How To Get To The Northern Forest, Multi-Purpose Bivvies, Loneliness, Cooksets | #AskPaulKirtley 66

Description

Welcome to Episode 66 of #AskPaulKirtley, where I answer questions about how to get to the Northern Forest, how to combat loneliness on wilderness trips, how to get people interested in bushcraft, the many purposes of a bivvy bag and share some thoughts on cooking sets for canoe trips.

TIMESTAMPS:

02:46 How to get to the Northern Forest?

15:09 How to combat loneliness on wilderness trips?

23:40 How to get people interested in bushcraft?

31:08 What is the purpose of a bivvy bag?

41:37 Cooking sets for canoe trips.

LINKS:

frontierbushcraft.com/winter/

http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2011/winter-clothing-northern-wilderness-layers/

http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2011/winter-clothing-northern-wilderness-extremities/

http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2011/winter-camping-northern-forest/

http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2015/lightening-the-load-pt-1-tarp-bivvy-sleep-systems/

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Tags: bushcraft,survival,wilderness,camping,hiking,outdoors,question and answer,advice,questions,answers,bushcrafting,nature,self reliance,self sufficiency,outdoor skills,outdoor knowledge,Paul Kirtley,askpaulkirtley

Video Transcription

in this episode of a sport curtly we are going to be talking about cooking sets for canoe trips what's the purpose of a bivy bag how to get people interested in bushcraft dealing with loneliness on solo trips and how to get to the northern forest

[Music]

welcome welcome to episode 66 of ask poor curtly with me well curtly where I aim to answer your questions on wilderness bushcraft survival skills and outdoor life in general and what's now back in the north of England and we've got snow again is again I think it's only going to be brief rain this afternoon quite damp and drippy snow this morning snow yesterday it's warming up but yeah I've seem to have recorded more episodes of a sport correctly in the snow than ever before and there's potential for more snow episodes coming up if I managed to fit in some recording on a trip that I'm doing soon so keep your eye out for that but without further ado let's answer the questions for this episode I've got myself under a Hawthorn tree here I was providing a bit of cover from the from the wet got some rhododendron on a couple of sides here it's quite sheltered got my the foam in set up my backpack down on the ground for warm insulative mat to sit on again as usual I've got a warm drink a lot one of these Trek bars which I quite enjoy no connection I'll be happy for them to sponsor the show of course but that's not what this is about I like these very burst trek bars I like those for while I'm out on a walk a bit of energy and yeah just settle in and I will do my best to answer these questions so going down

