Since no significant progress has been made on any projects I have decieded to write a little on the place I am going to live primitively for 14 days this summer.
Where and why
Hitra is a large island just off the coast of Sør-Trøndelag county in Norway. It has the highest concentration of red deer in Northern Europe and a substantial roe deer population too. There are many lakes with trout and arctic char and the coast is renouned for it's excellent fishing. My motivation for choosing this area is that it combines the type of landscape I am familiar to (pineforest and moors) with a very marine environment, which will definately offer learning experiences to me. Opposed to much of the coast with similar characteristics further south, it still has quite long stretches without habitation. Further north there is more of this type of country, and it's even less populated, but it's expensive to reach.
What can I do there?
The reason why I choose a marine enviroment for this expedition is because I clearly see the need to be able to exploit this rich environment. I look forward to forage in the shoreline, catching crabs and fish. I will also, given the amount of time I have on my hands, experiment further with fishing the lakes by hook and line.
The things I want to do:
Fishing in the sea.
Foraging in the shoreline, including seaweeds.
Making a tidal trap.
Fish for lake fish.
Put my gear and skills properly to the test.
The red and roe deer are unfortunately off-limits, but I also look forward to scouting for them.
The practical considerations on this trip is that I need to stay at least reasonably warm and preferably have a full stommach at least some of the time. To stay warm I need to make me some clothes. I am thinking of making a juniper bark blanket to sleep in, a grass cloak and birch bark hat to shed the rain away from my body. Also, I need to hone my fire by friction skills, as that will be my only means of firelighting.
Foodwise I hope to stay reasonably well fed as the shoreline should provide me with quite a lot of shellfish and seaweed. But hopefully I will also land fish and find some big, starchy plant roots as well. But all experience tells me that I will be starving throughout the expedition...
I don't have the room to tan where I live now, so skin clothes will unfortunately be unavailable.
Showing posts with label Expeditions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Expeditions. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 January 2007
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Fishing Expedition 2006
This summer I arranged a guided fishing trip in my home range for a few paying members of the bcuk. It was supposed to be a 10 days trip, but it ended up becoming 9 days in the mountains and 1 more day down in the lowlands. I hope my companions from this trip; Ian, Neil and Chris, will not be too mad at me for using some of their photos too. This was not a primitive expedition, but we did some of it and maybe interesting to read for you anyway.
Photo: View of the main valley.
After we had made our introductions and had spent a day preparing, we departed for the mountains the next morning. The first day's walk was short, but steep and we climbed from about 400 to 800 metres above sea level.
Photo: Starting the first walk on the expedition.
The first thing we did after we got to the lake Brårtjønn was take a refreshing bath in the lake before we set up camp.
Photo: After arriving at lake Brårtjønn. From the left: Chris, Neil and Ian.
After setting up the lavvo we spent some time fishing in that lake. The trout in that lake is big and as big fish usually are, not easy to catch.
The next day we went for a roundtrip around the many lakes in the area. We got many fish for lunch, too many to eat, so we left a lot of them to the fox and raven. A common practise in this area, since the trout is abundant, but not always of that great quality. Ian did however, catch the biggest fish on the trip on this roundtour, in Småtjønnane, approximately of 1kg in weight.
Photo: Look at the happy fisherman!
After having a hearty lunch of grilled fish, we went back to camp. Stuffed on elk (moose) and pork we decided to smoke the rest of the elk meat in the lavvo to save it for days with less fortune in the fishing department.
The next day we moved on to Rishovdtjønnane. An argeous journey, but when we got there we had some excellent fishing and saw game for the first time on the trip, a beaver. We decided not to put up the lavvo that night, but we all slept on the ground instead. That included the hammockers, Ian and Chris.
In the morning we once again broke camp and moved into Findalen, a more untouched part of the area. When we got to Saksundvatn we set up the lavvo and made dinner of some of the fish we caught the last day. The boys were pretty much knackered and due to discontent over all the walking I decided that we'd stay an extra day on this site, three days in total before taking a shortcut over a hill.
We had three excellent days of fishing there. We caught a lot of trout, too many to eat, since we had meat and plenty of other supplies. While in camp and moving about we saw ducks, elk, beaver and black grouse. Chris and me had a walk up on a mountain on 1100 metres above sea level. There were some patches with snow up there. Excellent to cool off on as the weather had been hot during the whole trip.
Photo (above): The view from the lavvo.
Photo (above): An overview of parts of Findalen.
