Tea and Coffee

Bumbling Bushcraft Comic: Happy Mother's Day

Pickin' Up a Bouquet: Wildflower Identification

How It's Crafted: Paracord Belt

From Trash to Treasure: Recycling Items For Survival

As you know this month we are doing a recycling series, and we are moving right along this month with the recycling blog. Last week I showed you some items that you could reuse several times on the trail. This week we are going to look into things you can recycle that you might otherwise throw away. These could be items that you bring with you that you choose to hang on to so you don't leave garbage behind, or items that you find on the trail that are theoretically clean enough for you to pick up and use.

The first item I have is a water bottle, or in my case, a pop bottle. Any kind of bottle like this will do, especially if its plastic. This pop bottle went fishing with me and when I finished my pop, I kept it in my pocket. Remember what we talked about before, if it's not important to you, you are more than likely going to leave it behind. That's why I kept this on my person after I finished with it so it would make it back with me. Now what you can do with this bottle is make a nice survival fishing rod. What you want to do is take some fishing line and tie it around the bottom curve of your pop bottle as shown to the right. After it is secured around the bottle, just wrap your line.

Another thing Yankee and I talked about, (Yankee Outdoor Adventures on YouTube) was how often you find fishing lures in trees where people have to cut and run. You can take those lures that you find and store them in your water bottle, or of course bring your own. You can store lures, rooster tails, small hooks, bass hooks, sinkers, artificial bait, jigs and more. With all of these stored in your bottle along with the line you previously tied around your bottle, you have a tackle kit ready to go.

The next thing we can work with is a pop can. Now I find pop cans lying around all the time, I do NOT recommend doing this with a random pop can you find on the trail. First you want to cut the can straight down. You can use the edge of the nutritional info box for a reference. This cut doesn't have to be straight, but it helps if it is. Next you are going to cut a line a quarter of the way around the can horizontally in both directions at the top and bottom of the vertical line you cut. This will allow you to open the can like flaps. We now have a reflective candle holder. I placed one of my squat candles in the can and lit it and wow is it bright. However if you are really in a pinch, you could always light up a crayon.

Well guys that will do it for today. Next week we will be finishing up this recycling series and you know you don't want to miss it! As always feel free to comment by clicking the comment link at the end of the blog, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

How It's Crafted: Char Cloth

Keep Those Fires Burning Challenge

Trails With Ole Nick: Making the Square Tarp

Trails With Ole Nick: Fire Making on an East KY Ridge

Bumbling Bushcraft Comic: The Tenacious C

Trails with Ole Nick: Tarp Setup on an East KY Ridge

Bumbling Bushcraft Comic: Swing and a Miss

Bumbling Bushcraft Comic: "2/3 ain't bad"

I Will Survive: Comparing the Survival Water Bottle to My EDC Kit

Last week we finished building our EDC Kit and we talked about the three characteristics we want our gear to have: familiarity, compactibility, and re-usability. We packed away all of our stuff into a fanny pack as well. We valued this kit to be about $57, however I only spent $10 on my kit for the fanny pack. The rest of my gear I already had lying around the house. I did not buy gear for this kit. This week we are doing the review. That’s right, this week we will be comparing the survival water bottle to my EDC kit.

First let’s get into the survival water bottle and see what we are getting for $20. The water bottle itself is a 1000 ml. plastic water bottle with a red carabiner attached to it. I have some black 550 paracord at the top of the water bottle, one bandage (the card says there were supposed to be three),

an aluminum carabiner with a compass and an LED flashlight. It also comes with a tiny pocket knife with a tiny nail file. The next item I remove is an orange safety whistle, and a floating compass with a container that stores matches, however, no matches were provided. The last few items are a survival blanket that reflects up to 90% body heat, an emergency poncho which I can see from the package is very thin and will not last long, (I may be able to fly it like a tarp), and an emergency sewing kit with a button and a latch pin. I am not satisfied with what I have for $20. I do not feel that it meets the criteria of 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. My final note is that repacking the bottle was extremely difficult and all of my gear was crammed back inside.

I am going to be testing the survival water bottle in the same location where I had my 3 Day Camp. I

am going to attempt to set up my shelter, start a fire, and boil water. Now, I am not going to spend all day out here trying to accomplish these tasks with this kit. If I hit a road block that I cannot overcome or at least overcome quickly, I am going to say the test is done. I am going to follow this same practice with my EDC kit as well. One flaw I am going to point out with the survival water bottle right away is that I had to dig a box of matches out of my car to add to the kit, because the kit itself did not provide them.

