Tales from around the ole' camp fire

This thread is for discussion of outdoor living skills and techniques.

Good stories are also welcome

Let me kick it off with knots

The knots I find most usefull when camping are

round turn and two half hitches
clove hitch

sheet bend

timber/anchor hitch

highwaymans hitch

 

Clove hitch, reef knot, shear lashing and square lashing.

I find that the shear lashing is great for A frames, the square for more solid arrangements and as I tend to carry lots of paracord the reef joins things beautifully.

The clove hitch is the beginning of everything in terms of building!

 

How about tools then? At a basic level I tend to take my own version of the "Nessmuk trio".

I have a CS Trail Hawk, a custom Nessmuk knife (glorious blade!!) and a folder. Typically it will be a Swiss Army or Multi-Tool, although I will often just take a single edge folder for the finnickity stuff I do want to knack my fixed blade on.

I am a big follower of "less is more" and enjoy the challenge of minimal kit!

 

Recently I also bought a Condor "Bushlore" knife and a Condor "Kukris" Machete - both together were less than $100 and are 1075 high carbon. I am hoping to field test them this week with feather sticks, chopping and some battoning

 

My parang does me for most jobs, from felling trees to makeing kindling

A good folding e tool for digging

I like to have a pair of secateurs for cutting scrim, withies etc. Way more efficient than a blade

Millbank bag for water filtering

Poncho and 4x bungees for expedient shelter

Gortex bivi bag

I like the less is more ideal. I try to fit everything into a daysack sized bergan

 

I am taking my new kit out into the woods on Thursday -

Condor "Bushlore" knife



Condor "Kukris" machete



A little battoning/splitting and some feathersticking will be the order of the day I do believe!

 

I am enviouse of you in Canada

West Cork is pretty, but there is no going anywhere without civilization breathing dowm my kneck

 

I went camping a few days ago with a few buddies of mine; I camped since I was a kid and I've been content sleeping under the stars with just a sleeping bag, no problem. My buddies were not since they're inexperienced, and we had to drag a lot of needless things with us, made it quite not-so-enjoyable.

So, things I would advice...

If you're going on a camping trip and you have ZERO experience, go with someone who knows what they're doing. I am not an extensively experienced woodsman by any account, but I grew up in the backwoods in Michigan, and I am quite comfortable being out in nature away from the world...

The guys on the other hand were not, and even though we had a few nice moments, the camping trip didn't turn out to be the best.

Backpacking trips are brutal, as much as they're amazing. If you're backpacking for a few days, even if it's a mini-overnight backpacking trip, carry only the necessities (of course during different climates, terrain, etc. the necessities vary) and that's it. No matter where you decided to go water, food, and shelter are top priorities, but in a mountainous terrain with plenty of running streams (learn as much about the area before navigating it; always have a map and a compass) carrying water isn't as much of a concern if you have water filters, purifiers, etc. In the desert, water becomes THE top priority (that's were we went camping a few days ago), and you need to plan accordingly. I made a mistake on my first backpacking trip and had a backpack full of useless things that unbalanced it quiet terribly, and had to suffer for hours on before deciding to go back.

I am sure finite monkey, or Hannibal can list a list of necessary items that needs to be carried at all times with you no matter where you are much better than me, but always have a good knife.Here's a good article about choosing a good survival knife:

http://artofmanliness.com/2011/11/29/how-to-choose-the-perfect-survival-knife/

The last thing is to enjoy nature, that's why you went out there in the first place; enter with an open-heart, take in the fresh breath of air, enjoy the silence, be respectful to everything around you, and leave no trace.

 

Here's one I heard today

The son of the fella I'm working for went away on a kids 'survival' weekend where they learnt all sorts of field/camp craft

we were discussing ear wax (me and said son-10 y/o) and he pipes up with 'You can use ear wax to lubricate your fire bow spindle.'

From the mouths of babes and sucklings hah!

 

Wow, pretty gross but a must in a survival situation!

 

I have been on many a "camping trips," all of which were forced upon me. I laughed a bit when warriorofanart described backpacking. I like to call it rucking, but I've watched people have to get med-evaced because they planned improperly and carried way too much, didn't balance the weight, and didn't adjust their pack the right way.

There are a couple ways to makes sure you don't get yourself destroyed on a ruck. One is invest in an awesome pack if this is going to become a habit for you. ALICE rucks are great and you can pick them up at an ARMY NAVY surplus store for pretty cheap. I would buy better shoulder straps and a welded frame though. My favorite pack was from a company called TAG, and was a Jumpable Recon Ruck. I regularly did 6 Klick rucks with 80lbs + with that thing, it was amazing. It also cost me $500.