in the order that they are in my notebook here this is from Jason and his question is about how to get to the northern forests hi Paul I see you've been on a few northern forest trips but how do you actually get there I know you could get a plane up north but then do you just walk into the wilderness or what question mark I would love to go on a trip up north I'm just unsure how to do so thanks Jason Miller well let's just backtrack a second there Jason because the question I also get from time to time is where is the northern forest I talk about the northern forests other people talk about the northern forests or the boreal forest is an interchangeable term and it is a circumpolar forest that runs from Scandinavia Finnish candy or if you like through northern Eurasia all the way across Alaska across the top of North America a band the forest all the way across so it's this doughnut if you like of largely coniferous forest although there are other species there such as birches Aspen's and various others and also it varies from north to south over its range of latitudes but a lot of pine on a spruce lot of birch juniper lingam berries cow berries libraries or blueberries that type of habitat is what we're talking about and it is the largest forest on earth a lot of people think about the Amazon has been huge and it is but the boreal forest is bigger it's like the lungs of the planet in terms of the amounts of carbon dioxide it takes on the amount of oxygen it gives out and it is a wonderful environment it's also a harsh environment in many ways it's harsh in winter it gets very cold in many of the parts of the boreal forest and also in the summer it can be very wet and underfoot in particular marshy and then you've got mosquitoes and black flies those sorts of things so it can be challenging depending on whatever time of year you're there it's easy to get around in a lot of ways in winter because all of those waterways and marshes become potential thoroughfares for you to use skis snowshoes snow machines but clearly there are risks to moving around on frozen lakes and rivers and you've got to take that into consideration but it is a wonderful place all of the hot tenting stuff that I've done that you've seen on my blog has been done in the northern forests and it's a place that I've been going to on a regular basis since 2003 so 15 years at the time of recording this since I first went up to the north northern forests in northern Sweden and I've been to the boreal forest many times since both in winter and in summer as well as in western Eurasia and Finnish Scandia also in North America canoe trips for example in the summer and some forthcoming winter trips perhaps as well so watch this space so it's a great environment bushcraft goes hand-in-hand with that environment fire is your friend the classic lean-to shelter is one of the shelters that is most a home in that environment Quinn Z's hot tenting moving around on snowshoes moving around on skis moving around on snow machines dependent upon what you're doing and it is just a wild wonderful expanse of forest clearly it's not indestructible and we need to to look after it as well and I've written and talked about many aspects of that over the years in terms of going to do the bushcraft skills that are relevant there but also doing it with some consideration for the environment so how to get there well it depends where you're starting but I think Jason I the impression that you're in the UK but forgive me if you're not and the nearest easiest place to get to in terms of northern forests accessibility would be northern Sweden parts of northern Norway and also Finland and it's pretty easy to fly to those places fly to Stockholm for example and then fly to the north of Sweden you can fly to Helsinki you can fly to Oslo and then get an internal flight and many other routes as well of course there's lots of ways of skinning a cat to get to those to those places to go to Tromso to go up to Kieran or or aloe vera would be a place to kick it kick off one of those two places or to go up to Helsinki and there are other places in in Finland you could try flying to as well but it's not that easy it's not that far it's not that expensive and I think you get that the question then is what what do you do next how do you get there well you only need to fly into somewhere like Kirin er in the north of Sweden or flying's or even Helsinki and you can see that it's surrounded by trees and getting to the forest is is not that difficult there are providers if you wanted to do dog sledding trip that's quite easy to book if you wanted to do a multi activity trip where you get a feel for what you can do there you could do a bit of skiing or snowshoeing if you do a bit of snow machining some ice fishing build a Quincy or an igloo that type of thing you can book on those sorts of trips relatively easy easily and you just need to do an internet search for that and that might be a way of getting into it if you want to do something on your own it's a little bit harder but it's not that difficult in terms of getting transport to where you might want to start whether you're getting public transport getting a bus whether you're getting a taxi and those things are doable most airports in the world have got a taxi rank outside of them even the small ones and you can get a taxi to a local Motel is a start off point if you get there late in the day and then you can get them a taxi from there or a bus from there the next day to to get to where you want to go the question is where you want to go and that's a harder one because if you're just going to go into the forest on your own that's got some perils to it clearly there is it there's issues if you're talking about winter there are issues with cold injury risks there are issues with have you got the right equipment with you it's hard to take everything that you need potentially on a regular commercial flight you know snowshoes or skis winter camping kit clearly taking a a canvas tent and a stove is not really possible without paying a lot extra so you might end up cold tenting you might end up I know some people who have gone and taken a toboggan or a pulk and they've hammock torkoal tented and that's quite a hard introduction to that environment because it can be you know minus 20 minus 30 Celsius quite easily overnight at least even in you know late February early March depending on the times a year or the this the the nature of that season some winters tend to be colder than others and particularly in northern Sweden recently there's been a lot more variability it seems and that as there has been in North America in some places you know we've had a lot of effects of that some people are attributing to global warming El Nino effects and all those sorts of things combined to cause some interesting varied weather conditions so if you're there in the winter you've got to be conscious of not getting too wet if it's warmer not getting too cold if it's colder you've got issues of crossing ice you've got issues of overflow water sitting between ice and snow on top of lakes and rivers there are a number of issues that you need to be aware of and there's plenty of information on my blog about clothing in an equipment and I can link those below this

