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
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
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
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
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
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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