Cheap, good, and basic seems to be
what I keep finding is better in the long run.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

If it simply works well, I'll use it.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Perhaps I'm just really crude in my approach [to equipment],
which I'd be the first to admit could be true:-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

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Introduction

	Snowy peat bog in Chris' country. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery. (Photo courtesy of Chris Hallaxs' digital archives)

This forensic behavioral profile of Christopher Charles Hallaxs' wilderness gear represents a months-long compilation of information gleaned from:

• interviews with Hallaxs family members and friends;
• interviews with Christopher Hallaxs' friends and acquaintances;
• interviews with Lake Superior State Forest managers and private property owners;
• interviews with Tahquamenon Falls State Park personnel;
• a review of Christopher Hallaxs' personal effects;
• a detailed examination of print and digitally-archived photographs from Hallaxs family members;
• a detailed examination of Christopher Hallaxs' digitally-archived photographs
• a review of Michigan State Police reports
• a review of Chippewa County Sheriff's Office search-and-rescue operation's logs;
• an exhaustive search of Internet message boards, Web sites, and other digital archives;
• SAR operations in bush Christopher Hallaxs was known to frequent;
• and CSI operations at remote wilderness bivouac sites—both temporary and semi-permanent ones, some complete with equipment and provision caches—attributable to Christopher Hallaxs.

Chris was known to have used a pair of wooden, Iverson-brand, Alaskan-style, very long (probably 56 inches), neoprene-laced snowshoes when traveling in the bush. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

Snowshoes

Snowshoes already come in a range of sizes for different-sized people, and/or to accommodate how much floatation you need. If you go over deep, unpacked snow, and also sometimes have a pack, and weigh 210 pounds like me, you get the biggest snowshoes you can get even though they are slightly more difficult to walk in.

Uses for snowshoes I don't actually expect snowshoes to serve more than one purpose, but they have.... I've used my snowshoes sort of as a snow shovel too, in the course of digging a shelter, or pushing snow into a pile against the side of a brush pile for same, and such. One hand on the tail and one on the cross stick and you can really push some snow around. Being the lacing-on-wood-frame type, they let some through the webbing,but they sure beat using your hands for feet, or carrying a shovel, for that matter. Another nice dual purpose is that I think twice I've used them to lay on to keep me off the snow while I sleep. I take them off and sit on them a lot when resting, to keep my tail from getting soaked from sitting on the snow.... A concession to modernity in my snowshoes is that they have the neoprene/nylon lacing instead of rawhide. I've gone snowshoeing in pouring rain before, and not had any sticking problems. The bindings are made out of the same stuff. Ice buildup is not really a problem. Any tiny amount that might occur is easily flaked off just by flexing them a bit. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, October 7, 2003

From looking at the weights posted on websites, I don't think there's a significant difference between the weights of aluminum and wood snowshoes. It's a commonly accepted idea that the aluminum ones are lighter and better and tougher and all that, but I think it's largely like gun stocks. Synthetic stocks on guns are supposedly lighter and tougher, but while they can be lighter OR tougher, they really don't seem to be both at once. It's new, it must be better! heh.

To generalize heavily, the wood ones seem to have better floatation in deep stuff, while the aluminum models are better for harder snow, and also for climbing mountains. The wood frame ones float TOO well on steep glacial ridges here in the UP. I've sometimes found myself suddenly "skiing" down the hill on them and trying t miss the trees on the way down. This generally only happens on the ones that are like 45 degrees or steeper. Going up is a bit of a bother if the snow is too hard to stamp steps into, as well.

It all depends on what you use them for. I'm offtrail out in the swamps and stuff a lot, but if you are using a trail that has had any traffic at all, it will be stamped down and you could do with small snowshoes that are only slightly larger than your feet. Also, if the snow is not deep, smaller shoes would be fine as well, since sinking halfway through 6" deep snow is not much bother compared to sinking halfway down through 6 foot deep snow.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, October 7, 2003

Squeaky snowshoes

Something in the frame of my right snowshoe has always squeaked a bit when stepping on it. This has always annoyed me, but to be honest, it's nothing compared to the noise of stepping in the snow anyway. It's apparently harmless and doesn't affect the structural integrity, for I've certainly abused them enough at times. The wood frames naturally flex, which is largely what makes them durable. When down near zero when the snow is dry and squeaky, snowshoes seem to get snow in the webbing that will kinda squeak when putting weight on them, too.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 15, 2004

Snowshoe repair

Things I always have on me when out walking, camping or not, are a knife (often a large and a small one), a light, a saw, means to start a fire, and usually a hatchet. The most expensive thing on me is usually the large knife. Oh, and always some string/cord/rope. If you have the means to cut and (at least crudely) shape wood, and some stuff to tie parts together with, you can make anything, if you had to. I've always figured if I got stranded with a broken snowshoe a few miles out, I could use a sapling or to to splint them up to get back out. A few miles in the midwinter snow around here might as well be hundreds of miles if you don't have snowshoes.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

 

Chris was not known to have used cross-country skis.

X-skis sound fussy Gosh. Skis sound kind of fussy. I was under the assumption they were actually good for something, since they didn't have groomed trails back when they were invented in the ice age or whenever :-) —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 15, 2002

Only skied once

I admit I have only ever x-country skied once, for like an hour....Well, at least, I had tried doing that, but I was still having difficulties in keeping the skis from tangling, mostly :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 5, 2003

Breaking trail for skiers

I've been out busting trail in snowshoes on the ski trail before the groomer got out. X- country skiers have been visibly glad to see me coming, since they then don't have to be knee deep in powder after they pick up my trail. Skis are pretty useless for anything but tame groomed trails around here so far as I've noticed.

Once in a very great while, I run into annoying situations where the surface is too hard to snowshoe on, because if they don't sink in a bit, walking is tortuous in them, but yet walking without them is worse, and then I'd like skis. This happens very rarely, when I happen to encounter a trail that snowmobiles have been on, usually. Definitely not near often enough to warrant dragging skis around in the woods with me.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 15, 2002

Chris was known to have used a plastic sled to haul his camping gear around in the winter.

He owned several sleds, but his favorite sled, the one he likely used the most, was an orange , 4- to 5-foot-long, plastic one. Bungee cords were used to secure cargo atop the sled. He pulled the sled with a length of rope threaded through holes around the perimeter of the sled. To reduce jarring, he may have attached a loop or two of shock-absorbing bungee cord to the rope. To free his hands, he may have also used a loop of 2- to 3-inch-wide nylon strap looped over one shoulder to tow his sled.

 

Sledging Snowshoe bushwhacking through the woods is fun, but you do have to get experienced at learning what you can and cannot step on. Pulling a sled through this is nigh impossible though. I've done it for short distances, but have taken as much as 4 hours to go a mile or so. It's tiring, and extremely discouraging. You CAN run a sled fairly easily down any sort of trail, old road, or even offtrail on the aforementioned open bogs. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

Hauling water in sled

My winter excursions have typically been only a few days, and I have so far managed through burying my water right at the the ground overnight (under 4 or so feet of snow), and then wrapping it up in blankets for transport on my sled during the day. The outer ice shell grows slowly enough on a gallon jug or two that I get enough water.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 1, 2003

Sledging is hard work

It's hard to keep stopping to drink when you are concentrating hard on dragging a sled through the brush or something.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, November 10, 2003

Carries axe in sled

I've never used it, but I most always throw the double-bit axe (with a waterproof, fiberglass handle) in the bottom of my winter sled).
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 21, 2003

Winching sled up hills with long rope

Sled loading Somewhere in the last couple of weeks in the "sled thread" it was mentioned something to the effect of no need to use your pack with a sled. However, I've found it handy to load up my frame backpack anyway, more or less as if I was going to carry it, and then to just throw the whole thing in the sled. I have experimented a bit with trying to tarp up the whole sled to keep the snow out, but both experience and some thinking suggest that this is a nearly impossible goal anyway. That and any tarp that is so well-fitting as to accomplish this is going to severely hamper the flexibility of what I may load on the sled. So I just put most stuff in my backpack, which keeps the contents snow-free. Most of the side pockets are still accessible even when the sled is all loaded up, and a lot of the stuff I'd take in the summer in my pack is needed in the winter too, so I save on some repacking. I'll usually also have a daypack nestled in there somewhere with more stuff in it, basically just using the pack to keep snow out. Most of my usual loadout is my full frame pack, a smaller pack, an extra coat, maybe a pair of boots inside a garbage bag, snowshoes and a full sized scoop shovel for either carving out a camp quickly, and/or, if applicable, shoveling off the cabin roof, if that's where I'm going. The smaller daypack is often used for excursions from wherever I am base-camped at, so there's two reasons for that. All this is simply bungee corded down in layers, so I can, for instance, take the snowshoes off for use, and put them back on the sled again later if I find a packed trail on my way, without disturbing the rest of the gear. From trees dumping their loads, ramming it into snowbanks, tipping it over periodically, or just plain snowfall, the whole sled usually gets pretty much full of snow, but since I've put it all in packs, it doesn't matter. I've usually packed it such that rolling it over on the side will probably keep the contents all in, but if you were to do something absurd like turn it upside down and give it a rattle, a few things might fall out. The worst that seems to happen is rollovers on the sides of hills though. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 13, 2003

This [pulling a cargo sled up hills] is too much of a PITA (Pain In the Arse) to do too much, but if it is only one or two hills that give a problem, I've taken some rope, gone up the hill, stopped to lean against a tree, and pulled the sled up the hill hand-over-hand by the rope. *GRIN* or...depending on what is on your sled and how well you packed it, simply sit on it and ride down the other side of the hills. I've done that too. Makes up for having had to pull it up the other side.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 13, 2003

Sled pulled with a rope

I don't have too much problem with it [sled pulled by a rope] running over my heels, and when it has, it doesn't affect me much on my snowshoes. The tails just slide out from under it without much bother as I walk on. Usually, I see or hear behind me that this is going to happen, and step aside and just let it go ahead of me and hold it back with the tow rope. (kinda like taking my pet sled out for a walk :-) I did at one point think about using some sort of rigid towing connection, as you have rigged up (though I was probably going to make something out of a small tree) but anything long enough to work well would way too often turn out to be a huge hassle in the brush or other tough going.

Also, a lot of times, I choke up the tow rope by wrapping it around my fist a few times, such that I only have about 2 or 3 feet of rope between me and the sled if I'm trying to pull it over a downed tree or some other obstacle that requires some serious effort. Still, it is interesting about how much stuff I have 'invented' on my own, only to find out I've merely metaphorically reinvented the wheel. Some of the things I've invented for myself, I have later found 200-year old accounts from rocky mountain trappers talking about, and then I get here and find out you guys have also come to the same conclusions, aside from some personal variations, as I have.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 10, 2003

Sled rigging

In my opinion a 4-6 foot cheapass plastic toboggan is the thing. If it has holes along the sides, or if not you can drill your own, of add some if you need more, run rope up and down all along the sides, and continue it on in front to make the tow rope. This rope down the sides makes an excellent place to run bungee straps down to secure your gear. I generally tow mine with a doubled pair of bungee cords in the tow rope someplace to even out the ups and downs and bumps so that it don't get jerked on so much--so it's more an even steady pull. I'll rearrange the length or number of bungee strands often as the terrain changes, from long and very elastic for smooth going, and doubled up and stiff for lots of small moguls and drifts and such.

I also have a 2.5 or 3" wide heavy nylon webbing I run over one shoulder, down across my chest, and back along my side under the opposite arm to which the rope attaches, mostly leaving my hands free. If I get into bad brush or hills, I may have my hands full hauling the sled over/around brush or pulling it up extremely steep hills hand over hand with a 100 feet of rope. (the "fuchensled", it invariably becomes at these point :-) but for most of the trip, it just follows me with little attention.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 8, 2003

Spare sleds

I have a spare 4-foot long one. I also have a 5 or 6 foot long black one, but it's actually stashed under the edge of my parents' cabin, 20 miles as-the-crow-flies from here, so that's not much good. That black one got left out there though because it lacks decent lengthwise bottom ridges, meaning in the back country, it would want to slide sideways down hills all the time, forcing me to keep laboriously hauling it back up again.

I can't tell you how close I was to starting a campfire on the spot and cutting the damn thing up and burning it, and I would have gleefully if it didn't have all my gear on it! It's retired now. I use it as a tray to keep the wood I bring into the cabin from getting snowmelt water all over the floor.

So add one more thing to the Shadowstrider's List of Sled Requirements if you take it into rough trails: You want good ridges on the bottom that bite the snow and make sure it only goes forward and not sideways.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 8, 2003

Chris was know to have owned at least two backpacks.

One was a large, traditional-sized, frame-style backpack that he reportedly did not use very often. His favorite pack, the one he used the most, was a subdued-colored (olive), book-bag-size, nylon backpack with shoulder straps and no waist belt.

100-plus-pound rucksack load My frame backpack with a hipbelt seems to work best if I get it so that perhaps more than half of the weight feels like it is hanging on my hipbones/setting on my butt. The point is to spread the load around, and to also get some of it at a lower point of gravity for easier balance. Without the belt, it would all be on your shoulders. Especially if the pack is loaded heavy, I'm probably futzing with the straps constantly as I walk, sometimes putting more on my shoulders, sometimes putting more on my hips by loosening and tightening stuff. Through a day, the hipbelt seems to get smaller and smaller, and need to be cinched up all the time. It seems that when carrying a load, the pressure eventually actually deforms your body somewhat...or something. This might be just my imagination. Maybe it's just loosening itself all the time and all I'm doing is retightening it. It seems a small enough matter to pay attention somehow to find out, but I never get around to it for some reason. Depending on terrain, too, sometimes it seems to feel better to leave the pack sloppy a bit, and other times, like when climbing over stuff, it's definitely good to pull it down tight so it can't shift around and overbalance you. In particularly obnoxious spots, I'll sometimes temporarily cinch everything right down so it feels like a python wrapped around me. The constant adjustment sounds like a pain, but you quickly come to do it as automatically as breathing, pretty much. I've only ever had one pack, so maybe some of the things I've mentioned here are inaccurate, or even are dead clues that I have an ill-fitting pack for all I know. Sometimes as well, I've had ~100+ pound loads for short distances, and/or cumbersome items such as a rifle strapped to one side of the pack. Such use isn't at all the same situation as you'd have for actual multi-day backpacking. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 14, 2003

Book bag pack

I further was not sure if this was going to be an overnighter or not yet. I only carried a medium sized bookbag-type backpack, albeit in camo, but I figured I had enough to get by not too bad for a night out. Some cheap Kmart model.

For the price, it seems indestructible, roomy, and useful. The only other thing in my pack aside from minor things like a flashlight, some bits of rope, and other things that are always in there, was the salvaged floor panel, cut out of a 6-foot diameter hexagonal tent.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

I don't have much for a pack. Just some food, drink, gloves, etc. Minor things. It's just a daypack, really. I've opted to go light and forgo the heavy packing. I still have the means to stay warm if I have to. I won't be comfortable if I have to camp, but I'll certainly live.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, November 11, 2002

Carries axe in sleeve on frame pack

Occasionally, depending what I'm doing, I've even dropped a 3 1/2 pound, fiberglass-handled double bit axe down the stake pocket on one side of my frame backpack.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 22, 2003

At times, if I'm not packing too far, and it is permitted where I'm going, I'll drop a double-bit axe handle down the tent pole pocket of my pack.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 21, 2003

Frame pack

Somewhere in the last couple of weeks in the "sled thread" it was mentioned something to the effect of no need to use your pack with a sled. However, I've found it handy to load up my frame backpack anyway, more or less as if I was going to carry it, and then to just throw the whole thing in the sled.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 13, 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris was known to almost always carry one of his hand-made, black-finished, walking staffs when he ventured into the bush.

He carefully-crafted these unusual, 7- to 8-foot-long, 1.5- to 2-inch-diameter, walking staffs from locally-collected wooden poles.

Once debarked, shaped with a hand plane, and flame hardened, they would be polished with beeswax, creating shinny, black finish.

Sometimes he made custom staffs for tourists passing through the Paradise area. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

Staff is a lifesaver—toe-saver—when exploring Lower Tahquamenon Falls Being somewhat familiar with the rock bottom of the river here from years past, I immediately picked the best crossing point proceeded to head right over across the river to the island. I blew about 2 and a half hours here, walking around the island about half a dozen times, clambering up and down the various falls, walking out into the middle of the river to sit momentarily on rocks or huge trees hung up on the bottom. This place is practically MADE to sit around and watch the river. The sandstone/limestone ledges invite you to take a seat everywhere, or even just sit on the top of one of the 6-8 foot falls and watch the water go over the edge. Fascinating unique vegetation grows under the cascades, apparently due to the eternally misted conditions there. Special ferns and mosses, mostly, that I don't see much anywhere else. Again, the staff is a lifesaver here. Well, a toe-saver anyway, in that you can feel around on the bottom before your stumble into a hole and stub all your toes miserably. Of course it is also fantastic for bracing yourself against the current in the swifter spots, too. If you encounter a chest-high ledge you want to get on top of, you simply vault up to it. From the top of the same ledge, simply use the staff as a sort of short freestanding firepole to slide down for a controlled easy descent. Many uses. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

"Black shiny staffs"

Oh...and of course [I was carrying] one of my approximately 7 1/2 foot log black shiny staffs. :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

Shift staff from hand to hand to keep hands warm in winter

I never carry more than one thing in my hands when out, because a hand that is gripping something always gets cold [in the winter]. If I'm carrying something, such as the long stick I usually carry, it gets swapped back and forth a lot just as a result of navigating brush anyway, usually. If not, I do so anyway.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, Jan 24, 2004

Got wet foot without staff

I did get a wet foot when I stepped in an odd ass-deep hole out in a cattail/sphagnum/cedar bog. The snow on top hid it, and I stepped just perfect into a hole several feet deep that was perversely just big enough for my foot. :-)

That's one reason to carry a huge stick. At times I've somehow managed to step in such things and had roots way down there catch and want to keep my boots. I can shove the pole down there and pry my boot free.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 29, 2003

Walking staffs on the river trail

A couple times I have been going through the river trail between upper and lower Tahquamenon falls in a hurry, and have been carrying one of those 7 foot staves. Anything in my way that requires stepping up or down, be it a log, bridge, steps, washout, whatever, I would vault over.

