Bushcraft Etiquette (resurrected)
- Thread starter Cobweb
- Start date
Another one for walking in in a group: walk at the speed of the slowest member. It's incredibly demoralising for slower walkers to be constantly playing catch-up. If you really can't bear to slow down, consider splitting your group in two - but make sure at least one (preferably two) experienced member is with the slow group.
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I like Graham S playing the penny whistle.
we used to go mass LRP events and trust me bushcrafters would have to be really bad to beat the drumming at 2am ,or the domestic arguements, and shear lack of camp hygiene of Larpers.
we used to go mass LRP events and trust me bushcrafters would have to be really bad to beat the drumming at 2am ,or the domestic arguements, and shear lack of camp hygiene of Larpers.
The easiest approach to this one is putting the slowest member in the front. Better is to try to share his load, hopefully this will ease his strain.
What a great thread! All of it is relevant and vitally important to anyone who wants to enjoy the wilds and nature not only in a bushcrafty manner, but in any way at all.
Many thanks to Wayland and, again, Wayland via Cobweb: I am going to take these pointers and do them up for the kids that are interested in bushcraft at school.
A good 'modus operandi' is one espoused by NOLS in the U.S.. Their policy of 'Leave No Trace' is one that everyone should follow. It comes on the heels of the well-known saying: "Take nothing but photos; leave nothing but footprints".
Music in the wilds? I'm with Red on this one. Enjoy it at home. Out and about, there is so much to listen to, pleasant and unpleasant, that locking yourself away with your iPod/MP3 means that you isolate yourself from your immediate environment - something that you went to enjoy in the first place.
Top stuff!
Many thanks to Wayland and, again, Wayland via Cobweb: I am going to take these pointers and do them up for the kids that are interested in bushcraft at school.
A good 'modus operandi' is one espoused by NOLS in the U.S.. Their policy of 'Leave No Trace' is one that everyone should follow. It comes on the heels of the well-known saying: "Take nothing but photos; leave nothing but footprints".
Music in the wilds? I'm with Red on this one. Enjoy it at home. Out and about, there is so much to listen to, pleasant and unpleasant, that locking yourself away with your iPod/MP3 means that you isolate yourself from your immediate environment - something that you went to enjoy in the first place.
Top stuff!
The worst part of this is that as the slow members finally catch up, the faster ones who've had a rest whilst waiting, immediately push on meaning that the slow ones never get a break.
Absolutely! This happened to me summer before last when a group of about 30 of us went for a 10Km walk along a forest trail. In the end a consensus was reached that we should split into several groups, each group determining their own pace. This worked really well. Some of the more experienced and faster walkers decided to join one of the slower groups so that they could spend time looking at stuff rather than just power-walking to the end. One of the experienced walkers, who also happened to know the trail volunteered to stick with the last group to make sure everyone got back.
None of this was formally discussed, it just sort of happened.
Remember though, that the slowest walker may also be the least experienced, or nervous. In that case they should be nominated to determine the pace, with someone else taking responsibility for navigation etc. sticking to them like glue.
This is a fantastic thread, but maybe we need a slightly condensed version that can be printed off and placed somewhere prominent for all to see. More a 'Golden Rules for Civilized Camping'.
G
Mors Kochansky talked about the "take nothing but photo's" at the 2006 moot and is against taking photo's unless they are digital and viewed on a PC or TV. Turns out that a mass of trees near his home were cleared and made into paper, photo paper to boot
I agree, been on that side of it, eugh it's painful to be pushed fast.
I am a large lady and yes I do enjoy walking. I used to work at a place that took kids out on walks if they were getting het up or needed time out. i didn't realise this and on my first walk the route was 20 miles long, there were four staff and two kids, two of the staff were experienced walkers and set the pace fast, the kids were complaining and while I didn't complain out loud I agreed with them in my head, it was simply too fast for kids who weren't used to walking. The two that were power walking were going so fast they had to stop every fifteen minutes for a good ten before we caught up with them then they would get up and start walking immediatley leaving us no time to rest or even have a drink.
It started to annoy me and my co-worker so we stopped and fed an watered both ourselves and the kids, while we stopped the other two came back to see what was wrong and stood, tutted and generally huffed about, impatient to keep moving. After five minuted of gulping food and water we got so fed up with the attitude of the other two we got up and moved on. We didn't stop for the rest of the trip.
Like I said, I'm heavy and while I can plod on for ages but walking at breakneck speed isn't for me. After about a good ten miles, by which point we are in the middle of nowhere, I start to feel my back hurting and getting stiff, I suck it up and carry on. After a mile or two, my back is in fiery agony and my hips are starting to ache. After another three miles or so, my hips are so bad that I'm shuffling. My co-worker is very concerned at this point and calls the other tow on the mobile (yes they are that far away) and they stop and wait for us, about twenty minuted later we get caught up and the kids are told to stick with the other two staff members, the kids slow them down a bit and they are not happy, but I'm in no fit state at this point to help them or anyone else.
I kept moving and a good five hours later after slowing down all the way we get back to the cars. Luckily our day off is the next day so after a fitful sleep I somehow manage to drive myself home. I was confined to my bed for three weeks and I could only move using my nans old zimmerframe and I was walking slower than she did.
After three weeks mostly spent in bed or hobbling with the frame I'm well enough to go back to work.
I still have trouble with my hips now, even though I've lost over five stone.
So the moral of the story? Don't push people to walk faster or longer than their capable of as it really hurts.
14. a. Just don't, OK? No need.
b. If someone else does, you are allowed to hit them with something heavy and ban them from your camp. Dirty, scummy b*****ds.