on my blog Paul Kelly doctor at UK forward slash asked Paul curtly six-six a sport curly 66 all the notes will be there or if you're watching this as a video on YouTube the links will be there as well so wherever you can watch the video the links will be underneath there and I'll link to some of those relevant things there but going on your own in winter is quite hard you can get up there in summer as well but the mosquitoes can be pretty bad but the fishing can be good canoeing can be good in some of those places and that's those are some options if you want to hike as well then there are some options for hiking you can start doing some of the hiking trails in Sweden for example and that will get you into the forests as well as the hills so look into things like the Coons laid and for example which is quite a varied trail and there are other trails as well that you could walk that will take you through forests as well as through into there into the hills so that might be an easier way into the environment in the summer rather than trying to do a canoe trip or what have you because most people can walk most people can walk with a backpack on and then of course you've got the whole North American continent to to look at as well easier easier to organise a canoe trip in a lot of places Canada is the home of the canoe of course you can do some great boreal forest canoe trips woodland caribou for example and blood vein is a trip that we do that's all on the edge of the boreal the southern end of the boreal and you know that they're wonderful environments to go to and they're not that difficult to get to once you once you once you decide where you want to go in terms of in terms of canoeing winter trips there or maybe a little bit harder but there are still some ways of doing that and probably the hardest part the boreal forest for us as Western Europeans and maybe North Americans that probably the hardest place was to get to parts of the boreal forest in Russia into Siberia and for example that's going to be harder to get to both in terms of logistics as well as paperwork but lots of options it's a big place so I would say sort of choose-your-own-adventure decide what you want to do what you're capable of ask lots of questions I mean there's a ton of people who've done lots of different things in and around the boreal forest just ask questions get Gail to Google Earth Google Maps have a look see where you fancy going and then Google that place Google public transport Google adventure travel operators in those areas get onto some adventure travel forums ask some people about their experiences ask me ask other people who've done trips there and you'll soon fill up a good picture of what you can do with your budget with your capabilities with your equipment timing you you want to go hopefully that helps I know it's not a closed-off answer but I don't really want to give a closed-off answer like to say you should go here at this time of year and do this thing this is so much potential and so hopefully that's given you some aspects of what you can do and how you might do them without maybe channeling you down something too narrowly loneliness on solo trips this question is from Matthias and he is from Argentina and he says hi Palermo and for Argentina and I like going to the mountains alone but after a while I start to feel very lonely and it's quite depressing my questioning is how can you help me cope with this loneliness to extend the time of my bushcraft trips or what you do in your travels to not feel that way any advice will help I think you're the best piece that's very kind thank you Mattias well I'm not a psychologist Matthias and I don't pretend to be one here on these shows or anywhere else and it can it can feel lonely on trips and I think the isolation on trips can make you feel lonely so I think I think you have to look deep inside and try to understand where that loneliness is coming from is it that you feel exposed on your own because that's different feeling exposed on your own in the wild place is different to missing other people for just company that they're very they're closely allied and they can feel similar but the motivation that where that comes from is different and I've certainly felt I'm quite happy operating on my own and you know very few of these a sport Curly's when I record them do I ever have anybody else with me you know occasionally there might be somebody set off camera that I'm I've gone for walk with they might be reading a book or they might have just wandered off for half an hour but usually I would say 95% of the time I'm on my own and I'm out for the day and I'm very happy just wandering around on my own and being out and you know and I've done plenty of longer trips really longer than a day where I'm on my own you know canoe trips hiking trips particularly and I'm fine I'm fine with that

but even on days out I've had intense feelings of being very much on my own particularly in the mountains in winter I've been in some situations in Scotland where I felt exposed and on my own and very small and frankly thankful to get back home at the end of the day not because I was taking undue risks or being silly

it's just conditions get tough sometimes terrain gets tough sometimes your body doesn't always perform as well as you envisage you get tired etc etc so at times when you feel like you're out there but then that's part of the reason we go as well part of the reason we go away from the comforts of home and the security of society is to stand up on our own two feet as human beings and feel what it likes to be out in nature as that individual as that person or even group that is self-reliant that is using their own skills and knowledge to negotiate that terrain to be comfortable in that place or whatever it is that's one of the reasons we go so the other thing I would look at is what's your motivation for going why do you want to go is it is it you have a desire to see places is it that you have a desire to be on your own because maybe the answer is go and go with somebody else you know if it's like you want to get into nature you want to see wonderful vistas you you know you might want to share those experiences with other people that the answer might be find a partner a friend a colleague girlfriend boyfriend whatever and that is going to be a companion to you on those trips and then maybe that will complete the circle that might be the answer and I don't know you personally but for me when I'm on my own and I miss people I miss loved ones and I like you know just be grateful that you've got them in your life I think that's one thing in terms of having a lot of downtime I think that can affect people you know they're used to chatting to people in the evenings they're used to maybe even just using the internet and television for company in the evenings or even just listening to music in the evenings I know a lot of people don't like sitting in the house on their own or their flat on their own or even in their bedroom on their own without some sort of company whether that's television internet chat room watching a film listening to music listening to a podcast all of those things provide some connection