Anything up to about four feet high, or perhaps more, can be gone right over without even stopping, nor without a jarring landing on the other side. If you start thinking of the staff as an extra limb, you can even use it to go up and down stairs faster without actually running, move un and down rockfall areas faster, and so on.

It's fun, but I've noticed that it really makes your shoulders sore in a good way. You can sort of think of that as being the pounding that your knees and ankles and hips would have taken, but muscles are more resilient than joints."
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 10, 2004

Walking staff handy when packing heavy loads

Not to intentionally harp on a topic [walking staffs], but even though I carry the #*@&ing thing 90 percent of the time, and get tired of it, a staff or some such is great for when you do have to bust some brush with a full load on. Having it in my hands usually repeatedly saves me from ending up getting overbalanced and falling over one way or another with my pack on. I can usually get one end or the other against the ground to prop me back up in the last split second if I lose my balance.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 25, 2003

Walking staff used for vaulting over obstacles

Stares from tourists It DOES get some stares from the terrorist----er, I mean tourists, but what the hell. Keeps them from annoying me! LOL Actually, I'm almost never anywhere with it where there are people anyway. The reason I use it so much is because of some of the trackless swamps and woods I am wont to crawl through are full of steep glacial ridges, water, mud pits, 4-foot diameter fallen trees, and so on. I never see anyone else out there. I'm not just off the beaten path, but off paths entirely a lot of the time. As such, I think I might be using it differently than you yours. Much of the time, it is just balanced over a shoulder, or hanging in one hand should I need it now and again to more easily handle an obstacle, so I don't need to slow down at all for it. Still, I admit it is a slight bother to carry, and I don't always take it unless I know I'm going somewhere rough enough to warrant the hassle. Then again, it's not really any more inconvenient than carrying around a rifle all day, and I've done that for some good 14 hour days before--last time being two days ago, in fact. LOL; and a few times wishing I had the staff as I teetered across a snow-covered tree to get across a stream, feeling sure I was going to end up in the river and facing a soggy walk back to the cabin. —Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 11, 2002

This is another thing a long-ish staff is good for. You can plant it on the ground between rocks when stepping from one to the next where the distance is a bit too much, and do so in a much more controlled way than jumping. I've often used it in this way for walking on tops of the fallen trees in areas of significant deadfalls rather than clambering over all of them.

The same principle applies when going alongside a river which has a lot of small ravines cutting across your path; you just plant the pole in the bottom and sort of half hop, and half "tip" over to the other side so you don't have to jump in and crawl back out again.

I used one today in a short hour or so of moving through heavy woods mixed with scattered "dry lakes", which are mostly just gooey slimy mud flats this time of year, though if it rains a lot this fall, the same area will later require a canoe again, as it would also after the spring snowmelt.

The mostly dried-up waterholes are littered with dead trees in places. Being able to essentially have a third, very long leg in the form of the pole makes going over the terrain a lot more fluid, faster and less tiring. For this kind of use, none of the commercially sold "hiking poles" would be much use, as they don't have any lateral strength.

Unless I could plant a foot or knee in the middle, and not be able to pull on the ends and break or bend it, it's not strong enough to be much use. I've also yet to see one longer than somewhat short of six feet. I used to have ones that size but found them often lacking.

I think if I were to use it a lot in rocky areas, I'd have to contrive some sort of reinforcement for the ends, else it would get a half inch shorter every day from wear, until it was nearly gone, I suppose. heh.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 24, 2003

I jump down from logs into a pile of brush with a great explosion of cracking sticks, smack saplings out of my way, whip the end of my staff through the limbs of a deadfall to make a hole to walk through, and generally tear along making a moderate racket.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 10, 2003

Walking staff used to check ice thickness

Sparring Mine largely has ended up helping me cross rivers and traverse swamps and woods so far is all. A sparring partner would be ideal, I would think. I have even given some thought as to how to construct some sort of a "nerf staff" with something like pool noodles and using something stiff for a core, but I cannot think of anything small enough to fit inside a foam pool noodle that is strong enough for serious use, save for maybe a solid fiberglass rod a half inch in diameter, but I don't know where to find such a thing. PVC, or even iron water pipe is too flimsy for the purpose I would guess. —Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 8, 2001

At the end of the bit of road, there was a small waterway halfway between running creek and just an almost-connected chain of very wet spots. This was what I had found impossible to cross in early January.

There was more snow now, and I also had brought my 7 1/2 foot pole with me. I poked it through the snow, finding several feet of good stiff snow, and then ice down underneath that was at least strong enough that I couldn't pound the stick through it. What with the snow on top, it was good. Probably has grass down there half holding the ice up, too.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

Walking-staff-turned machete

I'm most of the time more into passing quietly, but I'm afraid occasionally I have been known to be tired, and frustrated, and in some awful brush patch and found you can swing that thing [walking stick] and shear stuff right off if it is in your way.

If on a trail or road and encountering a blowdown across it, you can often smash out a hole in the brush to walk through easier than trying to crawl through or under or over. I try to behave out in the woods, but I sometimes lose my temper with the tag alders and give them a heavy pruning in my path.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 11, 2004

Walking staff knocks snow off branches

Staff fighting I have regretfully not found anyone to spar with, so my preferences speak not from practical use in that respect, but I *personally* have eventually found out that I tend to like one that is of a length such that if I hold it upright next to me, I can JUST barely get the ends of my fingers over the top end, maybe even standing slightly on my toes. I find the balance and handling somehow better than one of only 6 feet or so. I am about 6 feet tall, possibly a fraction of an inch taller. It also maybe depends on how you are using it. As far as I know, all other things being equal, a shorter staff of 5 or 6 feet will tend to best any longer ones, since it is still useful up close where a longer one is less useful. A 12 foot staff would be nice to use from a distance, but would be almost useless if your opponent got within arm's reach of you, for example. Meanwhile, arm's reach is still operating range for a short staff. —Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 21, 2002

I often carry a longish small sapling pole (around 7+ feet long and the diameter of a broomstick) to poke at such suspect things if I have to walk over them. It's also good for casually knocking the snow off the brush ahead of me while bushwhacking, which keeps me dry since *I'M* not the one knocking it off onto myself as I pass.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 18, 2003

For the most part it [a walking stick] floats in one hand or the other balanced horizontally at center of gravity, sometimes raised to ward brush out of my face or to give a light tap to some brush 2 steps ahead that is just waiting to dump all the snow in it. I shove it down quick if needed for balance, and was also idly poking it down to dirt now and again to check the snow depth.

Though, as you'd guess, when I fell over, I didn't quite have a chance to catch myself :-) I guess that's the price for staying with a flexible scheme. Since I don't care which end goes down, it's almost always ready to catch me if I tip one way or another. The big snowballs hanging up in the trees are so precarious that I found it highly amusing to give the trees casual thunks with the stick as I walked just out of reach of their loads.

Even a 12" diameter or larger tree gets enough of a jolt from this, which you'd think would be imperceptible, but all the snow comes pouring and thumping down from above at the disturbance.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 24, 2003

With all the snow suspended in the trees, the 7 1/2 foot stick is useful for bushwhacking to rattle the brush free of snow just ahead of you. Considering that when you shove it into the snow, only a shoulder-height length sticks up, it's about a perfect size. That "shakedown" use alone does marvels in keeping me from getting wet. I also found it useful for getting back up at one point. A springy stub of brush caught my snowshoe somehow just right to unbalance me, and tip me over with my feet tangled. That's the first time that has happened this year, actually. How special.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 24, 2003

Walking on floating logs

If I return with a pole or staff, I can use that to keep myself from falling in if I find a tree or something to walk across the creek, so I could check the lake out before then.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 6, 2003

 

The making of a
Hallaxs walking staff

Custom orders filled I kind of fooled around making some [smaller ones] using the same techniques I used to make much larger hiking staves. Though, the ones I made for other people are all much lighter and smaller. I did make one of the large 7 1/2-8 foot ones for a friend, in exchange for some computer parts or something. People seem to like them, and have bought a few. The only bad thing is that they end up being pricey, though not in the least out of line for what they are, according to anything remotely similar I have seen anywhere else. After I include the work, and a tiny bit of the time invested in finding notable trees to make them into, a buck or two an hour runs them way up fast. I can't really include all the time it takes to find them, as that's mostly just a product of hiking anyway, though, it's a problem in that most of the places I hike, I can't cut anything off of. ;) —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 31, 2002 [I] started with halfway suitably sized tree trunk as straight as I could find. Instead of planing off the corners [as you would with a square timber], I planed off the knots and pared down the large end to match the small end. I have made several now. 6 I think. Each seems to require a damn long day to produce. One was a failure in that it warped badly. I gave it away to someone who wanted it anyway. Another I made for someone on commission of sorts, though they were a friend and got a helluva deal. Even at $5/hour, the time involved would have to make them over a 100 bucks a apiece or so, depending on size and so on. Anyway, I personally only have kept two of them, which there is a pic of in the "photos" section here. I also have a shorter uncarved staff that is just under 6 feet. It has the same charred/heat treated black finish, but nothing was done to the wood aside from removing the bark. Per individual request on a sporadic basis, I've been locally making smaller, slightly more novelty-type walking sticks/hiking staves using the same sort of process. —Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 2, 2002 One of the ones [walking staffs] I made to sell was, for variety, nearly 8 feet long, but fairly light, being at most not quite an inch and a half in diameter at the butt end. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

I started out building walking sticks (of large enough size to really more properly be called "staves") and then found bigger ones to be more useful, until at some point I found I'd basically reinvented the quarterstaff. I really only carry it for climbing hills and to help clear trails and so on, but the martial art I now find interesting in its simplicity and yet complexity as well.

The best local wood I've seemed to have found is hard maple. It is rather heavy, but highly dent-resistant. Beech is somewhat lighter, while being a bit more flexible and stringy, but lacks the resistance to getting chunks torn out of it by jagged rocks and sharp spurs of broken branches and such on the trails.

My beech one is not fully "cured" from its green state of manufacture yet, though, so perhaps it will yet harden more. It's only going on two months old so far. I've found a way to pretty much completely prevent drying cracks, but on the down side it also slows the drying process considerably as a side effect. Another more positive side effect is the cool shiny black finish.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 3, 2001

The other day, I found an 8-foot length of almost straight hard maple sapling laying around under the snow that I had forgotten I had. It was salvaged from a brush pile or something (I forget where) and is now over a year old. It was still green when I first obtained it, but I never got around to making anything with it, and the optimal time passed as it dried out. The original intent was to make another hiking staff with it, possibly to sell, possibly to use. I usually make these out of fresh green wood, and that seems to give the best results.

This one laid under the snow LAST winter, which kept it from drying out, and then it got left out of the sun, on the ground under thick balsam trees, probably keeping it moderately humidified. Then it was under the snow again this winter, which also kept it wet. It has some drying cracks in it, but not bad. I suspect the nature of its storage has mostly stabilized it.

The wood is still hard and fully sound. I pared it down, trimmed the ends, charred it, and scruffed the loose char off of it. Sometime tomorrow, after it dries out from having been scoured with wet sand and then rinsed, I'll melt beeswax into it. It will be somewhat interesting to see if it turns out well, not being still green and juicy.

If nothing else, I'll have one to use around here. I seem to have left my favorite one at the cabin last year. For winter/snowshoeing, I carry something much much lighter (read: flimsier :-) but now with the snow going, I got thinking about actual walking again.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 28, 2003

I personally look far and wide for suitable trees, preferably, if at all possible, with dead tops(thus they are almost surely doomed anyway.) This isn't all that hard, as the best ones, as you note, grow in the understory, and are long and straight, straining to reach light. Some you find, still living, barely, but in the process of losing the struggle. This is important because I need green ones for my manufacture process, or at least I have not so far managed to adapt it to dry wood.

I've figured out how to use fire to add a distinctive, durable attractive finish, and one of the upshots of this is it somehow prevents drying cracks from appearing. After having this staff on many miles and days of woods travel, I do find I have developed an inordinate fondness for it, considering it's just a stick. This is captured well in the article, as well as other aspects.

I also identify highly with the idea of "giving the tree a second life" even though I don't really have a mystical bone in me. It's more, for me anyway, an issue of not letting the tree come to naught but more dirt...at least not for a while more. Everything is dirt after long enough, of course.

I do, on the trail, get some stares carrying a 7+ foot staff, but I don't care. I also get some flack occasionally for carrying a 3" bladed folding knife, and a pocket pliers tool with me everywhere. I refuse to apologize for carrying useful tools. Tools are the hallmark of humanity, and just because they *could* be weapons is no reason to see them this way, especially when I have no intention of them being such.
—Chris Hallaxs, commenting on The Staff, an article on walking staffs posted on PencilStubs.Com, undated

Wood for a staff

Finding a good solid tree of suitable size, and free of weak knots and other obvious problems took considerably longer. Happily, I have only to *try to remember to* keep an eye out, as I hike and snowshoe, as the season requires, quite a lot. Still I don't find many good ones. I can usually make a point of looking in the right places and get a good one in a day or two of looking though.

Also, I'm lucky in that I have access to ~3,000 acres or so all told here and there in Upper Michigan that I have in some way permission to cut something off of, should I find it. Whole trees are much stronger than, say, a chunk of 2x4 because the grain goes all they way around. Ever seen a tree with quartersawn grain? :-)

My larger staff is about 4cm or so in diameter, and strong enough that I've used it to pry trees too big for me to budge myself out of hiking paths. Well, so far it has survived such things anyway. I can elaborate in great detail on my own manufacture methods if you like, either here or in private email.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 8, 2001

Hard maple

"Now THERE is a walking stick!" Three or four people out of the probably hundreds I saw did say the ever-predictable line about line something along the lines of "now THERE is a walking stick!". Usually the people saying this had their own version of some sort, though they were thudding along with it in the conventional manner. Mine isn't actually much good for trail use, and just mostly gets carried along in one hand or balanced over a shoulder with one arm slung over the end as a counterweight. Children seem a bit more fascinated, apt to stare, and ask what it's for. Probably they just lack "politeness" though. Bless 'em. Being polite is as often as not just another form of spineless deception anyway, as far as I can tell. Along the trail to the upper falls, there are places where it saves you some clambering, though ,where the trail jumps up or down several feet at a time. I can vault up or slide down these spots without breaking stride. In some places, the trail runs alongside a hill, with a dropoff on one side, and chest high ledge on the uphill side. When I'd meet people here I'd just use the staff to bounce up off the trial to the high side, walk past them and hop back down again without stopping. At one point, there is a bridge that has three steps at each end, first up, and then back down. I reached this just after passing a father and daughter. Just as I stepped past them, I heard "daddy ,what's he doin' with the stick?". I was not exactly paying attention, but then was amused to behind my back hear the girl go "ohh...COOL!" as I went up one side of the bridge, skipping all the steps, and a step later went back down the other side with a half turn of the pole and without touching any of the steps. Hearing her comment behind me made me chuckle despite myself. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

One is smaller around, and only about 7 feet long. The larger, heavier one is 7'8" I think. I actually much prefer something about the balance of the longer one, but the extra diameter makes it rather heavy for most hiking. Hard maple isn't called "rock maple" sometimes for density reasons alone, I don't think :-) Still, sometimes I do some serious brush busting and swamp crawling, and like something "guaranteed unbreakable".

Either one has been proven stout enough to be supported at the ends, and hold my 210 pounds in the middle bouncing a bit on it. I've tried hanging on them thus to see if they break. The lighter one flexes rather a bit, but seems to take it. The larger one flexes not much at all. The larger one I can just close my fingers around comfortably such that thumb meets middle finger.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2002

Ash, beech, ironwood, elm

It has been LONG since I have seen an ash tree. Beech is vaguely of the same family, I think. Ironwood can be occasionally found where I live in isolated areas, but ironwood is gnarly, bent stuff nearly impossible to find in long straight lengths as trees. It is also quite heavy and dense. Further, it is some of the worst stuff I've ever dealt with in terms of being unstable as it dries. The shrinkage percentage is incredible on that stuff.

Beech is fairly plentiful here, also related to ironwood and ash, much lighter, very strong, but is almost as bad in terms of stability during drying.

Elm impressed me greatly for strength when I have messed with it, but again, probably because it is ALSO related to beech and ironwood, is quite bad about drying shrinkage. On the plus side, it IS quite straight fairly often.

Even better yet, it would be fairly easy to find a suitable tree on its last legs...er..roots, to use. Large stands of juvenile elms are found in southern Michigan, and in select areas of the Upper Peninsula here too. They only grow to maybe 8" diameter max before the Dutch Elm disease kills them, generally, and obviously dying ones may be found as small as 3-4".

The disease doesn't seem to be killing them off, exactly. Just keeping them from growing large. They still seem to be reproducing well, where I've seen them.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2002

Burn exterior & boil-out sap

One disadvantage is that even dried, it is rather heavy. On the other hand, it's almost indestructible so far as I have been able to find. Also, I use a green tree, preferably in spring when it is very wet, carve it down as you noted, and lastly, burn it such that the outside turns black, and the sap is actually boiled inside the wood.

