Camping Gear Christmas
Today I drove on up there and finally got what I've been wanting for ages:
1. Buck Vanguard Rosewood grip drop point knife. This fixed-blade delight will supplement my folding Laguiolle Rosewood grip pocket knife during camping. Balance is awesome, perfectly fits in my ex-butcher hands, and holds a very sharp edge. Bears beware.
2. Coleman single-mantle naptha fueled lantern. I already have a Dragonfly MSR stove which runs loudly and hotly on naptha and I figured I could benefit from economy of scale (in weight and packing) from a lantern which also runs on this cheap and useful fuel (great for starting fires when it is pouring rain or on damp wood). Plus non-recyclable propane containers are heavy, bulky, and can't be used to start a good fire in the rain or on damp wood, etc... it will run on unleaded gasoline too, but in Canada since they put in additives this will clog up the device... but useful if in any other country.
3. External frame backpack. I went for the smallest one, because of the price point, but also because the guy at the store said that this one would be fine for me for up to a week long trip. I tried it on, and it is fine... I can strap on my tent, sleeping bag, mattress, etc... to the frame and fill up my pack with enough to keep me going - . But you know, the more I look at it, the more I think I want something with more capacity.. this is only 2050 cubic inches, I want 5000 cubic inches. I think I might go back tomorrow and exchange it.
Monty
As certain readers have requested, I have created a fairly complete index of Mungo Says Bah posts.
Please enjoy and comment freely!
- Flora: Pinetree Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park - ...
- Algonquin Park Camping & Blackflies
- Planning for June, 2009 Algonquin Provincial Park ...
- A Panoply of Pretty Pictures from the Path
- Backcountry Camping in Algonquin Park: Trip Booked...
- A Walk in the Valley at the End of May
- Beginning to Stir from a Winter Slumber
- Edible Backyard Plants - Legitimate and Otherwise
- Firewood, Cormorants, Arctic Terns, Seagulls, and ...
- Flint in the Post, Paleo Knife in the Box - My Fli...
- Planning My Next Camping Trip With Great Aplomb.
- 7 Days with Minimum Kit
- Where Can I Find a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir™ Air Mattre...
- A Long Weekend - Day 1
- Indian Fishing: Early Methods on the Northwest Coa...
- Come Rain, Sleet or Snow.
- Wanted: Flint
- Old Camping Resources - Free Online Books
- Jack London - "To Build a Fire"
- Where Art Thou, Tarp Goodbye Tent!
- Tutorial: An Improved Tarp Tent Shelter Design for...
- Bushcraft Hobo Wood Stove
- The Warming Weather - The Sun and the Snow
- Mungo's Bushcrafty Year in Review
- Bushcraft, Outdoors, Camping, Wilderness Links - T...
- A Panoply of Downloadable Bushcraft E-Books
- A Winter Sit in the Woods and Online Resources
- Good Curly Feather Sticks
- My Warm Military Arctic Gloves, Licorice Allsorts,...
- Farley Mowat's "No Man's River"
- James Ozan Peacock
- An Evening Before A New Boy Arrives
- Monty and the Well-Fed Squirrels
- A Tutorial on How To Build a Coke Can Stove
- If You Go For A Walk in - 20 °C Weather...
- Be Prepared for the Ice Storm or Blackout or Big B...
- Step 1: Baiting the Squirrels
- An Indoors Christmas Celebration
- The Shepherd
- Happy Christmas Everyone
- MREs and a Yuletide Walk in the Valley
- A Brief Respite from the Storm
- Big List of Bushcraft, Outdoors, Hiking, Nature re...
- Stormageddon is Coming - Prepare Thy Car's Emergen...
- How to Bake No Knead Bread Unsuccessfully Twice
- Walkies Past a Hollow Apple Tree
- The Big Bright Full Moon at its Closest Perigee
- Fumbling, Awkward, Maladroit Weather
- Beagles Eat Bird Food
- Soft Snow on the Smelly Fields - Playing with my C...
- Bivy Sack in the Winter Snow
- Testing my New Nikon P80 During a Walk in the Vall...
- Wooden Spoon Carving
- Dersu Uzala - Bushcraft Lessons in the Boreal Fore...
- Traditional / Ancient Woodworking Skills Videos
- Survivorman Season 3 Arctic Tundra Sneak Preview
- My Draft Bushcraft, Camping and Outdoors Christmas...
- A Walk at Rowangarth Farm
- Lest We Forget - Patrick Joseph Doyle - Rifle Brig...
