Beginner Bushcraft/Woodland Skills - Camping at Lord Ancrum's Wood

[THOaken]

I recently went on my first solitary camping trip (refer to previous planning thread). Instead of writing a report, I decided to edit a video about the trip. It's thirteen minutes long as I wanted to get most of the footage in there. The funny thing is, that's not all of it. I'd appreciate any viewers as this did take quite a lot of work to produce. It's got some great music from the Tolkien Ensemble and others. Honestly, it's just a relaxing video that might make you reminisce about your days as a beginner outdoorsman.

This was an incredibly positive experience and it went rather well. I found my own birch bark and lit with ease. I carved some improvised tent pegs. I cooked some soup. It was a great day, however I have a few concerns:

As I say in the video, I think I panicked again and smothered the fire. As you'll see from the very first photo of the initial kindling stage a rapidly accelerating plume of smoke appeared and the flames reached out of the top. That's all well and good, but I think yet again I hurried on the pencil thick fuel and smothered it. From then on the fire was very low and chaotic. It's hard to explain in text, but you can quite clearly see what I mean in the video.

Secondly, as I was sitting watching the fire a thought came to my mind that I'd never really had before. To keep the fire alive, as it was never a roaring fire, I had to deplete my little area in the woodland of a lot of fuel. What did nature gain from my being there? Do any of you ever think about this? I'm a rural skills student and volunteer hoping to get into conservation, but I can't seem to think when we camp we don't do our woodlands any good. Am I being overly sentimental about this? What are your thoughts on the matter?

So here's the video. I apologise for some of the scenes being rather jeky and quick. I had a lot of footage and most of it was informal chatter that I decided to cut.

I went into the woods at around 10 AM, Saturday 21st... Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Mo2Wv2aV8&feature=youtu.be

 

[British Red]

Patience fellah - I wouldn't say smothered the fire with fuel, but it is much easier to cook on coals (glowing lumps without flame). This needs larger fuel to create a "bed" of coals. Another good way is two logs with a gap. Angle the "opening" towards the breeze and light your fire between them (actually light the fire and then bring in the larger logs). You can balance your pot across the two logs and the heat will gradually dry and burn the larger logs.

One observation would be to clear a larger area of leaf litter around your fire. In dry weather, some of that litter was close enough to catch fire. Not a problem this time of year, but a good habit to get into.

Point is - you survived it, learned a little and, hopefully, want to go again

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

All good mate. You have the fire starting sorted for sure now and that mora looks to cast good sparks with the mod. I thought your fire looked fine and you certainly go to more trouble than i do sorting your different fuel thicknesses. Most fires left to their own devices will not rage. Have a read about the different fire lays but generally if you want a fire to roar a tepee / pyramid style will serve you best but will consume fuel faster.

Only bit i disagreed with was where you said you were a bit cold but that was to be expected. I dont expect to be cold. It ruins the fun

As for taking fuel from your surroundings and the impact i tend to think as long as you dont over camp an area it will heal itself. The autumn winds will be blowing hard soon and lots of trees will loose branches. Did you gather standing deadwood or take from the ground as this will always impact how well a fire will burn. stuff on the ground will have a higher moisture content in poor weather compared to standing.

A good account. thanks for sharing

 

[THOaken]

Thanks for the compliments and words of advice, BritishRed and BareThrills. Duly noted and much appreciated.

Looking back at the video I think I could've taken out some of the footage as it's pretty darn long. I hoped you all enjoyed watching it though.

 

[British Red]

I dont expect to be cold. It ruins the fun

Good point. Took me a long time to realise that a good mat under my back did more to keep me warm than the sleeping bag itself. A quality mat to prevent heat leaching into the ground transformed things for me

 

[Uilleachan]

Yep, I'll second BR's point about cooking on coals. I light the fire let it burn a while, stoking as I go. When it's burnt down, very little flame with lots of hot coals, I cook on it. Keeps things cleaner and won't melt that plastic handle

As to what good were you doing? thats all relative in my opinion. Man has been part of the landscape for a while now so the question I'd be asking is; what harm did I do?

Not a lot from what I can see.

Some people get bothered by hearth scares so if I can't find any stoney ground to build a fire on I dig a shallow pit, removing and keeping the turfs if its grassy. Once the fire is out and I'm done using it, I fill it back up with the excavation spoil, placing the turf atop. The scare is still there under the soil but the wee beasties soon recolonise the spot and remarkably quickly things sort themselves out.

Anyway, I watched the vid and found it quite spooky tbh, in that "dead in the wilderness, but here's my camera", kind of Chris McCandless-esque/Blair Witch. Complete with the good Lords ancestral pile in the opening shot

Great stuff though, for getting out and doing it. I wish you very many more.

