living outside

[adam]

It freaked me out.

I can't even go on our walks on that street anymore.

That bear spray stuff definitely will kick some dog ass.

Anyway, I dig Steve's zippo.

[HortonCreek]

Practice starting a fire at home at least 3 times BEFORE you leave. Trying to figure out (or brushing the rust off) the nuances of starting a fire with a magnesium starter or water proof matches on a windy maybe rainy evening is not the time to figure it out.

I have overnighted in the White's solo. No gun. After a hard day fishing and hiking you will have no trouble falling asleep. Pick your camp site wisely. Right next to the bank of a remote lake or along a path next to a stream might seem picture perfect until an elk or a free range cow tramples you and your tent at night mosying down to the water hole. (happened to a buddy one of the remote Res lakes).

I miss those days. Have fun.
Jeff

[adam]

Already done the magnesium crumbs spark fire thing and understand not setting tents or "hooches" as they were called in jungle tracking school. I got all that stuff in the army, good training.

But it's good to hear, especially from you since you know the places I am going.

One of them is a traverse (no fishing) of the San Fransisco Peaks, I want to spend one night on top of the highest mountain in Arizona. Acclimating at Lockett Meadow, I'll hike up the inner basin to the peak and throw down my pack, then either down the Snow Bowl trail or walk over to the ski lift and ride it down. That would be in late August or early September during good weather.

[Bamboo Addict]

Steve, that is one cool compass. Mine was kept from my service days. (Some how got sent home from Vietnam by mistake). I would love to find one like that. I still would rather use that and a map.
David

[adam]

i take a small native american drum with me and use it at nite, primal and good for my soul

And now I will too.

Steve, I now have a very light, small drum. I purchased a Traditional Apache Songs CD which have many mountain songs. I'll load it up the ipod and learn the song and take the drum along.

When I was there (Drumbeat) I purchased some "Sweetgrass Braid" and more Sage. The Sweetgrass Braid is sweet!

I really appreciate the suggestion Steve, it's going to be very cool to bone up on Apache song, soothing, it means something on many levels.


click to listen to the song I will learn, "Mountain Spirit Dance"

[stevekiley]

thats cool adam,and sweat grass is one of my favorite smuges,i also like that big leaf sage that grows in the dryer places that has only one or two stalks.good to clean off the negative mojo.

[stevekiley]

hi adam,be carefull from who and where you get your smug,you dont want stuff that was not harvested respecfully,and from land where the ancesters may not get along with yours,the smoke brings them both in,those from the land it came from and yours,it can cause spiritual conflict on the other side.and the drum is cool,it gets there attention to listen to you.hope this is not too heavey.what you are doing is very cool.steve

[adam]

I don't know my ancestors, my former last name is Sutton, I would assume English. That being said, I get the herbs and spices along with books and music from "Drumbeat" which is a Native American Arts place. It is owned and operated by. It covers everyone.

Funny you should write this though, the Navajo make Hopi Kachina in nearly traditional fashion, cottonwood and such. Navajo do not believe in Kachina and their reservation is HUGE and surrounds the Hopi. But the tourist do not know the difference. They also purchase their turquoise from the white man who synthisize it from chalk that has not yet turned to turquoise in the ground. Their turquoise is somewhat fake but they sell it back to the white man that jipped them in the first place.

There are baskets of and drawers of all kinds of sage, tobacco, teas, grasses, beads, leather, teeth, shells, feathers, anything and everything. Their library is fantastic, the music far ranging. A huge variety of Native American t-shirt designs, vinyl stickers, beadwork.

I asked for the old man.

I told him my purpose, he picked out the CD and smiled at me.

Now I am going to get busy.

[SnooKen]

See if you can track down a small portrait photo of Geronimo to carry with you and meditate upon. His and Abraham Lincoln's face are the two that I find to have the most powers of the expression of the depth and range of human experience and wisdom. Interesting that they both lived in the same times. I sometimes wonder how different our country's history and current nature might have been if the Civil War had been averted and those two great men had met and formed an alliance before the US Army began its war of decimation against the Western Tribes.

[O clarki]

Adam: Have fun on your trip, man. You might even get addicted to being on your own in the woods. It is a drastically different experience than camping with others, for sure. Make sure you have a bunch of new jokes to tell yourself