The photograph was taken in 1923 and camping gear shows a Hupa Indian fishing with a net.
Clearly the location has been prepared for such fishing, with scaffolding allowing him to stand over the water and lower the net.
For some time now, I've known that my cooking gear was heavier and larger than it needed to be. I carry a 2L pot, but virtually never have to boil two liters of water any more. I carry an 8oz fuel canister, but have never come close to using it up on a single trip. However, I have kept the kit because it has functioned so well for me. The Open Country 2L pot, the Kovea Spider stove and a 8oz MSR fuel canister fit perfectly together and offer all season cooking capability on a stable and easy to use platform.
With deer season coming around however, I have finally gotten more motivated to put my cooking kit on a diet. My goal was to reduce the weight, but more importantly the volume of the kit.
I considered several options. I thought about using a kit based around an alcohols stove and a cup. I do in fact have such a minimal kit, which I will share at a later time. I also considered a small canister mounted gas stove. I didn't use any of those options for one reason-they do not offer good all season operation. I like to use as much of the same gear year round as possible. I don't like having one stove for summer, another stove for fall, winter, etc. I want my cook kit to use the same set up no matter what time of year it is. Unfortunately, both alcohol stoves and canister mounted gas stoves do not function well in winter. With care they can certainly be utilized in cold weather, but they are far less than ideal.
The solution was the same one that I used in my last cooking kit. That is to use a remote canister stove. My favorite in that category, as you guys already know is the Kovea Spider that I currently use. It is light and compact, yet offers good all weather performance as it can utilize a wind screen and liquid gas operation due to the remotely mounted canister.
So, once I decided to stick to the same stove, my weight and volume reduction strategies became limited. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the pot and canister are the major places where weight and volume can be cut.
Here is a side by side comparison between my old and new systems.
The 2L pot (left) had to go. I replaced it with a 1L titanium pot from Snow Peak (right) that I have had for many years. They haven't made this model in a while. It came with handles on the side, which I have removed. I've also added a small knob on the lid so it is easier to remove. The lid can still be used as a plate, although I have not had the need for one.
The smaller pot wouldn't accommodate the stove as well as a 8oz fuel canister, so I switched to one the 4oz MSR fuel canisters that they released in the beginning of this year. The result was a smaller, lighter cooking kit that was still self contained, keeping all of the components within the pot. The kit is completed with an aluminum foil wind screen, a Mini BIC lighter, and a bandana. It is closed off with a rubber band.
Here is a table with the weights of the two cooking kits.
| Old Cook Kit | New Cook Kit | |||
| Type/Brand | Weight | Type/Brand | Weight | |
| Pot | 2L Open Country Pot | 7.7 oz | 1L Snow Peak Pot | 4.7 oz |
| Stove | Kovea Spider | 5.9 oz | Kovea Spider | 5.9 oz |
| Canister | 8 oz MSR Canister (Empty) | 5.0 oz | 4 oz MSR Canister (Empty) | 3.5 oz |
| Lighter | Mini BIC Lighter | 0.4 oz | Mini BIC Lighter | 0.4 oz |
| Bandana | Cotton Bandana | 1.1 oz | Cotton Bandana | 1.1 oz |
| Windscreen | Thick Aluminum Foil | 1.3 oz | Thin Aluminum Foil | 0.4 oz |
| Total Weight | 21.4 oz | 16.0 oz |
As you can see, the weight of the kit has been reduced by 5.4 oz, bringing it down to 1 lb total. More importantly, the volume has been reduced from 2L to 1L. Now, I know this is not a drastic reduction. Initially my intention was to do a much more significant reduction of both weight and volume. Unfortunately, I could not figure out a way to do it yet still have all season performance capability. I could easily reduce the kit for three season outings, but this is as small as I survival kits can go with a kit that would still allow me to effectively melt snow for drinking water during winter trips.
