Alone in the Adirondacks GGTBod 2016

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GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
As promised BCUK I am eventually onto reporting about the solo part of my 2016 Adirondack trip, I say solo, really only part of it is solo but I am nowhere near the part where loads of great folks from the Bushcraft USA website come and meet up with me, a mad Englishman without a castle who is paddling around north America unarmed and uneaten by bears (so far, touch would, cross me fingers).


So if any of you have seen the videos I have been sharing lately you might be aware that I have just spent a week with my father wild camping and traveling around on and around Forked Lake, if you hadn't watched the vids (why not?:) ) but have read this then that is cool because you too are now also aware that this happened. Well the old man had to go back to his reality which involved work instead of staying in the woods, he just had time before driving home to drop me off anywhere I chose in the Adirondack State Park with the agreement to meet me anywhere I chose the day after i call or thereabouts whenever I gave him a call (it's a 4.5hr drive each way).


couple of shots from Forked Lake

IMG_20161011_081009.jpg IMG_20161011_102239.jpg IMG_20161011_181342.jpg IMG_20161011_141505.jpg IMG_20161013_083406.jpg IMG_20161014_180953.jpg IMG_20161013_072235.jpg IMG_20161014_082944.jpg

there are 3 videos on my Youtube channel covering me and my dad's time on Forked Lake if you fancy some escapism check them out.


So then I basically had been aware this was going to be the situation since very early in my planning like back in January and i had been looking since then for where i would like to be dropped off, I studied google maps until my eyes hurt and poured over my paper maps, I had it narrowed down to either Lake Lila or the Lows Lake and Five ponds Wilderness area, the simple reason being both had many different easily connecting waterways and several possible choices for in and out depending on plans, so with Lila and Low's in mind I am searching online for info and Youtube for videos, I find Robin Lauer on a deer hunt mid October the previous year where it rained a lot of the time, for some reason this convinced me Low's lake area for me


Robins Video that convinced me to chose Low's Lake

[video=youtube_share;IiJwx4afSYM]https://youtu.be/IiJwx4afSYM[/video]

I had a great time with my dad and after a week of wild camping I get dropped off alone with a slightly bigger bag of kit than normal due to autumn/winter clothing bulk, I have a few tasty fresh food morsels and treats (as you do) and I have enough dried provisions for about a month, 3 months if I stretched it by eating fish and the freshwater shellfish everyday, so then at the crack of dawn and I am left with my gear at the Low's Lower Dam, one problem is my cell at the lower dam has no signal at all and neither does my fathers, so we decide there and then to meet back at that exact spot midday to two in the afternoon on the 29th October, this gave me 14 days in the wild, so off he drove and off I paddled


For my kit i have a rolltop rubber dry bag 120ltr with all my clothing and bedding inside, a 60ltr rolltop rubber dry bag rucksack for my tarps and kit and a 20ltr rolltop rubber dry bag for my food that I rope up into trees to keep the bears away, I add from this when my father leaves from his kit a single camping chair.


Full kit break down for my wild camping, ill do clothing separate if folks are interested


self inflating 4 season ground mat (5cmx60cmx180cm )
1 x inflatable flock pillow
1 x sleeping bag
2 x fleece sleeping bag liners
DD tarps travel hammock (used on the ground only as a waterproof bivvi/bugnet)
DD xl tarp (4.5mx3.5m) + 4 x 2m self made guy lines
DD L tarp (3mx3m) + 4 x 2m self made guy lines
20 plastic heavy duty pegs (stamp ins)
2 carbon trekking poles + walking cane
3 x 30m 550 paracord
1 x wilder forge fixed knife blade (4 inch)
1 x dc4 wetstone
1 x bacho laplander folding saw
1 x self made basic first aid kit (sanitise/blister/burn/cut/medicate)
1 x woodgas twig stove
1 x 900ml kettle
1 x steel crusader cup
1 x 1.5ltr pan and lid
1 x spoon
1 x teaspoon
1 x self made fire kit (firesteel/prepared emergency tinders/collected local tinders like fatwood, cramp ball fungus, birch bark, cat tail seed pods fluff etc etc)
1 x 7ft spinning rod and small box of various lures and extra 6lb line
1 x folding bowl
1 x wash kit (homemade soap/nailbrush/toothbrush/toothpaste/mouthwash/comb/non stick scourer and small bottle of wash soap for my pan)
1 x roll top sylnylon toilet bag (paper/baby wipes/lighter, i make a digging stick)
3 x paddle specific waterproof local maps
1 x compass
2 x foil emergency blankets
1 x 2ltr hot water bottle with a wool cover




tech
1 x 14w solar panel
4 x pebble usb battery packs (8500mah each)
1 x Base usb power pack (20000mah)
1 x gopro 4 silver + 2 spare batteries
1 x gopro 4 session
1 x underwater gopro light
1 x Elephone P9000 cellphone
1 x garmin 64 gps
700GB of memory cards for the cameras and enough wires to drive you half crazy
a collection of various mounts for the cameras
1 x 5ltr Lifestraw mission water filter and spare filters


