The first time I rolled my kayak in the February ice flows of the Allegheny River, I realized that it wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined and I was likely to survive the invigorating exercise. I swam the boat to shore, carried it up to its dry dock and went in search of dry clothes. […]
Read more "Panic and Preparedness"Maybe it’s the solitude. Maybe it’s the adventure. Maybe it’s the stark simplicity. Maybe it’s because of all of these but it’s certain that I love to drop baited lines through holes in the ice. I do so as much as winter temperatures allow, frozen lakes remaining always a prerequisite. In southwestern Pennsylvania there are […]
Read more "Plunge of the Polar Bear (Do it with good form and you too could stay alive this winter!)"In 1986 twenty-year old Chris Knight parked his Subaru Brat at the end of a northern Maine woods road, set the keys inside and walked away into the woods. What might have been expected in the days ahead was for Chris to get tired of the woods and start trying to find his way back […]
Read more "A Stranger Response (Part 1)"Today I trampled 7 miles of unfrequented trail here in Pittsburgh’s north hills. I watched the hawks and crows fight (they’re always fighting) and I mingled with my deer friends – they all know me. Some of the trail was nice and some was snow and some was ice. I can’t say it easy run […]
Read more "Readiness"“Watch out for spiders!” Susan warned as I left to go ice fishing a few days ago. She knows the history of arachnids that sneak into camp and into sleeping bags when least expected. Yes, even in mid-winter. But it was particularly cold today, the high only reaching about 20. I wasn’t […]
Read more "The Spiders of January"I cover a lot of outdoor topics here on my blog but I’ve never done one on survival. Strange that I haven’t; It seems to be a topic of great interest among all kinds of outdoor folks – with good reason. I thought I knew survival before the long hikes recounted in The Dying Fish, […]
Read more "Get Out Alive"