An Outing In Hyland Park Reserve... Bloomington, MN

   On Sunday, June 9th I made my way north to the city of Bloomington, MN and to the Hyland Park Reserve for a "meet and greet" with fellow BushcraftUSA member "Shonuffisthemaster."
   Sho' and I had never met before this, except for exchanging some brief info on the BushcraftUSA forum site. Here is a link to that growing conversation thread, started by Sho' and a carried on by a few others who wanted to get this going. A Regular Meeting In The Twin Cities
   He has been interested for some time in getting a regular meeting going for local bushcraft enthusiasts, just like I've been trying to do here in southern Minnesota for the past year or more.
   I decided to meet with him, and offer my encouragement and to spend some time getting to know my fellow bushcrafter and together maybe practice some skills and pass on some ideas for up coming meetups. 
   Here is my trip report as I posted it on the BushcraftUSA forum "Minnesota Section" site.

  "First off, I would like to give a big thank you to Sho' for putting out the invitation and for taking the time and coming out to meet me and show me around his great park reserve. Hyland is a big place with lots of good resources and places to explore. I know we will all have a lot of fun out there in the future.
    For those of you who could not make it, you missed a great time. As it was just Sho' and myself, we pretty much followed our whimsy when it came to exploring and followed a lot of the trails looking for things of interest.
    Here is a list of the things we did, or practiced, or studied or just plain shared for show and tell and the learning and the joy of bushcraft...

• We worked on Tree ID which included the basswood, cottonwood, aspen, willow, green ash and elm and assorted oaks.
• Practiced natural cordage with harvested basswood inner bark.
• Searched for local wild edibles and ate some basswood leaves. Found basswood, burdock, dandelions, some cattails, out of season raspberry bushes, some wood sorrel and violets.
• Practiced some animal tracking with found deer tracks.
• Observed animals in habitat- wood ducks.
• Observed local fisherman catching pan fish. (food source)
• Harvested dead standing basswood for bow drill spindles and hearth board.
• Calculated pace for 100 meters for use with pace beads and map making practice.
• Practiced with compass and map making, pace count and pace beads, and estimated distances and use of triangulation.
• Made basswood spindles and hearth board and succeeded with making bow drill fire for each of us.
• Discussed kit components, (show and tell)
• I showed him my Ottomani Sun Compass constructed on a previous outing, as an idea for another Saturday meetup.
• I showed him an improvised steel and a flint and he tried his hand at getting an ember in some charred cloth.
• And finally there was a great demonstration by Sho' of field expedient sharpening of knives to hair popping sharpness. It was funny to see all that arm hair piling up on the edge of his knife. (It was amazing and I learned a lot and want to learn more. He has some excellent ideas and some mad knife sharpening skills.)

    I arrived at 4pm and left around 8:30pm and it was a great 4.5 hours of bushcraft fun and skills practice and I am sure we could have continued sharing more time and experience.
    I hope you are all jealous and now wondering why you did not make it.
    I will definitely try to make the next meetup and it will be even better if more will show up. There is so much we can do.
    Through the whole time, I gained a new brother in bushcraft and made a new friend and all of that thru the kindredness that is found in the joy and practice of bushcraft."

   I have to say, it was a very fun trip and well worth my time traveling the hour or so to get there. I will definitely go again and hopefully meet a few more members of BushcraftUSA from the Twin Cities area.
   I hope Sho' and his friends are able to get something regular going. I hope that it grows and flourishes and that many more like minded people will join in the fun. I hope that I can be a part of it on many occasions and look forward to getting a grand Minnesota meetup together with a few overnights to share with so many who call themselves "Bushcrafters." Until next time, Happy Exploring. 

