wilderblog

Lets Go Outside

My overnight adventure in the mountains went well despite everything that went wrong; & I suppose one really reassuring element of that is that I had the skills, knowledge or pre-planning to have a backup for each of these issues.

Equipment Problems

• New cord (from Mountain Warehouse) sucks, it slips and sticks in water, esp for Rolling Hitches. This is very very bad, but only two strings failed overnight. I'm not sure if it's even useable for anything because what's the point of a string that won't tie reliably. I got lucky. Apparently this Icicle Hitch is better for slippy ropes
• Head torch broke? Or maybe it is very charge-hungry. Fortunately, I had the Calad i Paemaeron as a second light.
• Clip on the Calad i Paemaeron broke. Fortunately, I have been crocheting a net bag for it, so I had that with me to fix the light up on the tarp mainline

Water

• Managing what does and doesn't get wet is key & I think I didn't attend to it in an ordered fashion.
• A bag left on wet ground soaks up water. I think I wanted a second tarp mainline to suspend objects from - especially clothes to try and dry them overnight, and bags.
• Loo roll packed on outside (got wet) - this was just a bad error, cus I packed in a hurry
• Sleeping bag in picnic bag got wet - I forget it had holes in. A plastic bag is needed for it, and other things too.
• I need either waterproof trews, or spare trews for next day
• I need a better plastic phone bag because it worked well, but something about the bag I've got is Off
• Need a dry hat and gloves - the ones I was wearing were too wet to wear to bed
• Clean tent pegs on site, before they go into a bag

Sleeping & Warmth

• It was 13° overnight. My sleeping bag is rated down to 0°
• Forgot cloak, a major error. I did ok. It was cold and I worried, but I had a second sleeping bag which covered.
• How warm you feel on getting in the tent won't be the same in 2hrs time - I almost left the tent window open, but that would have been a mistake
• Foam mat does great service - it's just an old yoga mat, but no water came through. But I think I was curled up on the reflective mat - I don't think the foam is very warm.
• The tarp saved the tent from getting wet, even with the pegs that slipped. Checking the web, my tent is technically a hooped bivi so maybe I shouldn't be expecting such tentlike behaviour, but I feel like it could still do better, and I can't stealth camp as easily if I always need to factor in a tarp as well. It feels like the hooped bivi needs some real guy lines to hold it under tension

Darkness

• I didn't see the mushrooms on my spot, so damaged some, and I feel very bad about this.
• I couldn't find way up to where I was heading - but I think I almost made it. In particular, forest paths become hard to find. I woke up to find I was ON the path, and I think I could see where I intended to be.

Other

• Weight was OK, but I'm still not carrying food or water and that's worrying me for future
• I really need some kind of. Hammock? a place to rest. Being outdoors is tiring and sleeping isn't always sufficient.
• I really want my feather duvet. Can I pack it? Would it fit in my bivi?
• I've found my concern for my cloak restricts my movement in contexts where I need to be useful.
• Don't rely on your lift being there
• The tarp erection was confident, but took a long time
• Check next days weather for a good leaving window. I got extremely lucky to catch a dry spell for getting down, and a second one for getting home.
• I need more patience when repacking stuff, and a better plan
• I sort of need a second tarp as a hangoutspace, because the tent dominates the first one; or a tarp layout which does both.
• The day after camping, I am no spoons.
• Same for major ritual and I need to make a better plan for that.
• I've worked out how to suspend the bedroll under the backpack - it uses the front and back straps and then a cross-style lashing.

The biggest problem, perhaps, is that you can't focus on ritual. You're out of your head, but so focused on survival - this will perhaps pass with time.

Tarps without Resources

I've now made a second attempt at getting an adirondac up on the mountain, but was again foiled. I got lucky with some old gazebo poles - they're fairly heavy, but good to practice with - or so I thought. I couldn't get the pegged into the ground, and they were also slippy to tie rope around.

• Tarp without grommets
• Constrictor knot

Failing knots in wind

The slidey knot I use on tent pegs won't hold at all in a storm

The ground is too rocky

The two moonlawns I found on the mountain are extremely rocky. Suggestions included using rocks, using heavy logs, or doing a flying tarp attached to trees i.e. we were out of luck with anything requiring tent pegs

The tarp catches the wind

Everyone's best advice was to camp somewhere else, taking landscape features into consideration to block the wind. I also felt that I needed to accept this was the wrong time to practice this tarp setup, if it wasn't suited to conditions. Tarps lower to the ground may be more wind-resistant.