some company and a lot of people don't like sitting there in their in their home in the quiet on their own so equally they're not going to enjoy being out in the middle of nowhere in similar conditions so take take take an iPod or your phone and some podcasts or some music or a book to read just the same as you would if you're on your own at home that can be part of it and that's something that I do I'll take if I'm on my own I'll take a book to read and I won't always read it you know I might get into my sleeping bag at the end of the day and think I'm going to read and I'll read two pages and fall asleep but that's fine that's absolutely fine writing notes I find really good I often write notes on my trips whether that's in a paper notebook or increasingly particularly if it's a shorter trip you know as opposed to weeks and weeks and weeks I might just use my phone I've got an app on my phone where I can write notes and then it's accessible on my on my laptop and my desktop when I get home so I don't have to then transpose things or scan them or what-have-you to make sure they're saved in the cloud or that they're in a rough form to start writing up a trip report or what have you writing notes is good it helps you process your days it helps you remember things it helps solidify memories it helps you focus on what's important the other thing is you could journal about how you're feeling and try and get to the roots of why you're feeling a bit lonely and and equally maybe maybe you just don't need to be out for that long maybe maybe it's you your brain your unconscious brain telling you that okay I've got what I needed from this after after a few days I'm ready to go home and I'm grateful for the things I've got at home like I say I don't know your circumstances but I would in the first instance have a think about why you're going what it is that you're trying to get from your trips not just practically you know physical exercise or what-have-you but you know mentally psychologically well-being wise what are you trying to get from your trips think about whether or not you'd be better off sharing with somebody directly by having somebody with you and think about whether or not you're mistaking a feeling of isolation from a feel with a feeling of missing people because yes they're close together but they're also different that's as much as I can think of off the top of my head no ties as I say I'm not a psychologist personally I'm happy on my own but that isolation that exposure can sometimes get to you being grateful for what you've got at those times is that is a big help definitely thinking about the people you've got at home your friends your family loved ones your dog or whatever that you're grateful for having those relationships you're grateful for that helps definitely all right not to rain rather than just drip how to get people interested in bushcraft right I can finish eating my track bar while this plays hello mr. kentley it's a drum spring with another question for you a sport cut the podcast and my question for you today is this poll now I love nature

I like being in nature we are nature and I love bushcraft it's part of who I am now I've tried to spread the good word of bushcraft the true essence of bushcraft not kit but I seem to have a quite a stony reception and I was wondering how would you go about spreading or trying to get into people interested in bushcraft I'd love to hear your thoughts on this because most the people who speak to it it's quite stony Griffin but to be honest any help you can get me I'd be very very grateful for keep up the good work you're a fantastic guy you're brilliant ambassador for British bushcraft and long may you continue thank you well thank you for that Adrienne gave me time to finish my my trek bar and pour some more coffee

well the facetious answer Adrienne is how would I get people interested in British crafts I dedicate 15 years in my career to it I'd write a blog for seven or eight years and start a YouTube channel start to podcasts write for multiple magazines in the space as well as outside of the space which is exactly what I've done I think the question is what would I do if I were you I think it's sometimes easy to be - an evangelical about certain things and that can put people off and I think you always need to trade a line between enthusiasm and been a bit too of too much of a evangelist in the bad sense of that word there are some bad connotations to that clearly you know people sticking their foot in your doorstep

in your in your door standing on your doorstep wanting to proselytize that side of evangelical behavior is generally from most people not welcome and I think if you're challenging people's ideas about a certain subject you need to carefully tread between putting them on the defensive because they feel like they're being criticized or they feel like they're or building blocks of their ethos if you like are being undermined and giving them new insight and I think you always need to to try and be helpful rather than try and convert I think if you just trying to convert people to your religion as it were religion in inverted commas then maybe you're gonna end up with resistance whereas if you can say hey look my approach my understanding of these things here yes I've got this knife yes I've got this Billy can yes I've got this tarp but look how well I can use the knife look how well I can use a fire to do what I want to cook in this Billy can look how well I can put this tarp up so that I'm always comfortable and you don't even have to say that it's how you do things when you're around people who are good in the outdoors and you're not completely unaware of your surroundings you can say you can look at somebody kind of go that guy has got his stuff together