Keeping the carving time to a minimum is necessary because if it dries, it will start to split. This seems to make it unbelievably tough, and just as good, almost totally prevents it from cracking when it dries for some reason. It changes the orientation of the shrinking somehow; over a couple of months afterward as they completely dry, they will lose a measurable amount of diameter as they shrink inward.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 20, 2001

Tried that [burning them in a campfire]. Would be nice to say, if only for reasons of primitiveness or craft or whatever. Heat is too uneven though. Hard to work with. Starts burning an area to ash, while only browning an area a few inches away.

Possibly I could find some way to deal with this, but a propane torch works great. I start in the middle on the green staff, and burn around in a spiral toward one end, driving the boiling sap toward and out the end grain, then start back in the middle and work out to the other end. The larger one took most of a cylinder of propane. Now I use a hose on a "barbecue grill" sized propane tank.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2002

Shaping

I didn't use a lathe :-) I did use a hand plane, though, and the overall work of turning a small tree into a fairly (but not perfectly) straight staff consumed a good 12-14 hour day or so, from the bark peeling on through to the final finishing. That was for a 7 1/2 foot one though. Even the tallest thinnest tree ends up being about three times too big in diameter at one end to allow for such a length, meaning that's a lot of wood to remove.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 8, 2001

Amen [to symmetrical staff]. I really do not want to be concerned over which end I happen to have in my hand.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2002

Round ends

Learn more about staffs Aside from actual hands on experience, definitely the book to start with is Terry Brown's "English Martial Arts". There are also a couple of old documents from the 1500's or so that are on the Internet in places, being in public domain. The best online gathering aside from this [QuarterStaff Yahoo.Com Group] was the Yahoo Group "revills1". Many of the participants are in the U.K. though, and it is a fairly serious discussion forum. It is moderated and requires you to ask the listkeeper to add you to the list. Sometimes the activity is fairly high, but it also does not seem unusual for it to go a month or two without any new posts. Last I knew, I belonged to it, but I have either been kicked off (no idea why so I doubt this), it has closed down, or it is temporarily lost for some reason, perhaps in the shuffle as the Clubs are merged with the Groups? —Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 8, 2001

Rounding the ends seems to help this [end splitting] somehow. I guess because it changes the direction of force that will tend to be applied to the end, and makes it such that it probably will not tend to be oriented so as to push the grain apart. This is hard to describe what I mean. A force diagram would be better, the kind with the arrows like in a physics class.

Oak is also kind of splintery stuff anyway, as I recall, though not much of it grows here in the upper peninsula of Michigan. I used hard maple, which is also sometimes known as rock maple.

[Rounded ends] wear down slowly, but last a good many years even so. The ends of mine end up not being smooth because of much battering, though, but the middles look nice :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 20, 2001

To shod, or not

I read somewhere about putting a ferrule on the end by carving the end down such that a pipe section will *almost* fit over it, then heating the pipe with boiling water, pounding it on, and then letting it cool and shrink on tight.

This seems like it would make something for my hands to catch on if I were to slide them to the extreme end, and carving the wood down and finding something that would then fit flush to the rest of the wood surface (such that the ferrule was "inset") strikes me as not being workable for a few reasons.

Maybe sometime I'll try it though, and be possibly pleasantly surprised at how this operation can be made to work well.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2002

Weatherproof with beeswax

After burning, I wet sand the soot off and rinse it down. Some black still remains in the wood that does not rub off with handling. Lastly, I melt wax (preferably beeswax) into the wood. This partially takes the place of the lost moisture, and helps prevent drying cracks that might still occur. Even so. a few still do, but they are but hairline ones.

The wax is also weatherproofing. As a bonus, with handling, it works its way into the wood and an older staff can eventually look like smooth black glass.
—Chris Hallaxs, QuarterStaff YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 20, 2001

Clothing worn by Chris when hiking in below-zero February weather

Sources for clothing Ditch the "Camping" gear stores and just look in the hunting gear stores for clothing. Much of what they make for bowhunters has to keep them warm under rather adverse conditions, even when the hunter can't even move to keep warm. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 16, 2004

My much-abused felt Australian-style hat, a light summer shirt, tan cargo-pocket hiking pants, and a raincoat, and plain uninsulated leather gloves.

The raincoat is not as such insulated, though it is, being waterproof, totally windproof, and closes up tight around my neck right up to my ears if I want it to.

If I am careful not to get too hot and sweaty, the rain jacket breathes enough to keep me mostly dry. If I slack off the pace for about 30 minutes before stopping, I'll dry out before I stop moving, which keeps me warm when I do stop. When I start getting hot, I can lose a lot of heat just my taking off gloves or opening the throat and chest area of the coat up.

I'm constantly taking the gloves on and off, running the coat zipper up or down as little as an inch or two to regulate heat loss to maintain a comfortable level. At a few points, I could actually have gone without even the jacket

Cotton I'm often wading through water half the day, in swamps or crossing rivers, and had noted that blue jeans end up being continuously wet for days at a time below the knees anyway. When I started thinking about winter camping, I realized I had to revise my habitual attire. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

I know this doesn't sound like much, and in fact minus the jacket and boots, it's actually identical to what I wear in the summer. However, I was uncomfortably close to being too hot most of the day, which leads to sweating, then you get cold. If I were to stop for a while, I'd need a fire, but then I'd be fine. I've tried wearing more, but then I get sweaty carrying all the crap that I can't wear without overheating myself to drenching..
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

 

 

 

 

Chris was known to wear as wide-brimmed, Australian-style, dark brown (or green) wool felt hat. Click on photos for high-resolution imagery. (Photos courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

Hat makes head hotter

Yeah, that's the downside of hats [makes the head hotter]. However; I was blessed with the genetic makeup to make me start going noticeably bald at 18 and on, so I wear hats so habitually that sometimes I'll wear one in the house all day out of just not thinking about it.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 21, 2003

Bemoans expense of similar hat in hunter orange

Mice chew on hat I have a hat which the mice apparently carefully ate the lining out of it while I slept one night a few years back. Amazingly they never actually chewed a hole in it anywhere. The lining fabric is (well, was) sort of glued onto the inside of the hat, and they scraped it all off somehow. I did not see this happen, but something definitely ate it, and it happened overnight. I'd think eating textile fibers, especially in something with as small a digestive tract as a mouse, would result in a lethally severe case of plugged bowels, but who knows? It doesn't seem to bother then to chew up and make nests out of fiberglass. Mice cannot carry or drag a hat off though. A squirrel wouldn't have to bother nibbling on it where he found it, when it would be more convenient to relocate it to a safer spot to work on. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 22, 2003

This bugs me [the requirement to wear hunter orange when hunting] because I've become most attached to my wide brim felt hat, and to get one of those in orange runs about 80 bucks at the cheapest I've found.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 15, 2003

Wally-World felt hat

The hat I wear in any pictures of me, and which seems at times to be surgically attached to my head, is some $20 Wally-World felt Australian-outback-ripoff style hat. I can't remember why I initially got it. It seems that I was thinking that the bugs wouldn't be able to get into it, because baseball caps always have that little opening in the back where they adjust, and the skeeters and blackflies think it's a dance club doorway, and go in and have a big party on top of your head. Refreshments on the house, etc.

I've worn this hat for days in the rain in the summer. It is not exactly waterproof. it gets wet, but somehow the water will not quite get THROUGH it, so it serves rather well as a rain hat keeping water from running down your eyes and that. I figure this also sorta washes the hat. *GRIN* Somehow, actually attempting to launder it seems like a form of sacrilege. It's got too much character by now to make it suffer such an indignity.

Being wool felt, it's quite warm in the winter. The only bummer is if the top is covered with snow, which my head melts into it, it becomes saturated with water. This is even not really a big problem or annoyance, but if I take it off momentarily, it will freeze, and is momentarily very uncomfortable to put back on.

It is water resistant enough that at times, I have come in from outside with a few inches of snow on it, taken off my coat, forgotten the hat, and a few minutes later tilted my head back for some reason and had a half cup of snowmelt water run off the back of the hat brim and down between my shoulders.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 23, 2003

Ear stay warm without flaps in winter

Owns only "one hat" Yesterday, I hiked around a roof [shoveling snow]. Yep. Gear required: coat (Carhart), hat (I only own "One Hat" :-), boots (big giant felt packs work-worn, with cracks), gloves, #14 aluminum scoop shovel (for trail breaking) —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, March 9, 2003

Somehow, the hat, despite not covering my ears, keeps them warm. The brim seems to direct the windflow around my head from them, or something. If I have to, if it gets well below zero, or the wind is evil, I will cover my ears, but I rarely need to, and even more rarely want to. I always carry something for the purpose, but it drives me nuts to have my hearing impeded. *shrug* I definitely recommend such a type of hat for going through brush in the winter, too. The brim also keeps snow from going down your neck and collar when going through trees, which in itself does an amazing amount to keep you warmer.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

That's one reason why I like my felt "Aussie" style hat. The brim keeps such incidents out of my collar. Somehow, though my ears are exposed, the brim redirects air in such a way that I can handle weather down to or even below zero wearing this hat, barring severe wind. I know some hikers consider anything but a full head covering to be foolishness in the woods, but I seem to do OK. If doing anything long term, I have something I CAN bundle my ears and head up with, but it drives me nuts to impede my hearing thus. I won't wrap my ears up unless I am rather worried they are going to freeze momentarily. That is, when I need to.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 24, 2003

Chris was not known to have used a face mask in cold weather

I've tried that kind of thing [a face mask] in desperation now and again, but found it worse than useless. Trying to breathe through fabric just means you have a giant wet icy patch stuck to your face within 10 minutes. Ugh!

I've found if I cover up from chin down and eyebrows up, and my ears, I can handle anything that is (maybe) sane to be out in, though. If you overdress the rest of you, you can get away with exposing a bit of skin and it'll just radiate off the extra.

I've been in extreme cold and wind though where it sure as hell felt like my EYEBALLS were freezing. They get like sticky and don't blink well or something. This is somewhere near -30 and a mildly gale-force wind. Needless to say I've never hung around in such conditions long.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 24, 2004

Chris was known to wear a dark-colored (perhaps green), button-front, long-sleeve flannel shirt. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

I have two nice heavy 65/35 polyester/cotton long sleeved work shirts that seem to be bug proof. They say "Big Mac" on the tag and I think they came from J C Penney.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 17, 2003

Chris was known to wear a dark-camouflage, microfiber, long-sleeved, pull-over wind-&-rain shell with a half zipper and non-detachable hood. Click on photos for high-resolution imagery. (Photos courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

"I have some sort of rain jacket"

Hiking without raingear This is pretty much my approach in summer. That is, anytime from May through September, approximately. I wear stuff that straddles the fence between tolerably comfortable and fast- drying. 50/50 of 60/40 polyester or nylon /cotton blends seem to fulfill this. I've been out in the spring before on a sunny 50- degree day walking alternatively in the remaining snow and then wading through snowmelt, and all but the bottom inch or two of cuff on the pants will dry in an hour or so just by walking around. I have no hope that rainwear will work because I'm often pushing through wet brush, and eventually, it all gets in somewhere or other. Also, part of the reason for wearing fast-drying stuff is for crossing rivers or flooded spots, and rain gear won't help that. There are ways to avoid water, but it takes longer, and I've also become of late curious about how the animals move around in the woods, and have ended up following them sometimes on purpose, but mostly because when two critters (me and them) try to find the easy way through the same patch of woods, they are likely to go the same path. Anyway, deer, for instance, don't worry about walking through a bit of water as far as I can tell, so I endeavor not to worry about it either. While I don't have that nice fur that enables them to handle an amazing range of conditions, and so cannot fully emulate them, I nevertheless feel they have something to impart in the way of how to deal with the weather. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 21, 2003

I have some sort of rainjacket that has an outer low-nap fleece kind of shell. Slightly fuzzy. I think it is made for bowhunters, as the whole thing is camo. There is an open mesh inside it, and a middle layer between these that looks kind of like a sheet of plastic, but it does noticeably breathe, and quite well.

I picked it up at a local sporting goods store (the one on the main drag on Ashmun in Sault Sainte Marie--Hank's?) for $70. The expense was kind of a leap of faith, as I don't often pay nearly that much for much anything.

The brand name is "Pella" if that means anything to anyone. I've never heard of them, myself. I bought it because it was light, wadded up small, and could also serve as a light jacket for warmth when hiking spring and fall.

The rainjacket function was possibly not the highest on my priorities, though I was somewhat seeking to replace a nylon/PVC jacket that I found to be useless, since while it kept rain out, I was getting as wet inside it as without it, because it was like wrapping myself in a garbage bag. In short, it's one of those things that I've ended up using for purposes I never guessed at when I got it.

I started wearing it regularly on chilly end-summer nights, and kept wearing it because I liked that it was quiet, and while I don't either hate or like camo, I have a lot of camo stuff because I DO dislike obnoxiously bright-colored gear.

Canary yellow rain jackets and electric blue tents, for example. I have passed up purchases for this reason, actually. I don't hide out in the bush only to advertise my presence!

I dunno...the bright colors just seem tacky to me. That, and if you can't remember where you put your tent, and need the fluorescent orange to find it, you probably shouldn't be in the woods anyway :-)

To quit wandering and close up the post, I kept wearing it on into the snow season out of default habit, at first, but discovered that being raingear makes it windproof. This is the same one I talked about wearing while snowshoeing last week when it never got above zero.

I DO tend to "run hot" when moving at all, so your results may vary with such a strategy. Generally, the few times I find it getting damp inside due to sweating, I need to be taking it off because it's just too warm anyway. The only thing that is hard to get around is that if I carry a backpack, it leaves a wet spot on my back where the rainjacket has nowhere to breathe the water vapor out to.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 21, 2003

May carry extra coat in the winter

Most of my usual loadout is my full frame pack, a smaller pack, an extra coat, maybe a pair of boots inside a garbage bag, snowshoes and a full sized scoop shovel for either carving out a camp quickly, and/or, if applicable, shoveling off the cabin roof, if that's where I'm going.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 13, 2003

Chris may have used a homemade nylon cape in the winter.

My problem is constantly getting snow dumped on me from the brush and trees, or out snowshoeing and having 2" of snow on my shoulders, back, and hat after an hour due to just snowfall.

I'm sometimes annoyed that it is way too hot to keep a coat or anything on, yet if I don't wear it, I'm going to get soaking wet from snowfall....or soaking wet from overheating in a light coat. Some choice.

Out of that was borne the non-waterproof nylon cape idea I had, which while not waterproof, at least sheds snow before it can melt on me, while not really contributing to warmth at all.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 21, 2003

 

Chris was known to own a Carhart-brand coat.

Yesterday, I hiked around a roof [shoveling snow]. Yep. Gear required: coat (Carhart), hat (I only own "One Hat" :-), boots (big giant felt packs work-worn, with cracks), gloves, #14 aluminum scoop shovel (for trail breaking)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, March 9, 2003

Chris was known to wear or carry leather welder's gloves as well as a pair of synthetic gloves. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery of welder's gloves. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

Leather welding gloves

Gloves protect hands from biting insects At least, I can wear that, a pair of gloves, and a headnet and walk around pretty much immune [from biting insects]. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 17, 2003

My fingers are the part of me that gets the coldest the fastest. I kind of have long thin fingers, which is maybe why. I suppose I should get some of those leather mittens, or "choppers" as they are known, but for the most part I have the overall best luck with a heavy pair of leather welding gloves. They are sorta insulated to keep a welder's hands from getting cold, but not much.

They basically have flannel inside the heavy leather. Nevertheless, leather is insulating and windproof to some extent. The long cuffs pulled up over the ends of my coat sleeves seal out the weather, and also keep snow out if I end up shoving an arm into a snowbank or treefull of snow.

These type of gloves are also durable enough to actually do something while wearing them. Most of the warmest types of gloves are rather fragile things that practically self-destruct unless you make a huge point of merely wearing them and not doing anything.

The only drawback to the welding gloves is they are not waterproof. They will get wet, and stay wet quite a while. Luckily, if it is warm enough that they are going to get wet by merely touching snow, I probably don't need them. If it is cold, I have developed the habit of dusting the dry snow off periodically.

There could maybe be something more practical for when it gets to the most extreme below zero temps, but if I don't actively need my hands, I often pull my fingers up out of the ends and curl my hands up inside the gloves.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, Jan 24, 2004

Chris was known to wear a light-colored, pair of multi-pocketed wind pants, possibly with zip-off legs. Click on photos for high-resolution imagery. (Photos courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

Hiker pants

Somehow or other, I tried a pair of those 20-dollar, cargo-pocketed 'hiker pants' they sell in Walmart and the like. 60/40 nylon or polyester and cotton, they dry fast. I've been out walking in May, alternately knee deep in snowmelt water, and at other times walking through the leftover snow, and even at 45 degrees and mostly sunny, they would dry completely in just over an hour, I found.

The nylon mix ones are quieter than the polyester ones. I like being able to occasionally sneak up on and scare the crap out of a deer :-) The fabric in these things have a tight weave, so that tends to make them wind resistant, and thus as warm as jeans. I've even found them fine to wear snowshoeing, because even if they get wet/frozen, they are baggy and the frozen fabric is not directly against your skin, and just dries out eventually, even if it's below zero. The tight weave also makes them fully bug-proof. At the height of the bug season, it's usually wet and warm, so I'm walking around in either sandals or feet. To keeps bugs from flying up the pantlegs, I simply take a length of cord and tie the ankles off. This probably looks absurd, but it works great. Also makes walking through water a lot easier, since the pantlegs don't fill full of water.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

60/40 pants

Wool pants When I checked into buying wool pants, they were on the expensive side. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

I haven't found cotton/polyester or cotton/nylon blends (usually in a 60/40 proportion) to be any problem for overnight and/or getting wet, even when I've worn them down to below zero and gotten them wet with snow. You don't have to go expensive on this, either.