A downside is that while the new 4oz canister is lighter, it is actually heavier in terms of canister weight per fuel stored. It stores half the fuel of the 8oz canister, but weighs empty more than survival gear half the weight of the 8oz canister. That is typically the case. A larger contained can hold more volume while weighing relatively less. So, if I had to bring 8oz of fuel using the smaller canisters, their empty weight would be 7oz as opposed to the larger canister's empty weight of 5oz. It is indeed a downside, but since I very rarely need more than 4oz for a weekend trip, it's not a problem. It is also necessary to keep the volume down.
Since my new pot doesn't have handles or bail, I use the bandana to lift up from the fire. Also, due to the lack of a bail, it can't be suspended over a fire. It's a minor downside, although there is little need to suspend a small pot like this one. I just use it directly over the fire.
The only other thing I will look for is a light nylon bag in which I can put the pot. That way I don't have to worry about any sooth getting on my other gear when i have been using the pot over a fire.
The photograph was taken in 1900 during the Alaskan Gold Rush.
It appears than man's best friend also served quite well as a pack animal. I also like that the man is in the middle survival kits of nowhere, with a rifle and a belt lined with bullets, but is still wearing a tie.
If you were saddened when Discovery canceled their contract with Bear Grylls, there is cause for celebration. NBC is bringing him back to television in a new survival competition show called Get Out Alive.
Here is what NBC has to say about the show:
"Grylls leads this non-stop extreme survival journey that survival kits tests 10 teams of two beyond their wildest imaginations as they venture into the unforgiving and dramatic landscape of New Zealand's South Island. Their mission is threefold: survive the wild, journey as a group and avoid elimination. Each week, Bear will send home another team. In the end, only one duo will remain - the team that he believes has shown the most heart, courage, initiative and resolve in their quest to "get out alive" and claim a life-changing grand prize of $500,000.
From dense forests and sheer mountain drop-offs, to freezing cold rivers and unforgiving glacier crevasses, the landscapes tackled will be harsh, remote and physically and emotionally draining. Having to navigate the worst that the wild can throw at them every step of the way, the contestants will be battling to survive like never before.
Every team is assigned a task to take charge of throughout each leg of the journey - including food, fire shelter and obstacles. This is not a race, but is a life-changing adventure to reveal the raw survival spirit needed to "get out alive."
All along the way, Bear, the ultimate adventure survival expert, will be watching, either from vantage points or while traveling with the group. He is looking for that survival spirit, resourceful skill and heart-led determination that he knows the wild demands. If the situation requires, Bear will step in, but all the time, the duos must work together to overcome the cold, fatigue and hardships. And at the end of each leg of the journey, there are difficult and emotional decisions to be made by Bear as he chooses who should leave the expedition.
As the stakes get higher, the obstacles become more unyielding. As civilization gets closer, the journeys get harder, until ultimately only one duo remains. That team will have endured and survived the ultimate test of character and fortitude - walking away with the grand prize, along with the scars and pride that they proved themselves capable to "Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls."'
The show seems set up like a Man vs. Wild – Competition Edition. I imagine similar stunts being performed by the contestant. It could possibly be more like an adventure race competition. We will see.
The show premiers on July 8, 2013 at 9:00PM on NBC.
The photograph survival gear was taken in 1908 and shows a tipi of the Asparoke people in Montana.
A woman has gathered firewood, which she is bringing back to the tipi. Without the use of an axe, gathering sufficient wood must have required constant work.
Heads up, this is going to be a rant. If you don't like such things, avert your eyes.
Classic Camping is a term that has gained popularity recently. A main driving force behind it has been two men, Steve Watts and Dave Wescott. Both men are very accomplished in the field of primitive technology, and have been teaching on the subject for many years. Their expertise in the field covers everything from Neolithic technology, to early 20th century technology and skills.
