Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 14)

4 Summer Hazards of the Northern Woods

August 7, 2020 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

**The beautiful Northern woods of Ontario, Canada (Photo: Cian Fagan).**

In this blog post I'll be sharing with you 4 Summer Hazards of the Northern Woods - which will be split into two parts:

Part 1 covers the hazards of FOREST FIRE and HEAT STRESS.

Part 2 covers the hazards of NAVIGATIONAL ERROR and DANGEROUS ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS.

This post is based on my own, multi-month trips to the Northern woods - so it's based on experience, not theory. I Hope you enjoy reading it.

An Introduction:

THE NORTHERN WOODS

“Stretching across the northern world like a wide green necklace, the boreal woods covers much of interior Alaska, Canada, Russia and northern Europe".

When considering some of the alternative names for the great coniferous woods of the Northern hemisphere...the Great North Woods, the Boreal Woods, The Snow Woods - one can get a sense of not only their vastness but also of the climate (cold & snowy).

The Northern woods are indeed vast and cold. Long, snowy winters envelop the Northern woods for 5-7 months of the year.

But what's often overlooked about the Northern woods are the short summers.

The First Nation tribes of North America that inhabited the Northern woods would often take to their canoes during summer. Gone was the ice and snow that hid the rivers and lakes. Now was the time of the canoe to get around.

But it's very easy to be lulled into a false sense of security during the warm, sunny summers of the Northern woods - but the hazards are very much there.

In this blog post I've listed four of the more common hazards of summer that I've experienced while wild camping, canoeing and hiking in the Northern woods.

I've compiled these tips from direct experience - mostly from a three month, camping trip in northern Maine, USA - and from a lot of outdoor experience in Ontario, Canada.

This blog post is targeted towards all people that want to explore the Northern woods whether they are campers, hikers or canoeists - whether they like to go out for a half-day, full day or camp out for days, even weeks.

Be warned though - this is not a comprehensive list of hazards when camping in the Northern woods - but they are certainly some of the more common hazards I've encountered in the Northern woods.

You may think I'm reluctant to encourage wild camping trips in the northern woods - nothing could be further from the truth.

The Northern woods canoeist, Bill Mason, sums up my attitude on this amazing wilderness..."It's a feeling of almost euphoria, I'm out here and I've got a canoe load of food and I don't have to be back by a set time....it's just the greatest feeling of freedom I know".

Make a Strong Connection to Nature in 2020

January 21, 2020 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

Enjoying a sunset on the shores of Lough Leine (Photo: Sean Fagan, southwest Ireland).

"Get to Know the Essence of a Landscape" ~ Werner Herzog

First off, a very happy new year to all.

May you have many great and small outdoor adventures in 2020.

It's all about connection...

Last year, one of the first things I did when scouting around for a campsite in a dense, Portuguese wood was to cut down a long, straight branch to enable myself to bash a way through dense, thorny vegetation.

I was pleasantly surprised to have found a nearby willow tree with many straight branches - ideal for making a sturdy, bashing staff.

Willow trees also occur in my home country of Ireland.

It was nice to have a moment of connection with a familiar tree species in a foreign land.

And it's simple moments like these often make my day in wild places.

Plants and trees become far more than just plants and trees when you have to rely on them.

In a strange way, they become good friends – when you need them most, they are often there for you.

You might think that developing an emotional bond with plants and trees is sentimental - bordering on sloppy romanticism.

But remember, since time immemorial - human hunting and gathering societies across the globe developed a very special relationship with nature.

Personally, I think it's very normal to admire and respect nature.

I also think it's beneficial for bushcrafters...

A Scottish Diary…

October 15, 2019 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

**View towards southwest from the peak of Cruach Tarbeirt - with Loch Long to right of photo - one of many sea lochs that stretch deep into the Scottish Highlands (Photo: Sean Fagan).**

It's hard to describe the sense of vastness that confronts the senses when at the feet of the Scottish Highlands.

My first camping trip in the Scottish highlands was last October, 2018.

I also made a trip last March, 2019.

Those two trips were fantastic and I was blessed with mostly beautiful weather. However my last trip, a few weeks ago in late September, was exceptional.

**A resting highland cow on Conic Hill, with Loch Lomond in background. Rain coming in from right of photo, from the north (Photo: Sean Fagan).**

On my last trip I was mostly based around Loch Lomond - which is situated in the south-west of the Scottish Highlands.

Since I camped out during this trip I will also be touching upon different aspects of hiking and camping skills, but I'll also be delving into local history, nature, geography and old place-names - all of which I'm very much interested in.

It's one of the great things about having good hiking & camping skills - as they enable an individual to access more remote parts of a landscape - especially in a landscape as large, remote and layered as the Scottish Highlands.

But first, The Woods of Loch Lomond...

Tracking is many Things

August 16, 2019 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

The gist of this post it to present tracking as the multi-faceted activity that it is. Tracking is very much about engaging your senses and mind with all the minutiae of sign left by living things. It’s often challenging and fascinating.

Oddly, the majority of tracking books are mostly devoted to the tracks and sign of wild mammals and some bird species. But what about amphibians, reptiles, even fish? What about the vast array of invertebrates (of which insects are only a part of the huge number of invertebrates inhabiting earth).

