I recently got my Seek Outside Cimarron and titanium collapsable wood stove in the post from the USA and got a chance to take it out into the pentlands for a second time this weekend. I didn't get any pictures of the first trip because I was busy working everything out, put managed to document the trip nicely this time.
I also took a portable painting box and paints so I could do some plain air painting while out too.
After a quick bus out the city and about an hour of hiking, with my intended camp spot about another hour away, I saw a view I wanted to paint and set down about 11:00 to spend a few hours painting.
I'm not all too pleased how this one turned out, It was getting cold after two hours of sitting around on the hill so I rushed the final stages, and sitting cross legged with the paint box on the floor too wasn't the best position to be painting in.
I hiked on to my camping spot by Bonaly Reservoir, which is surrounded by dense conifer wood. It's pretty much the only place with enough deadwood this side of the pentlands to get a reasonable fire going. There are a few places elsewhere on the pentads with light tree coverage but since the pentlands is always busy with runners in the mornings and dog walkers in the evenings, the dense pine plantation offers a bit of privacy which is welcome.
I arrived to the Reservoir around 2:30, found a little clearing, set up the Cimarron and stove, and collected some wood. I bought a collapsable saw and a no name swedish knife with me for wood processing. I found a dead standing tree and cut a few branches off for logs. Before because of the damp I have had to baton with the knife to get to the dry wood but the plantation here is so dense everywhere under it was bone dry, and the dead twigs from the lower branches of the trees made great kindling. I didn't get many photos of setting up because I was racing to get everything done before the dark.
Finding water was an issue - although this weekend was pretty mild - only dropping to 0C, it had been -4 a few times previously in the week and the reservoir was frozen at least an inch thick!
While on the shore looking for water, a guy emerged from the woods the other side of the reservoir and introduced himself - it seemed he had heard me wood processing earlier and wanted to introduce himself as another wild camper so as to explain any unusual noises in the night! I never caught his name and all I saw of him for the rest of my stay was occasional woodsmoke drifting from out of the trees the other side of the water.
I found a section of the burn feeding the reservoir that wasn't frozen over and collected what I needed for dinner.
I processed a little more wood in the light I had left and before I knew it it had gotten dark! It was then I realised I had forgotten my head torch and only had a lantern! Regardless, I got the stove lit for dinner. I used a ferro rod and birchbark from my tinter box to light the fire - I didn't come across any tinter on my hike in so had to resort to my reserves. I use flint and steel when I can but it was cold and damp and I was hungry this time so I used the rod. The dead pine twigs caught straight from the birchbark really well - no feather sticks needed!
The stove heats the tent really quickly and is really great for drying out everything. I was trying a new set up this time - with a nest on one side and the wood stove and cooking area on the other side. I was a little cramped cooking on the same side as the stove, so in the future I might not hook up the mozzie net until bedtime and sit on the bedding area while cooking.
The tent doesn't really get very smokey unless you forget to open the chimney damper before you open the door to put on wood. If that happens you an just prop the top of the door open with a stick and the smoke escapes pretty quickly.
Dinner was couscous and a baked sweet potato (because I'm a heathen vegetarian). I would lie to have baked the potato in leaves not tin foil but there really isn't much of a range of plant life in the pentlands so I couldn't find any big leaves to make parcels - its not really the most bountiful place to practice bushcraft!
Then it was time for bed. I piled up the wood outside the nest door and would wake up a tad chilly a couple of times after the stove had burnt down, and would just pop a new log or two on the fire. It would heat up the tent pretty fast and i'd fall asleep quickly.
That way, too, I could get the fire going again in the morning from the leftover embers. I just used twigs and small sticks for a hot fire that would cook a brew and some porridge then burn down fast for packing away. It was a cold morning and having something to warm you up before you got going was amazing. While the fire burnt down I packed away everything else inside the tent. The morning fire also evaporates off a lot of the condensation so most of your gear packs away fairly dry.
The stove packs away really small - and is only around 1kg, so fine for backpacking. In fact the whole hot tent setup (excluding centre pole which doubles as hiking stick) weights abut 2.4kg, the same as my old conventional 2 person tent!. Each wall of the stove comes apart and packs flat, then the stove pipe, which is rolled width ways hone in use, is packed away by rolling it up lengthwise. Titanium is a really amazing metal. Really light and flexible but also amazingly stong and springy still!
