Overnight Bushcraft Camp at a Cliff with Minimal Gear and a Dog in the Snow

Hey folks, how are you? Joe here. It's been a minute. I'm out in the bush with Wolfie, we have a small backpack on, we're gonna do an overnight with minimal gear. Hey boy! And it's snowing. I'm gonna use this, I'm gonna use this rock wall to camp against, we're gonna have our fire against it, and use it for warmth. Because I have such minimal gear, I don't have all the amenities that I normally would, such as like a sleeping pad, or a decent sleeping bag. So we're going to have to use natural materials, build up a good shelter, but it is coming down quite a bit. I've got to find Wolfie and get his backpack off. Packing on the pounds this winter, Wolfie. Packing on the pounds. Got to go on a canoe trip and burn it off, eh? Okay, this stuff can stay here nice and dry while I look around for the exact spot I want to camp. There's a lot of resources, so that's good. I think I found the exact spot I want to camp at. It's going to take some doing to get it ready, but that's cool. We'll get working right now. I don't have a saw. We all axe work. Wolfie! I re-handled that myself. This axe mask I took off of another axe. Wolfie, here. Here, come. Yes. Hi, buddy boy. I just had an old, crappy axe at home for a long time, just on a little, tiny handle, and I decided to re-handle it. I think it worked out good. I haven't used it yet. This will be its virgin cut since I sharpened it and everything. I'll do a lean-to. Probably going to lean some logs up against the rocks, to be honest with you. We'll see how it goes. Now it's not too cold right now about negative two or so so far so good with that axe Job for the gloves I think. Full of snow. Such a weird winter man If only this would all be buried. I need a fire pit. I'm going to camp right But I can even it out with boughs because I have to get a bunch of boughs anyways Good thing is like I said not too much snow this year So I don't have to really worry about digging it out Kind of just pack it down or kick it to the side if it's in the way So like stuff like that man that would have been buried at least three feet underground ground anyway anyways I want to make a bed actually let's get our our shelter poles first so we can kind of get a little secure area out of the snow here used cedar wedge and this pink color is just what I used to treat the handle they'll go away nice plum style rounded just gonna look for a smooth ish wrist size piece maybe like this I don't watch out for these trees behind because if The tarp comes, you can't have the tarp be impeded by these trees. These impeding trees. Okay, let's see. Something like that. Looks like, I'll show you what I have here soon, but for now I got my tarp. The Wildland Scout Pack that I did in collaboration with Why Not, the company, like, so very long ago. Alright, early on in my YouTube channel. We got this small, that's not it. Two of the things I have anyways, a ground sheet and a tarp. I got a potato steak some warmth. That's a little bit warmth. I mean a puffy jacket Okay, small tarp small ground sheet. Let's get these Scored away the five by seven or six by eight this thing We tie up pull here All tied on the back All right, we're gonna do a jam knot on here nice and quick and easy of the Canadian variety loose now it does matter what way you run this through here and i'd be lying if i said i remember what way it's supposed to go but if it doesn't work you just do it the other way and then it'll work or there's also the old faithful you know a lot of you are saying no i don't know some of you are saying yes i do I do know. I know them. Look at that. Rudimentary as I'll get out. As I'll get out even. As ever. Yeah, this is the wrong way. Coming along, coming along. I can't get this taut the traditional way, but I do have an idea on how to tighten it up. I'm going to have a little bit of a wing on the side which is never a bad thing for wind and or cool looks. Put that there. I'm hoping to anchor it inside this rock wall somehow. Hey, buddy. Hey sweet. What do you think I'm not done setting on my shelf I've still got to get some heavy-duty pegs made to Hold it down I have no real spot to work on and I'm worried about Chopping into the ground because of all the rocks around underneath the snow. I just did this axe up So I see this it looks mighty topily potentially use it for something other than Firewood because it's a balsam fir I could use it for firewood But could also use it as a chopping excuse me as a chopping block So and I'm gonna get it out of the way of potential pardon me of potentially coming down on me in the nighttime All these other trees are live. So Pretty dry I did something wrong then obviously so there's a couple good pieces on here I can use for hooks and pegs, so take it here and here to push that in and it won't come out. Let's use this side anyway. Make them big and sturdy and long in the winter time like this cause even though there's not a lot of snow, most likely the ground is not going to be easy to pound into. So, you got one there, got this one again. There, so that'll be the top. Cut it there, and there. Cut the knob off. Open her quick. Got two done. Let's go see how these work. Three is still in the way too. Well that was not difficult at all, but with this knob into the ground, I know that it's locked in. If I undid it now, I thought I could salvage it, pound it back in, but no go. So both sides broke out. Anyways, this is what it is now, and this is what we are dealing with now. So, at least I have this. There's a lot of firewood, wish I had a saw, and there's a lot of firewood around that's readily available for me to just break. So I think everything is going to be okay. Bummer, it is what it is, could be worse. and learning a lesson as well. So, broken ax, man. Okay. Yee-haw, it's down, tighter to the ground. I won't have to step over it, it won't be so awkward. I will still have to step over it, I won't have to