5 Things to do in the woods

hey friends welcome to the channel grim granite here we're talking about five things you should do every time you go for a walk in the woods and i say going for a walk in the woods but i mean this could apply to almost anything you do in the woods walking hiking birding tree identification looking for wild edibles and foraging maybe you're a hunter survival teacher maybe you're a trail runner maybe you are a possum farmer all these things are activities that you do you know in nature and you're moving through the woods these five things are gonna help you get the most out of your time in the woods first thing is gathering i like to gather stuff in the woods not necessarily because i'll need these items but because they kind of train me and condition me to look for these things and my situational awareness is better for it you could be looking for downed birch trees that you could get the bark off of as a fire starter or to make some campcraft item you could be looking for resin on pine trees it's a great fire starter and it can waterproof things you can use it as a glue you can even put it on wounds it's like a natural antiseptic very important side note don't cut the bark off of a living tree you will kill it don't do it you can even gather trash i mean look at this right here that's trash and i'm in the middle in the middle of the woods i don't feel like there's many people that come here but pick up some trash take it with you leave no trace one thing i really like to gather is tinder i like to look for dry tinder every single time i go out and just get the habit of putting that in my pockets you never know when you're gonna need to start a fire and if you have some dry tinder gathered it's gonna make life a lot easier just by having these couple things that you're trying to clue in and look for when you're out i think really raises your situational awareness for possible dangers possible threats but also just to see things that you wouldn't normally see if you're paying attention to your feet sometimes when we're hiking or walking or what have you we're just kind of like we gotta get our head down looking at our feet the whole time and you know if you look up and around you you're going to notice a ton more it's really going to enrich your time out in the woods to be looking for things intentionally number two is reflection i love to stop and just clear my mind for a few minutes i feel like a lot of times when we get out in the woods we are very like point a point b let's get stuff done and get out of here take some time out of your activity being in the woods just a couple minutes and just sit and do some self-reflection i wouldn't put like a maximum time limit on it but maybe put a minimum time limit on it set a timer on your phone for five minutes just give yourself um give yourself five minutes of just rest the first thing to do is just stop moving we are constantly moving as a culture just stop moving stop talking and listen just listen to what's going on around you let the world clear out let your mind clear out once you've had a moment of quiet break out a notebook i carry a waterproof notebook and pen with me whenever i'm in the outdoors and that allows me to just write down my thoughts and sometimes they're really not that profound if this is something you don't do normally then just bring a notebook and pen with you or use the notepad on your phone and just literally write down the things that happened to you from the car to where you're at i walked two miles i saw a chipmunk and a toad and i am now sitting in front of my notebook which is super scary because i don't know what to write in it but here we go write that down you'd be surprised that once you get going you start to kind of become more comfortable and more things get on the paper take inventory of how your week is gone what your month is like your family life your work life what's causing you stress write these things down in a notebook reflection is a really powerful thing that you can do every time you're in the woods it's free it's not always easy but it's super healthy to do it number three is exploration go explore something get curious about your surroundings do it in a safe way leave an itinerary for those who care about you get a map plot a course learn some orienteering skills so you can navigation skills so you can do it safely if you are going off trail definitely i suggest using there's lots of really cool apps out there like gaia all trails on xbac country they're all really good and they allow you to very quickly mark out an area and text it to someone that cares about you so that in case you don't show up in the prescribed amount of time they know at least that you're in this particular area and stick to that the worst thing in the world would be to like have an itinerary to get lost and then search and rescue is focusing their efforts on the wrong area and you're like five miles in the other direction number four is intentional fitness now i know what you might be thinking he's not the most fit guy in the world he's got a dad body i am well aware but every time i go out in the woods i try to think about ways i could raise my heart rate a little bit you know just work my muscles try to train my legs a little differently i always carry the same amount of weight in my pack which is about 37 pounds i feel like that's kind of like my base weight when i'm going out for a backpacking trip and even if i'm going for this like a short three or five mile hike i'm gonna carry that amount of weight with me so that it always feels nominal it feels normal to me one easy way to add weight uh to your experience in the woods is just to carry an extra liter or two of water it's pretty heavy over the course of a few miles being intentional about your fitness while you're out in the wilderness is a great way to condition yourself in case you are ever in a survival situation your body is ready to react and to sprint if it needs to to keep you safe fifth and finally is practice if you are like me you are at home and you are watching youtube videos reading books about survival and bushcraft and all this fun stuff but you don't actually get out and practice these things you could actually be doing yourself more harm than good if you are in a survival situation and need to rely on those skills but you haven't practiced them i like to take with me pages to practice i call it it's just printouts on methods or skills that i've been learning about or researching that i want to try and i carve out some time to carve out something that i've been learning about i've been dying to try this bow drill design where i've been really wanting to work on my lashing or i want to try my new knife for my new pharaoh rod or something like that if you set aside time to actually practice some of these things use the gear that you've purchased see what works and what doesn't you're going to be way better off you're gonna have more confidence in your experience in the outdoors that you can handle whatever is thrown at you and you can trust the gear and the knowledge that you have developed if you've been paying attention and writing the stuff down maybe you'll notice that it spells out gripe g-r-i-p-e i didn't really intend for that to be the case i think it's kind of funny though so that's it those are the five things that i do every time i'm in the woods and i hope you try them too let me know in the comments below what you do in the woods to make your time more meaningful and to help condition your mind to handle tough situations if you like this video please hit the like button below consider subscribing to the channel and hitting the bell notification so that every time i make a video you'll hear about it thanks and we'll see you later