Photographs by Mark Jones(copyright).©Mark Jones, Uralla NSW Australia.
Winter Trek, 13th and 14th June 2009 at Wychwood, Armidale.
On the Saturday about mid afternoon Christopher and I arrived at Keith’s place. We got into the rest of our gear and made our greetings. Before long we were off on our trek to camp. We took one of the longer routes, heading south and then west towards Fox Valley, where Keith had been busy through the year building a shelter. Always on the lookout for game trails and material for tinder and fire nests, kindling and the like, we negotiated some heavily wooded areas and gullies before reaching camp. Upon arrival we found Keith’s shelter very well situated and well appointed. The shelter overlooked a dam and it had a good fire sight and sleeping area along with a good supply of wood to keep us warm. After familiarising ourselves with camp we scouted the dam for any sign of recent activity and Keith set up an area for the usual nature calls. There was no significant sign, but that didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be.
Back to camp and we got the fire going, warming us in no time really. Keith and Chris would share the raised bedding area and I would sleep on the ground next to the fire. The stash of wood was close by, which meant that I didn’t have to get out of my bedroll to keep the fire going through the night. Christopher and I had added another wool blanket and a sheepskin to our bedrolls. The bedrolls were noticeably heavier, but we thought that it would be worth the carrying. Chris made himself a blanket coat for the trek, I had made one myself also and a pair of half-thicks. One of our priorities for this trek was to keep warm-it worked!
The evening kicked off with a welcomed dash of port. Unbeknown to us, we had all brought along corned beef for our meal. Some hard cheese followed that later and some ships biscuits that my good wife made for us, accompanied by some more port and some yarning. Later we brewed up a kettle of coffee with sugar to taste.
I don’t think that there was any great discomfort sleeping during the night. I remembered stirring a few times only to put more wood on the fire and at one time looking out to see the moonlight gleaning through the trees with the fog rolling in. It was a pleasant night indeed. There was to be a harsh frost for the morning, but we were nestled amongst the trees.
We awoke to a new morning and found it well. Keith made some porridge and Chris and I tried to use the rest of the corned beef, cheese and biscuits. The kettle was boiled for another coffee.
It was decided that Christopher and I would start on a shelter for ourselves and we set about clearing a spot to build. We were able to get a bit of a stockpile of wood in the clean up. A downed tree would give us some branches for our beams, so we set about removing them with our tomahawks. My hawk head kept coming off and I decided to split the helve and wedge it-that seemed to do the job. I noticed a dent in the edge of my hawk later; some of the wood was hard. Obviously the tomahawk head isn’t hard enough, so I’ll have to try and do a job on it. The side beams of the shelter went up well. On one side we were able to lock the beam in between two trees with every ones help and some leverage. The other side beam and the crossbeam were kind of self-locking together too. It’s handy when you can minimise cordage. All the hard work done and Keith decided to head back to his shelter to tidy up and have a rest before our return trip. Chris and I got three more beams up and a couple of logs on the ground for the start of a raised bed area.
The wind was blowing quite a bit from time to time and we could hear the cry of a kid goat every now and again. Chris and I thought that we might go and see what we could find. They must have been a few gullies over into the neighbour’s place, as nothing was spotted. Heading back to camp we came across a scrape and rub tree from a big pig. It must have been big because his scat made my eyes water with the thought of trying to pass it! There were several more piles of scat on the trail back towards camp, but it was more than a couple of days old.
As we packed our gear and tidied up camp we discussed the route we would take to head back, straight up and over heading east north east. Working out the water rasion for the return trip, I was able to down some extra water to rehydrate before starting out.
On the two treks that Chris and I have done, (Keith has quite a few more under his belt), we have noted that it is important to carry as least as possible and have enough to be self-sufficient. There in lies the balance and it can only be worked out by experience-just doing it! Things like the number of items you put on your back and over your shoulder, lighter water containers, wider straps to spread the load and the what if’s – can you really make do without the extra this and that in case of………… such as the knowledge and ability to make a bow and arrows instead of taking a workshop to repair your flinter if it requires it. Perhaps a small exaggeration, but you know what I mean! Chris and I will have to ditch our rucksacks with cord ties and make a knapsack with wide straps. And I’ll have to have my powder horn on the same side as my hunting bag, so that I’m not criss-crossing everything I put on!
It was good to do a winter trek, because even doing a spring or autumn trek would be a bit more exhausting with the heat. There is still a lot to learn.
Mark Jones (Deerslayer).
Mark Jones is a member of the New England Colonial Living History Group. Mark is also a knife maker and bowyer.
