My plan 2 days. No packed food, water, knife or lighter.

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MegaWoodsWalker

Forager
Jul 10, 2014
230
3
Connecticut USA
It's that time of the year again. Autumn reduced gear outing. Normally I hike with my kit foraging on the way then setup camp but this time going to try something different. I will drive my truck to a camping spot then forage for whatever is needed. If lucky enough to find something on the drive there and it's legal to do so will forage, say an empty can on the side of the road etc etc however can't spend any cash. Here is what I have for gear so far.



1. Hennessy Hammock Explorer DLX with undercover and standard rain fly.
2. USGI Poncho liner.
3. 2X empty Platy bags.
4. Tenkara fishing gear with 3 flies and mini bait setup.
5. Fenix Headlamp with 2 extra AA batteries.
6. Sawyer Mini filter.
7. WCF Sharpened Tomahawk striker with DIY Kydex sheath. Not officially a knife but sharp for sure.
8. GSI SS kettle.
9. Primitive firekit. Bowdrill set including chaga.

Going to add TP, toothbrush, Oasis canteen and maybe a bandanna. Goes without saying I will have everything in a pack. Might include the Core 4 stove because I wish to test it some more or maybe not depending on how much time there is.

I will be wearing seasonal clothing as leaving early Friday morning but elected not to include rain gear/poncho despite rain in the forecast for Saturday. Why? Well never actually intentionally done that. Temps are expected to be this: (66 | 51 °F) / (69 | 46 °F) so curious as to how that will work out. LOL! No my plan is to be back at camp before the night rain and predicted cooler temps. Also I will never be more than a mile or so from a road and of course my truck which will be dead to me till Sunday morning is still be there. Foraging will probably cover maybe 5 or more miles hiking which isn't so bad but my hurt foot started to swell again. Gotta take it slow however again this won't in the deep dark jungle by a long shot.

Things I will be looking for.

1. Blackberries, grapes, hickory nuts, black walnuts, wild carrots, naturalized apples, clover, wild scallions, partridge berries, blueberries, huckleberry, staghorn sumac etc etc etc.

2. There are several fishing opportunity within a few miles of camp but must pick the right one as can't do two in one day on foot. The river could be too high if the dam is open and the streams too low.

3. Quartz, cedar bark, pine tar, mullein, birch bark and anything else that will help my primitive firekit.

4. ------WATER------ ASAP.

5. Lower temps means less bugs at night but will still look for natural bug repellents.

6. Make some tent stakes, pot hook and with luck fish on a stick!

Alrighty then. That was the plan so lets see how it worked out.

End of part 1.
 

MegaWoodsWalker

Forager
Jul 10, 2014
230
3
Connecticut USA
This is a reduced gear hammock outing. Normally with rain in the forecast a larger fly would be in order however this time that wasn't an option. The standard fly did keep me and some other things dry but offered no real room for cooking or just relaxing under. Didn't have any tent stakes but that's an easy fix.





Foraging. On the ride there I found mullein and grapes.



Yellow Birch bark.



Tried fishing on the first day and failed but will attempt it again higher up the river.



Foraging for the first day. Not all that good for food but alright for firecraft.



Added the following to my scrounged list beyond what was previously mentioned.

1. Water.
2. Sweet Fern.
3. Can.
4. Punkwood.
5. Pine tar.
6. Poor quality cedar bark. Small tree stumbled on by chance.
7. Quartz.

So many foraging items were MIA but it is what it is. I was wearing synthetic shorts with a cotton ****. Inside my pack was a light fleece zippered jacket and hat. Still there was a chill in the air. The best fix for that is fire.

Everything ready to go at the fire pit.



Time to spin a coal.

Some pine needles to cushion my knee.



On my second GO! it worked.



Taking no chances I put a good amount of chaga coal extender. Once ignited chaga is very difficult to put out. It will enhance and extend the friction fire coal.



Once the coal got blown into flames this fire practically exploded. All those pine needles, pine tar and Yellow Birch bark was a flammable mixture.



With just grapes and water there was time to mess around. As of right then I had only one means to start a fire and it wasn't exactly a cup of white gas with Bic lighter. Processed that mullein to give me another option.



