Building A Bushcraft Ladder: The Next Level Of Wilderness Living

The ability to safely make a bushcraft ladder is a handy skill to know. I use it here to harvest the chaga mushroom that's just a little too far out of reach. It grows on birch trees and when made into a tea it actually has the highest antioxidant count on this planet, so it's both a fun and rewarding task to go hunting for these while camping. And even if they're a little bit out of reach, you'll now have the knowledge to get one down. I first find some downed trees that are solid and sturdy enough to hold my weight. Next you'll need some strong cordage that's about double the length of your ladder poles. I usually carry 25 foot lengths of something that could support my weight. Lots of people carry paracord and that'll work just fine here. Start by taking the exact halfway point of your cordage, fold an overhand loop here followed by another of the exact same loop. Put the second loop behind the first and put it over the ladder pole just like this. When you pull tight, you've tied the clove hitch. Again, it's one overhand loop followed by a second, the second one behind the first and now over the post. Now do the exact same thing with the other side and it'll leave you with two clove hitches binding the tops of both poles together. Now take one of the long running ends and pull it about a foot down the pole. Pulling a little bit of slack, we wrap around the pole and thread it through that loop there. This is called a half hitch and these will actually be the supports for our ladder rungs. Now we go down another foot and do another half hitch, which is creating that loop and pull your line through. We're going to want to continue this pattern all the way down and then with the other pole on the other side, we're going to match it exactly, putting the half hitches at the exact same distance. Now once we get to the bottom, it's time to lock it all in place. Now you could make this easy and just tie a clove hitch at the bottom and it'll work just fine. But if you have a more slippery rope and you want something a little bit more secure, I'd Go for the constrictor knot, which is very similar to a clove hitch. We wrap around our object, come across itself, creating this X. Now at this point, a clove hitch would go up and under this cross here, but with the constrictor, we instead go across our main line and now through the center of that X. And now when you snug up both ends, the constrictor binds up so tight, it's nearly impossible to undo, but it's extremely secure. So after securing each ladder beam, it's now ready to use. Start by lifting those poles up the tree, and generally the wider apart the beams of the ladder are at the top, the more it'll snug against the trunk of that tree, making it a little bit more secure. Now it's time to put the rungs of the ladder in one by one. Again these should be cut by solid, not rotting pieces that can support your weight. The reason we start from the bottom and climb is cause every step will tighten all the cordage above it. Yes, they will be a little bit harder to slide in at the top, but they're definitely not going to move as much, and that's kind of what we want. If you're concerned about the integrity of the rungs, just keep your feet a little bit more spaced out. And of course hardwood is always preferred over softwood for the rungs. I build the ladder as I climb, until I've reached the desired height. Now a belt loop for any tools you have, or a pack pouch like mine is really useful in a situation like this. I only take a bit of the chaga, leaving the bulk of it is how you sustainably harvest this stuff, and this is more than enough for me. We can then chip off the black crust, leaving the good golden stuff inside. You really only need one or two of these blocks, but my tea is going to be extra strong. Now while the best time to harvest is in winter, I'm still going to receive a bunch of the health benefits from chaga, and it certainly tastes delicious.