The drop off and pick up point is marked on the map, this is also where everyone from BCUSA is planning to meet with me

lows-lower-dam-jpg.346298


I paddle off down the Bog River Flow into the Five ponds Wilderness to find somewhere to set up my campsite, it is so visually striking to me I have tears of joy streaming down my face at one point laughing and crying like a lunatic, for some mad reason that stuff did not end up on the editing room floor

[video=youtube_share;tCTn_PClaRA]https://youtu.be/tCTn_PClaRA[/video]

more coming soon, as I make the next video i'll write the next section
 
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GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
Did i post too early in the day or summick? Like a ghost town over here this week :p
 

Leshy

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
2,389
57
Wiltshire
Did i post too early in the day or summick? Like a ghost town over here this week :p
It is just showing the title bud!😁

No post as such... Just title.

Can't comment yet as I'm still halfway through the one on the cooking ...😊

Using Tapatalk on Android.
 

GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
whoah wonder what's going on as i am seeing the full trip report i wrote + pics n vids lol
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Suggest you paste all these accounts into one thread. After all, some books are longer than others.
The pictures look so much like the Churchill river of my past, I look at these again and again.
All the pictures that I never took 50 years ago.

Tombear runs his carboot tools thread into I don't know how many pages of posts now.
 

GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
This thread here will be a running trip report of the 2016 solo adventure, it will wrap up when i paddle back out of the wild to meet my guests from the Bushcraft USA forum, then i will write a group report of some sort for those videos but that will be a separate thread.

the other thread showing videos was just a thread report on the trip with my dad that i posted to share the videos, it had no trip report or pics n stuff i was saving them :cool:
 
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GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
two totally separate adventures, that last one is over all done finished
 

GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
The morning after i woke to a really bright sun and the world was filled with orange, more orange than i have ever seen in my life, so i grabbed my camera and took a walk up the portage between Hitchins Pond and Low's Lake to build an appetite for breakfast and take it all in

[video=youtube;Te-Tip_VF90]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te-Tip_VF90[/video]
 
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Leshy

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
2,389
57
Wiltshire
The morning after i woke to a really bright sun and the world was filled with orange, more orange than i have ever seen in my life, so i grabbed my camera and took a walk up the portage between Hitchins Pond and Low's Lake to build an appetite for breakfast and take it all in

[video=youtube;Te-Tip_VF90]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te-Tip_VF90[/video]
It looks as you picked the right time of year man, that "turning" season , the leaf colours and all just look glorious!
👍👍
 

GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
Cheers gents thanks for watching i appreciate the feedback, plenty more to come from this adventure and off on a new one on the 14th january
 

GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
Well i have now been in the wilderness for 11 days, 4 days solo and i have not seen a single other human being since I parted from my Dad at the dam four days earlier, the dam is about 6-7 mile away via canoe and it is a 12 mile drive to the nearest town and 4.5hr drive to my fathers house, the only transport i have is a canoe

[video=youtube_share;qrvHw4-pAmo]https://youtu.be/qrvHw4-pAmo[/video]
 

bopdude

Full Member
Feb 19, 2013
3,000
215
58
Stockton on Tees
Still working through them, just watched the portage vid, amazing spot, I thought may have camped there and got the old fire place roaring :D
 

GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
Someone had definitely had a fire in there quite recently and it didn't look like it had burnt very well, i didn't bend right down to look in but i think if they (The Man) blocked up the chimney maybe it might deter folks like us from doing just that, later in my trip i stalk a deer through that area to where she was sleeping the night before after i wake to new snow and his hoofprints right around my camp so it would have been a great spot 'upstairs' to set up a tarp and bivvi to bag an easy deer.

I just finished editing another video, it is currently rendering for post production processing and a test viewing, i'll be loading it up and grabbing some sleep and then writing the subtitles before it goes live
 

GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
That is the good thing with online they are there for when it fits in instead of when it is broadcast, thanks for sticking with it.

I am now totally settled into my current spot and it feels like i could live there forever, this video covers day 11 in the wild from daybreak until dusk, the sun is in the sky, there are mushrooms everywhere and I don't have a care in the world

[video=youtube;Z4ExIbnoqgM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ExIbnoqgM&t=174s[/video]
 

Leshy

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
2,389
57
Wiltshire
Ayeup Man ,you can upload these quicker than I can watch them ... 😁
I'm still in your cooking vídeo . :(
I look forward to catching up with all of these too !👍
 

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