The 24-22 dollar or so "hiker pants" from Kmart or Walmart or whatever work fine so far as I've noticed. They are loose fitting, so even when I've been out in -10 with a 60mph wind, and I got them wet and they froze, it wasn't a huge issue, as they don't stick directly to your skin. They just freeze dry in an hour or something. Meanwhile, the ice in the fabric makes them more windproof.

I do want to be careful to not have them wet when bundling up to sleep for the night, but as I said, walking or any other movement dries them out in about an hour in the winter.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 7, 2004

Chris was known to wear a tan or green 1-inch-wide nylon belt with plastic buckle. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

Chris was known to wear very large (around size 13) black, all-rubber, mid-calf, rubber boots with nylon cuff secured by a drawcord. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

 

Chris was also known to wear a pair of very large (around size 13) brown leather hiking boots with tall black nylon gaiters. Click on photos for high-resolution imagery. (Photos courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

Chris was also known to own a pair of well-worn felt pack boots..

Never found a pair of boots to be waterproof

Hated pair of squeaky shoes In the summer, I actually grew to hate a pair of shoes that were otherwise fine, but would squeak or groan with every step. They did this when new, but I assumed it would work out. It never did. I was glad when those wore out. The following pair were quiet from the first day. Based on this, I'm going to pay attention to this when I buy them. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 15, 2004

Perhaps I have either not ever had a good set of boots, or I expect too much, but even the best "waterproof" boot I've yet to see simply means you can MAYBE step in a puddle for a second two or three times a day and keep dry...IF you've really kept up on the maintenance of them with Sno-Seal or similar. In short, pretty useless.

This is mostly why I go without shoes, or maybe in sandals anymore as soon as at least most of the snow goes, unless I'm carrying a heavy pack and need shoes.

This is mostly great because deep mud and water just cease to be an issue altogether, and I can wander more at whim, paying almost no attention to things like thigh-deep creeks and floodings.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 27, 2003

May carry extra boots in the winter

Most of my usual loadout is my full frame pack, a smaller pack, an extra coat, maybe a pair of boots inside a garbage bag, snowshoes and a full sized scoop shovel for either carving out a camp quickly, and/or, if applicable, shoveling off the cabin roof, if that's where I'm going.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 13, 2003

Bear bites hole in toe of boot

Anyway, surveying the damage later [caused by a bear wrecking his tent in the middle of the night], the bastard bit a hole in the toes of one of my shoes, which were sitting outside, and when it bit the corner of the tent to pull, not only did it really wreck the corner of the tent, but it also bit through the foot section air pocket of my self-inflating sleeping pad.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Felt pack boots

Yesterday, I hiked around a roof [shoveling snow]. Yep. Gear required: coat (Carhart), hat (I only own "One Hat" :-), boots (big giant felt packs work-worn, with cracks), gloves, #14 aluminum scoop shovel (for trail breaking)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, March 9, 2003

Chris was known to wear acrylic socks.

Wool v acrylic

I've always rather disliked wool. If it's not slightly itchy, it does not last very long, and I've never found it particularly warm, so it loses that benefit with me. Plain old acrylic socks seem to me as good or better than wool for warm, and they last longer, and are also cheaper.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Chris was known to almost always carry or wear sandals.

Sandals for "serious blog-slogging"

I wasn't entirely sure where I was going yet, but I did know that I intended on doing some serious bog-slogging, so while I did take my sandals, just in case, I left them in my pack.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

Toes got cold riding his bike

Yeah, it did get cold last night. I wasn't really thinking much about it and took off down the road on a bike around 3:30 or 4 am, and wore sandals, and my toes were getting cold. I was wondering if by the feel it was around freezing, but I didn't see any frozen dew or anything. It must have been damn close.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, June 1, 2003

Wears sandals in bug season

At the height of the bug season, it's usually wet and warm, so I'm walking around in either sandals or feet.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Chris was not known to always to carry a sleeping bag. He reportedly owned around 3 dark-colored, synthetic-insulated, sleeping bags, which he may have cached at his remote, semi-permanent encampments.

Sleeping bag

Sleeping bag and blanket combo I've survived perhaps not 35 below but nearly -30 with a groundpad, a 14F rated sleeping bag, and an acrylic blanket in it, all in a hole in the snow. I wasn't toasty, but I was also in not even close to being in danger of freezing either. Being severely tired from snowshoeing all day made it entirely possible to sleep anyway whereas you might not otherwise be comfortable enough. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

I have been dragging a sleeping bag out into the woods just outside of town to sleep. It's state forest. Other times, I have actually set up a tent or tarp if it's raining or might rain, and slept the same place for a few nights. I bike or walk out at night, and go back home in the morning to shower and stuff.

It's just more interesting to sleep somewhere where you can listen to things going on all night; wind, animals moving, etc. I sometimes leave the setup out there somewhere for a day, then go back to use it again, but I move a lot.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, October 10, 2003

$9.99 sleeping bag and two blankets

I was fine inside there [a snowshelter] with a $9.99 Kmart special, 40-F rated sleeping bag and two light blankets inside it.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, March 20, 2003

Blankets

Nylon tent floor used as blanket Salvaged floor panel, cut out of a 6-foot diameter hexagonal tent....This could function somewhat like a blanket, or to cut down on the rain, if it rained, or simply to wrap myself in, while wearing a headnet to be able to sleep in the mosquitoes. It's not actually fully waterproof, but combined with curling up under a huge old hemlock or something, and it being warm out, it'd be OK. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

My winter excursions have typically been only a few days, and I have so far managed through burying my water right at the the ground overnight(under 4 or so feet of snow), and then wrapping it up in blankets for transport on my sled during the day. The outer ice shell grows slowly enough on a gallon jug or two that I get enough water.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 1, 2003

Sleeping bag icing in the winter

The only problem I have yet to solve is that my sleeping bag after a couple days fills with frost and gets crunchy. Getting into it on the third night or so takes some really stern nerve, but being all nylon and synthetic fill, it didn't reduce the warmth much after I managed to get into it.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

 

Chris was not not known to always carry a ground pad. He would improvise in the bush, either sleeping directly on the ground or atop a mat fashioned from natural materials at hand, such as pine boughs, grass, leaves, etc.

Bear bites hole in inflatable sleeping pad

Anyway, surveying the damage later [caused by a bear wrecking his tent in the middle of the night], the bastard bit a hole in the toes of one of my shoes, which were sitting outside, and when it bit the corner of the tent to pull, not only did it really wreck the corner of the tent, but it also bit through the foot section air pocket of my self-inflating sleeping pad.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Sleeping on snowshoes

Another nice dual purpose [for snowshoes] is that I think twice I've used them to lay on to keep me off the snow while I sleep.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, October 7, 2003

Chris was not known to always carry a tent, tarp, or other form of shelter. It he did not carry a small bivy-style tent, or rig a PVC trap (lashing it to tree, pole, or pole frame with twine or cordage), he would either sleep under a large, old tree or sleep directly under the stars. He was also thought to cache tarps at his remote, semi-permanent encampments.

Tarp rigging

Deer and a black bear destroy bivy tent Bug season is what made me get a tent finally. I picked up a cheap one-person model to try the concept out. Its SO great to get in there, zip it up, kill the bastards that got in, and go peacefully to sleep! I'm glad I didn't spend too much on the thing, as this summer has mostly destroyed it. First a deer tripped over it one night while I was out walking. I came back in the morning to see the resultant tracks, and from what I could reconstruct, the deer tripped over the tent, tangled its feet in it, and then fell on top of it, which mangled the poles and made some tears in the fabric. I mended that somewhat, and replaced two pole sections with the nearest thing I could find: an aluminum arrow shaft. It's too light, but if you don't stress it too much ,it works. If you find this part doubtful, you've never sat in the dark and listened to the deer trip over stuff in the woods before ;-) They're not as graceful as nature documentaries would have you think. A month later, a bear woke me up one morning snuffling around the tent. Apparently just plain curiosity, because I had no food on or anywhere near me. Not within a mile, in fact. I woke up when I heard something outside, but was just curious and waiting to see what it was. It apparently did not know I was inside the tent, for after moving around outside, it grabbed a corner of the tent by my foot and pulled the whole thing down on my head. Of course, this rather pissed me off, and I started cussing it out. Of all the nerve, you know? LOL This was both not very smart, and yet also probably the smartest thing to do, since I was too momentarily irritated to be really afraid, or act afraid. The bear, apparently, got one of the bigger surprises of his life when the tent was found to be occupied, and by the sounds of it (it took me a couple minutes to get out of the tangle of tent) it was making a sort of land speed record. Also by the sound, it was running over any tree smaller than 2" in diameter, though now I AM exaggerating, of course. Anyway, surveying the damage later, the bastard bit a hole in the toes of one of my shoes, which were sitting outside, and when it bit the corner of the tent to pull, not only did it really wreck the corner of the tent, but it also bit through the foot section air pocket of my self-inflating sleeping pad. Between the deer and the bear, the tent is probably a loss. I've been trying to decide if it is still fixable. For the winter, I'm back to a tarp I guess. Even if it had been a 4 season tent in the first place, in its current state, it could never handle a decent overnight snow load. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

I used to, and still do, just go the tarp route for shelter, usually. You can find a few sticks anywhere to make a frame for it, and I always have cordage in my pack. One time I even got fancy and made most of a little geodesic dome to put the tarp over.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

I was very surprised that not one of these four setups is even close to anything I've ever done with a tarp. I usually tend to find a dead, fallen tree laying above the ground, or scavenge some sticks to turn into ridgepoles. though.

With a few bits of string and some random brush, you can pretty easily set the forks of branches against one another and construct simple frames to put the tarp over such that there are no low areas to collect water. Sometimes I've used tent stakes at the corners, but more often will just pick up sticks around and poke them into the ground for the purpose.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 14, 2003

Tent or tarp

I have been dragging a sleeping bag out into the woods just outside of town to sleep. It's state forest. Other times, I have actually set up a tent or tarp if it's raining or might rain, and slept the same place for a few nights. I bike or walk out at night, and go back home in the morning to shower and stuff. It's just more interesting to sleep somewhere where you can listen to things going on all night; wind, animals moving, etc. I sometimes leave the setup out there somewhere for a day, then go back to use it again, but I move a lot.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, October 10, 2003

Tiny bivy tent with shotgun

I had set up late at night on the return trip from a long walk squirrel hunting the previous day. The game was stashed elsewhere semi-distant, and was never touched. I was sleeping next to my shotgun in a tiny bivy tent just waiting for morning to go back to main camp. Had it come to that, I wouldn't probably have had a chance to use it. Ever wake up in, and try to get out of a collapsed tent in 3 seconds or less? :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 4, 2003

Subdued-colored tent

Kudos to the author/builder for building the thing [tepee-style tent] in black and brown, though. If I ever get another Bivy shelter to replace the one I used to have, if I can't find another one in brown or dull green, I'll get one of those ones they make for bowhunters, in camo. I just find something really objectionable about being out in the woods and...Oh, look! There's my screaming yellow/neon blue/etc tent! Probably visible from low satellite orbit, even.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 24, 2003

Bivy-style tent

A lot of the things cited as being in the book make sense. Others don't. I know that I for one have slept in a tiny "coffin-sized" tent in snow, rain, fog, and temps around and below forty degrees and not had any real condensation problems with it, but maybe the design was good for keeping it down....

Said tent was basically a tiny bug screen house with a tarp over it though. The "tarp" was a "rainfly", but at some point, the distinction blurs. The actual main part of the tent itself was nearly totally mesh except for the floor. The rain fly covered about 3 times as much ground area as the mesh part, such that there were two large areas of ground on each side outside the screen, but under the fly. I loved this arrangement, as I could leave shoes and other stuff where they would stay dry, but yet not have to actually have them in the tent with me.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 20, 2003

One option I've considered is putting a much-mangled old bivy tent back into use. The rainfly for it is mostly destroyed, and the one aluminum pole for it is likewise. However, albeit repaired amateurly here and there, the main part of it is a still bug-proof little assembly of floor and an overhead bug net.

The only thing that made the tent waterproof was the fly. I could sleep in this underneath a tarp. I have tried to find some sort of really light shelter that is simply a bug net to sleep inside, but haven't found anything. I did find one, once, somewhere, but the mesh size was visibly only good enough for skeeters on up.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 16, 2003

Bivy tent in the winter

I've used a cheapie summer-only bivy tent in the winter before, or at least on into late November when you don't yet need snowshoes, but it might well snow, or has. I woke up one morning in late October with a few inches of snow on it. Another time it snowed rather more than that, and I got nervous and kept waking up at night to shake the frame a bit and make the snow fall off. I was afraid it would collapse. I was right. In later use I left it set up, went off for a day, came back, we had a few inches of snow and it mashed it flat :-D Poles all busted up and fabric ripped and the whole bit. No huge loss, as that poor thing has been through some mistreatment and was already on its last quarter of a leg in terms of accumulated damage. For actual winter, a tent is sorta unnecessary, or the wrong thing, or something. There are no bugs and it's probably not going to rain. The big advantage is just keeping the wind blocked, and tarps and/or snow can be used for that.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 5, 2004

Hammock

Grass and stick shelter The grass and sticks shelter [in the photo] was interesting, too. One of the downsides to these is that the mice assume you've built them an apartment building if you leave it around very long. They are fun to build, if sort of a pain, and they also smell nice inside, being all leaves and stuff. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, September 10, 2003

Anyone ever heard of the Hennessy Hammock? www.hennessyhammock.com/ These things look idea for moving light and fast, for when you are doing something that's a bit more than slackpacking but isn't really backpacking either.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 16, 2003

Sleeping under tree

Something else that I've noticed that seems to sometimes cause a mild rash on my lower legs is swamp guck. Because of this, I make a casual effort to wash it off at some point. This has never been severe, nor does it happen all that often, so I don't either worry much about crawling through muck all day, having it dry on me, and then sleeping under a tree overnight in the same clothes if I'm just out for an overnighter.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, September 7, 2003

 

Dehydration not all bad

I've learned that it doesn't seem to harm you to dehydrate a bit, and if you are running a bit short on salt in your diet, you'll do better to not be flushing it out so much.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 20, 2003

Over-hydration

I did this last summer. It hella SUCKS. I don't take heat well, and usually no matter how much I drink, am dealing with some degree of effects from it. Usually a headache and slight (negligible) queasiness. Because of this, I assumed I needed still MORE water, and kept getting sicker, until I finally happened to think that putting several gallons of water through your system in a few hours must have some odd effects, if you stop and think about it.

A few weeks later, I ran across some joking online discussion somewhere about drinking yourself to death with water. Someone noted that this is technically possible. In extreme cases, long distance runners, bikers, etc, have actually died from it once in a while.

I like something in water anyway. It doesn't have to be much. I'm always watering down fruit juice, soft drinks, etc until it's just faintly colored water. People think I'm very odd for this. Well, on top of the other things. :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 30, 2003

Winter hydration

The hardest thing I find is that you can be quite warm and comfortable, and drink a pint of slushy water and be shaking for the next 20 minutes if it's around zero. Having to divert energy from keeping warm to water heating and all that. This can be useful too, though, if you try to keep this in mind and sip on the water while you are working hard. Then again, it's hard to keep stopping to drink when you are concentrating hard on dragging a sled through the brush or something.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, November 10, 2003

Chris was known to use two, plastic, 2-liter, Mountain Dew pop bottles for transporting his water stores. Smaller containers were also used at times.

He would carry them by hanging them around his neck using a length of rope with a bottle tied to each end. At other times, he would suspend a bottle from a very short piece of cordage, tied to short stick that could be carried in one hand, with the cordage running between two fingers.

 

Heated water delays freezing in cold weather

Salt and juice added to water I added a pinch of salt to my 2l pop bottle of beverage, which is usually something like a cup or less of orange juice, or similar, watered down to the volume of the bottle. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 8, 2003

I packed somewhat over a liter and a half to drink, in three containers, but knowing how cold it was, I heated them up in a microwave to almost uncomfortably warm, and then stuffed two of them inside a pair of spare gloves, and packaged them inside my backpack up against my back. Two water, and the third was Mountain Dew. Yeah, yeah, "no caffeinated stuff", but if you are already walking home and massively tired, the hit of sugar is useful and rejuvenating, and also, expecting this to the last one I drank, the sugar retards freezing by a few more degrees and a half an hour. I even heated that one up too. The hot water was making a warm spot in between my shoulders for the first hour or so of the day.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

Pop bottles v Nalgene bottles

My worst tendency to [be] cheap may be that I've yet to find any reason not to carry water in PETE pop bottles. They cost a dime, if they get infested with mildew or a flavor or something, you can still turn them in, or put them in the campfire, or throw them out at home, and they are way tougher than you'd ever maybe have imagined. I've gotten used to literally throwing them around, and have yet to have actually destroyed one. Even better, they are they only kind of plastic bottle I've ever found commonly available that doesn't TASTE overwhelmingly like plastic. Granted, up until now I had not heard of these Nalgene brand bottles, but the prices seem silly when I can get functional stuff for free/a dime :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Chris was not known to carry water bladders for transporting large quantities of water. However, during the winter, he would one- and two-gallon jugs to haul water in his sled.