- Survivorman Season 3 - Sneak Preview of Premiere T...
- Whimmy Diddle
- Rogers Rangers
- My Tarp, an Igloo, Several Super Shelters, and Mor...
- I Went to the Army Surplus Store Today
- I Want to Build an Igloo
- Pinetree Lake Algonquin Park Solo Trip - Part 7: L...
- A Walk in the Valley - How to Build a Simple Lean-...
- A Walk in the Park and the Valley Entrance
- A Walk in the Park with Autumn Coming
- Pinetree Lake Algonquin Park Solo Trip - Part 6: E...
- Standby for a Mini-Mungo!!!
- Pinetree Lake Algonquin Park Solo Trip - Part 5: M...
- Pinetree Lake Algonquin Park Solo Trip - Part 4: K...
- Pinetree Lake Algonquin Park Solo Trip - Part 3: E...
- Pinetree Lake Algonquin Park Solo Trip - Part 2: M...
- Pinetree Lake Algonquin Park Solo Trip - Part 1: G...
- Back from Pinetree Lake in Algonquin Park
- Okay - Final List for my Solo Trip into Algonquin ...
- Adventure Medical Thermo-Lite II Bivvy Sack
- Aboriginal Films and Fussing with my Kit
- Final Preparations for Algonquin Park Trip
- In Memory of the Victims of the September 11th, 20...
- Camping and Canoeing: Risk Mitigation - Fear & Loa...
- Weight Reduction: Camping and Canoe Kit List for A...
- Useful Algonquin Park Links & More
- A Leopard Earthball Mushroom
- A Walk in the Valley with Spiders & Jewelweed
- Evening in the Park, and 22 days, 22 hours, 22 min...
- Getting Monty in Shape for our Camping Trip
- My Special Friends: Dunkler Shirmpilz & Common Ink...
- Count Down to Algonquin Park Camping Trip
- Mushroom Identification - Gently Fried in Salt, Bu...
- Mushrooms, Mushrooms, Mushrooms Galore!!!
- The Great Perseids and the Back Garden
- Monty the Beagle and the Peach
- Monty the Beagle in the Poppies
- I'm Mad About Wool Blankets
- White-tailed Deer - Odocoileus virginianus
- Valley Vistas and Views
- Views from the Valley - Alder, Mountain Ash, Sumac...
- Ventures in the Valley
- The Common Inkcap (Coprinopsis atramentaria) or In...
- Going Down into the Valley
- This Weekend in the Valley - Burdock Intentions
- Into the Valley - A Familiar Refrain
- Wild Carrot and Blog Roundup - They All Did Catch ...
- A Mini-Mungo On The Way
- Sunday Evening Walk in the Park
- Movin' to the Country, Gonna Eat a Lot of Peaches,...
- Planning For My Next Canoe Trip to Algonquin Park ...
- Flora from a Walk in the Park
- A Walk In The Park
- My Perfect Birthday Day and Night-Vision Fun
- Quick Banana Bread - Bannock Practice
- Tall Ships
- Cooking Rice & Bacon for Camping & Hiking
- How to Cook Rice & Preserved Bacon over a Camping ...
- How To Start a Campfire in Wet Weather - and Pictu...
- A Hike into the Ravine on a Hot Day - Part 3 of 3
- A Hike into the Ravine on a Hot Day - Part 2 of 3
- A Hike into the Ravine on a Hot Day - Part 1 of 3
- Algonquin Park Trip Planning
- Fugawi Touratel Topographic Map Resource - Great f...
- "It's The Charcloth, Stupid" - Adventures with my ...
- Our Grass Is Growing
- Hudson Bay Steel & Flint Fire Striker
- Where To Go & Under the Weather
- List of Popular Blog posts
- The Moon and the Sky and a Plane.
- Monty's Walk in the Valley - Fungi and Flora
- Tutorial: How to Make Charcloth for Tinder for a F...
- Beagle, Grass and Daffodils
- Garden Flora Pictures and Latin
- Rainy Hike in the Valley
- Reflections on Camping Food
- I Drill Without Anaesthetic and You Be Fine!
- Bushcraft and Outdoors Blogs That I'm Reading Thes...
- Sketches from Sitting on a Sofa in Germany
- First Springtime Walk in the Valley
- Sitting in the Sun
- Backyard Flowers and Foods - Monty and his Rat
- Eating Things Off The Ground - Dandelions
- Turn On Your Love Light, Brokedown Palace & Slab B...
- Taking Stock of the Backyard Plants and Things - F...
