Man Camp

After a steady diet of Calvin Rutstrum, Horace Kephart, George W. Sears, garnished with a little Townsend Whelen, I thought I should quit reading about camping, and actually do some of it. I was most intrigued by Townsend Whelen's quote that a tent such as this one,

was more than adequate for anything short of -20 or severe bugs.

Or check out this quote from Steward Edward White in his book Camp and Trail. On page 83 he writes: "Undoubtedly the lean-to is the ideal shelter, as far as warmth goes. You build the fire in front, the slanting wall reflects the heat down and you sleep warm, even in winter weather."

I was game to give it a try, if a bit skeptical. So I picked the longest Friday night of the year, got permission from my wife to skip date night, for which we had no money anyway, and invited some friends over for man camp. Peter Dauk and Don Brown declined, being a little bit smarter than the rest of us, Matt Wilson was interested, but didn't know if he would be able to get together, and Jason Barrett was game, but thought he might have to work on an appeal brief that is coming due. It looked like I was in this by myself, and so I modified the plan, and took a lot of stuff, and then kept track of what I actually used, what I wished I had etc.

The location for Man Camp was Camp Cobra. Camp Cobra is on a tiny stream of clear cold water with a gravel bottom, and in some fairly dense fir trees. It is close enough that you can get to it, but far enough away that there is no temptation to run back home because you forgot something.

Another test was to see if it was true that ash was the ideal wood for a campfire. Kephart claims that green (i.e. unseasoned) ash burns with a clean flame, makes long lasting hard coals and puts out a great deal of heat. While there is some ash at camp cobra, I didn't want to cut down those trees, so I cut some down on a different part of my land. I decided not to use the chainsaw, because Gearge Sears, a.k.a. Nessmuk would have used a hatchet with a blade the size of a book of matches to build a log cabin. I cut down three tree about this size.



Then, I loaded them on my recreational skidder and dragged them the rest of the way to Camp Cobra.

Yes, I realize that Nessmuk generally frowned on imported Japanese ATV's. If that offends you, please check out my mechanical toboggan:



Before you get all indignant the last 5o yards was on foot, and involved a river crossing. Well, river may be a slight overstatement since you can step over it if you have long legs. Anyway . . .

Below is a picture of the mountain o' gear positioned at camp cobra. At this time its about 2:30, and about an hour or so before sunset. At this point I spent the rest of my time cutting and dragging tree length stuff back to camp, to cut up in the dark. The temperature at 2:30, according to the digital dangler, was 23 degrees Fahrenheit.

After the sun set, but before it got dark, I set up my tarp. It is an 11' x11' tarp from Tentsmiths, and it is a thing of beauty, at least to me. I love, probably too much, because I am reluctant to use it because it is so nice. Here, I set it up as a lean-to. The way to do it and have sides is to set it up on the diagonal. The ridge pole originally had a triangular flap that hung down, but I tucked it up around the ridge pole. There is also a corner that is flat on the ground on the back edge, and is underneath the ground cloth. Anyway, it works. The front is about 5' off the ground, the front opening is about 7' wide and the back wall is about 6' wide at the base. I also tied a rope from the center tie out to a convienient tree, which makes the interior quite about bigger. The lean-to is about 5 ' deep I think. By the time I got situated, it was almost dark, and about 10 degrees.

By this time, I could tell that I was getting pretty dehydrated, and I realized that I didn't have enough wood to last through one of the longest nights of the year, so I decided to get a fire going and heat some water for some instant soup and bask in all that sweet heat reflecting down on me. I filled a pot full of water, and then started a fire with my Swedish firestarter and a cotton ball. There were tons of dry twigs, so starting a fire was quick and easy. I didn't have a good way to get the pot over the fire though. I put it next to the fire, and I was surprised for some reason to see that it had frozen over. Obviously it was 32 degrees when I pulled it out of the stream, and sitting in the snow at 10 degrees in an aluminum pot wasn't doing much to insulate it, but still I was surprised.

I moved the fire a little closer to the lean-to, as I wasn't feeling the Miami heat toasting my back, and that about put the fire out. More twigs = more fire, but the pot wasn't heating, so I got two logs, and pushed them close enough together on either side of the fire so the pot would sit above the flames, that about put the fire out too. Eventually I got my 5 minutes of boiling time to kill any bugs, and drank my soup. It was good, but tongue burning at first and cool at the end. (Actually I set it down and cut up some more wood and it was frozen when I turned back to it.)