Gallon jugs

My winter excursions have typically been only a few days, and I have so far managed through burying my water right at the the ground overnight(under 4 or so feet of snow), and then wrapping it up in blankets for transport on my sled during the day. The outer ice shell grows slowly enough on a gallon jug or two that I get enough water.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 1, 2003

Two-gallon jugs

I have one of those ceramic filters, myself, but I've never used it in the winter, as any residual water in it would likely freeze and destroy it. The only times I've done backcountry in the winter, I have been snowshoeing over 3 or more feet of snow, and simply wrapped 2 gallon jugs of water inside a spare coat, and buried them at ground level at night in the snow. Weight was not a huge issue because I figured the snow might as well do some work for me, and I pulled a plastic toboggan behind me. Once in a while this got rough in the brush, but for the most part, if there was room enough for me to go through, the sled would follow pretty easy.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 13, 2002

Chris was not known to purify his water, although he did own a ceramic water filter. While he was known to boil water when cooking, he would most often collect water from hillside springs.

Boiling swamping water

"Out of water except for a few swallows" When I woke up again around noon, I was out of water except for a few swallows. (Now, I would either have a filter, or I also know of some places in the woods in the area where water runs out of the sides of the hills).... I stopped at an abandoned spring house to get some water within a few miles of the cabin in the early afternoon. I was dry. It was cold and good. I rested for a day, ate, drank to sloshing with water, and then headed back. It was four days for the whole thing. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, June 26, 2003

One thing I'm kind of surprised I've not seen mentioned is good 'ol boiling. This method is prohibitive in time and energy requirements, but any water used for cooking is going to be, or can easily be, boiled anyway. I've used swamp water for cooking before. The food covers most of the flavor up. *Shrug* .
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

Iodine tablets

As much as I otherwise seem to have an impervious digestive tract, chlorine or iodine in water are one of the few things that make me feel sick for some reason. I'll drink mud puddle water by preference, if I have to. Or I'll boil it. ...or find a spring.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Hillside springs

I wasn't carrying a water filter as I figured I'd be around the Falls at some point, and the park has water, and also, I know some springs in the area I could use if I had to.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

I've been finding that if you know how the terrain works, you can often find springs in hillsides. I keep meaning to make some sort of particulate filter system up for getting water from these, because usually I end up getting a minor amount of sand and dead leaf bits in my water. Even water that tastes vaguely of swamp is a LOT preferable to chemicals though. Then again, I have some sort of especial dislike of chlorine.

Springs are ground water, so if you are going to drink tapwater, you might as well drink a spring. The only qualification to this is make sure it really is a spring coming out of the ground, and not merely a trickle of water coming unfiltered beneath the ground somehow. Figuring out where the spring is getting the water from is, at least around here, not too difficult, usually. A bog up over the top of a hill, for instance.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

Owns a Katadyn Mini Ceramic water filter

Has a "cast iron stomach" As a whole, I seem to be one of those people with a "cast iron stomach" but chlorinated water makes me feel slightly sick to my stomach for some reason, as well as just plain tasting vile. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

I have a small, plastic-bodied Katadyn ceramic filter, pump-style water filter, but it's a pain in the butt to use, taking probably over five minutes to make 2 liters of water. I've only used it once or twice when water was scarce. It's nice to know I have it, just in case.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

I have a small, plastic-bodied Katadyn ceramic...pump-style water filter....

The only thing I had in mind when I got it was "beaver fever" aka giardia...

This is the one I have [includes a link to Katadyn Mini Ceramic model]. The full specs are there on it. Nope. Doesn't really do viruses, except maybe a few very large ones, or happens to catch a few circumstantially. It doesn't filter viruses in any significant way, just anything else alive.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 5 & 6, 2003

I once filter[ed] water out of a beaver pond and since my filter only removes biologicals, it tasted strongly fishy, but in my opinion, even that was far preferable to chlorine.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

Straining out floaters in the winter

Consuming water contaminated with E. Coli Sometimes, some perspective helps. I used to work for the local state park, and we had to shut a hand pump down because it started testing for E. Coli. We were trying to treat the well, which required pumping on it for an hour for some reason I don't remember. A coworker was shocked that I was drinking out of this well between turns at the hard work of the pumping. I told her "well, I've been drinking out if daily for a month before we found out, so I doubt it's going to kill me today" —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

Yes, what I meant was to make or acquire some sort of device as you mentioned, to hold a coffee filter or even a bit of cloth in order to pour the [melted snow] water through. I'll probably be a bit more worried about this problem come spring. Then again, when I melt snow for water, I usually run it through something, even if just a paper towel to get out the odd black bits and pine needles and all that, which turn up after melting down a pile of even the cleanest-looking snow. Actually, the stuff that comes out of snow is astounding. I try not to drink or eat too much of it, but figure a few times a year are probably not going to kill me.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

Kool-Aid flavoring

Somewhere, something I was reading pointed out that if your water is disgusting to you, you're probably going to get dehydrated, or at least more than you otherwise would. Toward this end, I have found a lightweight way to handle this somewhat is sugar-free Kool-Aid. The packets weigh next to nothing. I suppose if you think aspartame is going to kill you, this might not be for you. We all pick our poisons, don't we? heh.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

Chris was known to favor field rations such as rice, ramen noodles, peanut butter, bulk oatmeal, molasses, nuts, cheese, fresh meat, bagels U.S. military MREs, etc.

At times, he would cache food in 5-gallon pickle buckets, whether they be hung, on terra firma, or buried, either a convenient, midpoint location in an area of travel, or at the site of a remote, semi-permanent encampment.

Chris was also known to be a proficient hunter of wild game and gatherer of edible wild plants and nuts when in the field (see Part 2: Wilderness Skills of his forensic behavioral profile for more on his hunting and gathering habits).

According to his family, it was not uncommon for him to loose a substantial amount of weight during the course of his longer, wilderness sojourns. He often returned home "very hungry."

Chris was not known to carry a cook stove in bush.

If he did not eat his rations cold, he heated or cooked them over a very small, low-impact-style fire (see Part 2: Wilderness Skills of his forensic behavioral profile for more on his fire building and primitive cooking habits).

Chris was not known to carry cookware very often, save perhaps a small soup can.

He was known to collect an odd assemblage of pots and utensils-including a cast iron frying pan-many of which were thought to have been cached at his remote, semi-permanent encampments.

Soup can for melting snow

Aluminum pots no good in hot fire Heh. Yeah, it's too easy to lose aluminum in a hot campfire for one thing. I've melted aluminum down in a campfire for amusement before. The stuff just can't take heat...or maybe I'm just overzealous in making sure I have a hot fire? I said hot, not "big"...I usually sit 18 inches away from my fires. Having to find and cut wood by hand makes you stingy about it, and big fires eat wood. Also, a tiny fire can be easily cleaned up and leave zero trace to find--one time I forgot a knife stuck in a log and wandered back over my own campsite twice while looking, without recognizing it at first because I had left so little sign. I have no reason to think aluminum is going to kill me, but I'm not entirely comfortable using something that reactive to cook in, either. Sometimes it gives some things a very strong metal taste, and even if that's harmless, it's nasty. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Water is also a huge issue in such cold. I carry some, but in case I ended out unexpectedly longer, I had a soup can which fits perfectly around the aforementioned flashlight. With this, I could melt snow to drink. One time, it dawned on me that it's hard to melt snow if you don't have some sort of fireproof container. I've played with this, and found it's not too bad to make some sort of handle for it out of a random handy stick.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

A couple years ago, I constructed a tin can with a little wire handle on it, so that I could fill it with snow, and hold it over a fire with a stick if I had to, so I could get water if I needed it badly in an emergency. I know for a few reasons this isn't ideal, both because of possible lead in the can, and nasty stuff in snow, but it's just something I carry just in case, and don't ever expect to use. I kinda always keep my eye out in Walmart or whatever in the cooking aisle for something cheap in stainless steel that could be modified similarly.

The can just works good because my waterproof 4-AA-cell LED flashlight (with lithium batteries) fits inside it. Light is crucial too, for many different reasons, and can make the difference between being able to do something constructive about your situation, or being blind and having to sit and wait for daylight. The latter might not be feasible if you find yourself needing to get into some sort of shelter.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 16, 2004

Stainless steel sauce pan

I used to use some very small stainless steel sauce pan (with a lid) which I picked up at a Kmart or something like that. Maybe Meijers when I was downstate once.... I took the handle off the pan, and then the lid knob incinerated off the first time I used it to boil some water in a campfire. :-) Anyway, the gauge of metal was so cheap and light that the weight was minimal, and being stainless, I could stick it right in the coals in a small fire and not worry about melting it down. Aluminum won't take that.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 9, 2003

Chris was known to carry full-sized rolls of white toilet paper.

Waste disposal

Toilet paper Everyone carries that, right? —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, September 8, 2003

That's one (out of a hundred at least) reasons I carry my Ontario SP-8 It's a 12-inch long (or so) 1/4" thick heavy chopping blade with a chisel-sharpened, square end. Four whacks cuts out a hole, for waste purposes or for a tiny fire pit. You set the plug to the side. When you are done using it, you drop the plug back in and maybe step it down. Even for fire pits, I've come by weeks or months later and only because I knew PRECISELY where the spot was, noticed that the vegetation on the plug was still doing well. The actual edges of the plug are so far always impossible to determine without prodding at the ground to pick them back out by feel. Otherwise, it would be impossible to even locate at all.

This is highly specific to this area, but the organic layer in the woods is usually mere inches deep, with sand underneath. For a fire, I chop out a round wad of rootbound stuff, dig some sand out and set it aside. After the fire is out, probably with water added anyway, even though the fires are often double-handful sized and went out hours ago and are cold gray ash which you can stick your fingers in. The sand gets packed back in, the rootball goes back on top, complete with live plants. Toss a handful of dead leaves at it and run a hand over it and it's invisible. The most lasting trace is the packed spot on the ground where I slept.

Of course chopping up the root layer isn't probably good in erosion areas, but then also, one doesn't usually camp on a noticeable slope of any sort, unless you want to roll downhill in your sleep :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 10, 2003

 

Chris was not known to carry a toothbrush or toothpaste in the bush.

It's very possible he may have improvised with natural materials he found around him in the bush.

Chris was not known to carry soap in the bush.

It's very possible he may have improvised with natural materials he found around him in the bush.

"I don't endorse using soap"

I don't endorse using soap when using a river or lake to clean up a bit. It's not good for the water, and anyway, what the hell, you're CAMPING. Simply rinsing does most of the job, even if you perhaps aren't ready for a black-tie dinner party when you get out and dry off.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 9, 2003

Chris was not known to carry personal medications in the bush.

Chris was not known to carry a personal first-aid kit in the bush.

He was known to improvise with natural materials he found around him in the bush.

Bandaids

Poison ivy There is no poison ivy in the UP that I know of, or at least not much. I recall some odd, non-vining, large-leafed variety that grew on the east end of the Pictured Rocks in places-near Au Sable lighthouse, but that's the only place I've ever seen any in the UP. I seem to constantly get minor itchy spots of varying degrees that go away in a day or so. I've lost track of how many plants I have read about, which, while not as bad as poison ivy, will irritate you if you touch them. In a day of crawling through the brush, sometimes sitting on the ground, etc, who knows what all you get exposed to? There are a few plants whose sap apparently can cause your skin to become severely photosensitive. If you get them on you, not much will necessarily happen, but get in the sunlight for a few minutes and it will blister in some of the worst cases. Something else that I've noticed that seems to sometimes cause a mild rash on my lower legs is swamp guck. Because of this, I make a casual effort to wash it off at some point. This has never been severe, nor does it happen all that often, so I don't either worry much about crawling through muck all day, having it dry on me, and then sleeping under a tree overnight in the same clothes if I'm just out for an overnighter. The itching is always mild, the kind of thing that you notice when you are not thinking or doing anything else, and always goes away in one day or so. Also, I seem to be becoming used to it; despite doing more and more of this kind of thing, I'm being affected by it less. Ignorance is no doubt bliss. If I was specifically aware of whatever was growing in the water that did this, I'd probably be more worried :-) I used to sometimes get spider bites now and again from sleeping in the leaves, or maybe from just getting them on me while thrashing through the brush, but that hasn't happened in a long time now for some reason. Those itch sometimes, but are very much localized as a point source of irritation. When I worked for a surveyor down in Battle Creek for a few months after high school, I had a constant case of poison ivy for months straight. You'd get more faster than the old cases would wear off. You actually came to ignore it and wouldn't bother to itch it anymore. However, the single best cure for it I have ever used was simple: Salt and vinegar. Dissolve a bunch of salt in the vinegar, and dab it onto the rash with cotton balls and let it dry on, leaving the dried salt residue on too, if possible. This is even better if you've been scratching at it so that the blisters are popped open. Yeah, that salt and acid is going to BURN like holy hell, but being that it itches so bad, this almost feels good. This just dries right up in a couple days of repeating once or twice a day. The once or twice I've gotten into poison sumac, I found it worse than poison ivy. A couple coworkers at the surveying place once had to do some machete work through a knee deep swamp, and were cutting a lot of poison sumac off. The sap apparently got in the water; they had solid rash on their legs up to the level they had been standing in the water. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, September 7, 2003

Pretty much anything small enough that a bandaid can help is too small to worry about in the first place. In the course of Going On About Life, bandaids have a very short life span. If they live past a couple hours, it's a lot. *Shrug* It'll clot.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Bandages

I'm maybe being stupid on the issue of "bandages" but I have thought about it. I can't think of anything that doesn't fit under either "too small to worry about" or "a big enough issue that turning anything handy into a makeshift bandage is the obvious choice".

Although makeshift bandages are not ideal because they might not be the cleanest, the circumstances of the injury, and the process of getting back out of the woods are going to make that a null point, as it's going to be impossible not to get mud or water or who-even-knows-what else in it before the day is through.

Basically, it comes down to "tie it shut and put something on top to protect the clot". Or, toilet paper. Everyone carries that, right? Factory-made paper is supposed to be near sterile, because it gets cooked during manufacture. All this doesn't exactly cover everything, but then, nothing does.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Snake bit kit

The UP doesn't have poisonous snakes.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Wet wipes

Bog moss works well for this, though I'm personally, mostly not sure why it matters. If I have dirty hands, it's just pine pitch and good old woods soil. :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Pepto-Bismol (caplets)

This doesn't really solve a dire problem, does it? I mean, from the advertising, this stuff seems to solve a comfort issue, and even at that, I'm a bit personally mystified on what the stuff is used for, unless you ate too much, and that's NOT something that happens while hiking. :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Advil/ibuprofen

These do next to nothing for me, if anything. I gave up on them years ago. I seem to have a drug-resistant system. Novocaine doesn't really even do anything much for me, unfortunately.

Aspirin, while similarly absolutely useless as a pain reliever, is said to reduce swelling, which could be good....then again, you don't want the stuff in your system if you get wounded, as it makes it harder to stop the bleeding.

This really applies, because if I take the stuff, in order to try to get any effect out of it at all, I'm would at minimum chow down the max dosage. Maybe at that level, you could bleed to death from a horsefly bite. heh. So I don't carry it, either.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Aspirin

An inconsequential item in terms of weight, but just to use it as an example. Now, I gotta admit I only packed these because I didn't fully know what I was getting into, and everything I was reading said you needed a first aid kit, and often said aspirin. For me, this was absurd. I never take aspirin because I don't personally find it does a damn thing. If I don't take it at home, I'm not going to in the woods.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 17, 2003

Duct tape

Now THIS would be a good idea (small amount, not huge roll)! I've made very useful, durable, functional bandages from duct tape and paper towels at work and such before. How do you package duct tape once you remove it from the roll, though?
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Exlax

(Discovered that sometimes dehydrated food can wreck the plumbing) I can eat a pound of cheese, or a big box or bag of prunes at various times, or both at once, and not notice anything. In fact, I never even gave it a second thought, until about two years ago someone saw me eating one of these examples and was aghast. I was just as perplexed about what they were fussing about.

A good dose of hot peppers in some form can have somewhat a laxative effect though :-) I've never used them for that, but I have incidentally noticed this if I've consumed an absurd amount of them. More fun to eat than pills, too. Maybe just try spicing up your food a bit?
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Benadryl

Hmm...sometimes I sneeze from mild airborne allergies, and sometimes
bug bites itch, but that's life.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Moleskin

This might be a good idea, but I've never been clear on what this stuff is, or where you find it. I (overreacted? and) fixed the foot blister problem by ditching the damn shoes and going to sandals or nothing. Sometimes about 35 miles can make the ankle straps on the sandals blister, though. I don't do that much distance often.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Naturally-occurring remedies

Pine pitch as sliver remedy

Lightning I make some reasonable effort to not be somewhere obviously hazardous, and then just ignore it. I don't figure it's too dangerous in the woods. All the trees are taller than me. Even if the trees make it worse, where are you going to go, anyway? For other reasons, I don't ever set up camp on the exact top of a hill anyway, but usually just down from the top somewhere nearby. Aside from that, I'd just try not to be in the top of a tree, on a mountain top, standing in a big open field or in an aluminum boat on a lake. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 21, 2003

Oh, these [wood slivers] are no big deal. I seem to sometimes carry a wood sliver in my foot a day or two sometimes without knowing it. It at first doesn't go in far enough to hit live meat, I guess. Most of the time they probably wear back off, but once in a while they work in, hurt a bit, you pick them out and it goes away.

Actually, after popping the blister or whatever, walking on it immediately seems to finish the job of squeezing it out or something. It will hurt worse if you stay off it, though the first steps on it are a bit rough. Wearing shoes, even sandals, seems to close these off or deny them air or something, and they will tend to re-fester whereas on their own they would just go away.

