Ought Six
10-26-2009, 09:49 PM
I have done lots of hiking in the Pacific northwest, but all either on trails or pretty open forest. I got a lesson today about the other kind of forest.
I just moved to a place on four acres of land. About an acre of it is developed, and the rest is natural. After work today, I thought I would poke around back in the woods on the rest of the property and see if there was anything interesting back there. I knew it was pretty wet out, so I put on a fleece base layer, and threw on Carharts and my Herman Survivor boots. I went to the edge of my backyard, thinking I would find at least a game trail. I see deer in my backyard now and then, and they presumably had opened up some sort of path to get in and out. Nice thought....
I could not find anything, so I thought, what the hell, I will just wade right in. I made it in about fifty feet, and that took me over ten minutes. The best way I can describe it is pushing through layer after layer of loosely woven, wet, filthy basket weave of sticks about a third inch in diameter. It is also interwoven with blackberry canes with hellacious thorns, with boggy patches separated by moss-covered fallen logs and small trees. The smartest thing I did was to wear my Hellstorm kevlar-lined puncture-resistant gloves. My hands would have been a bloody mess without them. I had crap down my collar, front and back, and covering me entirely. I was soaked up to my calves, except my feet. Stuff was constantly smacking me in the face as I tried to push through. Vines tripped me and thorns tore at my clothes. It would have taken me at least a couple hours just to work my way back a few hundred feet to the edge of the property, and I would have been soaked and exhausted long before I got there.
It is obvious to me that I need to learn how to move through this kind of crap using much less energy. I have looked around on the net for info on how to do this without much success.
I also need better clothing. I knew cotton denim was a crappy choice, but I do not have any good heavy wool trousers or hunting pants. That must be remedied. The boots were great, so no problem there. I was also wearing a fleece cap, which also worked well. I need specialty outdoor gloves, but the puncture-resistant kevlar liner is great with blackberries everywhere out here. I looked at some 'tactical' gloves that will probably fill the bill.
I just moved to a place on four acres of land. About an acre of it is developed, and the rest is natural. After work today, I thought I would poke around back in the woods on the rest of the property and see if there was anything interesting back there. I knew it was pretty wet out, so I put on a fleece base layer, and threw on Carharts and my Herman Survivor boots. I went to the edge of my backyard, thinking I would find at least a game trail. I see deer in my backyard now and then, and they presumably had opened up some sort of path to get in and out. Nice thought....
I could not find anything, so I thought, what the hell, I will just wade right in. I made it in about fifty feet, and that took me over ten minutes. The best way I can describe it is pushing through layer after layer of loosely woven, wet, filthy basket weave of sticks about a third inch in diameter. It is also interwoven with blackberry canes with hellacious thorns, with boggy patches separated by moss-covered fallen logs and small trees. The smartest thing I did was to wear my Hellstorm kevlar-lined puncture-resistant gloves. My hands would have been a bloody mess without them. I had crap down my collar, front and back, and covering me entirely. I was soaked up to my calves, except my feet. Stuff was constantly smacking me in the face as I tried to push through. Vines tripped me and thorns tore at my clothes. It would have taken me at least a couple hours just to work my way back a few hundred feet to the edge of the property, and I would have been soaked and exhausted long before I got there.
It is obvious to me that I need to learn how to move through this kind of crap using much less energy. I have looked around on the net for info on how to do this without much success.
I also need better clothing. I knew cotton denim was a crappy choice, but I do not have any good heavy wool trousers or hunting pants. That must be remedied. The boots were great, so no problem there. I was also wearing a fleece cap, which also worked well. I need specialty outdoor gloves, but the puncture-resistant kevlar liner is great with blackberries everywhere out here. I looked at some 'tactical' gloves that will probably fill the bill.