Another step to make sure you're ready is to pack it the right way. Just 1 -2lbs difference on one side of the pack can be the difference in you accomplishing your distance goal. You may not even notice the difference when you first put the pack on, but you will a couple thousand meters into the trip, especially if you're on uneven terrain. Depending on your experience level, you really only need on set of extra clothing, a good 8 quarts of water, a sleeping bag (or poncho liner), a poncho, plenty of socks and some super high calorie snacks in case you can't get your own food. A knife, utility tool, and a firearm (also depending on what level of trek/camping you're doing and the dangers) are necessities. Some strong cord is also a must, and a survival kit is a great investment. All that can weigh up to 35-40 lbs.

The best advice I always gave to people (I'm a beast with a ruck on my back and proud of it!) was prepare yourself by going on rucks before the event. It'll toughen your feet up and get your body used to it. If you like to carry extra things there is no problem with that. If you're too weak to do it, or unsure, then the remedy isn't always carrying less, it's get a little stronger and testing your ability.

As far as camping goes, no tent necessary. Don't crap or pee anywhere near the camp site, keep your food away from you unless you set up an armed watch, and you should be fine, I've always been good like that.

 

First time I hear of rucking, had to look that up.

Well, it depends. Up north in bear county keeping food away from you or in special containers is a must, but down here we don't have any bears left and mountain lions are extremely rare.

Otherwise solid advice, especially balancing the backpack.

 

I never went "backpacking" until I got in the military, and they called it a ruck sack, and we went on "ruck runs" and "rucks." My term for is probably not a very mainstream way of saying it, just learned it that way and it stuck.

I'm always worried about wildlife when I'm out, but I've been out in deep woods so many times and had nothing bother me that I've found it to be something you prepare for but isn't likely to happen if you follow simple rules (like not sleeping near your food, having foreign smells on you, where you defecate . . etc.). One of those "do it a 100 times and it never happens, but the one time it does you're screwed" sort of things.

Anyone participating in this thread have any favorite brands of rucksacks/backpacks, boots, socks, utility equipment (I've always used Gerbers), etc. that they would suggest using due to multiple good experiences with efficiency and durability?

 

in the british Army we went tabbing with our bergans

Most of my gear is army surplus

 

Tabbing with our bergans! I just may steal that, that is awesome.

What brand of boots do you guys use? Regulation for uniform dictate that U.S. Marines have to wear Danners or Bates. They are horrible for ankle support when you're trying to move quickly. A brand that a lot of Marines try to wear before they get reprimanded are SWATS, which I used exclusively in Afghanistan and were AWESOME. Only problem with them is if you are in a wet environment, your feet are staying wet. The Danners and Bates tend to be better in wet climates as they are lined in Gortex.

 

An absolute necessity for a personal survival kit is a handful of fishing hooks and some fishing line. During our military obligation this weekend, myself and a few of the other team leaders arranged some survival training for our guys. Aside from building lean-tos, making fire without matches, and constructing small game traps we did some fishing with makeshift poles (mostly because they're a bunch of country boys and trout season started yesterday).

Find a stout branch from a live tree so it can get some bend in it, strip off any small branches so it's all cleaned up, then cut a notch in one end for where you'll tie the line. A rigger's knot (basically a square knot but with an extra half hitch) to secure it, then an improved clinch knot on the end. Lash a small but stout stick to the line as your bobber, get your bait, and you're ready to go. As a platoon we caught several blue gills, several crappie, and even a couple bass.

 

SAS Survival Handbook, by Lofty Wiseman

A great gift for anyone interested in out door living

I got it in my late teens and have had many happy hours trying out the various skills in it

Comes in the Collins Gem format that will fit into a breast pocket

 

That's my go-to pooping literature.

 

This just shows how much is environment specific. Camping in the Britain I'd always do the opposite. The sort of food thieves we have here won't attempt to take food near a human but will go for food away from them.

 

I was going to sleep last night and started daydreaming about the pack I had to sell. http://http://www.tacticalassaultgearstore.com/jumpablereconruckpack.aspx

So I looked it up to see if the price had dropped (which it hasn't really) and then started getting all excited about going camping and looking up different gear to go camping. I really want to plan out a camping trip where I can set a destination that's hard to reach and is deep into a national park, reach it and then ruck back to the starting point. I would like the whole deal to take at least three days and I believe I'm going to start buying the gear necessary to do something like that. It'll be a while though, since survival kits to medical essentials and rucks to sleeping bags is going to cost a pretty penny.

That website sells a lot of really good stuff for military personnel, but although it's advertised for military the crossover for much of the gear to civilians is like buying Craftsman tools vs. Black and Decker. It'll last so much longer, have greater durability and is built for all clime and place.

I looked at the site for two hours last night and was getting so giddy about a lot of things, then realized I actually have no use for most of it! We called that being a "gear queer" in the military and due to expenses you have to regulate what's cool to have and what's necessary : P. Well, I guess I'll just have to justify it under "apocalypse/zombie invasion" now.