I started putting some ash on the fire. It burned great, except as the night wore on I realized that it put out a ton of smoke, and although it made great coals, the coals did nothing to warm the lean-to. Only bright leaping flames from softwood did anything to ease the chill. I think Ash would be the bees knees in a stove, but for a lean-to heater, the choking smoke was a downer, and there wasn't as much flame as I needed. Granted, it took a few hours to figure this all out. Here's what it looked like at about 7:00 p.m. and 6 degrees with light snow and swirling wind.


Against all recommendations I had no reflector behind my fire. I know better, and this may be a primary reason the experiment failed. I big reflector tarp, which I brought but never set up, may have acted as a chimney, and should have reflected more heat into the lean-to. There was no convenient way to do it, and I was playing catch up by this time.

I was sitting on an Ensolite pad and a wool blanket folded in half. That was not enough. I was coldest from the ground, more than the air. As you can see from the pictures, there was only an inch or so of snow on the ground. Not really ideal, but nothing that would have given pause to Townsend Whelen either. You might be able to see how close I was to the fire, but I was still fairly cold on my back, and failed to sense any heat reflecting down on me.



By about 8:30 I was tired, sore, and beginning to get cold. I thought I had probably contracted emphysema and maybe lung cancer from all the smoke I inhaled and was thinking about packing it in. I dozed off and awoke a moment later by the sound of someone crashing through the woods. Instead of laying down sustained suppressive fire with the m-6, which is my preference just on general principles, whenever I am startled while in the woods, alone, in the dark, I hollered to see who it was, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but Jason Barrett, fresh from the doctor's office. It was a delightful surprise to say the least. We set up his tarp in an effort to block some more wind, and proceeded to cook up some venison steak and hot chocolate etc. It was nice to have someone to help saw some wood up.

Here is Jason, stricken with walking pneumonia, yet totally game for a winter camp out.


Here's me, affecting the nonchalant pose that a Calvin Rutstrum might strike in such a circumstance:


We stuck it out all night. It got down to 3 degrees with some wind. Then we left early in the morning. Like 1:00 a.m. early. Well it was a learning experience, and I still have a lot to learn.

What worked well:

Swedish Anorak
LL Bean Washable wool pants with suspenders.
Army Surplus Mukluks
Swedish wool mittens, keep your hands warm, but you can also pick up hot pots and burning logs with no problem.
Woodenboat mug was awesome: no burned lips, kept my hot chocolate hot.
I had a candle, that was nice, but would be better if I could hang it up like the stonebridge folding candle lantern that everyone likes so much.

What didn't work well:
One Ensolite pad and a wool blanket is not nearly enough.
The tarp did not stay warm. Next time I will make it narrower and deeper, more like a cave.
You definitely need some kind of reflecting surface behind the fire, the taller the better for smoke and wind management.
Fresh ash burns as advertised, but for radiational heat, standing dead softwood is the way to go.
Balancing a pot on two logs with the fire between them is not as easy as it sounds, at least for me.

If you have any other ideas on what I did wrong, please don't hesitate to comment.



Update: I got some good sugestions at Canadian Canoe Routes. Check it out here.

What I Did Over Summer Vacation

Well, its been a pretty good summer, a little weird for having a new baby move in right in the middle of it, but with the spirit of "divide and conquer", we have been able to do some fun things, but usually not all eight of us at the same time.

For me, some of the funnest times this summer have been spent on Don's sweet boat. I was telling Bishop Hayes about it, and he pointed out that I have spent more time on Don's boat than I would have spent on a boat I owned myself, and of course he's right. I don't have the time or money to put into fuel, maintenance, slip fees, insurance, etc., etc. Never the less, it is an awesome boat, and Don is great company. So, without further ado, here are some pictures and captions of the summer:

Here is a picture from one of my few canoe trips this year, back in May. The fishing has not been very good, compared to last year. I don't think I canoed at all in June or July.



As I alluded to above, one reason I haven't spent as much time in the canoe is because we've gone out on Don's boat. Here are some pictures from a trip in June:

Eleanor




Zach watching Fort Knox slide by, or as Eleanor prefers to think of it, a castle, or in the alternative, Egypt.



Later, after the Magnus was born, Don and I went mackerel fishing early one morning. There were mackerel everywhere, even some bigger fish churning up the surface, but we got skunked. It was a beautiful morning, never the less

Don running the boat down the Penobscot River.



We had an awful lot of this kind of weather this summer.



"As long as the fog doesn't catch us, we should be fine"


Don, getting bored with fishing, decides to check out his sweet craig's list inflatable dingy. It looks like it could use a little more air, eh?



For Bucksport Days, I took Zoe, Emily, Eleanor and Zach to the Parade.



Then the bounce house, but I didn't get a picture of that. Zach was a little intimidated at first, then he got used to it and he wouldn't leave.

