A Walk through my November Woods...

We're having unseasonably warm weather for this time of the year, today got up to 42 degrees, lows at night in the 30s. This time last year I had nearly two feet of snow and we were not making it out of the 20s.

Travel has been heavy since the beginning of October so I have not had the chance to really get some good time afield. Took advantage this morning to walk about the back woods. Decided to try something different. A traditional pack basket. My Grandfather had one, and several years ago I tried one but didn't really give it a good go, so I decided to try it again. I'll do a write up on that after several weeks with it. I know I enjoyed it today but I'll need to modify the harness.

Sunrise this morning was a good one, like the horizon was on fire.



One of the biggest fungus I have ever seen in my life. That Kephart is a 5" blade and 5.5" handle.





My route took me through a section of the property that's rolling, some of it has some pretty dramatic elevation changes though I did not get that far today. A lot of this area is old growth.














Some deer sign, including some fresh scrapes. We've got some fresh venison in the freezer already, rest of the season I'm going to take slow and easy and enjoy it.









I don't know how long these have been there, or why they are there. I'm guessing maybe it is the remnants of an old logger or surveyors camp. There were at least three stoves and the remains of one other. There was also an old enameled tea pot, big one. The bottom was rusted out but the rest of it was relatively intact. This stuff was easily twelve miles from the nearest road, bet they played hell getting these stoves that far back.













More scenery.









Next time I come through here I'm going to turn this downed tree into a shelter, it isn't far from a sweet spring.



This is the spring, had some ice in it this morning.



This is the fourth one of these I've found since the cold weather started coming on.



Not far from the wasp's nest I found this bird's nest.



Time for lunch, quick fire to get some hot water, then a quick noodle before back on the trail.





This is the pack basket I was talking about. Insanely simple, it carried well though the straps need modification. I was really surprised at just how comfortable it was on the back. The other surprising thing is just how light it is, weighs less than almost any of my other packs and is certainly the lightest for the volume it can handle. Incidentally it can be used as I am using it here, but it was also built to be inserted into a Frost River Timber Cruiser pack. Fits like a glove.








Sunset was pretty close to what sunrise looked like. We might be getting some snow tomorrow, if so I'm going right back out.



Thanks for looking.