this person's all over the place a lot of people talk a good game and then you see them in the woods and you think yeah you you've been on a lot of forums but you haven't been out a lot but when somebody's been out and they've got their the basics down they know what they're doing you can see that you can see that in camping in the woods you know fly camping with the tarp and a fire and a roll mat or what have you blanket through to you know people winter camping tents in the hills how they set their canoes up all those things you can tell when somebody's experienced they got their stuff together just the way that they dress the way that they hold themselves so some of that's not a lot that's nonverbal and that's one way you can influence people and then they'll be like you will find people being attracted to you because you're good and then that makes the more open to what else you have to say the other thing is it's just you know if you want to show them aspects of nature have all those basic kit things down have an understanding of how to sort your water how to light a fire all the things but then be very very good with your understanding of nature and being able to practically do that while you're out with them because again if you can say to people this is edible this is did you know you could use this and here's some tracks of a whatever just engage them with the nature rather than telling them to be engaged with the nature draw them in show them interesting stuff and give them some practical takeaways all of that draws them into your way of thinking they're like ah yeah I like I like what Adrienne can do while he's out I want some of that that's the way to do it not by sitting in the pub after four pints banging the table trying to change their mind I would say is probably the way that I would be doing it hopefully that helps and if anybody's got any of the comments particularly experiences where they've introduced people to bushcraft or they've introduced aspects of bushcraft to people who had a fixed idea about what it was in the first place and then able to expand leave a comment below this on my blog poor Cody Cody at UK /oscar Paul curtly six-six that will take you straight to the page scroll down comment section leave a comment would love to hear from you as I'm sure Adrienne would who's a regular viewer and listener to this show and if you leave a comment for him he will undoubtedly see it right I'm getting wet a little bit now let's get on to the next question what is the purpose of a PV bag and this isn't as cynical a question as the title might give you the first impression of being this is from Phil Phil Schafer and he asks I've never camped without a good weatherproof tens so my question is if the top keeps the rain and weather off you what is the purpose of a bivy bag thanks love your videos Phil so he's not even having a lot off about the dew tarps keep you dry and comments he is genuinely asking and that's a good question it's like what does a bivy bag do so it does help keep your sleeping bag dry not necessarily from atmospheric moisture that's coming from up there as you say if you've got your tarp setup correctly the water's going to run off the water's going to run away from your top not under your top don't sleep in a dip we've talked about that before in previous videos water runs off goes away some people will say well rain can come in the side if it's really windy yes if you're right on the edge of the woods on the windward side and it's absolutely chucking it down and you've got your tarp set high some rain may come under the side of your tarp in which case the beaver bags gonna be useful if you're deep in the woods where it's sheltered and you don't need to move that far into the woods I've had students on courses move 50 meters from where they were going to set the top up to where I suggested they should set their tarp up and it's made a big difference in how sheltered they've been and it's not about lots and lots of you know hiding behind a big evergreen bush like a rhododendron or what have you here it's about looking at the lay of the land more trees to dull the effects of the wind and then you get water dripping rather than coming sideways and then of course you can lower your tarp a little bit if you need to or have a slightly bigger tarp for the colder wetter months of the year just if you want some more room but remember the ground can be wet as well like I'm sat here this ground is really wet it's been raining then we've had snow then we've had rain on top of the snow the snow's melting it's dripping off the trees the ground is sodden so putting your sleeping bag inside a waterproof baby bag is going to stop it coming into contact with any moisture on the ground which is important there is atmospheric moisture just in terms of humidity it's going to protect your sleeping bag from humidity as well to an extent particularly if there's a heavy dew overnight which in the spring and the fall there often is you get warm daytime temperatures but cold nighttime temperatures you often get a heavy dew during the night and into the early morning it will settle on the outside of your bivi bag rather than on the outside of your sleeping bag and then of course if you want a bit more room underneath the smallest a tarp if you're traveling light and you've got a smaller tarp and say like the smallest silica nylon tarp that I've got that little integral design the SIL tarp one which is about the same size in Australian hootchie maybe is very slightly smaller or about the same size as there's a British Army Basha and but very light very small if you're under that sort of size tarp if you're in a bigger bag you can stick your feet out the bottom it's waterproof your feet the feet and of your sleeping bag is not going to get wet but you've got more room above you for kit and just a bit more room to maneuver so it just gives you a bit more room so it is useful in terms of moisture in all of those circumstances then what else does it do it stops your sleeping bag from getting dirty even if it's completely dry it stops your sleeping bag from getting dirty dirty sleeping bags don't work very well sleeping bags keep you warm because of the loft because of the air that's trapped in them and the dirtier the goose down or the dirty of the synthetic fill in your sleeping bag the less it will loft the more it will mat and the less air will be trapped in it and the colder it will be so it's imperative to keep your sleeping bag as clean as possible if your bag on the outside and if it's not too impractical which it sometimes is in really really cold temperatures