- Plans for Pleasantly Pressing Pretty Plants
- BBQ #1: The First Barbeque of the Year - The Compe...
- Sunny Dog Days - caniculares dies
- Edible Backyard Flora
- Breaking a Habit with a Match Coat
- The Action Will Answer Your Questions
- Picture Gallery
- A New Job, a Root Canal, Slab Bacon and Camping
- Pictures of Killdeer, Plantain, Burdock, and More....
- Uninspired and Unimaginative List Of Posts From La...
- Broken Glass, Buried Fish, Bird Feeder, Carving an...
- Breakfast, IMAX and Bob
- Outdoor Memories, Endodontics and a New Job
- What You Can Do with Mungo Says Bah
- The Bulbs Are Coming Up!
- Rabbit and Beagle
- Snow, Cumbrous Monstrosity
- There's Snow End to the Snow
- Snow, Continued
- Warm Toast and Cold Snow
- The Snow is Coming But We're Going Camping in Warm...
- What's HALF The Price of an Alqonquin Park Camping...
- What's The Price of an Alqonquin Park Camping Trip...
- Canoe Camping: Camera Dry, Pictures Stored, Batter...
- How To Set Up, Maintain and Use A Tent When Campin...
- How To Catch, Clean and Cook a Fish While Camping
- In Case of Emergency, Locate the Pine, Cedar & Bir...
- The Lunar Eclipse of February 20, 2008
- Happy Valentine's Day, Pinar!
- A Nice Cold Hike in the Valley
- Snowy Woods - One Foot In Front of the Other
- Blanket of Snow
- Cheese Croissants and a Brown Leather Sofa
- Tired, Cold and Happy
- Join the All-New Mungo Says Bah Facebook Fan Page!...
- Mid Winter Thaw in the Valley
- 2008 Camping Trips
- Campfire in the Valley - Again
- Into the Wild, Call of the Wild, Wild Hawk, Wild B...
- Hot Chocolate in the Woods
- Of Each Other We Should Be Kind While There Is Sti...
- Wool Hats for the Outdoors - Felt and Shearling
- Outdoors, Camping, and Bushcraft and Other Links
- Happy Holidays
- One Foot in Front of the Other
- Photos Taken During a Drive in the Country
- A Lunch Time Walk in the Snow
- Bushcraft Course with Mors Kochanski - Theory, Fir...
- Going on a Nature Walk at Work - Cattails, Juniper...
- Videos of Monty the Beagle - Toys, Camping and Eat...
- Bushcraft Course with Mors Kochanski - Shelters, T...
- Bushcraft Course with Mors Kochanski - A Walk in t...
- Bushcraft Course with Mors Kochanski - Jack Mounta...
- Bushcraft Course with Mors Kochanski - Driving Dow...
- In Flanders' Fields
- The Backyard Shed is Varnished
- Back from New Hampshire Bushcraft Course with Mors...
- Packed for my Camping Trip!
- Mora Knife Handle
- Plants in the Backyard - Autumn is on the Way
- A Quick Roundup of Bushcraft, Primitive and Campin...
- How to Make a Tarp Shelter - A Tutorial
- Setting Up My Tarp
- Thank You For Dropping Bah
- The Backyard Shed and Monty the Beagle
- Photos From A Walk In The Valley
- Making Oven Dried Beef Jerky Which Tastes Better T...
- How To Build A Wooden Shed
- A Fine Shed, Web Development, and a Bushcraft Cour...
- Woodcraft, Primitive Skills and Bushcraft Blogs
- A Trip for Two
- Boil Down, Simplify, Reduce, Harmonize, Normalize ...
- How To Make Chili
- The Quiet Places
- Saturday Morning Walk in the Woods
- Firesteel Rod Handle
- Making Beef Jerky In an Oven
- Carving A Spoon from Locust Tree Wood
- Putting a New Handle on my Mora
- Business and Firewood Analysis
- Notes on Camping in Algonquin Park
- Algonquin Park - Galeairy Lake - Canoe and Camping...
- Final Algonquin Canoe Camping Equipment List
- Almost Final Algonquin Canoe Camping Trip Equipmen...
- Grape Vines, Camping Gear, and Some Business Analy...
- Canoe Camping List Item Descriptions continued...
- Algonquin Canoe Camping Equipment List Description...
- Making a Fire Drill - Fire by Friction
- Planning Needed for a Canoeing and Camping Trip in...