There is so much to see and investigate – so many meanings to tease out.

A common misconception about tracking is that trackers are always striving to seek one of the holy grails of tracking – a super clear print of the foot, preferably a thread of foot prints leading to the actual animal they are tracking. This level of tracking is rare, and highly skillful.

I think a lot of us are familiar with the often stunning documentaries depicting the San Bushmen of southern Africa tracking wild game such as antelopes. Often, they track their quarry until they get a kill. This level of tracking is not only very skillful but generally outside the scope of the casual, or even more serious, tracker.

But tracking (even if our life doesn’t depend on it) is a tremendously enriching, calming and immersive way of engaging with nature...

My First Parang

May 7, 2019 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

Limbing a hazel branch with a parang, Ireland. Limbing is simply the process of removing side branches from a main branch and is mostly done with either an axe or parang/machete. It can be done with a knife but requires more effort (Photo: Sean Fagan).

About 6 months ago I bought my first parang.

Parangs, like machetes, are one of the main cutting tools for rainforests.

The axe may be considered the king of sharp-edged tools for bushcrafters in the coniferous woods of the north - while the saw and knife comes into its own in temperate woodlands…but the greater reality is that all three of these tools can be used effectively in both types of woodlands.

Not only can they be used on their own to great effect - but when used together they are a powerful, versatile trio.

So many bushcraft projects can be fashioned with these three tools – from a spoon to a log cabin. They are amazing, enabling tools when used effectively and safely.

But when it comes to the densely-vegetated, tropical rainforests a more specialised tool is often required…

The Importance of Flexibility…

April 2, 2019 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

Looking down along the mountainous eastern flank of Loch Lomond - from the fantastically named Glen Falloch (Gaelic: The Hidden Glen). The far mountain to the right is the famous Ben Lomond (974m) - the most southerly of the famous Scottish Munroes (Scottish mountains over 3,000ft - 914m). There are 282 Munros in Scotland! (Photo: Sean Fagan).

Be flexible…

Recently I went on a 4-day camping trip to the Scottish highlands.

It was my second time to Scotland and I was really looking forward to hiking some modest mountains in Loch Lomond & the Trossochs National Park (situated on the southerly end of the Scottish highlands).

My overall plan is to gradually become familiar with the Scottish highlands through repeated visits – starting in the south and gradually creeping northwards (a very doable, long-term plan as I’m only a cheap, 1 hour flight away to Glasgow).

However, when I arrived in Scotland I quickly realised that my plans would have to change, and change a lot...

Keep Learning…

March 20, 2019 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

A great man of the outdoors, John Muir (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Above, one of my favourite John Muir photos.

Why?

Because he is well into his later years and still doing something he dearly loved doing - connecting with nature.

Even after a lifetime of engaging with nature he still found time to follow his own trails.

But how is this connected to bushcraft and adventure?

Embracing Unpredictability…

January 14, 2019 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

Where to now? (Photo: Sean Fagan, Morocco)

Happy new year folks – I sincerely hope my blogs will motivate you to seek your own, quirky, fun-filled and challenging adventures in 2019. Get out there and have some fun.

Expecting the Unexpected when on an Adventure

The best and worst adventures I’ve ever had were muddled with unpredictably.

It’s not like I don’t do my research before a trip (I partly do this because of a fear of the unknown…ironic).

But there is a catch with researching a lot – it can put you off going on an adventure in the first place.

I strongly believe a huge part of what makes an adventure really enjoyable is surrendering to the unknown...

My First Desert…

November 26, 2018 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

Cooking in the shade. It's hard to describe the unique atmosphere of a desert. What struck me most was a vast sense of emptiness. The writer Robyn Davidson summed it up well - "I love the desert and its incomparable sense of space" (Photo: Sean Fagan).

A Desert Adventure

One of my outdoor goals this year was to explore a desert. I've camped in arid areas of the Mediterranean before but I've never camped in a true desert.

So off I flew to Morrocco. Then hopped onto a bus for a five-hour trip over the magnificent Atlas Mountains.

I then made a very basic camp on the eastern side of the atlas mountains, near the desert town of Quarzazate.

Oh Scotland, sweet Scotland…

October 23, 2018 / pioneerbushcraft@gmail.com

By Sean Fagan

Mute swans at dawn, Scotland (Photo: Sean Fagan).

"Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, land of the mountain and the flood"

Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist

Until only recently - I've never been to Scotland before.

I've camped numerous times before in England and Wales and really enjoyed my visits there.

Considering that Scotland is very near to Ireland (only a 50 minute plane journey from Dublin to Glasgow) - and the Scottish countryside has a reputation as a wild and rugged place - it seems odd that I've never been there before.

I've wanted to go for a long time but never got around to it.

So how was my trip to Scotland?

Well, lets just say I know what all the fuss is about Scotland now. Scotland is a magnificent country.

It greatly helped that my 3-day camping trip was blessed with mostly glorious sunshine.

I'll be writing a lot more about my recent visit to Scotland in future posts (along with revisiting Scotland soon) - but for now I just want to leave you with a visual impression of my visit with some photographs.

I hope you enjoy them...

I've also included a brief tribute to a great man of Scotland - Tom Weir (which includes a video about Tom's favourite places to visit in the Scottish Highlands).