Nearly everyday I try to do a conditioning hike for physical fitness. Hard to move a pack around if yea can't move yourself. Skills decay without practice so every now and then like to mix that in as well. Earlier in the morning it rained like heck also I missed lunch. Combine those two factors and we have marginal firecraft in a wet environment with wild edibles. Fire and berries, why not? Ferro rod, Bic, matches, friction fire or something else? Why not something else? The plan was to find stuff on my hike to get flames using a carbon steel knife and chaga which was found in the valley below this hill. Basically items foraged within the locality. I also only have 3 hours and the distance is around 3 miles. Not a bunch of time to mess around.
Found this quartz in the mud. Gotta have a striker to toss sparks and this should work.
Sweet fern is one of my favorite wild forage but don't need it now.
Black Cap raspberries. Oh yea!
Red raspberries as well. That's two ripe berry types so far.
Both are nice.
How am I NOT going to pickup ticks?
Something to eat for the road. Took maybe 10 minutes to pick these Black Caps.
Found these Blackberries very near the raspberries. That's berry number 3.
Cedar bark. Going to need this for a tinder bundle. Despite the heavy rain it was dry.
Blueberries were a surprise. I expected them to be still green. Well most are but got a few so they're berry number 4.
Virginia rose mixed in with the Blueberries.
Clawing around the rocks.
Even after a heavy rain dead grass can dry fast. Not my preferred tinder but don't have all that much cedar bark.
Another cedar tree.
Unlike the first tree this bark was still damp. Going to pass on it.
Near the top. This is probably one of the nicest natural sitting spots in any woods and I have been around the sticks. Even the local bears know it.
Easily 6-inches thick of soft moss with great drainage so even after rain it's dry.
Within sitting reaching distance of the moss was this patch of Reindeer moss and blueberries.
Most are still green but there are a few blues.
This comfortable spot is the perfect place for my post rain firecraft practice. The real practice wasn't the source of ignition rather finding and processing tinder after heavy rain. A collection of fungus, grass, Yellow birch bark and rocks foraged from this local area most during this outing. The chaga was found in the valley below before this hike. The knife is from Wolf Creek Forge
An unexpected snafu. There really wasn't any rocks up there and the only one I found to smash quartz wasn't up to the task. I didn't think lack of rocks was even possible within New England. Dang what's next? The Moth man is real as well?
Hiked back to the trail. Yea this one looks good.
Knapping at this skill level is an art. It took years of refined practice. To the unskilled eye it might appear that I smashed a smaller rock with a bigger rock. Despite being exactly that it's harder than it looks. One must understand complex natural laws such as things heavier than air will fall if dropped. Also stuff can break if struck with force. If it's all too overwhelming I totally understand.
Tinder bundle fluffed up and quartz broken for sharp edges.
I am going to strike a spark off the spine with knife in my right hand held like so.
All in the hopes this chaga fungus placed on top of the quartz in my left hand catches that spark.
It's a GO! Sometime around strike number 2 and 4 the chaga took a coal. Often in bright light you can smell the burning before seeing the little pinpoint sized coal. Once the coal expands it's more obvious.
A coal isn't the same thing as a flame. I would need to blow that into flames. If I had a lighter or matches the coal part of the equation could be avoided as there already is an open flame but the same skills are needed to expand that flame. Modern methods are more effective so always pack them but unlike matches or lighters if I run out of supplies the woods are my Walmart.
Alright! Firecraft practice is over. If I had more time a twig fire would of been setup to expand these flames in a sustaining fire.
Going to do a loop hike which is longer but there is a dirt road which leads around the mountain and back to my truck. Some more rock scampering. Maintaining 3-points of contact seems to increase my stability when climbing, even easy stuff like this
Again 3-points of contact.......
And here is the dirt road. I have 10 minutes left so going to run the 1.5 miles back.
Thank for looking.
Found this quartz in the mud. Gotta have a striker to toss sparks and this should work.
Sweet fern is one of my favorite wild forage but don't need it now.
Black Cap raspberries. Oh yea!
Red raspberries as well. That's two ripe berry types so far.
Both are nice.
How am I NOT going to pickup ticks?
Something to eat for the road. Took maybe 10 minutes to pick these Black Caps.
Found these Blackberries very near the raspberries. That's berry number 3.
Cedar bark. Going to need this for a tinder bundle. Despite the heavy rain it was dry.
Blueberries were a surprise. I expected them to be still green. Well most are but got a few so they're berry number 4.
Virginia rose mixed in with the Blueberries.
Clawing around the rocks.
Even after a heavy rain dead grass can dry fast. Not my preferred tinder but don't have all that much cedar bark.
Another cedar tree.
Unlike the first tree this bark was still damp. Going to pass on it.
Near the top. This is probably one of the nicest natural sitting spots in any woods and I have been around the sticks. Even the local bears know it.
Easily 6-inches thick of soft moss with great drainage so even after rain it's dry.
Within sitting reaching distance of the moss was this patch of Reindeer moss and blueberries.
Most are still green but there are a few blues.
This comfortable spot is the perfect place for my post rain firecraft practice. The real practice wasn't the source of ignition rather finding and processing tinder after heavy rain. A collection of fungus, grass, Yellow birch bark and rocks foraged from this local area most during this outing. The chaga was found in the valley below before this hike. The knife is from Wolf Creek Forge
An unexpected snafu. There really wasn't any rocks up there and the only one I found to smash quartz wasn't up to the task. I didn't think lack of rocks was even possible within New England. Dang what's next? The Moth man is real as well?
Hiked back to the trail. Yea this one looks good.
Knapping at this skill level is an art. It took years of refined practice. To the unskilled eye it might appear that I smashed a smaller rock with a bigger rock. Despite being exactly that it's harder than it looks. One must understand complex natural laws such as things heavier than air will fall if dropped. Also stuff can break if struck with force. If it's all too overwhelming I totally understand.
Tinder bundle fluffed up and quartz broken for sharp edges.
I am going to strike a spark off the spine with knife in my right hand held like so.
All in the hopes this chaga fungus placed on top of the quartz in my left hand catches that spark.
It's a GO! Sometime around strike number 2 and 4 the chaga took a coal. Often in bright light you can smell the burning before seeing the little pinpoint sized coal. Once the coal expands it's more obvious.
A coal isn't the same thing as a flame. I would need to blow that into flames. If I had a lighter or matches the coal part of the equation could be avoided as there already is an open flame but the same skills are needed to expand that flame. Modern methods are more effective so always pack them but unlike matches or lighters if I run out of supplies the woods are my Walmart.
Alright! Firecraft practice is over. If I had more time a twig fire would of been setup to expand these flames in a sustaining fire.
Going to do a loop hike which is longer but there is a dirt road which leads around the mountain and back to my truck. Some more rock scampering. Maintaining 3-points of contact seems to increase my stability when climbing, even easy stuff like this
Again 3-points of contact.......
And here is the dirt road. I have 10 minutes left so going to run the 1.5 miles back.
Thank for looking.
