Tag: education

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The importance of being there

So many times we race off to exotic destinations intent on maximizing the experience. In our hurry, we tend to neglect the importance of being there. We must always remember, it is the journey that is important. If we fail to remember this there is so much we will miss along the way.

I have so many great memories that would not have been possible if I was simply moving from one campsite to the next. Most often the best memories are when I chose to stop, look and listen to the world around me, to quiet my mind and spirit, allowing me to be present and engaged.

It has been proven through many studies, none of which I can site, you can look this up yourself, that it is inherently good for us to connect with nature through journeys in the wilderness. I think we all feel the pull of the wild, but so often we fail at the connection because we try to get too much from too little time. The solution to this dilemma is to simply choose to be present and receive whatever is given to us in the time we have.

So next time you have the blessing to be out in the wild, get up before dawn find a comfortable place to quietly sit and watch the world come alive around you. You just might be surprised by what you see and feel. The wilderness is a special place filled with life and energy you can not find anywhere else.

Always remember, the importance of being there! 

As Always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

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Winter training – Update

Good morning world
Good morning world

It’s time for our winter training update, we spent 3 days and 2 nights out in the Mt. Washington wilderness close to Big Lake. We had a great adventure snow shoeing in just over 2.5 miles. There was four of us on snowshoes pulling a sled of supplies in through the woods and over the hills.



As I sit here surrounded by nylon, fleece, Gore-Tex and wool, all in varying degrees of clean and dry, I reflect on our journey and all the ups and downs with fondness. Two of us had never been on snowshoes or snow camping, so we had lots of learning going on.

Our camp was on an 84 inch base of snow, and we received an additional foot during our stay, this gave us an opportunity to find ways to manage accumulation and set up additional shelter outside of our tent.

We practiced getting water from a frozen lake and discussed many ways to do it. We built a fire in camp to get a little extra warmth and build those skills. We had decent weather until the last morning, which is always a bit of a downer just because we have to leave.

Send-off sunrise
Send-off sunrise

The last morning greeted us with a phenomenal sunrise, to give our spirits a boost. unfortunately it turned as quickly and chased us out with freezing rain and substantial wind, often biting our cheeks with the sting of the rain, it is these times that challenge your fortitude both physically and mentally. All of us are stronger for the experience.

We will be posting individual write ups on fire building, water retrieval, selecting a good spot, cooking in the snow and perspectives from a first timer.

Stay tuned for all these great write ups, until then.

As Always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

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Winter Training

It is time again for winter training. The NW Survival crew is headed out to the wilderness for some winter weather survival training. We will be practicing all the basic winter survival skills and reviewing some new gear. We have been cleaning, testing and preparing our gear for the trip.

Our 4-season Igloo
Our 4-season Igloo

We will be snowshoeing 3.5 miles into the Mt. Washington wilderness with only what we can carry and fit on our sled. The weather forecast says the night-time temperatures will be in the 20’s so it will be relatively mild. This will be nice for the rookies, a great way to expose them to the wonders of winter camping.

We will be practicing our water management skills. How best to find water, gather it and keep it from freezing before we use it. We will be practicing the art of building a fire on the snow and improvised shelter.

It is very important during the cold weather to remain hydrated, it is very easy to not drink enough water. The cold weather is sneaky at stripping the moisture from us without being warm, so we don’t think about hydration. When you get dehydrated it is very difficult to keep warm.

We are looking forward to a great trip, with lots of training and skill building. Stay tuned for our update after our return.

As Always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

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Vigilance

We couldn’t say it better than Professor Paul Markel of SOTG (Student of the Gun)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Dxx733nb70U%3Fmodestbranding%3D1%26autohide%3D1

Here are links the rest of the series: Video #1 — Video #3

As always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

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Camping tips

Now that we are officially well into the camping season here in the northwest. I thought we should share some of our favorite camping tips.

One thing all of us will face when camping is laundry, even if you don’t have to wash your clothes you will inevitably need to hang something up to dry. We usually will just drape it over one of the many rope strung around camp or the back of a chair,this is not very efficient. Next time try using the little plastic clip from a bread bag, they work great as clothespins and are easy the pack.