The first thing I did was use the paracord to suspend the plastic water bottle over the site where I am going to build my fire. I tied the paracord off to a tree, threw the length over a limb, tied a loop in it, and clipped the water bottle to the loop with the red carabiner. The goal is to get my water to boil by controlling my fire. Normally I would use a tripod to boil water, however  I do not believe I could cut down or carve one with the tools provided by this kit. This attempt failed

I used my matches to start my fire. If I had not supplied the matches I would have had absolutely no way to make fire. I could have added a lighter instead, however, the kit was designed to use matches. While setting up, the branch above me became over encumbered and fell out so I had to improvise and suspend the water bottle from a much less distance. I filled it up with 16.9 oz. of water so that it will be boiling the same amount as my EDC kit.

Unfortunately I was not able to get the water to boil. While trying to control my fire the water bottle began to melt and warp. Also the tripod type branch I was using was dry enough that it started to catch as well. I probably could have waited a little longer, but I was not satisfied with how things were going. If you don’t know how to boil water in a plastic bottle pre-emergency, you are not going to know how to do it in the actual survival situation. I’m ranking the bottle a D, not an F, because you cannot purify water in it, but it can hold a significant amount of water and that’s worth something.

For the shelter I decided to use the poncho as a moisture barrier and I used the survival blanket to wrap up in. It is very noisy and if I were to sleep like this I would definitely wake up any time I moved. Other than that it was kind of nice. I rank the shelter a C. If rain were to come I would be left completely out in the open. If I had a fire to sit next to it would be even better, however the blanket says to keep away from fire. I may even consider getting one of these for my EDC kit.

Now that we have finished testing out the survival water bottle, it is time to test out my EDC kit. Right away you will notice that there are things I can do with this kit that I couldn’t do with the other kit, and actually there is one thing that I could have done with the survival water bottle kit that I could have done, but chose not to. We will talk about why a little later.

I will be testing my EDC kit the same way I tested the survival water bottle according to the rule three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. My first order of business is to make a shelter. What I did was lash a branch horizontally to a tree with my bank line. Next I found some small rocks and folded them into the corners of my poncho, tied off the corner to keep them in place, and then tied the corners to the lashed branch. I took a long stick that was smaller in diameter to the one I lashed to the tree and used my 11-in-1 card to saw it in half. The stick was mostly greenwood so the 11-in-1 card had some difficulty getting the job done, but it did get the job done. Next I used my Camillus Seize to carve the two half pieces into tent stakes. I repeated the process with the stones in the bottom to corners of my poncho, attached them to the stakes, and then staked them into the ground. This results in my poncho being set up like I would my tarp.

The reason I did not do this with a survival blanket is because I was having so much trouble with the

survival water bottle kit, I just wanted to get any kind of shelter together. I absolutely think that the survival blanket could do this, and it is roughly the same size as my poncho so I think it would do it well. The only problem being with that kit, if I chose to make the survival blanket into a shelter, I would have nothing to cover up with at night. If you have a extra survival blanket in your kit I highly recommend that you try to do this. Unfortunately with the survival water bottle kit, I just don’t think it’s worth it.

With the assistance of my lovely wife, we did a weather test on the poncho. I sat underneath it with my moisture barrier, the black contractor bag I included in my kit and she prepared the water hose to spray down my shelter.  Now the water from the garden hose was a lot heavier than any rain I would typically experience, but it held up well and no water got in. The hood of the poncho faced downward and while it did move and buck with the water hitting it, it did not open up to let the water in.

Now I am going to test the abilities of the second contractor bag that I packed in my EDC kit. First I

can get into it and use it like a sleeping bag if needed. While standing the bag comes up to my arm pits, but lying down I can hunker down into it and it will retain my body heat fairly well. The next thing I am going to test is how well it holds water. I filled the bag up just enough for me to be able to lift it and also so it did not rip out the bottom of the bag. It held up well, I have plenty of contractor bag left to tie it off and store it, and all I have to do is untie it to get more water.

Speaking of water, now it is time for our boiling test. I am going to use the same amount of water as well as the same type of bottled water as I used in my previous boiling test to be fair in judging which boils better. I used my lighter in my combustion kit to light my tinder and get my fire started. After that it was just a matter of placing the metal water bottle into the fire without the plastic lid on top and waiting for it to boil.