My pack weight, with food, and painting box was about 14.5kg - amazing when you consider I am carrying painting equipment, a buck saw and hot tent! Its an old no name aluminium external frame pack which I got for £20 on eBay which I added my own strap system to. Since its a frame pack it can carry a lot of weight quite comfortably, and although its only 45l the bulky stuff can be strapped outside. Thats the nest and roll mat on the top, painting box in the middle and my army surplus arctic sleeping bag on the bottom, in a dry bag. The straps on the outside too mean quick access things like raincoats can be strapped on too.
The tent centre pole (actually a camera monopod) doubles as a walking stick - which I needed on the steep woodland descents back to the bus stop home!
There are a few things I learnt from the trip - mainly, that I need a small lightweight tripod to raise up my painting box for a more natural painting position, and that I need some kind of foam knee pads for camp since got very wet knees around camp. I'd like to refine my cook set too - possibly switching to a steel water bottle and nesting cup set, as the two billy cans feel like a busy and clumsy system...
I'm also looking into footwear. I am interested in the minimalist and barefoot hiking and running movement, its how our feet were traditionally designed to work and when you look at traditional footwear it is all lightweight and flexible - or simply non existent! While barefoot is my preferred state in the summer its not possible in the negative, wet temperatures you get in scotland in wintertime. I am still working out what is best for this. I am currently using a gore-tex sock with a lightweight flexible water shoe but it still gets a little chilly - I am considering making some traditional mukluks with felt liner, and making a (waterproof and beatable) tyvek liner to go between the outer mukluk and the felt liner? Not sure, but if I get round to making it I'll post that!
I plan to do a longer 3 night trip up in the Caringorms in Abernethy forest and Glenmore forest in a few weeks:
Just look at all the woodland on that OS map! While the pentlands are nearby and convenient, they really aren't the best place for a woodland lover like me, I've been researching wild woodland in Scotland for bushcraft and here seems my best bet, and its only a 2 hour train away!
Anyway, this is my first post so sorry if its a bit long! Any tips for refining a trip report are welcome, just be gentle!!
I also took a portable painting box and paints so I could do some plain air painting while out too.
After a quick bus out the city and about an hour of hiking, with my intended camp spot about another hour away, I saw a view I wanted to paint and set down about 11:00 to spend a few hours painting.
I'm not all too pleased how this one turned out, It was getting cold after two hours of sitting around on the hill so I rushed the final stages, and sitting cross legged with the paint box on the floor too wasn't the best position to be painting in.
I hiked on to my camping spot by Bonaly Reservoir, which is surrounded by dense conifer wood. It's pretty much the only place with enough deadwood this side of the pentlands to get a reasonable fire going. There are a few places elsewhere on the pentads with light tree coverage but since the pentlands is always busy with runners in the mornings and dog walkers in the evenings, the dense pine plantation offers a bit of privacy which is welcome.
I arrived to the Reservoir around 2:30, found a little clearing, set up the Cimarron and stove, and collected some wood. I bought a collapsable saw and a no name swedish knife with me for wood processing. I found a dead standing tree and cut a few branches off for logs. Before because of the damp I have had to baton with the knife to get to the dry wood but the plantation here is so dense everywhere under it was bone dry, and the dead twigs from the lower branches of the trees made great kindling. I didn't get many photos of setting up because I was racing to get everything done before the dark.
Finding water was an issue - although this weekend was pretty mild - only dropping to 0C, it had been -4 a few times previously in the week and the reservoir was frozen at least an inch thick!
While on the shore looking for water, a guy emerged from the woods the other side of the reservoir and introduced himself - it seemed he had heard me wood processing earlier and wanted to introduce himself as another wild camper so as to explain any unusual noises in the night! I never caught his name and all I saw of him for the rest of my stay was occasional woodsmoke drifting from out of the trees the other side of the water.
I found a section of the burn feeding the reservoir that wasn't frozen over and collected what I needed for dinner.