have a sleeping bag light it's silk sleeping bag liner inside to stop grease and dirt from you going into the sleeping bag from the inside to keep your sleeping bag clean that's important what else does it do two more things and that's again to do with insulation one is it stops the warm air that's trapped in your sleeping bag being blown away and being replaced by cold air if there's even a bit of a draft and a bivy bag is going to be more wind proof than the sleeping bag like it's like wearing a gore-tex jacket over the top of a duvet jacket you're going to get more wind protection from doing that so it's it's not just a waterproof cover it's also a wind proof cover which keeps that warm air inside the sleeping bag and not being displaced by a cold draft allied to that is it also trapped air between the sleeping bag and the bivi bag which means that you've got another layer of insulation there potentially and importantly the cold air that's in contact with the outside of your sleeping system is not in contact with the outside of your sleeping bag it's in contact to the outside of the bivi bag so your once more removed from the atmospheric condition so it gives more warmth to your sleeping bag in that way as well finally most bivy bags have got some sort of hood which means that you've got a place to put your if it's not rolled up completely just laid out on the deck laid out on the ground whatever you're using as a pillow can be laid on top of that and it acts as a kind of ground sheet as well for what you've got and if you pull the pull it up a bit more then that's gonna be trapped inside but it keeps it from the ground as well so if you're using a fleece for example as a pillow it's not on the ground it's on the inside of the bivi bag so sleeping mat baby bag inside the bivi bag sleeping bag on top of the sleeping mat inside the bivi bag gives you a nice warm dry clean environment for all of your sleeping year and that's why a bivy bag is really good under a tarp you can also use a bivy bag in a tent we won't get into winter camping stuff

snow holing whether it's Quincy sweather its snow caves in the mountains baby bag super useful as well for protecting your sleeping bag for many of the reasons we've talked about in a tent though why would you use a bivy bag well again it adds more warmth and also what if your tent gets completely soaking wet some people will put a ground sheet on the inside of their tent and I know cliff Jacobson is a big advocate of doing that and he advocates rather than putting your ground sheet under your tent put a ground sheet inside your tent as a kind of second bathtub layer and that's probably a better way of doing it than putting the ground sheet outside where you're just going to be sitting on top of water you've actually got some protection on the inside and also some protection for the base of your tent from all of the things that you do inside your tent moving around moving gear around etc etc so that's about water coming into the tent and a bivy bag would help in those circumstances as well if the ground if the if the the bathtub part of your tent got water into it for whatever reason the other way your tent can get wet on a trip and for the types of trips that I do canoe trips if for whatever reason you get water in your portage pack and you get water into your tent and it's sopping wet if you've got a bivy bag that you can put your sleeping bag in even if the inside of your tent is wet your sleeping bag will stay dry I always double bag my tents these days anyway but even so it's just an extra bit of protection and what can happen with tents as well if you're putting camp up and down every single day I tend to use Hillenburg tents and I tend to have them set so that the inner part of the tent is constantly attached to the outer part the tent it makes putting them up very quick it also means you put them up in the rain and the inner doesn't get wet before you manage to put the outer over the top but what can happen