Another thing that I want to show you my kit can do is make char cloth. The Altoids tin that is also

the container for my combustion kit can also be used to make char cloth in. Now I didn’t have any cloth packed in my EDC kit so what I did was cut a strip out of the bottom of my T-shirt, placed it in the Altoids tin, closed it, and put it in the fire. It’s as simple as that. Now I can make char cloth while I am waiting for my water to boil, which it did! To remove it safely from the fire, I used my bank line and a small stick to make a toggle, carefully slid the stick into the bottle, and lifted it gently out of the fire to cool. The char cloth actually turned out very nice as well. It blackened well and there were no white spots. Unfortunately the inside of the Altoids tin charred up pretty badly as well so I can no longer use it as a signaling device.

For my final thought, I like to think it is pretty obvious which kit is the winner, but we will still go ahead and break it down. Overall I was very pleased with the fanny pack, more so than I thought I would be. Everything I needed was at my hip and was easy to retrieve. The water bottle just did not have what you needed to survive in my opinion. I ranked the combustion kit in the survival water with a D, because I had to provide my own matches and in that kit that was the one and only way provided to make fire. For cover I ranked it a C because of the survival blanket, but I think there could have been more options in the way of cover. I gave the container a D, because I could not boil or purify water in it. It's saving grace was that I could hold a large amount of water in it. I gave the cutting tool an F, as it was pitiful. It isn't the smallest knife I have ever had, but it was definitely the worst knife I have ever had. I gave the cordage a C. It did it's job, however, I had 33ft. of  550 paracord in the bottle, yet in my kit I had 60 ft. of bank line that was much more compact. Moving on to my kit, I felt it performed above and beyond. My poncho worked very well as a cover, and I was even concerned it would rip but didn't. The contractor bags served their purpose as a moisture barrier and even held up to the task of having extra jobs, so to my cover I give an A+. My combustion kit had a rocky start, but I did have multiple ways of making fire and even created a fourth way to make fire while testing the kit so I give it an A. My container did it's job boiling water and my cordage did a fantastic job setting up my camp. I even had plenty left over. The Camillus Seize performed well in the field. I used it to clean up branches and carve stakes with ease. The 11-in-1 card had a rough start, but it did its job in the end. The final results are the Survival Water Bottle overall is ranked D, and the Fanny Pack EDC Kit is ranked A, at the lowest, maybe a B.

Next week we will be picking up where we left off two series ago. David Canterbury first started off with the 5 C's of Survivability, later he added an additional 5, which in total became the 10 C's of Survivability. We will be beginning next week with Compass. It will also be our first on location video. Make sure you don't miss out! As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Every Day I'm Carryin': Building EDC Kits and Choosing Cutting and Combustion Options

Last week we highlighted and briefly talked about five blogs that I thought would help prepare for the next series we are going into: EDC kits. If you aren’t sure what EDC stands for, it is an acronym for Every Day Carry. This is a collection or group of items, equipment and gear that when working together can improve survivability in an emergency situation.

EDC kits range from very small to very complex. The smaller kits can be as simple as containing one item such as a knife, lighter, emergency poncho, or a gun. The problem with these simple kits is that they often don’t contain enough tools to improve survivability in an emergency situation. On the flip side, complex kits which are much larger and are filled up with anything and everything from take down bows, full fishing tackle, pop up tents, and a dozen or so MREs. The downside to this type of kit is that they are often too large and too bulky to be conveniently carried around every day. I believe your EDC should be right there in the middle. It should contain just enough tools to improve your survivability in an emergency situation and it should be light and compact enough that you will be willing to take it with you everywhere you go every day.

While putting together my own EDC kit, I came up with three qualities all of the items in your kit should have. The first of these three is Familiarity.  This is something we outdoorsmen are not new to. We are familiar with our bug out bags, our fishing gear, our kayak gear, and the firearms we take into the field, and so on. For the same reason, you should be familiar with your EDC kit.

Being familiar with your gear is going to give you two distinct advantages. The first advantage is that you are going to know the capabilities and limitations of your gear. For example, if you have a knife that you know you cannot baton with, you are not going to waste energy and resources trying to baton with that knife. You also minimize the risk of injury if something were to happen and the knife breaks while you are batoning and comes back on you. You become familiar with these items during what Dave Canterbury calls “dirt time” which is the time you spend out in the field actually working with your gear. I recommend that anything you pack in your EDC kit is as trusted as your best friend.