Tired of all your cooler stuff getting soaked after a couple of days in the melting ice. Try filling old drink bottle 80% with water and freezing them before you go out next time. You won’t have the usual cooler swamp and you also end up with a bunch of fresh drinking water when they melt.

Ever trip over the guy lines of your tent when climbing out for your nightly relief, I have, they are hard to see when you are mostly asleep. Try this, take short little mostly useless pieces of tin foil and make little flags on your guy lines. The moon reflects nicely off these, not to mention your flashlight.

Always put a rock with a nice big flat top, level in the fire ring, it is so nice to have a place to keep your food and drinks warm by the fire.

Last but not least, we deal with the most dreaded camping nuisance of all, mosquitoes! You just can’t seem to avoid them, so here is a couple of useful tips. Firstly, bring some sage sprigs with you, when the mosquitoes are thick, through some on the fire, they hate it. Secondly, after you get bit, and you most certainly will, use a little dab of toothpaste, not gel, directly on the bite, it knocks down the itch and helps it heal faster.

Well that’s it for now

As always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

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Will A Bite From This Snake Kill You?

Venomous Snakes in North America

 

When the weather gets nice, it’s time for the hikers, campers, and outdoor enthusiasts to come out of hiding… which happens to correlate with an uptick in snake activity (including venomous ones).

First things first, I’ll say that I’m not one of those people who believes all snakes should be killed on sight. If a snake is non-venomous, I’ll let it slither on it’s way every time. If it’s venomous, and too close to my house or yard, that’s when a decision has to be made.

In order to make that decision, I first need to identify the species of snake and determine whether or not it’s a venomous snake.

Despite the fact that we only have 4 major species of poisonous snakes to deal with in North America, it can be surprisingly difficult to calmly ID these snakes in the heat of the moment. In fact, that’s why I’m writing this article, to make it easier for the non-snake experts among us to avoid a nasty and potentially fatal bite.

The 4 Big Ones

These are the 4 groups of poisonous snakes that you may run across in the US:

  • Rattlesnakes
  • Cottonmouths
  • Copperheads
  • Coral Snakes

When I say that there are 4 major species of venomous snakes, that’s a bit of an oversimplification, BUT that actually makes the identification process easier.

You see, it doesn’t matter much if you’ve spotted a Texas Coral Snake or an Arizona Coral Snake, both are deadly poisonous. So stay away.

As always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

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Condition yellow

It saddens me that the world is a place that requires this. but it is, so act accordingly, or you might just be the next victim.

As always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

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Food in the Backcountry – Trapping with snares

We live in a society that has trained us to eat meat on a daily basis. Fortunately we are moving away from this paradigm, as we have learned it is both unnecessary and problematic to the long-term health of our planet. That being said, when we are in a survival situation it may become necessary to our survival to harvest some fauna from the earth. Chances are you will not be packing around your hunting gear, if you even have any, when the need arises. So this will focus on methods that use your natural surroundings and a few basic tools.

There are many types of traps at your disposal. Snares, deadfalls and pits to name a few. If you are reading this I am assuming you have a certain level of readiness, like a pocket knife and some paracord.

Lets talk about snares, the two we will talk about today are spring snares and drag snares. Of these the spring snares are the most complicated of the two.

rabbit-snares

This is an illustration of what I call a drag snare. it is designed so that all that is needed is a well placed loop of cordage and the animals instinct to flee for successful operation. If you look closely you will see the loop is fashioned with a slip knot that will become tight when strained. This ensures that your prey does not escape. Placement is the key ingredient to success. Try to find an animal trail and place the loop so that your prey will pass through it while traveling normally. Make the loop the size of your intended prey. 3-4 inches for rabbits 2-3 inches for squirrels. You don’t want to catch a bear.
spring_snare

spring snare is quite effective but way more complicated in the setup and reduces your chances of releasing an unwanted captive, as it is more aggressive. But it tends to be more successful because it uses the critters body weight to maintain tension on the snare once it is tripped.

The single most important message I want to pass on is;

Traps are indiscriminate and must not be forgotten!

If we decide we need to set traps for our survival, we must be responsible in their placement and management. Taking life to maintain yours should never be taken lightly, be a good steward.

 

As alway,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

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