Photos Taken During a Drive in the Country

This afternoon I went for a drive in the country, about 55 kilometers north, beyond Newmarket, and just below Lake Simcoe.







The major snows of last weekend have begun to melt, with temperatures wavering around freezing.







I drove onto side roads, and used my GPS device in the car to keep me away from the main roads.







I could drive for days up there, and perhaps I might plan to get in the car one Saturday morning, drive and drive and find a place to make camp one night and then make it back home on a Sunday. I'd like to do this during the winter snows, nothing like camping in the snow.







A precocious mare galloped up to me as I got out of my car to take a photo of a field, and she bobbed and dropped her head - I wasn't sure if it was an inviting gesture, or a challenging gesture, as she seemed to want to leap the fence and come straight at me.







I made conversation with her. She just blinked at me, and nodded her head.







I stopped beside a nice looking barn and took a few photos.





Fence posts and wire in the snow. This is a beautiful time of year, and if you can get past the muddy slush and the wet and ice, you'll find some amazing sights.





Cheers,

Mungo

A Lunch Time Walk in the Snow

At lunch time, a colleague and I went for a walk around the building where we work. The track is 1 mile long and since the snow storm that hit this weekend, it has not been cleared - after all, what mad person would want to make a trek in the snow?







We trudged through the snow, which piled up in big drifts - the light areas had about a foot of snow, but some drifts were much deeper. We captured these images using a camera-phone, hence the low resolution.







Some grey birds made strange electronic chirping sounds - can't figure out what they were yet. They jumped from bush to bush, poking around at the last berries of the season. Only squirrel tracks marked the path over the thick undisturbed snow trail.







A fat black squirrel sat in a willow arch over us, and seemed to wonder why someone would be out on the trail in this snow. The sight of fluffy weed heads, and talk of yurts in Algonquin Park made us think of winter camping and fires in the woods.







Even with North America's busiest highway humming away about 60 feet away from us on one leg of the walk, it was easy to forget we were in a major city and easy to imagine being way up north somewhere... Away from computers and closer to some ice-fishing and campfires. We needed to clear at least a couple of piles of snow over 10 feet high, compliments of the parking lot snowplows.







With all of the dead standing firewood looming about, and spruce trees, a good shelter was just waiting to be assembled. The birch tree with crumbling, flaking bark was waiting to supply me with tinder for a fire.





Cheers,

Mungo

Bushcraft Course with Mors Kochanski - Theory, Fire and Kit

Sorry I haven't been writing much recently - preoccupied with other matters I suppose.

Here are the final set of pictures that I took at the Bushcraft Course taught by Mors Kochanski at Tim Smith's Jack Mountain Bushcraft & Guide Service in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire that I attended in early November of this year.





Among the various topics that Mors taught was the 'triangle of capability' as it pertains to tools in the bush.

The three aspects that make up the triangle are:

1. what you know
2. the tool
3. the material on which you're working on

To be successful in your application of a tool, you must consider these points: Skill-knowledge, the quality and appropriateness of the tool, and the material upon which you are applying the tool all fit together as you make camp, or undertake survival or living in the woods. I suppose this could apply to everyday life too - or as I practice everyday: project management.





The course was more theory than practicum, which initially surprised me. But in retrospect, and indeed during the course itself, I was most grateful - I suppose I had previously been putting the cart before the horse in my outdoors experiences. Buy a tool, learn to use it, make mistakes, try again. I think learning comes first, application comes second.





Mors Kochanski stresses that we need to develop a knowledge-base, an education, and that we need to focus on the following elements in Bushcraft:

1. flora
2. fauna
3. minerals
4. technology (of which the following elements are crucial):
   
1. fire
2. bindcraft
3. shelter
4. bushcraft
   

Here is Decado sitting happily by the fire - he had a terrific time as well.



During the classroom time, we discussed the compilation of a survival kit, and learned to ask the main questions:

Is this item crucial to fire, shelter, or food/water? If not, what can I substitute it with? And of course once you have compiled a kit, you need to test it to verify its value. A survival kit is just that: something to allow you to not die. Survival is defined as a situation where there is a severe stress, that if it is not relieved, you die.



A parallel-lay fire kept us warm, as the temperature dipped to minus 2 degrees Celsius at night.



Living in the bush is a different matter entirely, and now we need to consider comfort, long-term sustenance etc... Morale has always been one of my main considerations when camping and I think this is important in both survival and simple camping.





I was able to ignite an ember of true tinder fungus using steel and a piece of chirt (a hard stone like flint). I wrapped it in a tinder bundle of grass and pine-needles and pretty soon I had a fire going. This was an amazing experience. It was the first time I had made a fire without matches or my normal ferrocerium rod, and with just a piece of steel file and a stone, and an orange spark.

Mors stated that if you have been able to tackle the fundamental survival concepts - i.e. if you have everything you need to deal with survival circumstances - "anything that happens to you that is lethal is not your fault". Neat concept to wrap your brain around, I think.





Tim Smith added a valuable point during the teaching to counterbalance all of the theory. He reminded us that "having done is more important than knowing how". I suppose knowledge and experience have to be attained hand-in-hand.





Here is the fire I made, I had scrambled to get my camera to record it for posterity... At least for my own satisfaction and memory! I know. I am a geek.

I won't get into the following list now, but some of the important items in a survival kit are as follows:

1. properly conceived set of season-appropriate clothing
2. means for fire
3. sharp knife that can be sharpened in the field
4. 1st aid kit and mirror (real glass mirror, not one of the plastic ones)
5. navigation tools - compass, etc...
6. sleeping bag is 2/3 of the need and mattress comprises the remaining 1/3 of the need
7. metal pot
8. shelter
9. a knowledge of bindcraft
10. signals (whistle, flare)
11. more items (saw, axe etc...)
12. pack

I have had a bad cold this past week, and once it has cleared up I intend to do some day time winter hikes into the woods. Should be fun - a campfire in the pine woods, a hot meal and a hot drink.



Cheers,

Mungo