there's a lot of condensation on the inside and you don't have time to air the tent off before you have to be on the move you roll the tent away and you put it up again in the evening and if you don't have the right conditions to dry the tent at that stage you might end up with a bit of moisture inside your in your tent maybe even within the sleeping area and again a really lightweight bivi bag is useful for those circumstances you can just slip your sleeping bag into it and you're not going to get any moisture into your bag particularly if you're using a down bag I like to carry a snug pack special-forces bivy weighs very little packs down to nothing you can check my lightening the load part one video to see more on that see how small it is and how light it is but that's the one I like to take just so that I've got it with me even if I'm in a tent it's just an extra little thing and then if you decide you want to sleep out under the stars as well with your sleeping mat in your sleeping bag you can do it you've got lots of options so lots of reasons to have a baby bag but the fundamental ones under a tarp first section of the answer right I think we're onto last question cooking sites for canoe trips oh it's another audio question alright let's get ready hey Paul I just wanted to ask you what is your recommendation as far as commune trip pots or Billy cans or canteen sets I currently use a heavy cover titanium kit set and it doesn't always meet every specification or trip that I guess some that got taking it out on or need so just kind of curious what do you use what steel on do you prefer aluminum stainless titanium do you prefer a pot or Billy can or canteen set I'm just curious I have various different ones and different brands but just curious what you recommend and what's kind of your go-to for just general water purification boiling collecting etc thank you alright so that's from as Mia good question nice and clear there thank you and good diction there I like it good yeah that's quite an open-ended question and I too also have lots of different options and I've also used a lot of others from Outfitters for example and you get different things from different Outfitters it depends on how many people you've got with you for starters whether it's just you on a solo trip whether it's you and a friend whether it's a three or four of you whether it's eight of you you know it very it varies what's going to work or what sufficient to take with you you tend to be able to carry more elaborate kitchen sets the more of you there are because you can cater for a lot of people from a certain number of pots in a way that you can't cater for yourself from a from a number of small pots if you see what I mean there's an economy of scale is what I'm trying to say with carrying a wider range so it kind of depends on how many of you there are and also how elaborate your meals you know are you just using boil-in-the-bag you know backpackers pantry Mountain House you know dehydrated type stuff and you just need boil water or do you want to cook more elaborately so that that's part of the question but I think your questions particularly about nested sets and canteens and whatnot and that some of the titanium sets are good one of the things with certeyn iam is its light and it's tough but it also tends to it doesn't really hold the heat and you get very direct heat transference in certain places and it can be hard to cook steadily in them I like them for backpacking and I use titanium cooking pots for backpacking when I can and particularly if I'm covering any sort of distance you know if I'm just going to do four or five six seven miles in the woods and camp I'll just take a you know a take of stainless steel Billy or something and again if you're just keeping it to one stainless steel zebra Billy can there is a an economy there and if you're using the fire you know and you're not carrying a stove yes Dana steel Billie is fine you can barley water you can cook your food etc etc and if there's a few of you and your backpacking nested titanium set works quite well if you work if you're working off a stove if I'm doing a canoe trip I tend to like to take stainless steel pots with a bail and I tend to like to take stainless steel pots that are broader and a bit shallower some more of the type that Coleman tatonka Eagle products make van say the Zebras that are taller and thinner because yes you can hang them over fire with the Bale you can make a pot hanger a tripod whatever you need hang them over fire but also sometimes on a canoe trip as I'm sure you know as Muir you can't have a fire there's a fire ban or it's not appropriate to have a fire where you're comfortable for whatever reason or maybe it's just it's quicker to use a stove sometimes or you might just need to get a quick quick boil on one of your friends is cold you've just got into camp they're shivering get a stove on get some water get some get a hot chocolate into them or whatever having a stove with you is something that we normally do even or even on a solo trip I will take us more gas stove I may not use it at all so for example the rivet a trip that spoons and I did last year we took a stove and the only time we were really going to use it was the first night and the pump broke and we had to have a fire anyway and then I bought a replacement on the way and we didn't use it we use fires the whole time but I like to have something with me just in case and but one so I like to have pots that will work on top of a stove but it also work well on top of a fire and for the type of cooking that I like to do on canoe trips I find the slightly broader slightly shallower pots very good whether it's for mixing up a banach mix whether it's for boiling water whether it's for cooking a stew and whatever it is I find that I can manage to do that so some some sort of nested pot set and as I said I think one of the fastest boiling ones that I found at the Eagle products pots because they've got a copper bottom and they just absorb the heat superfast boil really quickly well sometimes take a kettle a small kettle the smallest Kirtley kettle for example is 2.5 liters that's good for a couple of people you can boil water in that you can preset it by the side of the fire while you're doing other cooking and you can manage to to fit it in and with some bigger pots as well I'll sometimes also take a frying pan with a folding handle normally one of the GSI frying pans and because they're relatively easy to get hold of the nonstick pans they're relatively easy to clean but generally I don't like non-stick pans and I'm not a huge fan of hard anodized pots and pans I've used them a fair amount and I get by ok with the more spot that I use in the woods which is a hard anodized aluminium and my BCB hard anodized mug has lost a lot of its coating now after several years of use and I find them it harder to clean than a just pure stainless steel you can't damage stainless steel you can't you can't wreck it you can you can scrape it with gravel you can get sand in there you can get ash from the fire in there to cause a bit of a sort of caustic