 

[THOaken]

Anyway, I watched the vid and found it quite spooky tbh, in that "dead in the wilderness, but here's my camera", kind of Chris McCandless-esque/Blair Witch. Complete with the good Lords ancestral pile in the opening shot

It really had that effect for you? Strange. I just meant it to be a pleasant and relaxing nature video. Of course I had my camera. How else do we record videos of our camping trips and Bushcraft tutorials? Heh. Was it the music?

Thanks though.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Good point. Took me a long time to realise that a good mat under my back did more to keep me warm than the sleeping bag itself. A quality mat to prevent heat leaching into the ground transformed things for me

Agree completely BR. Its something that is overlooked quite often. Single most important sleep item for my money

 

[Uilleachan]

It really had that effect for you? Strange. I just meant it to be a pleasant and relaxing nature video. Of course I had my camera. How else do we record videos of our camping trips and Bushcraft tutorials? Heh. Was it the music?

Thanks though.

Spooky but not in a scary way. The vid gave the impression of great solitude, I like solitude and only ever go out myself, usually, so it was quite surprising that I found it so. Perhaps it's the looking in on someone else's solitude that was a little edgy and the music was quite "atmospheric" too , which added to the feeling.

I was out myself yesterday and took a few photos so perhaps I should write that up......... Have to go out for a bit, then I'm meant to be getting my act together as I'm off to lewis tomorrow (need to find my compass also). We'll see if I can't find the time.

 

[Shewie]

No biggy in the conditions you had but you should put your pegs in at 45 degrees to the tent, rather than leaning towards it, but it looked nice a calm so wouldn't have made any difference at the weekend, just something to think about next time you're out.

Fire looked fine to me

Enjoyed the vid but I did skip some parts

 

[THOaken]

No biggy in the conditions you had but you should put your pegs in at 45 degrees to the tent, rather than leaning towards it, but it looked nice a calm so wouldn't have made any difference at the weekend, just something to think about next time you're out.

Fire looked fine to me

Enjoyed the vid but I did skip some parts

Looking back at the tent pegs in photos I realised it was pretty silly how they weren't even fully hammered into the ground and if it were windy the tent would've blown away. I was too focused on collecting firewood I guess.

Skipped some parts? That's fine. You've seen these types of videos a hundred times, I'm sure. No worries.

Thanks.

 

[THOaken]

Spooky but not in a scary way. The vid gave the impression of great solitude, I like solitude and only ever go out myself, usually, so it was quite surprising that I found it so. Perhaps it's the looking in on someone else's solitude that was a little edgy and the music was quite "atmospheric" too , which added to the feeling.

I was out myself yesterday and took a few photos so perhaps I should write that up......... Have to go out for a bit, then I'm meant to be getting my act together as I'm off to lewis tomorrow (need to find my compass also). We'll see if I can't find the time.

That's good. Most of the scenes had me talking in them as the video was only going to be made for a family member, actually. I just decided to just cut the sound in all but two of the scenes, I think, and have it be atmospheric instead.

 

[ozzy1977]

Great job as a first go at it especially as you are self taught to an extent, its good to have a good book with you and to get feed back on hear after, but it is a long learning curve with no end to it.. you will have failures and success all of which you will learn from. the only way to enjoy and succeed is to practice.
Is there a group locally you could join.

 

[Husky]

Secondly, as I was sitting watching the fire a thought came to my mind that I'd never really had before. To keep the fire alive, as it was never a roaring fire, I had to deplete my little area in the woodland of a lot of fuel. What did nature gain from my being there? Do any of you ever think about this? I'm a rural skills student and volunteer hoping to get into conservation, but I can't seem to think when we camp we don't do our woodlands any good. Am I being overly sentimental about this? What are your thoughts on the matter?

Well, instead of cooking on stove powered by electricity from stripmined coal or a fancy camping stove with gas or some other fossil fuel you went out and burned some sticks and twigs which are a bit to small to be really biologically important. Instead of playing X-box you sat and looked into a fire and thought about how your lifestyle is impacting nature...
I would say that the woodlands are far better off now then before your outing.

About being cold, the mat was mentioned and I would like to add that a thick pair of wool socks and a hat will do the rest for a good nights sleep. You will not believe the learning curve once you start going out repeatedly. And i liked the video with the nice pictures of beautiful nature mixed with the "alone in the wild" type filming yourself doing whatever you do.

 

[copper_head]

Enjoyed your video. What a great place to be able to camp, looks like some venerable old trees in those woods. The music made me smile, should have expected no less from a fellow with a Silmarillion quote as his sig line.

As others have said fire looked good but its not necessary to sort your fuel out to the extent. I just go for kindling, thumb size stuff then a big pile of assorted bigger fuel. But each to their own and all that...

You seem to enjoy being in the woods on more than just a camping out level, I can only add that a tarp really increases the experience of immersion. Waking up in the night with the moon coming through the trees is an experience worth leaving the tent at home for .