Last month, I took a five day solo trip back to my usual stomping grounds in the High Sierras. One of my goals was to create a memorial of some type that would honor the victims and heroes of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
| Beginning work on the memorial
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Upon entering the first meadow, I searched the mountainside until I found what I thought was the ideal tree to construct the memorial from.
| Normally, I would avoid felling a live tree for a project. Since there was alot of meaning behind this event, I thought I should make an exception and select materials that would stand the test of time. Final touches
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I had a peaceful feeling while I was working on the memorial. I felt as though I was the "Craftsman" and God was my "Foreman", directing my every cut.
| An ideal location
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With the memorial over my shoulder, I pulled it to a nearby windswept hill that overlooked a beautiful meadow. Once the memorial was in place, using my compass, I turned it to face East, the direction of the terrorist attacks.
| The Inscription
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Mike Mlodzik was kind enough to create two tags that read:
| 0845 11 SEPT. 2001 WTC ALWAYS REMEMBER I wear the second tag around my neck. Thank you Mike. The Poncho Tent
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One of the first pieces of new gear I wanted to test on this trip was the Poncho Tent that I had been working with.
| The tent components consist of a GI poncho and two 111" sections of collapsible tent poles. The tent works on the same principal as a standard dome type tent. The poles are inserted into the four corner grommets to form an "X" underneath the poncho. Tight quarters
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Because of the limited space inside the tent, I had to sleep crossways (corner to corner). Even a small breeze would lift the tent like an umbrella. To help keep the tent anchored to the ground, I fashioned two beckets out of paracord and looped them through a middle grommet on opposite sides. I was sure to make beckets large enough so a heavy stone could be slid through.
| There's no arguing that the tent is small. In fact a large/tall person may have a difficult time even fitting inside. I feel that the tent would be OK in a survival situation and would be a good tent to take along if a versatile, light weight tent is needed. Some may argue that using the poncho as a tarp would be more practical and/or versatile. Having used both I would tend to agree. I'd still like to do some more experimenting with the Poncho Tent and try out some different setup configurations. Horseshoe Cooker
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It seems as though I'm always running across old horse/mule shoes in the wilderness but don't always find a use for them.
| Here's an idea I came up with to hold my cook can over the campfire. It's sort of along the lines of a pair of flat pieces of iron placed over the fire in which to support cooking utensiles called "fire-irons". Horseshoe Cooker in action
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Even though this photo is not of the greatest quality, it shows how useful the Horeseshoe Cooker can be for holding a small cook can over the fire. The heat was used more efficiently, and that in turn, cut down on fuel useage.
| Using heat more efficiently
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On this particular trip, I ended up using the Horseshoe Cooker for almost every meal. It requires very little fuel and is easy to transport. I had alot of fun cooking with it and for some reason, because of the small fire involved, it reminded me alot of the model steam engines I played with as a kid.
| Two new wilderness tools for testing
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On this trip I brought along a 21" Svensaw and a Gransfors Bruks Mini Belt Hatchet (MBH) to test under wilderness conditions.
| In this photo you can see that the Svensaw is capable of cutting off a fairly large piece of wood. The piece that's pictured was near the saw's cutting limit although I believe a larger piece could have been sawn off if the cut was made halfway through the log, then met from the opposite side. The Svensaw performed flawlessly and didn't bind once. It was literally like having a miniature sawmill in my hands. It really is a handy tool to have along especially if you want to take advantage of a large fallen tree that has had its branches picked over by other campers. A words of thanks to ML for introducing me to this great wilderness tool. Splitting wood with the Mini Belt Hatchet
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I really put the MBH through its paces on this trip, in fact I ended up using it for almost every camp chore that required some type of cutting. Using a heavy piece of wood as a Cudgel, the little hatchet had no problems splitting large pieces of wood.
| Another quality tool for the wilderness
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I burned the wood I had split using the MBH the entire trip. Because of it's small, controllable size, it was easy reducing limbs down to pencil sized sticks for use in the Horeshoe Cooker.
| Carving with the Mini Belt Hatchet
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Since the dense piece of wood I had been using as a cudgel was working so well, I decided to make it more "official".
| Here I'm using the MBH as a drawknife. And because the cutting edge was so easy to control, the MBH worked very well for close up whittling. Despite its small size, the more I used the MBH, the more I realized just how versatile a tool it really was. To help brace the cudgel against my chest while I worked on it, I cut a "V" into the log I was using as a work bench, The "V" acted like a bench stop, preventing my work from slipping. A good chopping "team"
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I'm finding out first hand just how versatile a quality axe/hatchet such as the ones offered by Gransfors Bruks can be in the Wilderness. I'm hooked.
| A one sided conversation
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While I was exploring a nearby meadow, I came across this interesting fellow. Parts of him were scattered throughout the sage, but after a bit of searching, I was able to help him get his head together. The fellow looked a bit famished so I invited him back to my camp for some supper. I thought that a nice hot meal may help put some meat back on his bones.
| Skully
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After some ribbing, I learned this fellow's name was Skully. I asked Skully if he'd ever met a charactor going by the name of Wilson. "Yes" replied Skully, "I met Wilson once. The guy definitely has an inflated ego and is kind of an airhead too."
| Wanting to repay my hospitality, Skully offered to watch over my stash anytime I was away. Late in the afternoon, when the daylight was beginning to fade, I noticed storm clouds forming in the distance. Studying the clouds, I began to have an uneasy feeling. Not being sure if I could trust the Poncho Tent under stormy conditions, I walked up to a nearby stash to retrieve an old canvas tent I'd been using for various shelters and projects. Having only used half the tent in the past for lean-to shelters, I never had the chance to set up the tent in it's intended form. Trying out an Army surplus tent
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By the time I had begun setting up the tent, all daylight was gone. Using a small CMG Task Light clenched between my teeth, I strung a ridgeline made from paracord between two trees. This line would replace the tent's original poles that I didn't have stowed away with the tent at the time.
| I used wood that I had split earlier to make some tent stakes. Because the stakes were made from freshly split wood, the stakes were able to withstand repeated blows from my hatchet much better than if I were to have used old weathered sticks directly off the ground. Although it was not set up perfectly, this is a view of the tent the next morning. It didn't end up raining but I was glad to have recieved an unexpected lesson on how to improvise setting these types of tents up in the dark. Setup # 2
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Later in the day, I decided to take the tent down and practice setting it up better than I had the night before. These heavy canvas tents are not all that practical for lightweight backpacking but I still consider them a bargain at $15 (used) and $20 (new). I use the half shelter feature of these tents all the time. They're very versatile and being made of canvas, have stood up to some hard use.
| Improvised camera tripod
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At one point, while I was trying to take some photos of the tent, my walking stick/Ultrapod combination I use to mount my camera to, was giving me some problems. A trip to a nearby willow thicket was the solution.
| Cover for fire supplies
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Due to the earlier threat of rain, I decided to move all of my firemaking supplies under a nearby boulder with a naturally pitched "roof". This is a habit I need to develope regardless of weather conditions.
| View of memorial from the trail
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The trip was coming to a close. As I traveled into the area of the memorial, I began straining to see if it would appear on the horizon. Gradually, I could start making out a small pointed object on a distant hilltop. As I walked up the trail, the small but meaningful symbol of remembrance came into view.
| "Always Remember"
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A closing to a very productive trip into the wilderness.
| The End
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Copyright © 2001 by Eric Stoskopf. Back to the Contents page. |