I agree that it can be real nice to have along friends for these sorts of things.
And believe me, I always try to invite a few to join me.
But let me tell you what has been my experience as l've gotten older (I'm in my early 50s): It gets harder, and harder, and harder to find people to join me.
When I was 30, I could find people to join me with the snap of my fingers.
Now, finding somebody to join me who will actually follow through is almost impossible. Everybody's set in their ways, they've got other things going on in their lives, nobody wants to give up their bathrooms and air conditioning or central heating. Other folks my age fear sleeping on the ground and getting dirty.
They don't know what they're missing out on. They don't understand that these experiences alone with God in the backcountry rejuvenate one's soul - hard ground or not.
I'll have to do a video where I talk about the realities of aging and how difficult it becomes to get other people to join you, just to see how many others can identify with it.
Me not going out into the backcountry is not an option. And if I waited around and only did it when I had others to go with me, I simply would never get to go.
So the only option is for me to be willing to go solo.
Some folks worry I'll end up getting hurt or worse out there, and it's a possibility.
But the end comes for us all eventually whether we never leave our couches or we do. I'd rather be living when it comes.
Tremendous howling, getting closer and closer, coming up over the ridge. Spooky — and I could still see the trees moving up real good from down in a little Appalachian holler.
#PracticalWoodsman #AppalachianBackcountry #Bushcraft #Wilderness #Woodsman #BackcountryTravel #Appalachia #WildernessLife #BushcraftSkills #ThePracticalWoodsman
14°F in the Appalachian Backcountry. Tomorrow morning we have to pack up and cover 10 miles, so I boiled water, poured it into a double-walled thermos, and saved the leftover in my kuksa. Morning coffee, no fire required.
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Folks'll spend a heap of money on gear they don't need, then turn around and skimp on the one thing they're totin' every step of the way.
"Brand names aren't better than most cheap, Chinese knockoff brands. Softshell jackets are all polyester. What you're paying for is a logo and perhaps some more appealing colors. Backpacks do seem to matter when it comes to brand names, cost and quality."
So go cheap on your britches and yer jacket if ya want to. But spend money on the pack. You’ll be glad ya did, and she might just become a dear ol’ friend given time.
— The Practical Woodsman
The biggest issue is not the snow. After all, snow is an amazing insulator. The bigger issues are dress, temperatures, elevation, wind, and those sorts of things.
I myself have fallen asleep in the open on snowy, below-freezing nights while on long, multi-day-and-night excursions in the backcountry next to my campfire many, many times. The reason why this has happened is simple - I was cozy. If I had not been dressed with an appropriate number of layers, and if there had been significant wind, I would not have been cozy, and I would have had to move into some sort of shelter, like a tent.
— The Practical Woodsman