...and don't do it on the pavement either.
b. If someone else does, you are allowed to hit them with something heavy and ban them from your camp. Dirty, scummy b*****ds.
...and don't do it on the pavement either.
BOD
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I dispute the claim that the walkers who walk ahead and faster leaving the others behind are the more experienced walkers.
All it shows is that they are any or all of these:
1. inexperienced leaders
2. use walks as speed challenges or exercise
3. self -centred
4. inconsiderate
5. see the destination as a goal and not the enjoyment of the walk
6. have yet to learn how to observe what goes on around them
7. think "distance or speed matters" not quality
8. have not learnt to pace themselves
9 are probably not woodsmen / woodswomen just "hikers"
10 call walks "hikes" or "treks"
11 often are restless during overnight camping
My preference when taking a group out is to be the tail end Charlie and let the trail pounders go ahead with a colleague to lead, if necessary. The noise made by the group will scare game off anyway and I have time to stop and look which is difficult if people are walking behind you.
If needed, I close up with the stragglers who often, wahtever the reason for being slow, are more open to the enjoyment of the walk and interesting people. The braggers are often at the front of the group.
All it shows is that they are any or all of these:
1. inexperienced leaders
2. use walks as speed challenges or exercise
3. self -centred
4. inconsiderate
5. see the destination as a goal and not the enjoyment of the walk
6. have yet to learn how to observe what goes on around them
7. think "distance or speed matters" not quality
8. have not learnt to pace themselves
9 are probably not woodsmen / woodswomen just "hikers"
10 call walks "hikes" or "treks"
11 often are restless during overnight camping
My preference when taking a group out is to be the tail end Charlie and let the trail pounders go ahead with a colleague to lead, if necessary. The noise made by the group will scare game off anyway and I have time to stop and look which is difficult if people are walking behind you.
If needed, I close up with the stragglers who often, wahtever the reason for being slow, are more open to the enjoyment of the walk and interesting people. The braggers are often at the front of the group.
I've never been disturbed at BCUK meets by music (mechanical or live) and it's certainly not a good excuse for not turning out to a meet Red.
You'll have to do better than that..
Not sure if that refers to my post or not (no offence taken either way). In the example I described, those that pushed on were experienced walkers (I knew them). For them walking is a form of exercise, not an opportunity to observe and take in their surroundings. Each to their own I suppose.
I'm guessing that folk on here are more likely to see a forest walk as an opportunity to observe and explore, rather than just burn off a few calories. But not everyone thinks the way we do.
When I was young I always ended up being tail-end-charlie and at one point got very demoralised by it. Then I realised that I was seeing loads of stuff everyone else was missing, and so for years now I've been tail-end-charlie out of choice not happenstance.
G
There are a couple of provincal parks, and national parks, that are very stricked. Also very touristy. ( ok, but I like it Wild! )
But , I can't get my wife to Pooh In the woods!
So I guess the odd Fly fishing trip, or Hunting ( when in season ) on my own or with friends, or just hide on the lake with the fishing boat.
Will be my fate for now.
Still better then work!
But , I can't get my wife to Pooh In the woods!
LOL! At the risk of ruining your marriage, can I suggest "seasoning" her food with Senna (it's an ingredient in some Thai food - honest!), necessity being a great breaker of inhibition
I've never been disturbed at BCUK meets by music (mechanical or live) and it's certainly not a good excuse for not turning out to a meet Red.
You'll have to do better than that..
mechanical music? You mean like a self-playing piano?
mechanical music? You mean like a self-playing piano?
I was thinking of music from a mechanical box of electrickery.....:borgsmile
I've never been disturbed at BCUK meets by music (mechanical or live) and it's certainly not a good excuse for not turning out to a meet Red.
You'll have to do better than that..
Actually the reason for me is pretty much the wider interpretation of that emotion. In the woods I like peace, the crackle of the fire, the call of an owl or the bark of a deer. Music, drunken laughter, lots of people, even nosiy conversation are just not what its about for me. I guess I go there for peace and solitude - lots of company and laughter is why I go to a pub, not the wilds.
It wasn't a reference to a BCUK meet by the way - I've never been to one. Managed two hours mid-day at the Wilderness Gathering this year (then left). Large meets - indeed more than a friend or two are just not for me I think. I have tried it a couple of times but it didn't take. Nearly talked myself into it a couple more times but came to my senses
Always happy to meet up with some of the local guys in the pub and chew the fat though - thats what pubs are for! I'll keep the woods for a little solitude though I think. All power to those who enjoy meet ups in the woods though - it would be a dull world if we all liked the same things
Red
BR, I have to agree with you on that. I much prefer my own company in the woods.
A camp with maybe 1 or 2 other friends but not a crowd. SHMBO says I am anti-social. I like to begger off on my own for a weekend in the woods or the Lakes (Lakes in winter) not as many people about.
Dont get me wrong I have been on SOME large camps and enjoyed it, but far better to hear only the sounds of the woods than a group of loud snoring, windbreaking, belching bushmen.
Any way, I have been told my snoring would wake the dead, so perhaps I am better on my own so I do not inflict my noise polution on anyone of a similar vein to myself.
A camp with maybe 1 or 2 other friends but not a crowd. SHMBO says I am anti-social. I like to begger off on my own for a weekend in the woods or the Lakes (Lakes in winter) not as many people about.
Dont get me wrong I have been on SOME large camps and enjoyed it, but far better to hear only the sounds of the woods than a group of loud snoring, windbreaking, belching bushmen.
Any way, I have been told my snoring would wake the dead, so perhaps I am better on my own so I do not inflict my noise polution on anyone of a similar vein to myself.