go under it though. That's the point, that's the ticket, Joe. Almost to be home. This is gonna be toasty in here, man. We got a good one big step away from the fire here. Yeah, Wolfie probably won't even come in here with me, but speaking of which, we need to go find that dog. It's been half an hour or at least. All right, take a break for shelter building for a minute. I'm gonna go find Wolfie. I'm gonna get a drink of water here too, actually. Go for me, there we go. Okay, I gotta start to find some boughs and get firewood. We're in this hardwood stand, so getting firewood's going to be easy, but getting boughs. All right, with that, battery died, but I'm gonna have to get creative on getting boughs into here. I might have to climb up this rock and throw some down. They're slim pickings, that's for sure. three decent bundles but I need more the good thing is the snow is not wet it's not sticking to it kind of just falling off so that's that's good cuz I don't want to sleep in wetness there's room for wolf if he wants in good boy he's like I know you got that kibosh I know you got that kibosh in your pocket well that's that's not what I meant I actually do have kibosh in my pocket pocket kibosh we'll call it All right watch out more to weave in because I know that this is not Enough is a bummer because it's enough work Gathering them and then but I got to transport them back here, you know, you carry armful armloads back here Anyways, no big deal. It was sketchy getting in here with my truck. I drove in for I don't know 40 minutes half hour off the main road and then But I just didn't want to drive any farther. Anyways, it wasn't so bad because it wasn't a snow But I'm hoping on the way out because all this snow coming down. It doesn't get treacherous You know, we got to come this way some take a little water break here So I figure maybe this is a good time to show you guys what I have in my pack Anyways, I've got my ground sheet over there. I'm gonna grab it This is a decent ground sheet canvas on one side wool on the other like I said I've got my wool blanket attached to the bottom I'm using Canadian jams to attach that comes on and off relatively easily I do have straps for this but I Didn't know where they were. Anyways, wool blanket old faithful. This is an Italian wool blanket I've had forever again This is the why not? wildland scout pack my design Possibles puffy. This is my warmth. I've got a potato with a bunch of eyes some butter the seasoning and and out of my backpack over there is a stake I got on the way here that's over by Wolfies backpack I've got my headlamp that's my head mount for my GoPro got my GoPro a tiny sleeping bag this is more of a sleeping bag liner there's gonna go inside my my wool blanket that's I don't have a lot of room and that's how much warmth is important to me I'll have the fire but for some reason like my axe broke what if I didn't have all this firewood I need to huddle and keep warm so there's gonna go inside the wool blanket but the fire is gonna be the main of the warmth for me bigger possible as pouch I got socks long johns, a little ground sheet in case I need to sit or do any work off the snow, so that's it for that compartment in here I've got TP, protein powder, nope sorry, protein bar, stick protein bar the side I've got my Nalgene with my cup titanium cup to cook with, I got some oatmeal and some tea, I believe that is everything that's everything, so I still had another uh pouch here that I could have used but I didn't need it, so anyways all my axe was attached to this, I also had a my tarp and a bag of paracord inside here, I believe that was all, Wolfie has a couple snacks and his food in his backpack and he also has another water bottle for me, there is some open water I saw down at the creek so if we need it we can go get some we'll be boiling, no filter, okay I'm gonna get camp squared away a little bit here, I'm not gonna take my sleeping bag out of its case just yet, but I am gonna let it loft up inside there some, so tips for looking for dead standing wood in the winter when everything is leafless, basically the bark and or twigs, like you can see sometimes that the bark looks really dry or it's missing a little flake, like here, this is a telltale sign you can actually see wood also if they're leaning or in a clump of maple a lot of times there will be a dead standing one in the middle of it for some reason. There are some leaves along here but underneath it I can see it's like ice so I'm not too worried about it once those leaves flash burn out of here. I'll put another big rock on that side stop it. We'll have a long fire. It'll be good. It's not bare leaves right on it. Not that it really matters. I'll find another rock. Collected some birch bark earlier when I was walking around. I was able to find some really nice ribbony stuff so we'll get that going and you want to build a little bit of a platform underneath so that you don't have so you're not really putting your fire directly on the snow so I've got my bigger pieces here that I'll use some for the ground some on top we're almost ready to get this going I'm gonna grab a couple more small pieces use later this time sometimes it's good to flip your bundle upside down so the whole thing gets caught all the glow already in here it's not even dark yet it's on I've got to get a ton more firewood I have long johns I have long john I'm gonna wait I'm gonna wait to put the long johns on. That made me happy. Oh, I also have a space blanket that I can rig up to if I need to. I might do that. Might. around me, who knows. Wolfie found a nice spot over here where there's no snow right next to the cliff wall. Drank a lot of that tea. I'm just reheating this one. And we're gonna go out and get firewood and boughs. That's gotta be it for wood. The fire has melted all the snow off the tarp. It's a good dog. Wolf! Steaks are cooked, like I said today, but in sticking with the minimal stuff not having everything I normally