The second advantage you will have is knowing how to manipulate your gear into getting the desired result. For example you will know where to strike the ferro rod on your knife, what angle to hold it at when you want a deep or shallow cut, and how much wood and force to use when batoning. A person who carves spoons and bowls out of wood with nothing but a pocket knife has used that knife enough through dirt time that they know how to manipulate to achieve the results they want. It’s not all the knife and it is not all the skill of the person holding the knife, it is a combination of both. This is the familiarity you want with your EDC gear.

Now we can get into actually building our EDC kit. When starting off, it is important to have a framework in mind of what you expect from your gear. You can look for other ideas online, but I am going to base mine around the five C’s of survivability. First up is cutting tool. I have my Camillus Seize which I know can strike a ferro rod, and carve. My second option is the UST 11-in-1 card. It has a knife blade, flathead screwdriver, can opener, bottle opener, saw blade, 4cm ruler, different sized hex wrenches, and a butterfly wrench. It also has a feature called a directional ancillary indicator which I’ll do more on later. I like this tool for its saw blade which allows me to cut notches without having to carve with my knife, as well as it has various 90 degree angles to strike a ferro rod on.

Next up is our Combustion kit. In my kit I have a lighter, a micro ferro rod, and a magnifying glass like what you would see someone reading a restaurant menu with. Each of these tools has a purpose to make a specific type of fire. First, with a flick of the Bic, we have sure fire. This allows me to easily light my tinder and get my fire started. Next is the ferro rod which is not as good as sure fire but does cast better sparks than flint and steel. Both the lighter and ferro rod are non-renewable resources. Lighting the lighter uses butane and striking the ferro rod chips away material. The magnifying glass is a renewable resource because I can always use it to enhance the sun’s rays and start a fire. All items except my cutting tool are stored in an Altoids tin. It is cheap and convenient and can also be used for sewing and fishing kits. These tins are great because you can make them water tight by wrapping the opening with two overlapping pieces of electrical tape. It can be used as a signaling device with the polished metal inside the tin. Lastly there are enough holes in the back of the tin that you can actually char in it.

Now let’s talk price. The knife was the most expensive item, which I spent $30 on, however I have seen it sell for as cheap as $10. The 11-in-1 card was $2 but I got it on sale for $1. If the Seize happened to be on sale you would likely get both of these items for $20. The Altoids tin candy and all cost about $3. The magnifying glass and ferro rod come in a pack of 10 for $10 which translates to $1 each and the lighter also come in a pack of eight and is roughly $1 individually. Altogether we have spent about $25 on our EDC kit. The ones you find in store already put together run for about $20 so you are spending more, however, if you are using gear you are familiar with, these items should already be accessible to you and you really aren’t spending anything at all.

As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

It’s not homework: 5 blogs I recommend you check out

Last week I told you guys I would more than likely be taking this week off to rest and recharge, and I am currently doing that. However, I thought this would be a good time to recommend just 5 blogs for you to check out. These blogs have been picked for their contents and how it will pertain to the next blog series to come out, but more on that later. Also these blogs will provide you with a lot of insight to the previous series “The 3 day camp” and the reasons I choose the tools I did. Now you could of course check out all the blogs, though if you don’t have that kind of time, just check out these 5.

First off from our combustion series I have to recommend “Cloth roasting on an open fire”.  In this blog I made char-cloth a key component to next fire mentality. Not only that, but it was also a nice wrap up to the entire series. After the char cloth was made I performed a few observations on it. I learned that super-hot char-cloth will begin its embering process if a gentle breeze is present. This make sense because of the 3 facts for fire which are heat, fuel, oxygen. The fuel is already super-heated turning it into char then in the presents of any airflow it begin to ignite. Lesson learned about letting your char-cloth cool before using it. So make sure you check this blog out before next week

Following next was my container series. During this time I spent a lot of times working with mess kits. Even going so far as to make my own. However, the first blog was about your water bottle and its importance. At the time there wasn’t much I could do in the way of an activity for this blog so it turned about to be a lot of lecturing. However, some important points came from there like “My criteria for a Bushcraft water bottle” as well as “what your water bottle should do for you”. Definitely want to check those out so you know which bottle to keep and which to pitch.

 

Speaking of “pitching”, a blog called “pitch the tent and use a tarp” came from

the cover series. In this I used my square tarp that I had made from a rectangle tarp in the previous blog, to demonstrate different set-ups and flys that can give you great shelter options. Never in a million years did I think I would recommend a tarp over a tent. However, my problems with tents like: heat, moisture, and claustrophobia; these aren’t a problem in the tarp. And with a good moisture barrier and some bug repellent would could get all the benefits of a tent without the downsides.