So, what is Classic Camping? Since the definition of the term comes largely from Watts and Wescott, we have to look to their writings for the definition. According to an interview given by Steve Watts, Classic Camping, encompasses the camping methods and style of the late 1800s through the 1920s. It involves the use of iron tools, canvas tents, and wool clothing. As Mr. Watts explains, it is the time period when the woodsmanship skills of the past intersected with the technology of the early 20th century. In particular, it is the act of leisure camping. It is the point in our history where woodsmanship skills and camping stopped being necessary tools for explorers, hunters, soldiers, and loggers, but rather become a recreational activity for city folk with free time and money to buy a Ford to take them to the camp site.
Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1920. "Dr. A.A. Foster and family of Dallas, Texas, in auto tourist camp."
While Watts and Wescott use a lot of phrases such as "Modern camping is what you do to get some place, classic camping is what you do when you get some place", and it being the "true way to camp", the reality is much simpler and less full of flowery language. Classic Camping is RV/car camping early 20th century style. It usually involved huge amounts of heavy equipment, designed for comfort, not for travel. Camp was typically set up right next to the car, with a canvas tent in which "you could stand in to put on your pants", cast iron pots, table, chairs, etc. The focus was to sit around the camp fire, cook large quantities of food, and I suspect partake in some good quality liquor.
The above picture is from last year's Woodsmoke Classic Camping (and sadly, bushcraft) gathering.
Sounds like a good bit of fun. Granted, it is far removed from my practices in the woods, but to each his own. If that is what gives one enjoyment, why not? I certainly do it from time to time myself.
Well, for one, there is the annoying remarks about how this was the "golden age" of camping, or how this was "true camping". I must admit, I find the assertions annoying, as I would hardly call the practice the "golden age" of anything. That's not the main issue however. I am sure I also make similar annoying remarks about my chosen style of camping.
What really bothers me, and the reason why I think you should care is that some people, including Steve Watts and Dave Wescott have been pushing to connect their concept of Classic Camping with woodsmanship and bushcraft. I have to say, the notion of equating Classic Camping with woodsmanship and buschraft, or for that matter even implying a connection greatly upsets me. It upsets me camping gear because I am very interested in woodsmanship and bushcraft, and in my evaluation, Classic Camping has nothing to do with either.
If you want to hang out in a huge canvas tent in the parking lot, and cook large amounts of food in a dutch oven so you and your friends can hang out by the fire and tell stories, that great; but don't pretend like this is woodsmanship or bushcraft. It is not. It wasn't in 1900, and it isn't now. All that Classic Camping represents is a bunch of city folk from the early 1900s with disposable income, hanging out by the side of the road on the weekend cooking barbeque and pretending to be woodsman. I am quite sure that the actual woodsmen of the time, you know… the ones that actually were in the backwoods hunting, trapping, exploring and logging had very few good things to say about the city car campers that descended on the woods in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Or perhaps they weren't upset at all because those woodsmen were actually in the woods and never managed to run into the parking lots where all this "classic camping" was taking place.
The above picture is from last year's Woodsmoke Classic Camping gathering.
Bushcraft has suffered enough in the past few years. It has gone from being the pursuit of learning of wilderness skills, to a backyard barbeque by fashionably, yet retro dressed people. The implication that bushcraft has turned into nothing more than car camping does not need to be reinforced by outright making it so. Nor does the term "woodsmanship", which many have started using in recent years to distance themselves from the car wreck that bushcraft has turned into, needs to get dragged into this. Let's be honest, setting up a canvas tent in the parking lot and lighting the barbeque is as much woodsmanship as hooking up the RV to the sewer system. Now, don't get me wrong, there are many things one can learn at a Classic Camping gathering. The skills demonstrated there however are tangential and not directly connected to Classic Camping itself. They are remnants of what woodsmanship used to be before people decided that they want to play woodsmen without enduring any of the hardships of actually being in the woods.