do I don't have any way to cook it so I figured that I would just stick it on a stick, seasoning will be food but I got enough steak to get him some as well need things to butterfly it open, see let's see no place to get your meats in hills the place to get these are called picanha, picanha cool cool coulette steak cool Let me seasoning on here before we try and do the old twist method, guy when I was buying told me South America Where is it? South Africa, I'm sorry I don't remember properly but they twist it apparently because I was like I just want to put on a stick like what's a good? Texture one to these base twist this one let's step over the fire. So we're gonna try that It's kind of twisted we have another one to try it with so I'm gonna put a little butterfly in here one's done whip up the other one see how that one goes it's time to put on my puffy and my long John's and chilling down pretty quick not moving around and while I'm cooking here the fire is not roaring so you're up for now That'll help ready to be eaten right off the stick Moocher well Mooch action eh hmm okay that's super tender man it looks overdone so that's good oh yeah that's really good what's up wolf second steak just as good as the first my potato looks like a lump of coal and i'm trying to keep it out of the flames now i'll throw some more firewood on because i'm getting chilled again so i moved it out to the side wolfie's in here with me right now so you can see that he's fine to be here next to the fire as long as there's food so he should be fine to be here next to the fire for warmth as well if he needs it that's my thought anyway there's plenty of room for him on there and under there with me or just next to here Wolfie to come cuddle me over here off the snow for a bit that's good supper was real good that potato is just long buried in there I forgot about it I kept adding wood so we're calling it a lost a lost potato lost axe and lost potato on this trip that's alright nice and warm now oh I got the mylar blanket above just to stop any more snow from coming down in front of me and to try to cook this the heat in here and it is it's doing well the rock face back there is acting like like a chimney rock to draw all the smoke directly upwards so that's nice it's good for wolfy too because I'm sure that's part of the reason he doesn't like he's doing good he's here on his own will he's not tied up so good boy hey he might go boy he's ko'd i think but i got a lot of big pieces on right now burning them in half just trying to stay warm i'm gonna go to bed soon wrap up here and uh just listen to my book on tape i'm gonna try to make room for wolfie on this thing i might uh open it up a bit more it was just me it was just me buddy oh you're warm the heat coming off of this guy is insane there's little coat little big guy in a little coat growing real nice now into a nice big long fire, a proper long fire, super nice out by the fire here, nice and warm comfortable it's still snowing a bit, freaking Wolfy's KO'd like you guys can see it's nice to be back out man it's nice to be back out, this feels good i'm happy uh everything turned out well i didn't know that was going to get this big rock face over here I'm glad I did because it turned out really nice and lots of good firewood and stuff so bonus bonus bonus I want to get ready to go to bed here soon the headlamp has died chilly night for seven in the morning right now last of the wood I've been trying to conserve it for the past couple hours but yeah not enough pine boughs not enough spruce boughs down anyways got some twigs left to throw on and build this up Sun coming up it's probably time to get up that I'm warmer by the fire than I am in the blanket so it seems like it's gonna be a stormy day the winds already kicked up much more than it was yesterday so right away here and they'll make a tea so that that water bottle that was in Wolf's backpack Wolf wouldn't climb up on this Ridge over here and he's huffing and puffing over there see the red that's Wolfie smells something or here's something my protein bar in my pocket trying to warm it up because it's an ice blocker right now not for you not for you mister all right I want to start tearing down camp you want to go buddy are you all done he's in the little crack there that has no snow those shelters pretty easily done actually just lean these guys up on here it's nice to have a fire going while you're breaking down camp in the winter time just to stop the rain feeling in your hands you know little things in life that's it for me hope you guys enjoyed this video I really enjoyed getting out shooting it spending time with the dog I didn't enjoy the cold last night very much but that's on me and that's fine and try and do something in these parameters not everything goes perfect all the time but anyways had a good time regardless and survived the night and the dog learned something some more bonding time with him so that's all a plus in my book the axe breaking could have been worse so that's duly noted and that's in the bottom of my pack now I don't have it on the side obviously because I burned to the handle last night I do have a bigger thicker wool blanket but it's like at what point you just bring a sleeping bag you know what I mean it just doesn't make sense to carry something so big and bulky the wool blankets already this one's already heavier and bigger than a decent sized sleeping bag so it's just for the nostalgic feel of it really just for the video to be honest with you but that's okay I like doing that kind of stuff every now and then next time I go out temperatures supposed to drop quite a bit so I feel like I'll probably do like a hot tent camp with the dog that should be pretty good he'd like that I think like I said for watching I appreciate it Hope you enjoyed it and you'll see me again soon There will not be a big hiatus Again I'll be putting out videos regularly if you're still with me thanks for sticking with me