washing mixed mixture which with fat almost makes it a bit of a soapy mixture you can get the things clean in the field without damaging them whereas I find nonstick surfaces apart from frying pans and hard anodized surfaces just harder to maintain the cleanliness in the field without damaging the surface and that also has an impact on hygiene if you're not cleaning your pans properly yeah it's not good over the long term you'll end up end up with some issues so good quality stainless steel broad shallow good quality Bale preferably one that locks so you can tip it without it going all floppy and as I say the ones that I've used that I find particularly good are Eagle products Coleman and Tatanka so hopefully that helps as Mia and also just to finish on that that's kind of scalable you know you can take a couple of nested pots for a couple of you and you'll probably do you you know that the kit that I took on them teh trip for me and spoons for example Eagle products pot had a smaller Coleman pot inside it we had a Billy can rather than the kettle and mainly because we were just going to drink coffee so we've had a Billy can for making your coffee at Mars pots we're making coffee and we had a frying pan a folding frying pan so we had like a kettle if you like or coffee pot two nested pots and a frying pan but you could also cater for four people with that same set you wouldn't need to scale it up at all for four people once you get beyond that you'd have to start extending it but then you could also start you know if there's eight of you you can start thinking about do I take an aluminium Dutch oven and then we can do roasts we can do we can bake bread we can make lasagna we can make cottage pie we can do all manner of different things that you can do with a Dutch oven that you can't do bake a cake miss an IB trip last year we baked it was their birthday on the last night we bake them a cake you can do that with a with a Dutch oven and there were nine of us on that trip so we had the sort of nested pots we had a kettle but we also had an aluminium Dutch oven which served a lot of purposes and gave us a wider range of foodstuffs over that trip which was nearly two weeks long than we could have if we just had a basic cook set so that's something else to think about as well but basic nested set stainless steel you won't go far wrong with that right that was everything so but my phone in my pocket did start to get dark now although it won't seem it on the screen because I've got the the auto level things set on so it adds a bit of boost it will get more grainy of course as it always does but so you can hear me just as well and that's what's important it is drizzling now the snow's melting as I as I see it it's going and it's wet it's damp it's a bit cold I've been quite comfortable here though got Marino base layer on and I've got a fleece got a nice wool loop stitch merino hat double layer and I've got this Noren a recon jacket er raven trousers which are a little bit damp now mr. wack they've been relaxed for a while what else have I got on I've got my lower boots with gore-tex lining the old ones they're coming to the end of their life now they're starting to leak a little bit some nice thick icebreaker socks and I'm cozy I'm comfortable here hot drink a bit of food all good it's only two degrees Celsius today so yeah it's been a good session hopefully that's useful to many of you thank you for the questions please do subscribe please do share this with your friends as I've said before the best way that you can help me with these shows and with everything that I do going back to what Adrian said as well how do we spread the word well we spread the word if you can share these shows if you can share other material that if you find a particular blog on my blog that you think is really useful to you there will be other people in your network that also think is useful so if you could share it down with your friends on Facebook a group that you're a member of your followers on Twitter whatever it is that's most appreciate that's how you can help me with the material that you like me producing that's the best thing you know I'm not interested in patreon or PayPal deposits or what-have-you and I have a business and it works and I earn a living from it and that's good Frontier bushcraft with my trading company and if you're interested it's there at Frontier bushcraft comm and that's how I earn my living obviously a little bit of advertising on the YouTube videos but largely if you want to help if you want to give back a little bit to share the stuff that's all I ask

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