Next in the cordage series, I wrote a blog called “time to get a little knotty”. This entire series was plagued with puns and I apologize for that. However, I do recommend this blog because it shows you the different knots that your cordage should be able to do for you. In this blog, I highlighted 5 or 6 different knots with included a fishing knot and a hitch knot, which lead in to the lashing blog the most popular blog on the website. Definitely will be important so check it out.

Finally in the cutting tool series I have to recommend “Sharpest tool in the shed”. Not only was it our first video episode. But it was the longest blog in process. I very proud of this review. The cutting tools shown in this blog all have specific purposes and different way of tackling a problem. I recommend this one, because knowing what each tool “can do” and “can’t do” will make more sense for the choices I’ll be making in the next series. However, that’ll have to wait till next week.

Now as for the series itself it will be on EDC kits. I will be going explain the importance of EDC kits and the problem I have with most of the ones I see. If ya want a Sneak-peak then here it is: NO PLASTIC BOTTLE. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Homeward Bound: Day 3 of the 3 Day Camp and Review

At last we have arrived at Day 3 of the 3 Day camp. Last week we talked about basic camp hygiene and we packed up as much as we possibly could on Day 2 so when it was time to go in, the only thing we really needed to pack up was the bedroll. After breakfast, that will be the plan to pack up and go in, but the day doesn’t end there. Once we get inside we will need to do some maintenance on our gear to keep it from becoming ruined. Let’s get into it.

Packing up our bedroll is as simple as packing everything up the way we took it out. First I lay my tarp out flat, layer in my wool blanket, garbage bags, and inflatables, and roll it up into a bedroll and secure it with paracord. Easy. Now all I have to do is pick up my pack which should already be ready to go and head inside. The first order of business is to take a well-deserved shower and check for ticks.

The first gear item I am going to turn my attention to is my

mess kit. I used my garden hose to wash out as much as I could but there are still some problem spots on the inside. I am just going to wash them in the sink with a sponge, soap and water. After cleaning them up they are not sparkling and shiny new, but there is a big improvement. Overall I am happy with how they cleaned up and I anticipate being able to get many more uses out of this mess kit.

It is important to note that you should deal with these items 24-48 hours after your camp. With that being said I am now going to work on my bedroll. It did rain during the camp so I know that at least my tarp is wet. My wool blanket being a cloth item could mildew if any moisture gets into it so what I did was drape it over my bathroom door and let it air dry. It didn’t appear to be wet when I got it out of the bedroll, but I hung it up as a precaution. The trash bags that I had used a moisture barrier were wet, but they are also easily replaceable so I chose to toss the ones I had used. The large inflatable that was supposed to serve as my mattress was a failure on this trip so I decided to dispose of it as well. Now to dry my tarp. What I decided to do was stake my tarp out over the large bush in my yard. A quick note, one of my tent stakes became bent during the camp and will need to be replaced. I actually had planned on replacing the whole set, but for the time being this is what I have. All I did was drape the tarp over the bush and used the stakes to pull it tight. This allows it to air dry in the sun. An alternative method to drying the tarp would be to wipe it down with some clean, dry towels, but I chose this method because I didn’t have to fool with it any more once it was staked out.

Now I would like to take this time to review the camp itself. I think overall it was a success. I also learned a lot from my experience during the camp and we are going to talk about some of those things now. I’m going to talk about my gear that falls under the category of the 5 C’s. My cutting tools did their job and did it well. I was impressed by how they maintained their edge throughout the camp. When I inspected them after coming in I found that none of them needed sharpened which was nice. My combustion kit worked the way it was supposed to as well and I know I will need to replace the charcloth I used for the next time I go out. However, I know this is an expendable resource that I will need to continuously replace. I never needed the cordage that I packed, however I did have some there if I needed it. I would like to add another container to my pack. The purpose of this being that I can have water boiling on the fire and water that I have already boiled cooling down to drink. This gives me more purified water to work with during my camp.

