The Nomadic 72 Hour Challenge

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Fear of the unknown

Fear of the unknown will give you a hard time in a survival situation. Thoughts of death will mess with your mind. Strange sounds and anxiety will keep you awake at night. Sleep will be a luxury you enjoy the next morning when the sun reappears. Fear of the unknown was probably also the hardest part of this year’s 72 hour challenge if you ask the participants. The thought of venturing into the wild for three days with minimum gear is enough to cause anxiety to most people.

On September 14th this autumn we were on our way to Sweden by car for the Undepend 72 Hour Challenge. This year’s participants were skilled outdoorsmen. Yet stripping them of most of their gear made a huge difference to their self confidence. We talked about how the trip would play out and I sensed a slight uncertainty among the participants. That was right until we parked the car. We went to meet Jon from Immeln Canoe Center. He had agreed to lend us some canoes for this year’s challenge. It changed the perspective of the challenge quite a lot. 

Departure
As we launched our canoes and started paddling into the Swedish wilderness at Lake Immeln, uncertainty was already replaced with excitement. The weather was almost too nice to call it a challenge. Swedish nature is really beautiful especially when you experience it from the lakeside. We knew that from now on we would need to conserve our energy but we were also keen on leaving behind all signs of civilization. We paddled for a couple of hours looking for a spot to camp for the night. Immeln is filled with small idyllic islands but we needed more than idyll. We stopped on several occasions to check out the islands only to realize that there wasn’t enough resources available for us to be able to establish a camp. When you don’t bring everything with you, you rely on nature to provide things for you. This was a new perspective on the traditional challenges where we usually head off into unknown territory by foot. 

Our plan was to find a place for the night and move on the next day. The challenge started on September 14th at 1600 so we had to stay focused on our priorities. It wasn’t long until sunset and we needed to find a campsite, build a shelter and preferably make fire before it became dark. As time progressed we were forced to make a quick decision. We found an island where we decided to stay for the night. It didn’t have a lot of resources but we were able to prepare a fire and a makeshift shelter. It wasn’t really suitable for a rainy night but the weather seemed nice so we took a chance and slept on the ground. Normally participants are obliged to take care of themselves but this was another deviation from the norm. There simply wasn’t enough resources for all of us on the small island, so we had to build a shared shelter and campfire. Even if there had been enough ressources it would have felt weird lighting three camp fires within such a small area that the island offered.

I found some reed that I carefully picked. Just enough to make a small bedding for the night. However careful I was when picking it I still cut my hands. I even used birch bark as protection, but reed has super sharp edges and without tools it’s hard to avoid cuts.

Each participant is allowed to bring: 1 t-shirt, 1 woolen shirt, 1 pair of underpants, 1 pair of long pants, 1 pair of socks, 1 pair of shoes, 1 belt + 4 items of their own choice.

I only brought one extra item this year namely a fire steel. I’ve done these challenges many times now and I could complete it with nothing at all. Making fire on the go with natural materials only however takes me about 24 to 48 hours however since most materials need both locating, preparing and possibly seasoning. You can’t make fire with fresh green materials. I prioritized the luxury of being abe to make fire immediately. On the other hand I opted out of having a pot and cutting tool which would be my second priority, It meant I relied on being able to build a shelter and a natural bedding with my bare hands and drink unpurified water from the lake. I’m certain that most people could easily get by for 72 hours with just a firesteel if only they knew how to. It’s not hard. That’s what I aim to teach people on these trips. Because once you realise it’s possible you become much more confident in nature. You begin to see it as your tool rather than something you need protection against. Everything you need can be found in nature.

Rasmus, one of this year’s participants, told a great story about a fishing trip he went on after hearing my talk at The Danish Outdoor Festival. He had lost his last fishing float after a long and troublesome day by the lake. He was about to give up and go home when he remembered something I said: “You can find an alternative to all your gear in nature”. Instead of giving up and head home he decided to turn his unfortune into a challenge. Soon after he had mounted a small wooden stick to his fishing line as a makeshift float and he ended up catching two fish.

That night I walked down to the shore in the quiet of the night to take a sip from the lake. It was an amazing feeling of connecting with nature. I just stood there with no gear, no jacket and no light. I was completely at the mercy of the elements and then nature just provided me with life. Water never tasted better.

The next morning we cleared our camp and headed out to find a suitable place to spend the rest of the challenge. We went ashore on different islands along the way to forage and scout for a suitable place to camp. We spent quite a lot of energy on paddling. Although the canoes would seem like an extra advantage, they also ment we had to spend more energy getting around. Mostly because we traveled greater distances. A couple of hours later we found a place to camp along the shore of Immeln. The islands on Immeln were unable to provide all of us with enough materials for building a natural shelter. You can tell they have a lot of visitors during summer.

After deciding on a place I immediately began building my shelter and a couple of hours later I felt pretty much on top of things. I had a waterproof shelter and firewood ready. I went out to collect som reed to use as bedding. I took one of the canoes and went around the headland where I had seen som reed growing in the water. This was a much more relaxed day than the one before. Everyone was busy building their shelters. This is usually a very rewarding part of the challenge for everyone. I will give directions to people if they ask for it, otherwise they are on their own.