At least, this is what I notice. If you get something like this while on an extended trip out, try to keep shoes off as much as possible around camp. It seems to let the skin dry up and harden back up. I've toyed with the idea of something like smearing pine pitch across such things to cover it up. Dunno if that would work or not. I should maybe try it sometime and see if it makes it worse or better, or just doesn't matter.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Peat moss and birch bark

Lake Superior water The only close thing I can think of in terms of minorly severe wounds healing surprisingly fast was running an 8" spike clear through my boot and foot doing seawall work one summer. Spending the rest of the day, continuing work, and standing most of the time waist deep or more in Lake Superior must have done something there, I guess. That was totally gone in only two weeks, and it took damn near that long just for the bruising to go away. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 6, 2003

Even for wounds, I once tore the back of my thumb half off on something out in the woods, and recalling something I once read, I bandaged it up with peat moss and birch bark and some string to hold it all together. I wouldn't be surprised if bone was showing when I did it, but it was bleeding too much to even be able to see it. When I noticed it, I remember looking at my arm, covered in blood to the elbow, and thinking "This *could* be a problem...." I wrapped it up, and mostly continued on for the rest of the day. By the end of the day, it had sealed back shut, and within a week, was almost completely closed. I've _never_ had anything that bad heal that fast, nor scar so little.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 6, 2003

Pine pitch, leaves, sand,
and black swamp muck

Actually, I'd *almost* swear that getting woods-dirt in wounds makes them heal. I once took a quarter-sized, about 1/8" deep chunk out of the bottom of one of my feet, and proceeded to walk around in pine pitch, leaves, sand, black swamp muck, and who only knows what else, without shoes, for the next two days. By the time I'd noticed it, I'd had it for a while already, and it was already packed full of sand and debris. I was sometimes walking through snow, so I suppose my feet were numb. At one point, something was stinging a bit, and also something annoying was stuck to the bottom of my foot, so I pulled it off, only to discover it was an alarmingly large chunk of meaty hide. Sounds like the perfect way to get gangrene, doesn't it? LOL. Yet, after it packed full of sand or whatever, I stopped leaving bloody footprints, it ceased hurting, and as little as 5 days later it was damn near totally gone. I was amazed.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 6, 2003

 

"Things I always have on me"

Things I always have on me when out walking, camping or not, are a knife (often a large and a small one), a light, a saw, means to start a fire, and usually a hatchet. The most expensive thing on me is usually the large knife.

Oh, and always some string/cord/rope. If you have the means to cut and (at least crudely) shape wood, and some stuff to tie parts together with, you can make anything, if you had to.

I've always figured if I got stranded with a broken snowshoe a few miles out, I could use a sapling or to to splint them up to get back out.

A few miles in the midwinter snow around here might as well be hundreds of miles if you don't have snowshoes.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Chris was known to carry and use thin, 1/8-inch-diameter cordage as well as inexpensive, larger-diameter yellow or blue polypropylene rope in the bush.

It is also suspected he may have cached such items at his remote, semi-primitive encampments.

String and rope

I always have some bits of string and cordage with me. The cordage could function as shoe strings or bootlaces, if need be, and has. "String and rope" are basic and infinitely useful things in general.)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

100-foot length of rope

If I get into bad brush or hills, I may have my hands full hauling the sled over/around brush or pulling it up extremely steep hills hand over hand with a 100 feet of rope.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 8, 2003

 

Chris was known to carry and use thin bailing wire in the bush.

It is also suspected he may have cached such wire at his remote, semi-primitive encampments.

Wire

I usually have a small coil, maybe 20 feet, of wire. I think my current daypack has some fine 20 gauge iron wire, and another 4 or 5 foot coil of 10 or 12 gauge copper, which is useful because of its ductility. (And of course, I always have my Gerber tool to cut and otherwise work with this stuff.)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Chris was known to carry and have developed a proficiency with a wide variety of survival tools in the bush.

He was also known to be proficient at improvising with natural items he found around him in the bush.

"I ALWAYS have the means"

Getting lost If you are just out to take time to observe the woods, a bit of route-finding, or even getting lost is not big deal. I sometimes do it on purpose, myself. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 28, 2003 I can't think of anywhere in even the UP where at most a day of walking in an arbitrary direction wouldn't get you to a paved highway at the least. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 28, 2003

I ALWAYS have the means to start a fire, plus a hatchet, large knife, folding saw, and sometimes a short machete-type thing (Ontario SP-8) I carry this stuff even if I only expect to be out an hour or so. I have yet to have needed it, but it's useful for other things too. With the means to cut and shape trees, to some extent, I could even repair snowshoes if I had some rope.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 5, 2003

Religiously carry a few things

Even for hour walks, I have taken to nearly religiously carrying a few things: typically hatchet, folding saw, at least one decent heavy knife, and so on. I may not be comfortable overnight [in the winter], but if you can start a fire, you can live through anything provided you hole up in a thick swamp out of the wind.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 13, 2002

 

Survival gear carried on tool belt

On a sort of tool belt, I had a folding saw, my 18" Ontario SP-8 machete, and a sturdy 6" knife, along with two pouches, one holding firestarting materials and another full of a few random odd things like gloves and a bug headnet.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 25, 2003

Chris was known to carry a homemade whistle—which he fashioned from a piece of copper tubing—in the bush.

Chris was known to have collected an odd assortment of candles and was thought to carry candles with him in the bush.

Chris was known to carry at least one flashlight—a small, aluminum, AAA-sized, LED-type flashlight—on a bootlace around his neck in the bush.

Small lights The Photon(tm)(R)(c) (etc) :-) keychain lights I suppose are OK, but I've looked at them in stores and have not been overly impressed with them. For one thing, they look like they might come on accidentally, and for another, anything that takes those expensive, sorta-hard-to-find coin Lithium cells annoys me. I forget...are Photons waterproof? I used to like the two-AA mini Mag lights. I have three at home somewhere, but haven't used them in a while now. Maglites are sorta heavy, and also aren't very waterproof. Rain, they can handle some of, but... I list all this not to be purposely argumentative, or disparaging about other options, but simply to maybe give some background context. It would take a lot to convince me to every go to anything else besides my CMG Infinity Tasklight for a personal, short range flashlight. Mine has a red LED for night vision purposes, but still, it is so useful that the only time it is ever not around my neck on a cord is when I'm showering. It has been there for about 3 years now, I think. I've used it for looking for things under the couch, getting keys into locks at night, reading markings on motherboards inside computer cases, and other quotidian miscellany. I've worn it in the rain for days, while swimming or at least wading up to my neck, and in the summer while working the charbroiler in a restaurant kitchen (so apparently huge amounts of corrosive sweat don't kill them :-) It runs on a single AA battery for around 40 hours, according to the manufacturer specs. I have not precisely verified this, but if it is short, it can't be so by more than a few hours. After that length of time, it continues to make enough light that you could read a book by it for apparently forever. I like to use photo lithium AA batteries in it, which are expensive, but don't go 'dead' when the temperature nears zero, as alkaline AAs do. The lithium ones also last a lot longer. They are expensive, at around 7 bucks a pair, but I don't think I've ever used over 2 per year. Since I wear the light, as I do, the lithium cells are also nice for weighing a fraction of a regular battery. The light is only slightly larger than an AA cell, and the battery itself is most of the weight. It easily puts out enough light that I've used it for setting up camp after hiking to a spot after dark, and a couple times I have used it to walk my way out of the woods on a moonless foggy night. The human eye being rather insensitive to red light, it barely makes enough light to do this, but it works. CMG makes other colors too, including white, which even though from a scientific standpoint are all the same brightness, most of the other colors "look" much brighter, according to what I know. I only have the red one, and have never really found a huge need for anything more. Not enough to order another one of another color at least. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 20, 2003

8-dollar LED

The best flashlight I've ever found cost me under 8 bucks, and that included the batteries for it. It's waterproof, small, and the LED bulb seems to get hundreds of hours out of the batteries.

True, it's not as bright as a 'real' flashlight, and doesn't look the least bit impressive in the light, but when it's dark enough to need a light, it works as well as any other light would then, and that's what matters.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

I use my LED flashlights, including the CMG Infinity that is always around my neck, pretty regularly, and battery changes on them run in large (>1/3) fractions of a year at most.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 26, 2003

Another option [if lost]-- I also have a waterproof flashlight with cold weather batteries, and at least 40 hours of light left in it, and an LED bulb that doesn't burn out, so I could have also followed my backtrail in the dark with not much inconvenience. Failing that light, I have another around my neck at all times which would also work if it had to.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

4-AA-cell LED

The can [soup can for melting snow for water] just works good because my waterproof 4-AA-cell LED flashlight (with lithium batteries) fits inside it. Light is crucial too, for many different reasons, and can make the difference between being able to do something constructive about your situation, or being blind and having to sit and wait for daylight. The latter might not be feasible if you find yourself needing to get into some sort of shelter.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 16, 2004

Red LED

I shined a light on the tree behind me to find out what it was I heard crawling around behind me. Since I used a red light, it didn't seem to notice it, and I was able to get a pretty good look at it.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 16, 2003

A Hallaxs product review: the CMG Tasklight

Model:
RED Infinity

DESCRIPTION:
tiny machined aluminum LED 'flashlight'.

OVERALL RATING:
kickass!

STRONG POINTS:
· Fabulous battery life (as advertised, seemingly) around 40 hours.
· Simple to find ubiquitous battery type (AA- no odd expensive coin cells)
· Simple, tough construction.
· Red light great for preserving night vision

WEAK POINTS:
· 'paint' comes off easily- I almost wasn't going to even mention this, because it is not in the least important in any real way.
· Red light makes red things invisible (duh. Obviously. :-) Though they DO make white, blue, and green. Green is supposed to be as good or nearly so for also preserving night vision, as well as appearing brighter, since the human eye is most sensitive to green. If you need to see colors, get the white one See the ledmuseum online for another review, as well as ones on the other colors.

MY USES:
Testament to the degree of how useful I find this nifty little thing is that it somehow a couple months back ended up more or less taking up permanent residence around my neck on a string. Even for around-the-house type stuff, It's always there and I can drag it out by the string and look under the couch for something, at the back of a computer case to read a number or jack label on a sound card, etc. One note regarding use, which applies to ANY battery operated item--cold will disable it. I do usually just drop it down the neck of my shirt by its string, so it stays warm anyway, but this wouldn't work if I had it out for extended periods. I do have a couple lithium AA batteries to use for winter hiking/snowshoeing, though. These are expensive, but last somewhat longer, as well as not suffering from performance degradation in the cold..
URLs-- Manufacturer: CMG Equipment
—Chris Hallaxs, product review posted on his FortuneCity.Com Web site, undated

 

A Hallaxs product review: the 4AA LED [Dorcy] Waterproof Light

LED light used more than pocket knife I think I might possibly use my personal LED light more than even my pocketknife. It probably runs in irregular streaks. Even if all I'm using it for is to look at doorknobs in the dark while fumbling for keys, or looking inside a computer case, it's useful. I've also ended up using it to walk all night to follow a trail back out of the woods. It's also enough to set up tents with, and the like, as long as you use a bit of sense about where you put things down. It doesn't flood the area with illumination, so a subset of "working in the dark discipline" is still required. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, October 4, 2003

SPECIFIC MODEL/TYPE:
- there seems to be, according to the manufacturer website, an aluminum version as well. Apparently, it is not waterproof, but only water resistant, I'm wildly guessing about similar to a standard Maglite--rain and even heavy splashing is fine, but don't dunk it for more than an instant or short moment. The waterproof one I have is of yellow plastic and black rubber.

OVERALL RATING:
- Fantastic (Er, I need a standardized system, don't I?)

DESCRIPTION:
- The light pattern is VERY nice. An adjustable focus might be nicer, but I'm not even sure about that. It casts a wide, perfectly even area of decent illumination, easily more than adequate for walking a path at night. In the center of this diffuse cone is a small spot of brightness which is advertised as having a range of 30 feet. I find it can cast a usable spot of illumination as far away as 100 feet or more, depending on what I'm looking at. On one hand, it might be nice to have an adjustable focus to go full wide-beam and get rid of the distracting bright spot, but then again, you get used to it, and this way the spot beam is always available without fiddling with the focus adjustment.
I noted with interest that the LED bulb is of the fairly standard "PR" form factor. It seemed to work fine when I stuck it in my 4 D-cell Maglite. At the $7.94 I paid for it, this would be a cheap way to get just the 6Volt LED bulb for use elsewhere.

Batteries for LED flashlight Lithium AA batteries. They run around 5-6 bucks a pair, I think, but last longer anyway, and do not noticeably suffer from any cold I have subjected them to, down to at least -20F. I use them in my 4-AA LED flashlight. A set lasts up to two years, even though it's my main flashlight for everyday use. For the die-hard 'gram weenies', these batteries also weigh a fraction of what standard alkaline AAs do. I think Energizer is the only one that currently makes them. Any well-stocked battery section in Kmart, a grocery store, or whatever has them, though if you can't find them there, occasionally they are in the camera battery section. Radio Shack has them, but they cost nearly twice as much there, in my experience. I only bought a pair once at Radio Shack when I was desperate to get some before going out snowshoeing, and it was the only place that had them at the time. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 27, 2003

The light color is somewhat blue, though not as much as the name "cool blue" might indicate. It is about like a mercury vapor lamp. Color representation is pretty normal. Somewhat off from daylight, but still perfectly distinguishable. Red is red, and green is green, unlike under a red or green LED light. Brightness is at first disappointing. When I first tried it, in daylight, I despaired for my wasted cash. This was premature. Unlike a conventional flashlight, this one casts almost no noticeable beam in bright daylight, but is more than visible and entirely useful when it's dark enough to actually need it.

GOOD POINTS:
- (as per listed features on packaging)
· "World's most advanced flashlight!" Well, it's nice and all, but I'm sure NASA or the Navy Seals or someone has something fancier :-)
· Waterproof Seems to be. Used it underwater for an hour or so looking at the fish in the bottom of a river one night.
· Floating Yep. Even with 4 AA batteries inside it.
· battery life of 200 hours Well... I'll never know exactly. I'd have to turn it on and watch to see when it went out to find out for sure, after all. Based on current usage so far, I'm guessing this may be a pretty close estimate. I do know I've got to have put at least 80 hours on the single set of batteries (the first) that I've had in it so far, and it's not getting noticeably dim yet.
· 72,000 hour 'bulb' life The math: 72,000 hours is somewhat over 8 years. Continuous. I'm probably going to accidentally lose or destroy this thing before that, as that translates to a long enough period of normal use that the law of averages is against me. BAD POINTS - I really don't have anything realistically bad to say about this product.

MY USES:
- Photon emission (Um, it's a flashlight, you know?)
URLs Manufacturer website: http://www.dorcy.com/
—Chris Hallaxs, product review posted on his FortuneCity.Com Web site, undated

 

Chris was known to carry a folding knife with a 3-inch long blade in the bush.

Flack for carrying knife

I also get some flack occasionally for carrying a 3" bladed folding knife, and a pocket pliers tool with me everywhere. I refuse to apologize for carrying useful tools. Tools are the hallmark of humanity, and just because they *could* be weapons is no reason to see them this way, especially when I have no intention of them being such.
—Chris Hallaxs, commenting on The Staff, an article on walking staffs posted on PencilStubs.Com, undated

Chris was known to carry a sheath knife on his belt in the bush.

He was also known to carry a large, bowie-style knife too, so it is likely he only carried one at a time.

"More often than not"

Decent knife essential I consider the absolute primary item of importance, above water or anything else in a daypack, to be a simple decent knife. Even if I don't carry a daypack, I always have a sort of toolbelt I have made up that contains a knife, saw, possibly a short machete or axe, a few things conducive to getting a fire going. I figure I have the things that I could manage, even if miserably, to quite safely get through most nights of the year even were I dressed only in shirtsleeves. It does sort of depend on being able to pick up a few extra things "laying around" in the woods though. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 17, 2003

More often than not I have my hiking staff with me, though, and usually a 6" or so knife.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 29, 2003

A Hallaxs product review: the Buck M-9 Field Knife

SPECIFIC MODEL/TYPE:
- Green handle, plain blade (there is, or was, a black version once: black handle and blade)

OVERALL RATING:
This is tough. Everything about this knife is great....except that the blade steel is crap. I suppose if, for some reason, you don't need it really sharp, or for very long, it would be good.

DESCRIPTION:
- Military Issue bayonet/field knife. Sheath combines with knife to make scissor-type wire cutter. Sharpening stone embedded into back of rigid plastic sheath. Nylon pouch on front side of sheath.

GOOD POINTS:
Great blade shape. I love it for a general purpose large utility camp/hiking knife. Mostly the point design is sharp yet not delicate, though I think this is mostly a by-product of it having been designed to be a wire cutter.
Indestructible hard plastic sheath. If you are scrambling through brush or climbing a lot over rocks or are otherwise likely to fall onto the knife, it's no way going to cut out of its sheath. This is almost identical, only slightly smaller, than the one on the Buckmaster, if you've ever seen that one.
'nother sheath point: the way it hooks on your belt, the sheath can be detached from the clip that hangs on your belt, so that the whole knife, sheath and all is instantly and easily removable. This is obviously because the sheath is needed to use it as a wire cutter, but this feature is surprisingly nice at times when you want to temporarily ditch the knife for convenience' sake. I'd like to see it in other knives too.

BAD POINTS:
BIG one here--the steel is disappointingly soft. I'm not sure if this is for durability, so that when in use as a bayonet it will not snap off so easily, or Buck cut some corners to keep the bid price down. In any case, it's definitely not up to the usual standards. I own several other Buck knives, and this one falls rather short in the edge-holding department. In all fairness, it's not extremely bad, as in not quite as bad as a 99 cent made-in-china lockback, like you find baskets full of at gas station counters, but it's not great either. Since it's designed to be a bayonet, it has a lot of odd protrusions and fittings. I (surprisingly somehow) don't find these to be a hindrance, even in brush, but some may.