Winter Trek, 13th and 14th June 2009 at Wychwood, Armidale.
On the Saturday about mid afternoon Christopher and I arrived at Keith’s place. We got into the rest of our gear and made our greetings. Before long we were off on our trek to camp. We took one of the longer routes, heading south and then west towards Fox Valley, where Keith had been busy through the year building a shelter. Always on the lookout for game trails and material for tinder and fire nests, kindling and the like, we negotiated some heavily wooded areas and gullies before reaching camp. Upon arrival we found Keith’s shelter very well situated and well appointed. The shelter overlooked a dam and it had a good fire sight and sleeping area along with a good supply of wood to keep us warm. After familiarising ourselves with camp we scouted the dam for any sign of recent activity and Keith set up an area for the usual nature calls. There was no significant sign, but that didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be.
Back to camp and we got the fire going, warming us in no time really. Keith and Chris would share the raised bedding area and I would sleep on the ground next to the fire. The stash of wood was close by, which meant that I didn’t have to get out of my bedroll to keep the fire going through the night. Christopher and I had added another wool blanket and a sheepskin to our bedrolls. The bedrolls were noticeably heavier, but we thought that it would be worth the carrying. Chris made himself a blanket coat for the trek, I had made one myself also and a pair of half-thicks. One of our priorities for this trek was to keep warm-it worked!
The evening kicked off with a welcomed dash of port. Unbeknown to us, we had all brought along corned beef for our meal. Some hard cheese followed that later and some ships biscuits that my good wife made for us, accompanied by some more port and some yarning. Later we brewed up a kettle of coffee with sugar to taste.
I don’t think that there was any great discomfort sleeping during the night. I remembered stirring a few times only to put more wood on the fire and at one time looking out to see the moonlight gleaning through the trees with the fog rolling in. It was a pleasant night indeed. There was to be a harsh frost for the morning, but we were nestled amongst the trees.
We awoke to a new morning and found it well. Keith made some porridge and Chris and I tried to use the rest of the corned beef, cheese and biscuits. The kettle was boiled for another coffee.
It was decided that Christopher and I would start on a shelter for ourselves and we set about clearing a spot to build. We were able to get a bit of a stockpile of wood in the clean up. A downed tree would give us some branches for our beams, so we set about removing them with our tomahawks. My hawk head kept coming off and I decided to split the helve and wedge it-that seemed to do the job. I noticed a dent in the edge of my hawk later; some of the wood was hard. Obviously the tomahawk head isn’t hard enough, so I’ll have to try and do a job on it. The side beams of the shelter went up well. On one side we were able to lock the beam in between two trees with every ones help and some leverage. The other side beam and the crossbeam were kind of self-locking together too. It’s handy when you can minimise cordage. All the hard work done and Keith decided to head back to his shelter to tidy up and have a rest before our return trip. Chris and I got three more beams up and a couple of logs on the ground for the start of a raised bed area.
The wind was blowing quite a bit from time to time and we could hear the cry of a kid goat every now and again. Chris and I thought that we might go and see what we could find. They must have been a few gullies over into the neighbour’s place, as nothing was spotted. Heading back to camp we came across a scrape and rub tree from a big pig. It must have been big because his scat made my eyes water with the thought of trying to pass it! There were several more piles of scat on the trail back towards camp, but it was more than a couple of days old.
As we packed our gear and tidied up camp we discussed the route we would take to head back, straight up and over heading east north east. Working out the water rasion for the return trip, I was able to down some extra water to rehydrate before starting out.
On the two treks that Chris and I have done, (Keith has quite a few more under his belt), we have noted that it is important to carry as least as possible and have enough to be self-sufficient. There in lies the balance and it can only be worked out by experience-just doing it! Things like the number of items you put on your back and over your shoulder, lighter water containers, wider straps to spread the load and the what if’s – can you really make do without the extra this and that in case of………… such as the knowledge and ability to make a bow and arrows instead of taking a workshop to repair your flinter if it requires it. Perhaps a small exaggeration, but you know what I mean! Chris and I will have to ditch our rucksacks with cord ties and make a knapsack with wide straps. And I’ll have to have my powder horn on the same side as my hunting bag, so that I’m not criss-crossing everything I put on!
It was good to do a winter trek, because even doing a spring or autumn trek would be a bit more exhausting with the heat. There is still a lot to learn.
Mark Jones (Deerslayer).
Mark Jones is a member of the New England Colonial Living History Group. Mark is also a knife maker and bowyer.
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