Shaved off the outer leaves and thin bark removing most of the little humps. Spindles plus a potential two stick fire board. I had paracord which kept the poncho liner rolled up if needed for the two stick fireboard. I tried to char the punk wood inside the can. Crushed one side flat then bent it over to limit air. All seemed fine, had smoke coming out of little holes then it flared up as the can melted. I did this before with cattail but failed here. Going to try this again another time. In any case the punkwood was gone so would need to depend more on the chaga or mullein pith for coal extenders. Whoever said failure isn't an option doesn't live in my world. Well at least the mullein looked good.





The poncho liner was a bit marginal inside my hammock as the temps dipped. In fact this was the first time we had a real chill during the Summer. The low was in the upper 40's which if this was winter might be a heat wave but right then felt kinda chilly. No real big deal just an observation on how seasonal influences can sway one's view of the weather. Knowing there was cold rain on the way put some wood under my hammock before heading out.



Now this cedar looked more promising. Took some hanging dead bark and a dry stick for another spindle.



Risking ticks pushed through some high weeds.



For this! Also got some Staghorn sumac and wood sorrel. Found wild carrot but didn't bother to forage that.



Hiked further up river and down a few roads to a new fishing spot.



It was a win. Honestly Tenkara for me isn't really the best in larger bodies of water. If I packed my spinning rod would had a shot at the small mouth bass jumping for bugs on the first day.



What the heck? Photos doesn't do this little monster justice. LOL!



The weather took a nasty turn. A cold rain that didn't stop for hours. The rumors are true, no rain gear plus marginal clothing equals suck. Cleaned the fish in the rain because there was no room under my hammock with the wood there. Also I wasn't going to get any wetter. On a side note a sharpened edge is really useful even if there isn't the rest of the knife. I had plans to haft the head to a stick for a mini hawk but never got around to it.



Crashed in the hammock till 10 pm when the rain stopped. Here is the second today's foraging. Again I had better foraging outings in the past. There just wasn't much out there.



1. Blackberries added to what's left from yesterdays wild grapes.
2. Wood Sorrel.
3. Staghorn sumac.
4. Better cedar bark.
5. 3 sunfish.

Time for fire. I made the Kydex sheath for the sharpened hawk striker to allow safe usage as a carbon steel striker without damage to the sheath from impact with a rock or cut from the sharp edge.



Crushed the quartz foraged the day before. When combined with the carbon steel gave me another way to start a fire. With mist in the air decided this was my best chance though have done friction fire in the wet before.



It worked even faster than I realized but later seen on the video. Maybe on the second strike the chaga took a coal.



Dryer wood from under my hammock in stark contrast to the darker wet wood foraged that night. Had some pine pitch on two leaves for an extra push given the wet weather.





Added an extra large coal extender this time in case the tinder bundle failed. Kept trying to cut away the coal from the larger chunk to ignite the coal extender. Did a great job lighting the extender but finally had to dunk it in water once the fire was burning as it absolutely refused to go out. Chaga is no joke.



The cedar bark tinder bundle went up.



Tossed on a handful of what I thought was dry twigs then it went out. Added pine tar plus mullein cuttings. It flamed up then went out again. Finally got the TP out of my pack which was dry, the wonders of Ziploc. Few minutes later had a Lord of the Flies fire. TP can suck up moisture making it a problematic tinder but with the large chaga coal plus multiple coals burning from the past attempt it helped. Still I should have foraged for more Yellow birch, more thin sticks but ran out of time before the rain hit. My fault however at least it ended well.



Wood sorrel stuff sunfish on a sweet (black) birch stick.



The Staghorn sumac tea has been steeping in cold water for 30 minutes. The water turned pinkish which was a good sign. Used the bandanna to filter out floaters which is required IMHO. It was amazing! That alone was worth the price of admission.



All packed up. A mild headache in the morning plus a bunch of small scratches on my legs but other than that felt good. A drink of water in the morning cleared the headache. The clear sunny day made me wish I could spend another but had responsibilities.



End of part 2.
 
Last edited:

MegaWoodsWalker

Forager
Jul 10, 2014
230
3
Connecticut USA
Igniting Chaga with a micro tomahawk head (Large WCF sharpened tomahawk striker) and foraged quartz for the second fire.

[video=youtube;3VeYnj3D45M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VeYnj3D45M[/video]

Once again thanks for the looking.
 

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