MY USES:
I tend to carry this one when I want a larger knife mostly just in case I might need it, rather than for a specific purpose. Actually, since I've picked up the Ontario Machete, I rarely use this one anymore, though it somehow works the best of anything I have for peeling bark; something about the blade geometry I suppose. Given that the edgeholding ability is so poor, this is about all I do with it anymore anyway.

A LAST NOTE:
I have seen glowing reviews of this knife from people who I'd think would definitely know better. This is such an inconsistency that it leads me to wonder if there has not been, at some point, a change in the blade steel, so that there are two or more series of production using different steels in the blade.
URLs Well, the manufacturer is Buck, but I don't think they sell this anymore, from looking at their site.
—Chris Hallaxs, product review posted on his FortuneCity.Com Web site, undated

Chris owned a collection of very large bowie knives and was known to carry a bowie in a sheath on his belt in the bush.

One of his favorite big blades was almost certainly a black, square-tipped, 15-inch-long-overall (10-inch blade) Ontario-brand, Spec-Plus-8 Machete with a saw back and rubber handle. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Knife Company)

Chris most likely carried his bowie in a stiff, black, nylon-fabric, belt sheath secured with snap-equipped retention strap. He used a wide thong (a black nylon strap) around the lower thigh to control the lower end of the sheath. Click on photo for high-resolution imagery. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Hallaxs)

A Hallaxs product review: the Ontario SP-8 Machete

DESCRIPTION:
--heavy, 1/4" thick bladed, square-ended knife. Flat end is sharpened like a chisel. Sawback. Approx 10 inch-long blade.

OVERALL RATING: --Excellent, has replaced a couple other pieces of equipment.

GOOD POINTS:
· Steel seems quite decent for holding an edge.
· Overall very useful(versatile!) for general utility heavy-knife jobs.

BAD POINTS:
None, really for me. No major ones I mean. The blade is carbon steel, not stainless, but wearing it for a week outside in intermittently rainy weather didn't cause any noticeable rust, but then again I was using it fairly regularly most of the time(any rust wore off before it was noticeable maybe). Speaking of which, the black coating will come off the edge fairly fast, but is only going to come off where use is going to keep rust off it probably anyway.
...oh, minor little peeve on my part but the leather sheath creaks slightly when walking :-) I also have my latent doubts about the durability of the little plastic D-ring on the bottom end of the sheath, as it hangs on one of those flexible plastic "hinges". I admittedly have so far no reason to suspect it's going to fall off anytime soon though.

100 reasons to carry a bowie That's one (out of a hundred at least) reasons I carry my Ontario SP-8 It's a 12-inch long (or so) 1/4" thick heavy chopping blade with a chisel-sharpened, square end. Four whacks cuts out a hole, for waste purposes or for a tiny fire pit. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 10, 2003

MY USES:
hacking trails, digging campfire holes (can cut out a nice plug of root-bound soil from the top of the hole to drop back in when leaving camp), splitting kindling for firestarting, cutting firewood, hacking heads or tails off of fish, and other cleaver or axe-type butcher duties. In the winter a few times I used it to carve chunks of snow up for making shelters. Short of being, well, shorter than a standard machete, this will handle anything a machete can-and them some, since a full size machete can be easy to bend, and then most of what a hatchet can too. The sawback isn't much good for actually sawing *through* anything, but as far as I know sawback designs on survival knives and the like are more for forming notches to hold rope or make deadfall triggers, and the like. In other words, they're more file than saw. The sawback on this knife feels dull, but will surprise you by working quite well nonetheless. Part of this seems to be that the finish is plugging up the teeth somewhat, but will wear out of them with a small amount of use. I found the supplied string to tie the lower end of the sheath to your leg to be inadequate, as brush was always untying it for me, and at times, like when a stick caught the knife, pulling on it, the string would obviously cut in. I soon replaced it with a short nylon backpack strap with a buckle on the end.

URLs Ontario Knives: http://www.ontarioknife.com/ There's a picture on their site of it, but the morons there, or at their web design firm, have apparently simply scanned in the entire print catalog, so be prepared to load a huge image. :-P Luckily, they are as bad at making a website as they are good at making knives.
—Chris Hallaxs, product review posted on his FortuneCity.Com Web site, undated

Chris is known to have owned a small, finger-type, wire saw. It is not known if he carried it in the bush.

They look fragile

Something about those "ring saws" though, has had me avoiding them. I guess they look fragile. Has anyone had one of these for a while, like years of hard use? Does it get dull after cutting a couple small logs?
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 22, 2003

Chris was known to carry a small folding saw in the bush.

It is thought he may have cached much larger bow saws at his remote, semi-permanent encampments.

Fiskar collapsing saw

"Better than beaver teeth" I also have a saw and an axe, both of which work better than beaver teeth. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, November 11, 2002

I have one of those Fiskars saws, but no longer actually carry it. I saw it a couple years ago in the garden section in Walmart or maybe Kmart and just instantly KNEW it was perfect for backpacking.

...well...almost perfect. The nature of the way the blade slides out means that it tends to want to shove the blade back into the handle if you do much more than light sticks with it.

The one I now carry, with the exchangeable blade system, is this: [Gerber folding saw]

Actually, Fiskars is a subsidiary of Gerber. I noticed that the blades in the two saws in absolutely identical. The difference is just the handle.

I have successfully manage to sharpen the blade in that saw too, but it's tricky as hell. I wasn't able to get it to like new, but almost. If you look close at the teeth, you need to actually grind the ends down. They are so incredibly fine that this is extremely difficult. Replacement blades are available, but the nearest place to me that I've seen one was Lansing. Rather than drive 6 hours, I attempted to sharpen it. :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 2, 2003

Gerber folding saw

Gerber makes a nice little folding saw with exchangeable blades, and it comes in a nylon belt pouch. I usually carry one of these. It's actually marketed mostly toward bow hunters and similar, but I've found it highly useful, mostly for things like minor construction/basic carpentry work if building something our of brush. It's also extremely handy for cutting bones of large animals, though this admittedly comes up about twice a year.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 22, 2003

Saw handy for trail maintenance

I have in the past done some...er...'vigilante' trail maintenance *GRIN* by taking a saw or axe with me when walking, at times, to remove a few trees or brush that happened to very obviously fall across the plainly marked trail.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 25, 2003

Chris was not known to carry fishing gear in the bush.

Stuff to catch fish with

I also at first was kinda set on stuff to catch fish with. Line, hooks, etc. Why? Er...it seemed to be in every "survival kit" I saw. I wasn't really thinking, just dumbly following. But when forced by weight considerations to start thinking, I finally did. If I've got enough time to go find a suitable spot, obtain bait, sit down, wait, (maybe)catch fish, clean them, cook them, and eat them, I could have walked most of the way to a road by now, if not to a town. If I can't walk for some reason, I'm probably not in any shape to catch fish. If things were truly that desperate, I'd probably end up eating bugs or something.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 17, 2003

 

Chris was not known to carry insect repellent in the bush.

However, he was known to carry a headnet, select clothing that would keep biting insects at bay, and improvise insect repellent systems from things around him in the bush.

DEET

Bugs worst in living memory The bugs this year were literally the worst in anyone's living memory for some reason. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 14, 2002

...and chemical repellents, while they don't smell objectionable exactly--I don't even find that DEET itself "stinks" exactly--are just way too overpowering. They make it hard to smell anything else in the woods.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 20, 2003

Vicks and Noxema

One time as a sort of experiment, I put some Vicks around my ears and that most definitely kept the horse and deerflies away from my ears for a bit. Another time, not having any Vicks, someone had some Noxema and it smells similar, so I tried that. It worked too, but wore off a lot faster. I don't know of this would work for mosquitoes or not. I've never tried it for them.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 20, 2003

Avon's Skin So Soft

"Second worst infestation of mosquitoes I have seen" The only thing of note that was different on the way back was that the last night was very warm, and I walked for miles of the swamp section of the East Tower/Betsy River road in quite possibly the second worst infestation of mosquitoes I have seen. I got back to town thoroughly smeared black and red with dead bugs and blood. When I looked in a mirror at home, it almost looked like I'd made some half-assed effort to apply warpaint or something. Skeeter bites don't usually bother me much, but from that experience, I first discovered that getting MASSIVELY bitten up by mosquitoes eventually makes the affected areas feel sorta like they've been sunburned for a couple days, though they don't itch past about ten minutes long. My arms and most of my neck and face had this burning feeling from that walk back through the swamp that last night. Since then, I now wear long-sleeved shirts year-round, and carry a headnet in the summer. I've since only gotten that "mosquito burn" effect around my wrists where they get at me between my shirt sleeves and gloves. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, June 26, 2003

I've had SSS [Avon's Skin So Soft] dripping off my arm and watched skeeters land on me en masse. At best, I can conclusively only say that it does absolutely nothing. I tend to think the stuff attracts them.

Could SWEAR I've had the bugs get worse when I've tried SSS. I'm not by any means calling you a liar though. SSS seems to work for some and not for others.

Interestingly, a while back my grandfather also noted that Skin So Soft seemed to draw the bloodsuckers while not at all repelling them. Maybe it's a hereditary factor?
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 19, 2003

Headnets

Head nets are incredibly annoying to me, but they are sometimes slightly less bad than what you are using them against. :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 20, 2003

"Bug repellent smoke"

I built a tiny fire for the purpose of making bug repellent smoke and napped within arm's reach of it.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, June 26, 2003

Thick shirt, gloves, head net keep bugs at bay

I have two nice heavy 65/35 polyester/cotton long sleeved work shirts that seem to be bug proof. They say "Big Mac" on the tag and I think they came from J C Penney. At least, I can wear that, a pair of gloves, and a headnet and walk around pretty much immune.

Now and again just for the principle of it I'll swat my shoulderblade and wipe out 50 or so at once, but they are just along for the ride. They can 't seem to bite through the fabric.

Sometimes I can look back at my shoulder and see them so thick that they are jostling for landing room. WHACK! Gosh that's fun! A brief flurry of dead bugs drifts to the ground. VERY satisfying.

If you are doing any bushwhacking, as long as you keep moving, the bugs are constantly brushed away by the foliage, though they'll really massively gang up on your if you stop, or enter an open area.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 17, 2003

Tight-weave cargo pants

First bites of the year always the worst Dunno why but the first blackfly bites of the year are always the worst. This seems so for everyone. The only thing I can figure is that one gets used to them, and has to start over each year. The first Spring bites always are kind of like chicken pox or localized poison ivy. I've got a couple on my cheeks and forehead that resemble zits, swollen and red, only they feel hot, itch slightly, and aren't popable They only ever bother me like this at the beginning of the season. Even at that, the bites will fade in a day or three probably. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 22, 2003

The tight weave also makes them [cargo pants] fully bug-proof. At the height of the bug season, it's usually wet and warm, so I'm walking around in either sandals or feet.

To keeps bugs from flying up the pantlegs, I simply take a length of cord and tie the ankles off. This probably looks absurd, but it works great. Also makes walking through water a lot easier, since the pantlegs don't fill full of water.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Bug-proof tent

I used to, and still do, just go the tarp route for shelter, usually. You can find a few sticks anywhere to make a frame for it, and I always have cordage in my pack. One time I even got fancy and made most of a little geodesic dome to put the tarp over.

Bug season is what made me get a tent finally. I picked up a cheap one-person model to try the concept out. Its SO great to get in there, zip it up, kill the bastards that got in, and go peacefully to sleep!
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Swallowing insects

*GRIN* Actually, the thing to do in that case is swallow it. If it won't come up, maybe it'll go down. Once in a while they get rather stubbornly stuck and will do neither, but it usually works.

Last spring... incredible for mosquitoes. Last spring and summer was incredible for mosquitoes. I ran into days where I had to periodically brush off the front of my headnet to maintain visibility. I was wearing long sleeved shirts and even gloves in 85 degrees with over 80 percent humidity out of sheer necessity. I also recall not being able to hear cars coming down a road I was walking on because of the hum around my head. I've not seen anything like it before, except for isolated days or small areas at a time. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 21, 2003

You stop worrying about it after the first few. They are thinning out now, but I easily eat a dozen a day on an all-day hike. If they start getting bad enough that you start eating them pretty regularly, of course it actually starts to interfere with breathing, and then the headnet comes out.

Okay, so maybe chugging down a horsefly takes some nerve. On the plus side, they are big enough to go down, and don't really ever get stuck to the side of your throat :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 7, 2003

Electronic bug repeller

I tried one of these a year ago or something. Found it at a gas station for like 3 bucks. It even said "Sunbeam" on it as I recall, which is why this ad caught my attention. This is either a worthless product, or we have the wrong kind of mozzies here in the UP.

The sound it makes is rather obvious and annoying too, in my opinion. Of course, if it worked, I'd be willing to put up with a lot in terms of annoyance.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 20, 2003

 

Chris owned many, good-quality compasses, was proficient at land navigation, and carried a baseplate-style compass in the bush.

Topo maps, compasses, and GPS units My gripe with topos is that they don't reliably show you whether you can even walk on the ground or not in a given area, necessarily. At least, they do not do this for the peat bogs and stuff in the UP. It has occurred to me that I simply do not know how to read them, but when I find both walkable dry ground and black guck and everything in between over the same markings on the map, I kinda figure something isn't right. Perhaps I also expect too much. Unless you are terribly paranoid about some unintentional incidental trespassing here or there, just take a compass and try to get where you're going somewhere vaguely along the trail route if you lose it, I guess. This might be one of the few times the accuracy of a GPs was called for. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 2, 2003

Need for a compass?

You need at least enough fo this [decent sense of direction] that you can keep something like a heading in between checking a compass. You can't very well shuffle around in the bush with your head down and eyes glued to the little needle. Aside from being annoying, it doesn't even work, if you've ever tried it out of a perverse sense of curiosity.

In a way, the less often you need to check your compass to reaffirm you directions, the more useful it is. I think my biggest use of one is to fine-tune my sense of direction. In the back of my head, I have a vague sense of what time of day it is, and so where the sun is, or maybe I've been keeping track of the stars, or some sound in the distance, or distant scenery that can be seen once in a while to check back on.

Perhaps the compass just comes put once in a great while to recalibrate my angle to the sun or moon or stars, for example, assuming that I'm that worried about exactness.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 28, 2003

Compass causes problems

I find in certain types of situations trying to use even a compass will cause me more problems than not using one. There are also occasions where the opposite is true.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 28, 2003

Stars provide "exquisite reckoning"

Compass problems I have enough problems when I use a compass, and seem to do better without it, for the most part. This indicates that I could get REALLY lost if I tried to use a GPs :-) —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 4, 2003

There is a clear sky with lots of sparkling stars out, though the moon was blotting most of them out on the south. Walking at night after the leaves are gone is nice, because you can watch the stars and keep a rather exquisite reckoning of your sense of direction.

You can't get lost on snowshoes in the woods on a clear night in the winter. You just can't. The whole sky is a huge compass that you don't even have to pay attention to, because you can't NOT see it.

The moon set, and I walked on in the dark, now turning off the northbound road and picking up the long westward-running East Tower/Betsy River Road that is always the longest and most tedious part of this journey [westward, from his home in Paradise, to the family cabin].
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 22, 2003

Chris was known to build small campfires for cooking, warming, and keeping biting insects at bay in the bush (see Part 2: Wilderness Skills of his forensic behavioral profile for more on his fire building habits).

Carries fire-starting material in plastic Otter Box

I sometimes store firestarting materials in one of them [a plastic Otter Box].
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 15, 2003

Chris was known to carry non-safety (strike-anywhere) kitchen-style matches in a black plastic film container in the bush.

Chris was known to carry a plastic, disposable, butane lighter in the bush.

"I carry multiple overlapping ways of getting a fire"

Value of butane lighters Never underestimate the usefulness of cheap butane lighters, for instance. ...only, get the piezoelectricity sparked ones. Wet flints won't spark. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

During the few minutes' ride [hitchhiking], I was asked if I had a Bic lighter to start a fire.

I do carry one, but didn't tell them that I really don't expect it to probably work in such weather. The butane is probably too chilled to do anything. I found this kind of amusing though, because hell yeah, I carry multiple overlapping ways of getting a fire.

I need more than "A Bic lighter" to feel like I am on top of things in that department. Anyway, come to find out, I need only have been home by 7pm anyway. I would have been fine walking the whole way. I should have thought to ask about that before.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

Chris was known to carry homemade firestarters in the bush.

He fashioned them from wax-covered cardboard.

Chris was known to sometimes carry a phone card in the bush.

"I discovered that I didn't have my phone card"

I discovered that I didn't have my phone card, so the payphone option was out. Well, phone cards are not generally much use in the woods, and I tend to forget it half the time. Oh well. I sure as hell have the essential stuff though.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

Chris was known to carry a PalmPilot in the bush.

Chris was not known to carry reading material in the bush.

However, he was an avid reader who regularly visited the Paradise Public Library for reading material, whether literature on their shelves or material he'd request from libraries across the state.

Chris was not known to carry a monocular or binocular in the bush.

"I have so far stuck with disposable cameras"

"Took LOTS of pics through the day" Hope cameras work in the cold. Took LOTS of pics through the day. The snow in the trees is gorgeous, and there was full sun for the first few hours of the morning. I also took a pic of the swirling ice hole, though I doubt it's going to be impressive when not in motion. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 14, 2003

Isn't photography gear pretty fragile and expensive stuff to take out hiking? I have so far stuck with disposable cameras for reasons relating to this.

