Picnic Ride

Noah and I went on 13 mile round trip picnic ride today. I brought along the hammock and Cold Steel kukri machete. I split up some cedar and started a fire. I also boiled up a cup full of wood nettle to eat. I wasn't crazy about the taste or the texture, but it is edible.

Noah practiced batoning wood with the machete and we took turns lounging in the hammock. He also started using my Karate Monkey as his old Roadmaster 24" BSO is too small for him. He likes how light the K Monkey is compared to his old bike.

Mud Boggin'

Camping

Yellow River Forest

A friend and I went backpacking in the Yellow River Forest in North East Iowa this past weekend. Here are some pics.

And here are a couple Youtube videos.

‬‏http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqzGCMPX640

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DSmsd1SJo0‬‏

The weather was in the upper eighties with no wind. Bugs were thick and a little breeze would have helped that. We had about a 3 mile hike into camp on Saturday and a 4 mile hike out Sunday.

I used a heavily loaded Maxpedition Condor II pack, which is a fine day pack, but not suited for long hikes in rough terrain when loaded to 40 pounds. All the weight is hanging from the shoulders instead of on the hips. Live and learn.

For shelter, I used a BCUSA tarp and Grand Trunk Ultralight hammock. Love the hammock but with the mosquitoes, I was wishing I had a bug net. I see a WBBB in my near future.

Later....