Call of the Frontier

The river that lay out on the western horizon was still an unknown to me – a long, mysterious meandering flow. The slow, deep, turbid waters of this flow seemed meant to irrigate croplands here in Crawford County, not to accommodate extraordinarily large spawning trout. But I was here to expand my horizons, to do radical new things and probe mysterious waters, here to challenge another frontier.

Just the Basics: Foraging

The following is given as a starting guide for the recreational forager, not for hard-core woodland survival.

Just the Basics: Winter Warmth

My opinions on all this stuff have changed and matured over the last thirty years or so and I now know what works for me and I don’t worry about the cold too much anymore. This isn’t to say the danger posed by hypothermia and frostbite aren’t real though.

Just the Basics

This post is about training to maximize your outdoorsmanship, stretching your capabilities. It’s about being ready to paddle, portage and carry a pack.

Just the Basics: Camping

And the first night, when I was fourteen, involved taking a pillow and blanket out behind mom and dad’s house in upstate New York to a sort of stick shelter I’d thrown up in the hedge separating us from some apartment buildings. I survived till morning and thought I’d like to try it again sometime.

Of Flowages and Fire

The ground was soggy as we sloshed back in on this early January day. We parked at a place that I’ll never reveal to walk in to a stream I’ll never name.

Weeding

We strive to achieve perfection, every shrub and flower in its assigned place, looking its best, and nothing else crowding things and making a mess, nothing interfering with appearances or first impressions.

In Pursuit of Fish and Simplicity

Hopefully, this simplistic explanation of the art to angling will enhance someone’s 2023, maybe just encouraging that someone to open the back door, pole in hand, and make for the crik down the hill. You may be amazed at what’s waiting for you.

State of Mind

“It’s just much, much too cold. The valley never warmed this morning and the trout are really, really put off. They’re just not eating anything,” Nigel consoled and rationalized for us both.

Walking

Walking can be thought of as the basis of almost all your further activities in the wild.

the dying fish

Book info, ordering, about me, subscribe, etc. in upper right