Springtime Dirt Time

I had a few days vacation, so I headed for the hills. For those who have been breathlessly following my exploits (ahem...) you might know that I have a thing I call "Camping At Home". It works like this...

I get up, have breakfast, dress in my little outdoor costume, and head for the hills. I hike, nap, or practice my skills, then along about sundown, I drive home, shower, grab a burger and a beer, check e-mail, get a good night's sleep, and do it again the next day.

This saves me the trouble of packing a tent, cooking gear, sleeping gear, food, etc... And cleaning it after only one or two nights in the field. In addition, the time of the year makes for a long, and cold evening, which I can spend more productively at home.

Anyway, it's a fair compromise considering my location.

This trip I did some hiking into new territory, and played around with some stuff...

Here, I have arrived at a Prominent Object, and am checking out the next canyon.

The next canyon....

I found a bunch of Mulefat that had all of the tips of the branches die back, for some reason. The leaves were dead and dry, and I collected a bunch for tinder later on... Easy pickin's!

One of the things I wanted to do was to play around with a new SilTarp. Here I use my hiking staff to make a George Tent. It only took the staff, some paracord, and some stakes to set it up. Rocks would have worked instead of the stakes, of course. There was a surprising amount of room underneath. The wind made it a booger to set up, tho... It weighs all of 22 oz.

I found an old Willow tree with a couple of dead branches, so decided to make some new fireboards. I did it the hard way, using my knife and the saw on my SAK. I had my pruning saw in the pack, but what the heck... The SAK saw was more effective in the limited room I had to work in, to cut off the branch.

Here I use my Simonich Aurora to split out some boards.

Now I clean up the board somewhat... I was real pleased with the results, I got two really nice, 1/4" boards to play with.

Salad, anyone?

I took a bunch of pics of the country, as usual... This time of the year, the Lupine was everywhere. I cannot remember ever seeing so much.

Here is some texture for ya....

Now for the scenery shots...

Hope you enjoy them,

Bill

To: Survival

To: Home

(09/05/2011)

Hi Folks...

If you're reading this, you have an interest in wilderness survival. Hopefully, survival beyond the wilderness as well. If so, you will be interested in my latest website: ActiveHomeDefense.com. I have produced two e-books on the subject of defending against the home intrusion, and firearms training for homeowners.

Go to the links page for the jump to ActiveHomeDefense.com! You'll be glad you did.

http://bill-hay.com/Links.htm