- Updated Canoe Trip Map
- The Holy Consecrated Mungo BBQ
- July 2007 Solo Algonquin Canoe Trip Planning
- Search For What Mungo Says and Ye Shall Find
- Views From Home
Mungo
Bath Time For Monty
Since he had his operation in the first week of October, Monty hadn't had a bath. At first it was because of the stitches, and then it was because he couldn't sustain standing up or sitting down for long on a slippery floor. Plus the risk of his falling and injuring his knee again.
But today he seemed up for it. As was I.
After his bath he started running about attacking his stuffed toys and trying to get us to play with him. I turned on the fireplace - yes, turned it on. Natural gas and a lightswitch.
Now he's snoozing in the sunlight, licking his paws, cleaning them off.
Cherrry Beach
This morning I drove Monty to Cherry beach. We got there and pulled in to the parking lot - only a few cars were there, each transporting their canine load to the edge of the trees between the beach and the bay.
Then Monty snuffled about and said hi to some other dogs and I looked at the ice and the snow and the trees and smiled and then after a while we returned to the car. I then drove along a road beside a thermal generating plant and took some photos - here's a smoke stack.
Then I boiled up the carcass of a roasted turkey and made soup. Then I changed the DNS name server record to make a site live. Then I went to see if the bastards have paid me. I invoiced them Oct 31. It is Dec 10. Bastard swine. They didn't. Thought they said they would. Said it several times over the last few weeks. "Cheque's in the mail. Cheque's gotta be signed. Cheque's been couriered. Cheque will be couriered. Cheque's been dropped off at concierge. Cheque will be dropped off at concierge." Bastards.Often I wonder why I bother doing freelance. Then I think I should charge twice what I do, so that the grief I go through will be worth it.
My next camping trip
Were I to go camping for a week I would figure out exactly where I want to go - likely Algonquin Park - see a 5 Mb highly-detailed PDF map here.
And I'd then gather my gear together and pack it efficiently in a knapsack:
- tent
- sleeping bag
- self-inflating mattress
- hatchet
- fixed blade knife
- rope
- jeans
- shirt
- jacket
- boxers
- 2 changes socks - I can wash them if needed
- wind-up / battery radio - for the boring times
- novel
- Flashlight & batteries
- Lantern, stove and naptha fuel
- Garbage Bags, zip lock bags
- Mug, spoon, fork, cooking pot, frying pan
- paper towels
- Dish detergent in a small shampoo bottle
- Blanket for Monty
- Toiletries
- First aid items (bandaids, disinfenctant, antibiotics, pills galore)
- Matches
- Compass
- Emergency flourescent light sticks (2)
- Pencil, paper, book
- folding chair
- pillow
Pack my food nicely in plastic:
- Biltong
- tea bags
- cheddar cheese
- tortillas
- lemon drink crystals
- milk powder
- noodle side-dish packets
- bacon
- dog kibble
- dried mashed potatoes
- chili mix - dehydrated
- cooking oil (in a small water bottle)
- eggs
- tabascoe sauce
- pepper
- salt
- sugar
- Chocolate bars
- Oatmeal pouches, raisins or dates etc…
- Nalgene water bottle
- Hot chocolate and coffee mix with coffee whitener
- A nice Cuban cigar
- Mickey of good gin
Then I'd gas up the car, drive up there with Monty in the back seat (Spring prefers 5 star accomodation), rent a canoe, canoe for some hours, portage in a little way, canoe in the rest of way, pick a good spot, and make camp in this order:
- Shelter - set up tent wit sleeping bags and organize kit
- Fire - arrange fire pit, get firewood, start fire going
- Food - get cooking gear out and ready - along with lantern and cooking stove.
- Chair - Having eaten, place chair at water's edge for a nice view, bring gin and lemon-crystal inspired drink, and cigar and match. Bring blanket so Monty can sit beside me, bring some treats for him (he doesn't smoke cigars)
- Relax.
Wonko Web post of December 8th, 1998.
Here is a post I've found from 1998:
December 8th, 1998.
I went camping in Algonquin this past weekend. I left Thursday and got back Sunday night. I feel quite refreshed and ready to tackle society and its crony minions once again. I saw three otters, two pheasants, several neat looking birds, and one dead snake. It rained one night, but a book and a very hot fire distracted me from that. Mew Lake is where I made base, about forty kilometres into the park.
Note for next time: bring less food. I was burning food to get rid of it. Note for next time: prepare food for quick and easy use. I was chopping onions and potatoes with a boning knife wearing socks over my hands in the cold drizzle. Have these items already diced up, as it will already be cold and I have no need to be worried about spoilage or browning.