I processed a little more wood in the light I had left and before I knew it it had gotten dark! It was then I realised I had forgotten my head torch and only had a lantern! Regardless, I got the stove lit for dinner. I used a ferro rod and birchbark from my tinter box to light the fire - I didn't come across any tinter on my hike in so had to resort to my reserves. I use flint and steel when I can but it was cold and damp and I was hungry this time so I used the rod. The dead pine twigs caught straight from the birchbark really well - no feather sticks needed!
The stove heats the tent really quickly and is really great for drying out everything. I was trying a new set up this time - with a nest on one side and the wood stove and cooking area on the other side. I was a little cramped cooking on the same side as the stove, so in the future I might not hook up the mozzie net until bedtime and sit on the bedding area while cooking.
The tent doesn't really get very smokey unless you forget to open the chimney damper before you open the door to put on wood. If that happens you an just prop the top of the door open with a stick and the smoke escapes pretty quickly.
Dinner was couscous and a baked sweet potato (because I'm a heathen vegetarian). I would lie to have baked the potato in leaves not tin foil but there really isn't much of a range of plant life in the pentlands so I couldn't find any big leaves to make parcels - its not really the most bountiful place to practice bushcraft!
Then it was time for bed. I piled up the wood outside the nest door and would wake up a tad chilly a couple of times after the stove had burnt down, and would just pop a new log or two on the fire. It would heat up the tent pretty fast and i'd fall asleep quickly.
That way, too, I could get the fire going again in the morning from the leftover embers. I just used twigs and small sticks for a hot fire that would cook a brew and some porridge then burn down fast for packing away. It was a cold morning and having something to warm you up before you got going was amazing. While the fire burnt down I packed away everything else inside the tent. The morning fire also evaporates off a lot of the condensation so most of your gear packs away fairly dry.
The stove packs away really small - and is only around 1kg, so fine for backpacking. In fact the whole hot tent setup (excluding centre pole which doubles as hiking stick) weights abut 2.4kg, the same as my old conventional 2 person tent!. Each wall of the stove comes apart and packs flat, then the stove pipe, which is rolled width ways hone in use, is packed away by rolling it up lengthwise. Titanium is a really amazing metal. Really light and flexible but also amazingly stong and springy still!
My pack weight, with food, and painting box was about 14.5kg - amazing when you consider I am carrying painting equipment, a buck saw and hot tent! Its an old no name aluminium external frame pack which I got for £20 on eBay which I added my own strap system to. Since its a frame pack it can carry a lot of weight quite comfortably, and although its only 45l the bulky stuff can be strapped outside. Thats the nest and roll mat on the top, painting box in the middle and my army surplus arctic sleeping bag on the bottom, in a dry bag. The straps on the outside too mean quick access things like raincoats can be strapped on too.
The tent centre pole (actually a camera monopod) doubles as a walking stick - which I needed on the steep woodland descents back to the bus stop home!
There are a few things I learnt from the trip - mainly, that I need a small lightweight tripod to raise up my painting box for a more natural painting position, and that I need some kind of foam knee pads for camp since got very wet knees around camp. I'd like to refine my cook set too - possibly switching to a steel water bottle and nesting cup set, as the two billy cans feel like a busy and clumsy system...
I'm also looking into footwear. I am interested in the minimalist and barefoot hiking and running movement, its how our feet were traditionally designed to work and when you look at traditional footwear it is all lightweight and flexible - or simply non existent! While barefoot is my preferred state in the summer its not possible in the negative, wet temperatures you get in scotland in wintertime. I am still working out what is best for this. I am currently using a gore-tex sock with a lightweight flexible water shoe but it still gets a little chilly - I am considering making some traditional mukluks with felt liner, and making a (waterproof and beatable) tyvek liner to go between the outer mukluk and the felt liner? Not sure, but if I get round to making it I'll post that!
I plan to do a longer 3 night trip up in the Caringorms in Abernethy forest and Glenmore forest in a few weeks:
Just look at all the woodland on that OS map! While the pentlands are nearby and convenient, they really aren't the best place for a woodland lover like me, I've been researching wild woodland in Scotland for bushcraft and here seems my best bet, and its only a 2 hour train away!
Anyway, this is my first post so sorry if its a bit long! Any tips for refining a trip report are welcome, just be gentle!!