Photo: Two lazy bastards in the lavvo :-)
It was unwillingly we departed from this camp, but we were also looking forward to spending a night down at my fathers cabin.
Photo (above): Looking back on the valley on departure.
Photo: Walking past the big lake Brårvatn on our way down.
We spent a night down at the cabin and went down again. We all had a very good trip I think, but we all lost weight and I was told by the participants that my requirement of "average physical condition" should rather have been "good physical condition".
It was a very pleasant experience and I would be most pleased to be a guide on such a trip again. Not at the low fee I did it on this time though.
More of Chris and Ian's pictures to be found here.
Photo: View of the main valley.
After we had made our introductions and had spent a day preparing, we departed for the mountains the next morning. The first day's walk was short, but steep and we climbed from about 400 to 800 metres above sea level.
Photo: Starting the first walk on the expedition.
The first thing we did after we got to the lake Brårtjønn was take a refreshing bath in the lake before we set up camp.
Photo: After arriving at lake Brårtjønn. From the left: Chris, Neil and Ian.
After setting up the lavvo we spent some time fishing in that lake. The trout in that lake is big and as big fish usually are, not easy to catch.
The next day we went for a roundtrip around the many lakes in the area. We got many fish for lunch, too many to eat, so we left a lot of them to the fox and raven. A common practise in this area, since the trout is abundant, but not always of that great quality. Ian did however, catch the biggest fish on the trip on this roundtour, in Småtjønnane, approximately of 1kg in weight.
Photo: Look at the happy fisherman!
After having a hearty lunch of grilled fish, we went back to camp. Stuffed on elk (moose) and pork we decided to smoke the rest of the elk meat in the lavvo to save it for days with less fortune in the fishing department.
The next day we moved on to Rishovdtjønnane. An argeous journey, but when we got there we had some excellent fishing and saw game for the first time on the trip, a beaver. We decided not to put up the lavvo that night, but we all slept on the ground instead. That included the hammockers, Ian and Chris.
In the morning we once again broke camp and moved into Findalen, a more untouched part of the area. When we got to Saksundvatn we set up the lavvo and made dinner of some of the fish we caught the last day. The boys were pretty much knackered and due to discontent over all the walking I decided that we'd stay an extra day on this site, three days in total before taking a shortcut over a hill.
We had three excellent days of fishing there. We caught a lot of trout, too many to eat, since we had meat and plenty of other supplies. While in camp and moving about we saw ducks, elk, beaver and black grouse. Chris and me had a walk up on a mountain on 1100 metres above sea level. There were some patches with snow up there. Excellent to cool off on as the weather had been hot during the whole trip.
Photo (above): The view from the lavvo.
Photo (above): An overview of parts of Findalen.
Photo: Two lazy bastards in the lavvo :-)
It was unwillingly we departed from this camp, but we were also looking forward to spending a night down at my fathers cabin.
Photo (above): Looking back on the valley on departure.
Photo: Walking past the big lake Brårvatn on our way down.
We spent a night down at the cabin and went down again. We all had a very good trip I think, but we all lost weight and I was told by the participants that my requirement of "average physical condition" should rather have been "good physical condition".
It was a very pleasant experience and I would be most pleased to be a guide on such a trip again. Not at the low fee I did it on this time though.
More of Chris and Ian's pictures to be found here.
Monday, 20 November 2006
Equipment list for planned primitive "expedition" to Hitra.
I have now compiled a list of the equipment I will bring on my expedition to Hitra next summer. Objects may be added or removed as my planning develops.
Ready:
Ready:
Flint knife.
A core for flakes.
Knapping equipment.
Antler axe.
Throwing sticks (not that I will be using them).
Fishing line.
Fishing hooks.
Some string.
Beaver tooth knives.
Some sinew.
Buckskin scraps.
Hide scraper.
Needles.
Pike skin tinder pouch.
Need to be made:
Barbs for a fishing spear.
Bow and arrows (not that I will use those either).
A loincloth of grass or fibres as I don't have any hides (to not scare the German tourists).
More fishing lines and hooks.
Bone knife.
Pouch of elk (moose) ear for storing fibres and string.
Packframe.
Big container of either grass or bark.
Maybe a few smaller containers.
Maybe a birch bark kettle.
Maybe a small net.
Non primitive stuff:
To make the learning experience better I will bring relevant identification books.
Mobile phone. To call my girlfriend every once in a while.
Camera and batteries. I need to take some pictures for the blog.
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