I would like to talk about my cover more in depth since this item did the most work and took the most hits throughout the camp. The tarp did its job well, the only issue I had was from a failure in one of my tent stakes. I do want to replace my metal stakes with plastic stakes because I think they will be more robust, so that will be something to look for in the future. The wool blanket was also very helpful. I don’t think I could have stood it out there as long as I did without it so I will definitely be using that item again. I was really surprised by how well the contractor garbage bags worked out in my camp and I think next time I will pack four instead of two. My inflatable mattress as I stated earlier was thrown away. The next camp I am going to try and use a yoga mat as my cushion between myself and the ground. The downside to this is that it may make my bedroll bulkier, but it is much more reliable than the inflatable. Speaking of inflatable I had much success with the smaller floaties in the pillow case and I will definitely be using those again as well.

Now for the personal items. The insect repellent spray easily earns the MVP for the camp. Without it I would not have made it. The mosquitoes were absolutely awful when they would hit, but spraying that spray got them off my case. I was very happy I chose to bring my washcloths along, they helped when it came to cleaning my gear and myself. The medicine kit helped out a lot too. Every time I have been camping I have always slept in a tent. This was actually the first time I have slept on the ground in a Bushcraft setting so the sleeping pills were very helpful in getting me to fall asleep and getting a good night’s rest. Another thing that I never would have thought would help me get a good night’s rest were my boots. By using them as a place to rest my head, I was much more comfortable and well rested the next day. That just leaves my food items. Overall the items I chose to pack with me were very good for the setting I was in. The bread was even good, however I did not have a good enough control over my fire to get it to cook properly so I will definitely need to work more with that. I packed enough food to have 6 meals, two per day, one for one afternoon, and one at night, plus my Slim-Jims. Next time I think I am going to pack enough food for four meals per day plus an extra day’s worth of food because frankly, I was still hungry. This could be attributed to a few things, but it is definitely something to change about my pack in the future.

I hope you have enjoyed this camping adventure as much as I have. I would like to add that next week there will not be a blog or a video, I will be taking a week’s break, but I will be back the week after with a whole new series. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft or just click here to watch now. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub the Bushcraft Tub: Day 2 of the 3 Day Camp

Last week we talked about day 1 of the 3 day camp where we set up the tarp, did some cooking, and went to sleep for the night. Today we will be talking about Day 2 of the 3 Day camp. A couple of things I want to talk about first; during the night my mattress deflated. I continued to sleep on it as it served as a secondary moisture barrier. I also used my boots as sort of a headboard and place to rest my head and it actually helped make me much more comfortable and give me a better night’s sleep.

To start the day I enjoy a breakfast of canned fruit cocktail and some water that I had purified the night before. The fruit can has a pull tab, however if it were to fail, I have my Camillus Trench to open the can with. The goals for day 2 are to collect more firewood to make another good fire tonight, and also to go over some basic camp hygiene.

I checked the nearby trees for dead, dry branches that I could use for firewood. I can tell how dry they are by how easily they snap. Once I found a good bough, I took it from the tree and brought it back to my camp to be processed.

For lunch I ate the bread that I had made on the campfire the night before as well as some Slim-Jims. I would like to add that if you are taking Slim-Jims, or any other kind of jerky with you into your camp, have water. These food items are cured and quite salty and can make you very thirsty. This is why I didn’t have any Slim-Jims the night before. My water was still too hot to drink and I could have easily become dehydrated.

At this point during the camp it begins to rain. I decided to take advantage of this in a few ways. I have a large bough that I took down from a tree that needs to processed into firewood and kept dry so I decided to use this time to do that. The smaller kindling pieces I broke down and stored in my large bowl from my mess kit and the larger pieces that would be used as fuel I sat to the side near the back of the tent. Another way I took advantage of the weather is trying to harvest rain water. I used my empty fruit can to collect the water in. I took my bandana and set it on top of my tarp. Once it became saturated with water, it dripped into the can. I didn’t collect much, but it was something.

Once the rain stopped I started my campfire. There is no need to make more bread tonight since I will be going in after breakfast in the morning so I am going to do something a little different with my fire tonight. For starters I decided to try cooking my soup out of the can rather than in my mess kit. Next I also took some water and placed it in my large bowl and began to heat it over the fire to wash myself down with. Once the water is heated I get one of my washcloths wet and when it has cooled to a tolerable temperature, I wipe myself down with the cloth. It’s no shower, but it is refreshing after being in the hot, humid weather all day.

My fire is burning out and there is not much left for me to do. I figure now it is best to pack up as much as possible so when it is time to go home in the morning, I really only need to take down my tarp and pack up my bedroll. I make sure that I wash out the pieces of my mess kit and dry it as best as I can before I pack it and put it away. When I get home, I can actually put it in the sink and wash it a bit more thoroughly.