All of this is even more troubling because of the commercial interests that have aligned behind it. For those not familiar, Steve Watts and Dave Wescott run the Woodsmoke gathering, one of the largest in the country, which in turn is backed by Bushcraft USA, the largest bushcfraft forum/store. The result is a focused and directed push to equate classic camping, bushcraft, and woodsmanship into a perfect money making, gear selling, $300 per person bargain basement priced ticket, ego fluffing amalgamation that can then be spoon fed to every armchair "woodsman" in the country. It almost brought tears to my eyes last year watching poor Tim Smith trying to give a tortured explanation about how the terms are connected.
Now, I am fully aware that I am powerless to stop any of this from continuing. I just beg those involved, please, please, just leave one term untouched, so that those of us who actually go into the woods, and try to live off of equipment and resources we carry under our own power, can use with some degree of pride. You can have bushcraft. The term has already become a parody, but do you have to take "woodsmanship" as well? It's not going to make the barbeque in the parking lot any more woodsy. All it will do is force the rest of us to have to come up with yet another term which you will then try to co-opt in order to make your paying membership feel like "real" woodsmen.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying any style of camping. If that gives one the greatest satisfaction, then it is an activity equally worthy of survival gear pursuit as any other. However, we don't need to pretend that Classic Camping is bushcraft or woodsmenship, let alone "true" woodsmanship. It is not. it never was, and as long as there are people who actually go into the woods and spend time there, it never will be.
Alright, rant over. Back to scheduled programming.
Some time ago I decided to get somewhat more serious about fishing and started looking for a good ultralight fishing kit. Now, for years I have had an ultralight fishing kit that comprised of a line spooled around a plastic bottle with some lures inside. My goal this time, in order to go with my "getting serious about it" theme was to find an ultralight fishing set up that was an actual full fishing kit, complete with a full size rod, reel, tackle, etc.
After some searching, I found equipment that was to my liking. I figured I would share it with you here. For this post I will be focusing on my spin fishing kit. Also, it should be mentioned that this fishing kit is designed for fresh water fishing in small bodies of water. My primary fishing is in streams or small lakes I encounter when backpacking. If you are going after large fish, you will need something more robust.
The rod survival gear is St Croix Triumph TRS60LF4 Travel Spinning Rod. It is 6 feet in length, and I opted for the fast action graphite version. It comes apart into 4 pieces for easy transport. When disassembled, it is 18 inches in length. The full rod weighs 3.2 oz as measured (even though it is listed as 3.5 oz). The rod is designed for up to 8 lb test line and cost me $100.00. Honestly, I didn't look too much. 3.2 oz seemed very reasonable to me for a rod. I am sure you can find lighter products out there if you looked more.
The rod case is one that I made myself. It weighs 1.5 oz, and you can see the tutorial here.
The reel is an Okuma Ultralight UL-10 spinning reel. It was the lightest reel I was able to find, and when I purchased it online I was worried that it would be a toy, but I was pleasantly surprised. It really feels like an actual reel. It has three ball bearings, and can handle line from 2 to 6 lb. I spooled some 4 lb line on it, of which the reel can hold 115 yards. The reel weighs 5.4 oz, and 5.8 oz with the line spooled on. It cost me only $18.00.
The tackle is limited, not in number of pieces, but in that it is focused on small freshwater fish. Depending on what you are after, and how blessed you have been with luck, your tackle will vary. Mine is contained in a small box. It is comprised of several hooks, split shot, swivels, survival gear snaps, and a decent assortment of lures. I also have several floats and flies for some different techniques with which I am not good at all. The total weight of the tackle is 2.8 oz. The cost will depend on what pieces you have.
In all honesty, I am a horrible fisherman, so any advise I give you here will most likely be wrong. That being said, the lures I use the most are spinners and plugs.
That's the entirety of my ultralight spin fishing kit. The tackle and reel are stored in a small bag and are kept in my pack. The rod in the case is strapped to the side of my pack.
The total weight of my ultralight spin fishing kit is 13.6 oz with the bag which holds the tackle and reel.
