Quick hike, poncho tarp setup, fire prep
I went for a quick hike this afternoon/evening, planning to do some bushcrafting. I called it a night early, evidently the local teenagers use the same chunk of wooded area as a hangout. Once a half a dozen teenage kids were shouting and traipsing around where I had set up, I decided to bail and head home.
On the way in I spotted some scat and what looked like fur of some kind, not sure what it goes with. Anyone recognize these and know what they came from? My guess is the hair is from a deer, but not sure about the scat:
There was tons of trash in the woods, unfortunately. Lots of water bottles (even one that was at least 2/3 full), energy drinks, and beer cans - even one old empty can of Zippo fluid. I also found various assorted junk ranging from paintball gear to large metal industrial parts. Despite the signage of no hunting/trapping, I did see some hunter's trail markers, though it was hard to tell just how old they were. One interesting find, a shovel head without a handle, looks like it probably bent and broke the handle loose:
I found some old tires set up in some sort of lounge area:
Obviously this must be a regular hangout spot, looked like there are some old firepits, and there's items of clothing and all sorts of stuff left behind. A little further over, I found this interesting lean-to setup:
I hiked a little further over to a suitable spot and decided to try setting up my poncho as a tarp and maybe knock out a few of the Bushclass homework assignments. I found a sapling in a handy curve and decided to try using it as an arch support for a poncho lean-to, with the center/hood pulled out and tied off to a tree branch with a taut-line hitch. The two "ground" ends are staked in with some quick stakes I carved out of broken branches:
I tucked my gear in and collected enough prep for the twig fire assignment as some practice:
Just as I finished that I heard voices and snapping twigs, shortly followed by spotting a couple teenagers stalking through the woods. A moment or two later there was more noise and shouting... I have no idea if the kids were playing a game or just screwing around or what but I figured it was a good time to pack up and head home for the day. I'm sure they were utterly baffled what the hell some guy was doing out there with a pack full of gear hanging out under camo tarp in the middle of the woods
Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to relax and get done some of the other bushclass homework or test out my ESEE-6 like I was hoping, but I'll try and get to both sometime soon.
-Jay
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Originally Posted by dwightp
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