Well that’s about it for day 2. I hope you have enjoyed this blog. Next week we will be packing up the camp and talking about how to take care of our gear after we come in from the outdoors, as well as what I might do differently next time. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft or just click here to watch now. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Settling In and Cooking Out: Day 1 of the 3 Day Camp

Last week I showed you all of the gear items that I have chosen for this camp, some of them we had talked about, but some were personal items I had chosen that we had not previously discussed. I showed you how I packed my pack, and now we are ready for the 3 day camp. This week we will be talking about the first day of camp from the time I walked out the front door, to the time I went to bed for the night. Let’s get started.

For the first night I need to accomplish a few things. The first and most important thing is setting up my camp. Next I will need to collect some firewood and some water. Then I can build a fire at my camp site that I can use to boil my water and cook my food for the night and some for the next day as well. I need to try and get all of these tasks accomplished before it gets too dark that I cannot see to work, or that I will be too tired to do anything else.

For my camp I will be using my bedroll to assemble the wedge, or plow point tarp set up that we had talked about in a previous blog. I have chosen this set up because there is a possibility it could rain during the three days I am out here and it will provide the most space and cover. Another bonus is that it is the fastest to set up and also to tear down. After getting my tarp set up, the next thing I am going to do is place the industrial size garbage bags in my bedroll on the ground to provide a moisture barrier not only for myself, but for my gear to rest on while I go gather firewood and water.

I collected my water from the nearest source which was my garden hose and stored it in the canteen that I packed in my pack. This water may not be unsafe, but according to the rules of my camp, I will be treating it as an unsafe source and will boil it over my fire later on in the camp before I drink it.

Now for gathering firewood. Tinder and kindling are easy enough to process as they can be broken up by hand. The fuel is much thicker so I will be using my hatchet to process it. To do this I take the wood I will be processing and place it on another piece of wood so there is space between the ground and the branch. This protect my blade from hitting the ground and damaging it. 

To get my fire started I lay some fuel branches on the ground, placed some tinder on top and placed a piece of charcloth in the tinder. I could cast sparks with a ferro rod but for this instance I just chose to use my Bic lighter. Once the charcloth was alight I layered in tinder, kindling, and then fuel until the fire had taken off on its own. 

At this point I am ready to start cooking. The first order of business is to get my water boiling. I can boil it in the canteen itself by placing it close to, almost in the fire. Next I am going to take out my mess kit. I used the larger bowl to pour my soup in and used my tripod to get the bowl into the fire enough to begin warming the soup. I used the smaller bowl in my kit as a mixing bowl and started making pancake batter for my lunch on day 2. I used a couple of spoonfuls of flour, a few pinches of sugar, a bit of salt, a scoop of shortening and some of the water I had purified to make the batter. I also used some shortening in the flat pan in my mess kit to grease it as the plan was to use it as a griddle. In the end my bread did stick to the pan. It wasn’t pretty, but it was edible. After dinner I needed to get my mess kit cleaned up for the next day. I simply took the pieces of it over to the garden hose and sprayed out the contents.

Now it is time for bed. The first thing I need to do is inflate my inflatables. First is the mattress which is a large pool float. Next I have four arm floaties that I inflated and stuffed into a pillow case that I used for a pillow. To keep them from shifting around I pack them in the way I want them and then tie off the excess length of the pillowcase to keep them in place. Lastly I have my wool blanket that I will cover up with. After my fire is out, I am ready for bed.

I hope you have enjoyed this first day of camp. Tomorrow is a new day with a new set of goals and new challenges to face. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft or just click here to watch now. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

All Packed Up and Ready to Go: Packing For the 3 Day Camp

We’ve spent the past few months talking about all different types of gear that fall under the category of David Canterbury’s 5 C’s of survivability, why they are important, what options you have, and comparing and contrasting those options. This week I am going to pack a backpack full of some of that gear we’ve discussed and go out on a 3 day camp using only the items I’ve packed. 

Now I have set up some rules for this camp and they are as follows: 

1. Once I have left the house I am not allowed to go back inside for any reason whatsoever. (No going back for forgotten or broken gear, restroom needs are an exception to the rule.) 
2. I will be treating all of my water which I will obtain from a garden hose as if it is an unsafe source and follow all of the necessary steps for purifying it. 
3. I will only be using gear that we have talked about in the last six months of blogs with the exception of one item.