Then the car show. This is Brother Joe Jensen's car. Its a REO Flying Cloud. He was the Bishop in one of the wards in Manhattan. I am pretty sure he was the Bishop in charge of the building when they converted the top floors into a Temple. That would keep you busy. He has a summer home on Alamoosook Lake, but when he finally got released as Bishop so he could enjoy it, his wonderful wife got sick. She passed away this spring. He has been here a lot this summer though, with lots of family. He is a great guy.



After the car show, we went home, ate, dropped off Squeezie and then Zach, Emily, Zoe and I went with Don and Terri and Molly on a trip around Verona Island. It was a beautiful trip on a beautiful afternoon.



Zach showing Don how to run a boat.


Zoe and Emily hanging out on the bow.


Here is a picture of Don's wife Terri and their daughter Molly. The boat is named the Miss Molly in her honor.


Here is an old farm on Verona Island.


Here is a picture of the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge, with the old Waldo-Hancock Bridge behind it.

And the bridges from below



In August, Don, our friend Perry, and his two boys took the boat to Rockland for the boat show. As you can see, the weather was pretty typical. I spent a fair amount of the trip humming "three hour tour, a three hour tour."

Perry at the helm, while Don explains something important. You cannot shut off the engine unless the key is on. This may seem trivial, trust me though, its not.

Don in his typical mode. If Don doesn't get a brain tumor from talking on a cell phone, then nobody else will either. He is selflessly conducting an experiment on himself to prove once and for all, that there are no health risks posed by cellular telephones. Hopefully he is right about that.

This schooner was heading away from Rockland.

These schooners were heading into Rockland.



Saturday morning was clear and beautiful. This is a Buzzards Bay 30. My friend Robert Baird had done some of the bronze castings for these boats.

Here is a good picture of Don's boat. We woke up and Don cooked about 6 lbs of bacon, because that way he had plenty of bacon grease to deep fry the two dozen eggs we ate. Boy that was yummy, and you couldn't beat the atmosphere.


Here is some of the crew trying to move after eating.

Don at his home away from home, Hamilton Marine, trying on some rain gear.

Here is the galley on a boat similar in size to Don's boat. We took this picture for some ideas.


The ride back to Bucksport was beautiful. This is what Camden looks like from the ocean.



Before school started, we needed to have a campout at Camp Bravo.

Here is the set up, Zoe is tripping over a tent peg and falling towards the fire. Smooth!



The Crew. Zach, as usual, is heavily armed, but still smiling.


Emily, reading Charlotte's Web, the climactic scene of which takes place at the Blue Hill Fair, by the way.


Zach and Zoe enjoying the camp fire.


Classic Squeezie pose, classic Squeezie expression. I have decided that Eleanor feels no guilt, and can therefore not be persuaded by appeals to her better nature. She just doesn't give a crap. This is the same trait that makes her so accepting of everyone. I'm not sure its good or bad, its just Squeezie, and what you see is what you get, because she doesn't really care what you think of her, so she can't be bothered to pretend to be something she's not, unless that thing is a princess.


Bedtime. Zach kept falling asleep, sometimes with his eyes open.





Safely tucked in.



Here is another picture of Egypt. I took it Thursday. Don, two of his friends and I spent 8 hours fishing. Our combined catch was one mackerel. But again, good food, awesome weather, and wonderful company made for a delightful trip.

Today I took Zach and Zoe to the Blue Hill Fair. I love the Blue Hill Fair, or as Squeezie prefers to call it, the Blue Hair Fair.

"Zach, get close to the goat and I'll take your picture." Zach doesn't trust the goat though.

Notice the nervous fingers in the mouth as he dares to reach in to pet the goats.


Almost September, time to start getting ready for winter.


The Horse Pulling competition.

Zach and Zoe in the Army recruiter's HUMVEE.
Zoe, keeping it real.

Zach, checking out the hardware.

He was trying to talk the recruiter into sending him on an all expense paid trip half way around the world to a warm and exciting destination.

Zach has grown a lot lately. We checked him out on the growth charts this morning, and he is in the 25th-50th percentile. Here he shows he is taller than the tires on the sweet HUMVEE. He looks a little Chinese here.



We finished off our trip to the Blue Hair Fair with some Ox pulling. I love the ox pulling.




Well those are some of the highlights of the summer, there are many others: Zach falling out of the canoe head first, the birth of Magnus, the sweet Saab convertible, swimming at the Bucksport pool, Zions Camp at Flagstaff Lake and ice cream to name a few, but Joey has covered a lot of those, and I'm sleepy.

P.S. Utah beat Michigan 25-23 at Michigan.