A Snowy Solo Day Trip

   This last Saturday started out as usual, as I headed out to meet any Minnesota BushcraftUSA members that might arrive for our regular Saturday morning meet-up at 9 o'clock.
    I arrived at the park, and waited the usual half hour until 9:30am, and when it looked like I was going to be the only one, I decided to head out for a solo day trip.
    It had snowed the night before, so the freshly fallen snow was perfect for seeing all the deer, fox, coyote and rabbit tracks and many others too numerous to identify.
    It looked like it was going to be a fun day, and the temperature was just right for a crisp mornings hike. Another thing that made it nice, was that there was little to no wind. It was completely calm and it was easy to hear all the birds and other animal sounds. I even heard and saw a few deer wondering the woodland, but were too fleeting to get any video.
    It turned into a good day to practice skills, so I thought I would try for Mr. Black's "Student Practice To Build and Use A Fire Reflector" elective that is part of the BushclassUSA forum.
    I had only very briefly read the requirements and after I got back home, I discovered that I failed to notice the shelter requirement. So since I missed that part, I will have to go with this elective once again, at a location where I have a more permanent camp with the lean-to I am building.
    I decided to make a split wood fire, as it was the easiest way to find dry wood. Then I used flint and steel with charred cloth to ignite it. Then I put some water on to boil for hot chocolate and when that was done, sat for a relaxing time listening to all the sounds of the woodland.
    Then it was time to head back. It was a great time and going solo always has its advantages and adventure.
    So here is the video of my adventure. My video style, when doing any solo trips, is heavily influenced by Les Stroud, of Survivorman fame. His visual cut-aways, long distance shots of himself, special speed up effects and general environmental perspective shots work to give a sense of what he is experiencing and draws the audience into his story. I can only hope to one day, get as good as he is and to improve on it with my own style and means.
   I hope you enjoy it.

   I am sure to make a lot more solo trips in the future, so I know there will be a lot more videos like this.  But this blog site is dedicated to sharing bushcraft adventures, and not just about me and my adventures, but about having the adventure with others. Until next time, Happy Exploring.

  

Just Doing Some Cookin'

  This month has started off with a couple of good bushcraft adventures. I am going to change it up a bit and share last Sunday's adventure first and save last Saturday's adventure for the next post.
   The reason for this is that I sort of pushed myself to get the video done for Sunday's adventure first, so that my friend Sticker would have his part of the video to post up for his latest BushclassUSA lesson.
   We got together on Sunday, so that he could complete his "Student Practice for Cooking Bannock with Fire." The weather was near perfect for a good hike out to the new campsite. Sticker and his wife, member "CallmeKris", myself and my girlfriend, decided to get together with the idea that we were going to do some cooking. Making it a "hot" lunch for change of pace. My girlfriend brought some chicken fillets marinated in lemon oil and some seasonings and she also brought some potatoes which I diced and boiled. I brought a vegetable to heat up and the pack grill, which is a gift from my friend and fellow member "Little Jon."
   Sticker and CallmeKris fried up some pork chops and baked some potatoes and in the end, we all had a pretty good meal. Then it was on to the lesson and cooking the bannock.
   So here is the video of that afternoons adventure. I hope you enjoy it.

   In my next blog post, I hope to share what a great adventure I had with my eight year bush buddy, Christian, on this past Saturday. He has come a long ways in developing his bushcraft skills and this time around showed me how he can get a fire going, using natural tinders and under some not so ideal conditions. 
   Until next time. Happy Exploring.

Nothing Like First Ember With Bow Drill

    As I have said it before, no matter how many times I create an ember using some method for fire by friction, it fascinates me. Over the years, it has never become old, it is and always will be a "gift of fire" every single time.
   I had the very fortunate moment at the 2012 Hardwoodsman Meet, to not only make a new friend, but to capture his first attempt at making fire by friction. He was elated, surprised, hurried, excited, thrilled and absolutely giddy about getting his first ember. And it won't of course be his last time. Once you are on the path to using natural means to make fire and natural tinders to sustain it, there is no turning back. Like my friend Ross, with the Arctic Mouth Drill, my friend Grizzly Adams will be making and searching for even more ways to fuel his addiction to making fire by friction. (pardon the pun)
   So here is that moment, when it all comes together and you know for the first time that it is possible and that you just know you can do it again...

   I hope you give friction by fire, especially with the bow drill, a try. It is a firecraft skill definitely worth pursuing.  We will re-visit this topic time and time again, as firecraft is so important to bushcraft. In point of fact, nearly half of all the lessons for BushclassUSA Basic and Intermediate Classes are dedicated to the process of making fire. It is that important. So until next time. Happy Exploring.

A Day Out With My Bush Buddy Part II

   It was about a week ago, when I was able to get out with my bush buddy for an adventure in firecraft. My mission was to begin to find natural tinders for my next Intermediate BushclassUSA lesson. His mission was to gather the right tinders he would need to build a twig fire from scratch and all by himself. We had a great time and I am so proud of his efforts and how far his bushcraft skills have developed.
   So here is the video of our adventure and his amazing show of skills. Good going buddy...

I hope you liked the video and I am sure we will have many more adventures, as he is growing into a fine bushcrafter. I am hoping he will become one of the youngest to graduate BushclassUSA. Until next time, Happy Exploring.