Now, let’s get into what is actually going into the backpack. First I want to talk about food items. I have packed with me canned goods such as soup, which I can heat over my fire in my mess kit or in the can itself, and fruit cocktail which is quick and easy for breakfast and does not need to be cooked. Both of these canned items have a pull tab on top for convenience. I also have with me a flour kit with flour, sugar, salt, and coffee, which I can use to bake bread over my fire. Lastly I have brought some Slim-Jims along as a snack or to be paired with my other meals.

I have chosen these items because if I work strategically I can get most of my cooking done over one fire and that is less work for me. For example, once I have set up camp and started a campfire, I can boil my water, cook my soup for dinner, and bake some bread for lunch the next day. In the morning I will have my fruit, lunch will be premade, and I will have no further need for a fire until dinner time the next day. This way I get the most out of my resources.

The next personal item I will be talking about is a medicine kit that I have put together. I purchased a medicine organizer and sorted out allergy medication, ibuprofen, multivitamins, and sleeping pills. I chose these as I figured they would be what I would most likely need outside. Honestly, the sleeping pills will likely be the most useful to me on this trip as I will likely have trouble falling asleep on the ground so I anticipate needing them at least for the first night.

The last two personal items I will be taking are some simple dish cloths and some insect repellent. The cloths will be used for cleaning or drying out my mess kit, cleaning my gear, other hygiene needs, and maybe even to wrap my bread in to keep bugs out. The insect repellent is for the mosquitos which are awful this time of year. I purchased the sportsman max and have been left completely alone by these little pests after using it.

Now that we’ve gotten the personal items out of the way, we will talk about the gear I have chosen to take with me, starting with my backpack. I have chosen the Arrowhead bucket pack from Outdoor products. It has two side compartments, a compartment in the front, a larger and smaller compartment on top and the inside is one large compartment large enough for a bucket which I have inside. I chose this pack for the simplicity and how easy it is to pack, which I will show you how to do now.

First is the bucket in the main compartment. Truthfully this is more useful for an extended stay in the bush with such uses as a seat, latrine, or washing bucket, but for my purposes it will just make my pack sturdier.

Now a good rule of thumb for packing a bucket pack is to place the items you will need sooner than later on the top. My food items I won’t need until after camp has been set up and I have a campfire going so it will go on the bottom. This includes my canned goods, flour kit, and Slim-Jims. Next I will add my medicine kit and dish towels.

These next items which will be closer to the top of my pack fall under the category of the 5 C’s. I have chosen the mess kit that I put together myself that we talked about in a previous blog as well as a water bottle that I can boil water in. The mess kit consists of two large bowls, one with a rounded bottom and one with a flat bottom that can be used for frying. There is also a smaller bowl that I can use as either a cup or a mixing bowl. I also have included a tripod to cook over my campfire, a vice grip for taking my bowls on and off the fire without burning myself, and lastly, a fork and a spoon to eat with.

Next is my cordage. I have about 10’ of 555 paracord and a large roll of 36

bank line. Now, I have other cordage with specific purposes spread throughout my kit. This is more for backup in case I have forgotten something or something goes wrong. If needed I could use either of these items to set up my tarp or for my tent stakes.

I have several options in the way of cutting tools. I have my hatchet for processing wood, the Camillus Bushcrafter which I have as my fixed blade knife, a folding saw, and the Camillus Trench for my pocket knife. Now typically these items would go on my belt and they will in the field, but for now they can be stored in the pack. The folding saw is used for processing wood with a larger diameter down to a manageable size to be split with my hatchet. The Trench has various uses such as a can opener in case the pull tabs on my canned goods fail, or any fine carving tasks such as making feather sticks. Finally the Bushcrafter will fill in for any equipment for tasks such as splitting or carving.

I want to take a second to talk about the combustion kit I will be taking with me as well. The container for my fire-starting items is a chocolate covered pretzel can that I have spray painted and drilled a hole in so I can make charcloth. Its content are a piece of flint, some charcloth, a ferro rod, two bic lighters, and a magnifying glass. The magnifying glass comes with a simple cover with cloth on the inside so you are wiping away debris when you put it away.

Lastly is my bedroll which we made in a previous blog. This will serve as my cover. It consists of an 8x8 tarp that we had made, a wool blanket, and other essentials. I will be placing my bug repellant in the top of the pack so when I step outside I can spray myself down and I will be ready to get started. I hope you are as excited as I am to see what these items can do over a three day span. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft or just click here to watch now. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.