camp trash pile... OK, it's the same pile you see in Cave Cooking 1. Check out the grill, and the adjustable vent hole!
Wally puts a spark arrestor on top, it was a pasta colander we found in the trash pile.
Woods Master, or Woods maniac? You decide...
Wally cranks up the Sierra Stove. It worked probably best of all of our options.
After dinner, Wally does his best impression of a limp pine needle. I wasn't far behind...
Fish & Game crew (~15 men) moved into meadow and set up within sight. Shit... Going to plant willow along streams.
07-21-01
Cold night - Both Wally & I.
Caught limit of trout. Foil in coals w/ seasoning. Good, but burned on bottom.
Washed clothes & cleaned up.
Here's one version of a Hoodlum Shower...
07-22-01
Very cold night. We consider it might be metabolism. Wally & I have been eating light (fish, freeze dried)... Will try calorie dense meal tonight. If this doesn't work, will consider Fire Bed.
Lost of human activity this morn.
Fish & Game cop came into camp. Said we are violating rules: camping w/in 100 ft. of stream, no shooting allowed, & Marmots are on Federal Protected Species list. Will not write us ticket this time.
(Turns out the lying SOB was a horse packer for the Forest Service. Has a history of this shit... I heard later that he has become a California Highway Patrol officer... Great.)
Reminds me of why I come to the wilderness in the first place.
There were lots of things to discover in the rocky hillsides, here is a rock with some old grind holes.
Some views of the creek we fished in.
Shelter: Here is a pic of mine; I used a piece of plastic, and tied it up like a tube tent...
It backed up against an impressive hillside. The shelter is in the lower left corner, between two pines. The creek runs down the canyon on the left.
Had to clean water filter for first time today. In spite of using coffee filter tied over intake, a fine scum plugged filter. Need to add more to kit.
Projects: Some of the things I practiced...
Solar Still: A huge expenditure of energy, and sweat, that was not compensated for with water. Not even a single drink, and it was placed in moist ground.
Traps and Triggers:
Wally taught me how to make the Promontory Peg. Used Spiderco. W/ minor fitting, it worked well. They can be made w/ steel knife, we made 3 for 3 that worked.
Two Stick Deadfall, with the trigger stick sticking out from under the stone for the pic.
Two Stick Deadfall, set up on a marmot trail...
Twitch Up Snare set, using the two notched sticks, from Vol. 2.
A close-up of the trigger
Bird Trap set up on the hiking staff. Notice there is no snare loop, this was just for practice. It took 4 days before something tripped it. Another trap, a coffee can buried in the ground with bird seed inside, failed to produce anything. Good for opportunistic catches, but a guy could starve, depending on just those two traps...
07-23-01
Much warmer last night! Wally, too. Calorie dense meal did the trick. I'm giving my poncho liner to Wally, as he is still too cold for comfort.
I experimented with making shelter with poncho. Very limited. Open on sides like bashka...
Removed solar still due to concerns about Ranger. Pretty worthless effort anyway.
Cut a big piece of willow for Wally to make handle for ATAX. Chops and splits wood very well...
Eric presented Wally and I w/ wonderful gift. Small knife engraved with "Mini-tractor Trip".
Ya need people like Eric in your life to serve as an example of how to treat people. I feel truly honored and blessed.
07-25-01
Eric left before we got up this morning. Will miss his presence.
Am attempting fire bow/drill again today w/ materials gathered here.
Sucks...
Went to Marmot Central today, and walked around entire thing, looking for trap locations. Twitch-up snares an impossibility.
One place to make a dead fall. I used 2-stick w/ trigger stick. Took quite a lot of time to find rock, set in place, trim sticks, & set. Peg might be better if one had bait & could set the rock high enough.
Dozens of places for snares... Lesson here...
07-26-01
Last full day. Wally & I agree that 9 days is too long.
Made pitch sticks today for Wally & I.
Made twitch-up snare w/ rubber tubing. Worked w/ inner line from 550 cord. Agonizing... Resorted to wire for loop.
Did some fishing. Only caught those that jumped completely out of water to get fly.
07-27-01
Time to go home! Packer shows up... A 14 year old kid named Lane. All horses ground hitched except mine, I was in saddle. Mule buggered and all stock took off. I caught up the mule, and the kid's horse, and he started over... Thankful I know how to ride.
Got underway at 1200... Had to stop several times to re-tie the mule's load.
Here is a shot of the pack string... Wally and the packer are retying the load on the mule after it spooked and ran off, spilling part of the load. Every one of them is tied to a limb this time...
Well... That's it, folks! Hope you had fun with the pics. Sorry some of them seem so washed out, the digital versions are not as good as the prints.
Later,
Bill
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