Propagating plants

This year I have attempted to grow:

• Mint - from cuttings - trivial
• Oregano - from cuttings - trivial
• Aloe - from pups - it's going badly
• Foxglove - from seed - waiting to see
• Hawthorn - from berries - WIP
• Lavender - from cutting - WIP
• Hazel - WIP

Making a Wall Hook

Cut a piece of privet (or other shrublike tree) where a sturdy branch meets the trunk. Scrape off bark with knife. Carefully use drill to drill in holes. Attach to wall - use a long screw and rawlplug matching the wall type if the hook will carry any real weight.

This hook can be used for coats, curtain-poles, decorations or? It looks woodsy and attractive, is simple and satisfying to make, and prevents you from having to purchase something.

Tarp and poles

Tarp designs with sticks

The purpose of these designs is to put up tarps in environments without trees.

• C-Fly
• Rectangular Adirondac

Lessons

• The rectangular adirondac, I really enjoy. It's huge but also cosy. I put it up with sticks that had a curve to them, the best I could find, & this was a disaster. However, I think I could have made it work with a more rope
• You can't have too much rope for this.
• I've found a couple of great camping spots

Green Woodworking 101

• How to sharpen an Opinel knife

Lessons

I harvested some branches from a newly fallen tree. Truly green wood is a dream to carve the bark off but leave it even a month and it's tricky. It's hard to find useful sticks or trust that sticks will be a good material compared to trunk. Willow carves oddly, like it's in layers. The woodcarving tutorials on youtube are basswood, an expensive but dreamy wood for good outcomes. Sharpening this knife is REALLY difficult.

Hammock

Put up a hammock to rest in

Knots

• Repeat the knots from Tarp 101
• I half-assed a grippy knot like a single column tie for the hammocks, and then a kind of amateur pulley for one side and a rolling hitch on the other. I'm concerned about the trees - a single column tie like a handcuff is designed not to tighten and to distribute the grip, but I think it's supposed to grip a bit so it tightens as it takes weight
• Hammock Suspension. Three ways to hang your hammock.

Lessons

• The further apart the trees, the flatter the hammock - the easier to sleep in but also the more likely you are to fall out. I got tossed several times, like an Irish mythic hero attempting to ride a masterless horse.
• Figure out wind direction before you put it up, or it will catch all the wind
• A regular garden hammock works fine (although mine was heavy to carry)
• Did you know that bracken releases cancer spores? And they get into the water, the meat and the milk. I don't know what to do with this information, emotionally, practically or politically. I live in the stomach cancer capital of britain, because of the bracken.
• I cuddled up with my wool blanket and a hot water bottle but i still got cold really quickly during a nap, and this was during the day. September, not too cold.
• The trick, apparently, is to put a quilt around the outside of the hammock

Tarp 101

How to put up a basic tarp shelter

Knots

• Timber Hitch - tree 1
• Trucker Hitch - tree 2
• prusik knot - for tension on the tarp
• Rolling Hitch - tensioning guy lines
• Tie a tarp if it doesn't have grommets

Tarp Designs

• I put up an A-frame and a Lean-to
• 15 shelters with a tarp
• Creek Stewart's Pocket Field Guide: Survival Tarp Shelters

Picking a Campsite

• How To Pick A GOOD Camp Site: The Four W's
• 8 Things To Avoid When Choosing A Campsite

Lessons

• Bring one or more picnic squares at the top of the bag for putting your bag on and kneeling on. I use 'Bag for Life' which are easily available with not buying something new and can be used to carry stuff in a pinch.
• Finding a safe spot on the mountains is difficult
• Diagonal tarp setups don't seem to work well with a rectangular tarp, and it stretches uncomfortably on the bias
• The lean-to tarp setup is so welcoming, but I immediately wanted something to sit or lie on
• I got peckish, but bringing a coffee was a mistake for bladder reasons

Hedgerow Calendar

Spring

• harvest willows

Summer

• Collect nettles & prepare for cordage (started to flower (stop picking to eat) - tall as possible - sunnier spot - not floppy at the top when leaves come off - just after rain. See this video about timing and this one - Midsummer is ideal, end of May in the sun is the absolute earliest

Late Summer

• prepare bramble cordage (long, straight new growth with soft prickles on that have grown through the summer - put by to dry and use later)

Autumn

• collect nuts and seeds to propagate for next year
• beware of bracken (August & Sept)

Winter

• birch twigs for besoms
• plant willows
• coppicing & cutting wood
• fibrecrafts indoors

About

Fencraft expects you to "Walk" a lot. Outdoorsy skills gives you excuses to go out-of-doors, and are an option for outdoorsiness for those who cannot hike very far or for very long - as, while the image of going far is important to us, the primary idea is to spend more time in idle contemplation of the wind and the weather and things of the earth.