Before I made it to Algonquin, I tried Arrowhead, and it was closed for the winter. Brilliant me. So I back-tracked to Gravenhurst, found an ex-Oakvillian named Blair whiling away his hours in a bar, staring off into nothingness. We proceeded to the Albion Bar. The establishment had hired two strippers, and we played pool, and drank beer. I felt bad for the strippers, the whole place is entirely seedy and about as backwater as you can get, and the 'gentleman' they gravitated towards, and who without a doubt probably had a business interest in their performance, looked like the Grim Reaper meets ZZ Top. I slept in my car that night, and left at seven the next morning to a more suitable location, Algonquin.
In stitches.
Food Energy
Different food is made up of different things. Most of those things contain what I call biologically available calories -BACs (the ash contained in some foods, small pieces of grass, insoluble fibre, and small chunks of bone are not available to us - if we chewed our cud or if we were Osedax frankpressi we'd characterize some of this input as biologically available). We put BACs into the largest opening in our faces with our limbs, it travels into our gut void and with a little help from our smooth muscles is digested with more help from a bit of detergent we call bile acids (thanks in part to our gall bladder - more below), some regular old-fashioned gastric acid that helps break down connections between the chunks, good old fashioned mastication (which generally happens when the BACs are first introduced to the oral cavity), and the concerted and mindless mechanical attention of the (and here comes one of my favourite words) rugae, and other general biological encouragement (including non-human life forms like our cute little gut flora), and passes out through our anus and in urine out through our genital regions (our naughty bits) after much of the caloric energy, nutrients and water is separated out and pulled into our greater biological system. And if our greater biological system is already sufficiently primed with the different stuff in the different biologically appropriate regions in our greater biological system, we either store it, purge it, or force a bit more of it into freely available and ready stores (less stable, than say, glycogen hanging around in our liver - lipids swimming around our blood stream). I've always been intrigued by bile. Our gall bladders make bile - it's like sunlight detergent, fussing about with the fat from a Big Mac as we digest it. Keep in mind this stuff needs cholesterol and luckily our livers help out by creating a bunch of it.
Bile acids are facial amphipathic, that is, they contain both hydrophobic and polar faces - one face is nervous around lipids (fats) and tends to turn the other cheek, and this other check really isn't sure how it feels about lipids, so it kind of clings and grabs onto lipids in sheer terror. Like holding on tight to your keys after they fall through a gap in the fence - you have to let go in order to get them out, but that goes against your better judgement - hence you freeze. Their amphipathic nature enables bile acids to carry out two important functions:
1. Emulsification of lipid aggregates: Bile acids have detergent action on particles of dietary fat which causes fat globules to break down or be emulsified into minute, microscopic droplets, as I suggested above re: Big Macs. Emulsification is not digestion per se, but is of importance because it greatly increases the surface area of fat (remember your physics classes everyone), making it available for digestion by lipases, which cannot access the inside of lipid droplets. Lipases are enzymes, silly. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions without breaking down themselves. Cute little buggers really. The chemical reactions are the things that liberate the food energy i.e. calories.
2. Solubilization and transport of lipids in an aqueous environment: Bile acids are lipid carriers and are able to solubilize many lipids by forming micelles - aggregates of lipids such as fatty acids, cholesterol and monoglycerides - that remain suspended in water. Bile acids are also critical for transport and absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins. We're talking about Vitamin A, and I think D, oh and E!
(On a somewhat unrelated note: If you consume a polar bear liver, the vitamin A in it will cause your skin to slough off and you will die a most unpleasant death. So don't do that. Women do this in a less drastic fashion - they apply Vitamin A acid - retinol - creams to their faces so their wrinkly skin sloughs off revealing younger looking more vulnerable skin. But the whole polar bear thing, you actually slough off all your skin, in great slabs. Now that's disturbing.)
Anyway, back to the point I'd started with. It's quite simple. Our bodies maintain a dynamic equilibrium - if it needs more stuff stored, it helps to give it lots daily. If it doesn't need more stuff stored, then try not to give it lots daily. If it needs more stuff freed up for chemical energy to be converted into kinetic energy in our muscles, for example, then it will free it up, and that means there's more room for more stuff.
I weigh 205 lbs. I believe I should weigh 185 lbs. If I think carefully about what I've said above, keep my gall bladder in good working order, keep away from polar bear livers, and be mindful of the dynamic equilibrium expressed by my body, I should lose weight.
And if I ignore what I've said, well, I'll likely stay fat.
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