I try as much as possible to carry nothing with me out in the bush that cannot probably survive freezing, being dunked in mud, snow, water, sand, etc. Cameras don't fall in this category as far as I know. Hmm...I should amend that a bit to say that I mean things that can handle the above conditions and still probably work, even if they require thawing/drying/cleaning/disassembly after the incident. I figure with disposable cameras, if I destroy it somehow, I'm only out a couple bucks and whatever pictures were on it.

I have been tempted to go digital though, which obviously blatantly violates this principle. If I did, and this gets me around to my point, I'd probably use an Otterbox.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 15, 2003

"I was using a cheap camera"

I was using a cheap camera though, and the result looked like the moose was more like 50 feet away. Bah.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 14, 2002

Chris was known to carry small (4" x 6" x 2"), waterproof, impact-resistant, snap-closure, variously-colored plastic boxes (Otterboxes) to protect small, valuable or fragile items in the bush.

"I have carried my PalmPilot around in one"

Has anyone heard of these things [an Otterbox]? I have carried my PalmPilot around in one for a while now, and it has survived unscathed inside the protective case for a few years, even through being sat on, bashed, banged, dropped in a lake once, and other such things.

The only drawback to them in my mind is that they are kind of heavy, but having one or two in a pack wouldn't be bad. I sometimes store firestarting materials in one of them. Somewhere, I saw a first aid kit packaged in what was obviously one of them, though made in a custom color and with custom silk-screening.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 15, 2003

A Hallaxs product review: the Otterbox

SPECIFIC MODEL/TYPE:
- Several various

OVERALL RATING:
--Great!

DESCRIPTION:
- small hardshell plastic waterproof crushproof box.

GOOD POINTS:
- Waterproof as advertised. As tough as advertised.
The couple I had I tested once by weighting them down under about 4 feet of water overnight. None got inside. Supposedly waterproof to 100ft, but I haven't tried that.

BAD POINTS:
None really that I've come across. Well, OK, they are sort of heavy for their size when considering taking them backpacking(where ever single last ounce is begrudged), but only to the extent that you don't want to put everything in your pack into Otterboxes. This is not really a design flaw as much as an inherent property of the product. I certainly would not have them lighten them up, and thus weaken them.

MY USES:
I was using one as a carrying case for a Palm III, including for hiking and camping with no damage to the Palm at all after having me fall on it (inside the backpack), once being dragged through a river, and snowshoeing. I've also used an otterbox very successfully for keeping firestarting materials safely dry. They now have some for cell phones and cameras. These are a practical way to be able to safely take stuff along that would never otherwise have a chance of surviving in bad conditions.

URLs http://www.otterbox.com
—Chris Hallaxs, product review posted on his FortuneCity.Com Web site, undated

"Does anyone out there still think allowing almost anyone to carry concealed weapons on the street for any reason at all is still a good idea?"

Absolutely.

One can desire to defend themselves from wrongful assault without being an idiot swaggering blowhard. Unrelated points, IMHO.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, June 4, 2003

Lashed rifle to rucksack

Sometimes as well, I've had ~100+ pound loads for short distances, and/or cumbersome items such as a rifle strapped to one side of the pack. Such use isn't at all the same situation as you'd have for actual multi-day backpacking.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, April 14, 2003

Stock-shortened shotguns

Shotgun shells as litter this is one of my bigger personal issues with any autoloading gun: it spits out shells that are sometimes hard to find. Then again, even with a pump action, a quick follow-up shot sometimes makes the first ejected shell hard to find. I have once or twice been unable to find all my expended shells, having lost one somewhere in the leaves. For the most part, I come out with as many shotgun shells as I left home with, though some may be empty on return, whereas they left full of powder. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 19, 2003

I've seen shotguns like this. Basically, it's just a plain old shotgun, with the exception of a grip instead of a stock on the back end. This makes it about 2/3 the length of a typical hunting shotgun, especially if it has a shorter barrel.

They are kinda intended for home defense, I think, and as such sorta fall on the cheap/utilitarian end of things, so the stock parts that are left are black plastic instead of wood. No matter how it looks, this is a superficial cosmetic difference.

I've actually thought about how such a one might be very nice for hunting, even just for birds and squirrels. I'm assuming that type of grip wouldn't uncomfortable to shoot, which it might be. I don't know.

Removing just a few inches can make something much more convenient to carry through the brush while hunting though. This is a lot of what motivates the guys that have the .44Mag pistols with the 10 or 12" barrels and the scope on top as long as the handgun is.

They look absurd, but if you really want to go out and crawl right through the brush and swamp in the deer's own living room, even a rather short rifle is an insane pain in the ass to try to get through all the tag alders and whatnot. It also makes noise trying to bring it along with you, as it catches on every single twig you pass.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, September 27, 2003

Squirrel hunting with a shotgun

Offers to hold back snowmos for X-skiers I'll get out a shotgun and try to hold back the savage waves of snowmobilers long enough at the hiking trail crossings so you can ski across without becoming a Polaris hood ornament, but you'll still have to just chance a dash at your own risk even at that--some of them demonstrably lack sufficient sense to balk in the face of the business end of a 12 gauge, I'd guess. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 29, 2003

I had set up late at night on the return trip from a long walk squirrel hunting the previous day. The game was stashed elsewhere semi-distant, and was never touched [by the black bear that collapsed his tent while he was in it]. I was sleeping next to my shotgun in a tiny bivy tent just waiting for morning to go back to main camp. Had it come to that, I wouldn't probably have had a chance to use it. Ever wake up in, and try to get out of a collapsed tent in 3 seconds or less? :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 4, 2003

 

 

Stainless-steel 22-caliber barrel

22-caliber shells are litter I'm still somewhat mixed on my .22. . 22-autoloaders are by far the cheapest to get. I'd have much preferred a repeating bolt action, but it would have run me at LEAST another hundred bucks. The semi-auto action is somewhat annoying in sometimes wanting to freeze shut in freezing rain, or heavy snow, but manually wiggling it before use to bust the ice out usually works. Mostly, and back on topic, every pull of the trigger sends that teensy brass case out somewhere to my right within a 10 foot or so semicircle. Trying to find them to avoid having left them in the woods is practically impossible. Then again, in typical use, one or two get left every few miles or so at most. The fact that they are so impossible to find also means that they are rather low impact. Within a year, they also turn dark brown with tarnish and blend in perfectly, as I've noted when having dropped a well-weathered one and futilely tried to find it again amid the dead leaves and pine needles. Oh well. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 19, 2003

Some people put down stainless-barreled guns as ugly, but I like my stainless .22. I can carry it through scraping brush(which would quickly remove protective bluing, silicone, and oil from a blued gun) and rain for 14 hours, and it shrugs it off.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, December 18, 2002

Hunting birds and squirrels

I'm pretty beat when I hit the cabin. I have a tent there, and had intended on taking it out and setting up somewhere else. Hmm...I've been awake well over 24 hours now, walking most of it, and nothing sounds as nice as a sleep right NOW.

So I do. I don't wake up until like 4am, and there's not much to do in the dark in the woods, so I go back to sleep, and don't wake up again until 10 am. It's 29 degrees in the cabin. That's interesting, and if not precisely comfortable, it's certainly tolerable.

Also I remind myself that it wouldn't hurt to sort of push the comfort level a bit toward the lower end of the thermometer. It'll make winter easier in the long run. The temperature is actually a minor issue when I first stand up.

The bigger concern is: DAMN are my feet stiff! at least for the first minute or two. Oh well. Best thing to work that out is go for a walk and see if I can't scare up a grouse. I hobble around (ever try to limp with both feet at the same time? :-), eat something, and eventually decide to take the .22 rifle instead of the shotgun.

The shotgun is the conventional bird gun, but something about spraying a small shower of lead bugs me. Inelegant. Loud. Rounds are expensive compared to .22 shells. Maybe I can shoot birds in the head with that. What the hell, a grouse's head is not quite the size of a nickel, and that's almost as big as a squirrel's head, which is maybe like a quarter, which I can hit reliably while freestanding at 50 yards.

As far as I know, this is starting to push a bit at the inherent accuracy of most .22 rifles and ammo. Maybe out west in Montana or something you need to make 300 yard shots, but everything here is swamp and thick pines and brush.

I have the .22 sighted for 50 yards, but I don't think I've shot anything any farther away than 30 yards. 90 feet. Not far, really. Most shots are more like 50 feet away. The simple fact of the matter is that if it is farther away than that, you probably can't see it to shoot it, because it's behind brush. While this sounds close, keep in mind I'm going for clean headshots on rat-sized squirrels.

I have half a dozen different kinds of ammo for it. 150 rounds of really good (but expensive) stuff. I opt for a box of the stuff I have the most of. The standard .22 bullet is 40 grains. These are 36 grains(2.33grams). Lighter. Faster. Shoot flatter. Less impact energy, due to being lighter, but as I'm just shooting birds and overgrown rats with them, it's still overkill.

Later in they day, I have two more squirrels in my backpack, but that's not a lot to eat. I'm admittedly not being serious enough about the whole thing though. Mostly, I like to just walk around, and sometimes get too wrapped up in watching the wind move the trees or something to remember to keep my senses tuned for game.

On top of that, sometimes I see an animal and it just seems more interesting to watch it than to make dinner out of it :-) Weather is calm, but there is a low shifty wind, and it's cold, and it's not good for hunting stuff. The shifty wind makes things nervous. I don't see much.

Oh, I know where the birds at least are hiding, but I can't hope to go in the thick areas after them without scaring them out far ahead of me. Nevertheless, I do see one bird and get a perfect medium range headshot off on it. First bird via the rifle. I like it! Zero spoiled meat, instant clean kill.

I may never bother with a shotgun again. So far today, not altogether bad. Two nasty squirrels and one tasty birdie to eat. Then again, it's good I'm not doing this for a living, as I probably burned off more energy walking around after these things than I would get back from eating them.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, November 11, 2002

Squirrels "don't taste very good at all"

"Throw the .22 across my back" For small game, I'll sometimes just be going walking, and figure I'll throw the .22 across my back while I'm at it. At other times, I initially went with the goal of getting a grouse or a few squirrels, but for some reason lost interest and just ended up walking around instead. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 15, 2003

I like hunting red squirrels, so in the last few years I've paid a lot of attention to them. I even eat them, though they don't taste very good at all, but smoke anything over a campfire and it's semi-tolerable. If I'm not otherwise too encumbered, I'll throw a .22 across my shoulders in case I see any while out in any season.

They don't hibernate, though. They seem to just hole up and conserve energy in the winter is all, but if you get a warm sunny day, and also if the snow becomes hard enough for them to run easily on, you'll see them out and active any time of year.

You'd starve to death trying to live in them in the winter. The seem to make a small hole somewhere in the snow, and live down in a stump under the snow somewhere. If the weather is bad, they won't come out for days at a time, presumably curled up saving energy and nibbling on food stashes.

Otherwise, they seem to come to the snow surface about once a day, and then only to run 20-50 feet across the snow to another hole, where they spend a few minutes, and then return back across the same path to return to the first hole.

What this amounts to in terms of hunting them in the winter, is that once per day you'd have a chance to shoot them on the run as they dash 30 feet from one hole to the other, and then back a few minutes later, and then you'd have to wait until the next day again :-)

Judging by tracks and debris and other clues, I think these once-per-day dashes are between their living space and a food store.

I have seen ONE gray squirrel up here, and it was even during the legal season for them, but since it's the only one I've ever seen in the woods up here, I didn't bother it. I'd have even had second thoughts about it if I was seriously starving, probably. Red squirrels have no closed season, BTW.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, January 16, 2003

Chris was known to utilize a mountain bike as a means of transport along roads and wilderness trails as well as hauling gear and provisions.

His mountain bike was thought to be an aluminum-framed, low-end one with full suspension, front and rear.

It is thought he equipped his bike with one or more luggage racks to facilitate restocking his hidden caches at remote, semi-primitive encampments.

Low-end full-suspension mountain bike

Biking the North Country Trail A couple times on most of the section between the Tahquamenon rivermouth and lower falls. If it's going to tear the ground up, I'm probably going to walk the bike through....even if only out of laziness, since soft mud or sand is a bitch to pedal through:-) Part of the far southern bit of this section, the trail uses a large ancient beaver dam to cross a wet area, and of course I carried it over that rather than be pointlessly destructive. Um....or maybe I was just trying to stay out of the lake. I've also been on some of it between the upper falls and Luce county rd 500 too, but mostly just the local park trails that comprise parts of it. Not any actual efforts to do the trail, per se, if that's what you mean. I was just using parts of the trail to get from one place to another. I considered taking the NCT from the upper falls to 500 on the bike, but it'd be pretty pointless, as I'd be carrying it half the time over trees or through swamps, or walking it through sections too full of trees or hills with sharp enough crests to hang the frame up between the wheels. I did take it on the snowmobile trail from the upper falls to 500 once. I had a sort of modified split load of mostly food for a couple days, with some of it on the seatpost luggage rack, and the rest in a bookbag type pack on me. I think I walked it about 3/4 of the way through, at times holding the bike over my head or dragging it along behind as I schlurked through waist deep black swamp soup. LOL I may have used bad words at some of the worse points. That was almost a mistake. The only saving grace that made that 4-5 or whatever miles of torment worth it was that I had ridden the bike the 15 miles or so on the highway from Paradise; at 2am when the road was deserted. Also, I then was able to use it for most of the remaining 10 or so miles from 500 into my parents' cabin through various two-tracks. All in all, not too bad. I'd be hard pressed to walk the same route in a good long day. I made it using my feet and the bike, variously, according to terrain, in about 6 hours by the time I discounted what time I spent dawdling around looking at the upper falls before the sun came up. Yeah, I was even at times pathetic enough to push the bike up hills and coast- ride it down the other side, but I got to the cabin by 10:30 am or so, had a couple hours of nap, and then proceeded to go and do some actual hiking. On foot only, I'd not have had that time, nor the energy. —Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 17, 2003

The whole thing I like about a bike is that it is useful for covering more ground. I have a low-end full suspension mountain bike that I like mostly because I can ride over small logs or other similar obstacles with it.

I do a lot of my riding in low gears at a pretty slow pace. If it gets too slow going, screw it. I'll get off and walk it through the sand or mud or even up hills. What with this, I'm certainly no biking purist. A Real Biker would consider walking around a sand pit cheating.

Me, I just want to save my energy for the next 12 hours of walking and/or biking to maximize distance or scenery viewed.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 15, 2003

Carrying gear and carrying the bike

I had a sort of modified split load of mostly food for a couple days, with some of it on the seatpost luggage rack, and the rest in a bookbag type pack on me. I think I walked it about 3/4 of the way through, at times holding the bike over my head or dragging it along behind as I schlurked through waist deep black swamp soup.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, February 17, 2003

Bicycle

I have been dragging a sleeping bag out into the woods just outside of town to sleep. It's state forest. Other times, I have actually set up a tent or tarp if it's raining or might rain, and slept the same place for a few nights.

I bike or walk out at night, and go back home in the morning to shower and stuff. It's just more interesting to sleep somewhere where you can listen to things going on all night; wind, animals moving, etc. I sometimes leave the setup out there somewhere for a day, then go back to use it again, but I move a lot.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, October 10, 2003

Bicycling

If a trail is paved, I have to admit I'd be likely to be on it with a bike anyway, not to mention anything paved is so tame as to make any form of trekking pole superfluously silly. Also, pavement punishes the bones too much, but it's good for bikes.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, August 9, 2003

Has a mountain bike with a crawler gear

Depending on where I'm going, they [biting insects] usually can't keep up with the mountain bike even at a casual pace in granny gear, either, I've found. This doesn't always work well. A couple days ago I took it down an abandoned logging road thick with waist-high ferns and later had to spend about a half an hour with a wire hook pulling all the wound-in ferns out of the chain and rear derailleur and all that, as it wouldn't even work anymore.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 17, 2003

Tripping with a mountain bike

I took the weekend and did a mountain biking trip. Basically like a hike, only traveling a rather lighter, and covering a lot more distance. Heck, I even did some bushwhacking with it :-)
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, July 8, 2003

Riding style

I went out about 45 minutes before full dark for a short walk before it got dark.

Actually, I cheated. I grabbed the mountain bike and rode it down the x-country ski trail, then cut over where it crosses a short big of nameless two-track, took that to and across the paved highway, then picked up the snowmobile trail on the other side of the road.

Well, really, I cheated on that too. I'm not only too lazy to walk, but also too lazy to even ride a bike properly. I have always assumed that Real Mountain bikers will gamely pedal their way up any hill and through any mud or sand. Me? I figure if I have to gear down the to the point that it's almost as slow as walking, screw it. I walk. It's easier. Then I can coast down the other side of the hills, probably pedaling... ...just so I can coast even farther! Besides, conserve energy and you can cover way more distance in a day. Best of both worlds--feet won't roll down hills, and wheels don't go through certain places.

Sidenote: However, I seem to be using the bike kind of hard, and need to either learn the art of wheel truing myself, or pay a minor fortune to have it done.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 14, 2003

Mangled aluminum rim

Maybe someone here can tell me if they know the trick to straightening out really mangled aluminum mountain bike rims. I have taken the worst of the wobbles out, but when I put my feet on the sides, and pull the deflection out, it simply moves to where I placed my feet. I need some way to hold 3/4 or so of the wheel flat at a time. Spoke tension tweaking cam accomplish the finer points of this, but I DO need to somewhat bend the rims back to straight, as well. Eventually I'm going to figure out through brute force applied trial and error.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, September 2, 2003

I seem to be using the bike kind of hard, and need to either learn the art of wheel truing myself, or pay a minor fortune to have it done.
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, May 14, 2003

Shall I go sit my aluminum-frame bike outside for an hour....
—Chris Hallaxs, GreatLakesHikes YahooGroups.Com Message Board, Feb 17, 2003

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