Winter Warmup in the Cranberry Wilderness

[sweetbabyd]

Idcakes, thanks for the great pics and report. kudos on using wood-burners! i've had some trouble in damp weather with those - Dave knows how i have bemoaned the point. i have so many questions - did you harvest the wood at camp, or did you bring some fat wood? what is your tinder of choice? what quilts did you use? did you drive from MN?
and also...YOU ROCK!

sbd

[Cranky Bear]

Great report/pic's/vid's! Sounds like it was a grand time out!

[L.D. Cakes]

Idcakes, thanks for the great pics and report. kudos on using wood-burners! i've had some trouble in damp weather with those - Dave knows how i have bemoaned the point. i have so many questions - did you harvest the wood at camp, or did you bring some fat wood? what is your tinder of choice? what quilts did you use? did you drive from MN?
and also...YOU ROCK!

sbd

Wow, Thanks sbd! I drove from TN. Mac taught me how to master the Bush Buddy. I vertically stack it and put a Vaseline soaked cotton ball on top, then add wood as needed to keep it going. But if you stack it all the way full you can use that as a one shot boil for 3 cups of water. I love building fires though and have been at it most of my life. The fire pit in the back yard contests to that! The secret is to have good dry very small tender, then as you get it going add more gently graduating to bigger wood. A fire starter of some kind helps when the wood is damp. I do have an advantage for acquiring kiln dried tender because I work in a wood shop part time and save the little stuff to stash a small bundle in my pack. taking the bark off of small sticks and making fuzzie sticks works when you have no dry wood.

WV sawed up that tree you saw in the pic for some nice sized wood. He then peeled some Burch bark off of a dead tree and made a platform over a couple of horizontal sticks to elevate it off of the snow covered ground. Then used some fire taken from his stove to plop on top to get it going. He had also battened some wood with his Mora to make some smaller wood. I wasn't watching when he did that so he will have to explain.

OK, Quilts, I have a 3 season Incubator and 0 degree Burrow. I added my down Parka under the hammock for a little more insulation and I wore down booties on my feet with chemical warmers in them. AHHHHH I also have a Molly Mac Hammock Sock to encase it all in like a tent to give me another 10 or 15 degrees. That sock sure makes the difference for warmer air inside because when I flipped up the seep once there was a measurable difference in the temperature outside!

I want to comment on how enjoyable it was to camp with WV. He was a wonderful guide and knew the area well. He is also a highly experienced outdoors person with practical knowledge and excellent survival skills, not to mention a gentleman and good company!

[WV]

Idcakes, thanks for the great pics and report. kudos on using wood-burners! i've had some trouble in damp weather with those - Dave knows how i have bemoaned the point. i have so many questions - did you harvest the wood at camp, or did you bring some fat wood? what is your tinder of choice? what quilts did you use? did you drive from MN?
and also...YOU ROCK!

sbd

I can answer some of the questions about the wood we used. The area had had several days of rain before Wednesday's snowfall, so I expected the wood to be wet. I split stovewood from the center of the dead tree shown in the Cakes's saw photo, and it burned fine. I had brought some dry SPF (2 x 4 scrap, split and kiln dried in a food dehydrator), and it helped start the fire, but I think I could have done without it. Cakes had thin hardwood scraps from her woodshop that burned great. We didn't have much tinder - only 1 or 2 cotton balls with a bit of vaseline, but there was one dead birch tree near our camp, so we could have managed with what was on hand. Cakes used the dry wood she brought in her Bushbuddy - that was an impressive combination. The collected wood also made a good little campfire. We used a fair amount of split wood to get it started, but once going, the 4" - 6" logs did fine. Fortunately, this was accomplished with a minimum of blowing up the coals (and smoke inhalation).

[L.D. Cakes]

Here's a video of WV's Pulk in action. I like how he has a large pack cover/duffle attached to the pulk that can also be removed. It was obvious how important it is to have all gear secure and kept free of falling snow. Especially for portaging over obsticals and when the pulk slides by snow laden branches.

[vdeal]

Glad you had a good time. Cranberry was where I did my first backpacking trips very many years ago. We went in at the same trailhead as you but then headed north and then down the Middle Fork Trail.

[lazy river road]

Looks like a great time and boy that snow looks pretty. Cant wait to see some of it myself. Glad you two had a fun time. Thanks for the wood burning tips I am still working on mastering the art of the wood stove. Looking forward to hanging with the two of you at Mt. Rodgers.

[sweetbabyd]

Wow, Thanks sbd! I drove from TN. Mac taught me how to master the Bush Buddy. I vertically stack it and put a Vaseline soaked cotton ball on top, then add wood as needed to keep it going. But if you stack it all the way full you can use that as a one shot boil for 3 cups of water. I love building fires though and have been at it most of my life. The fire pit in the back yard contests to that! The secret is to have good dry very small tender, then as you get it going add more gently graduating to bigger wood. A fire starter of some kind helps when the wood is damp. I do have an advantage for acquiring kiln dried tender because I work in a wood shop part time and save the little stuff to stash a small bundle in my pack. taking the bark off of small sticks and making fuzzie sticks works when you have no dry wood.

WV sawed up that tree you saw in the pic for some nice sized wood. He then peeled some Burch bark off of a dead tree and made a platform over a couple of horizontal sticks to elevate it off of the snow covered ground. Then used some fire taken from his stove to plop on top to get it going. He had also battened some wood with his Mora to make some smaller wood. I wasn't watching when he did that so he will have to explain.

OK, Quilts, I have a 3 season Incubator and 0 degree Burrow. I added my down Parka under the hammock for a little more insulation and I wore down booties on my feet with chemical warmers in them. AHHHHH I also have a Molly Mac Hammock Sock to encase it all in like a tent to give me another 10 or 15 degrees. That sock sure makes the difference for warmer air inside because when I flipped up the seep once there was a measurable difference in the temperature outside!

I want to comment on how enjoyable it was to camp with WV. He was a wonderful guide and knew the area well. He is also a highly experienced outdoors person with practical knowledge and excellent survival skills, not to mention a gentleman and good company!

Cakes - i know!! WV is a wonderful person and i was sad to miss the opportunity to spend time. thank you for your detailed information regarding the fire and gear - i would have had so much more sleeping insulation, it's just stupid really... truth be told, i'm a chilly person and would have been "thinned from the herd" a long time ago!
that sock sounds glorious! i'm trying to replicate some type of "weather shield" using my Dri-Dicks poncho and modifying it with z-line cord and mini cord-locs for underneath my hammock and quilt.

WV - because of you - i never go without the SAW!

here's to always getting a fire started and thanks for sharing your trip!
sbd

[WV]

WV - because of you - i never go without the SAW!

Never? I only carry it when I know there will be need of wood for a campfire - group hangs and winter camping. For 3 season solo trips my DIY little saw is enough. But hey, HYOH.

[Caribou Bentspoke]

It's amazing in those vista shots how much that looks like western Oregon.