When building a shelter you should consider its location: Choose a spot somewhere in between the top and the bottom. If you build it on the top of a hill or a mountain it will be windy. It means you will cool down faster, your firewood will burn faster and you will burn more calories carrying materials to and from your camp. If you build it in a valley or lower lying area it will be cold. Cold air and moist settles at the bottom. If it rains you’re also at risk of being flooded.

Don’t build it too close to water either. It doesn’t matter if it’s a river or a lake. Tide can come quickly and a river, even a dry river bed, can become flooded without a warning. Look for flat, elevated and well drained ground and make sure it’s not at the foot of a ravine or on a slope. Make sure it’s close to ressources such as drinking water, building materials, fire wood etc. It will save you energy.

A foraging trip
With our shelters in place we decided to go foraging. This challenge took place mid september, a little later in the year than normal so most berries were gone by now. There was nothing we could eat in the vicinity of our camp so we had to head out on a foraging trip. We had passed the first 24 hours of the challenge now and our energy levels were dropping after a long day of paddling and building shelters. We launched our canoes and went across the lake to a sunny side with lush greens. We went from island to island but we only found very little food. The few berries we found were often unripe so I began to eat birch leaves, plantain and whatever else I could find. It wasn’t much. You don’t really need food short term but it helps you get that extra bit of energy for other tasks. At this point however we were spending way more energy paddling than the energy we gained from foraging. We found a couple of rough-stemmed boletes (Leccinum scabrum) but mushrooms don’t give you energy. On the contrary actually. Mushrooms are thermogenic, which means they affect your metabolism negatively. After that we went back to our camps and began to prepare for the night.

I always try to stay ahead of things in the wild. I prepare everything before need it so I don’t end up in a situation where I’m unable to make fire, build a shelter, find water etc. Of course you do a lot of improvising when it comes to wilderness survival but staying ahead of things minimizes risks. One of the participants struggled to make fire so I suggested some materials he could use with his firesteel. The deal is you can give advice to others but you can’t help them physically and you can’t lend your tools to others. His firesteel wasn’t the best quality so it worked against him too.

I made a mistake
After collecting some new tinder materials and sweating for some minutes he was able get a fire going. Meanwhile I walked back to my own camp. I had collected some tinder in advance so I was ready to light my fire too. It was about time because now it was getting dark. To my surprise I also struggled with my tinder. This was a problem since I couldn’t see much in the dark forest. I had waited too long before starting my fire and now I was stuck in the darkness. I guess my tinder had become moist from the evening dew. I went down by the shore of the lake to see if I could locate some new tinder knowing it would probably also be moist by now. There was a bit more light here and I found some withered grass that might work. I only picked the top of the leaves. They stay dry for longer because of their exposure to the wind. They are also further away from the moist coming from the ground. In a situation like this little details matter. I thought to myself how embarrasing it would be if I was the only one unable to make fire. :)

It took me about 15 minutes of striking my firesteel. I was really frustrated before I got a flame. I had my kindling lined up, so it didn’t take med long to build up a strong hot campfire from there. This is another tip for building a fire. Make it bigger than you need in the begining. Collect about three times the amount of kindling you think you need for starting it. You are looking to build a bed of strong embers that will keep you fire going strong even if you add some wet firewood by mistake. If you do, don’t hesitate to remove it from you fire again by the way. You’re better off replacing it with a dry piece and let the wet piece dry up next to your fire before you burn it. Bark holds on to the moist inside the wood so remove it before you add it to your fire to get more heat out of it.

After a challenging evening I could finally relax. There’s nothing more rewarding than lying in a natural shelter next to a crackling fire in the middle of the woods at night. I fell asleep soon after. When you rely on your fire to keep you warm throughout the night you better not sleep too tight. I have this inner alarm clock that wakes me up every now and then when it is time to add another log to my longfire. I guess you learn from your mistakes because not listening to it will punish you with a long and cold night. Or you need to wake up and build your fire from scratch.

The next morning was wonderful. I woke up early and added some more firewood to my campfire before heading down to the lake to get a drink. I sat by my campfire and enjoyed the dancing reflections of the Sun as they hit the lake and shined back through the leaves of the trees. The others went down to take a morning swim so I decided to do the same. It was a feeling of pure wellness. The refreshing cold water increases your blood circulation and boosts your energy level. But the real reward comes afterwards when you dry up by your campfire. I had built a reflector out of rocks. As the name says it reflects excessive heat back towards you giving you an extra boost of heat radiation. It was like sitting in an open sauna in the middle of the forest.

I was full of energy and ready to seize the day, but one of the participants felt a little off however. He had a headache and was low on energy. It’s easy to feel that way when your environment changes drastically and you stop eating at the same time. In a survival situation it can seriously decrease your morale, but Jacob was super constructive about it and worked with himself. It was easy to tell he’s a professional coach, workout specialist and a former sergeant at the Danish Royal Guards. An hour later we headed out to explore the surrounding area. At this point we hadn’t eaten for 41 hours.

We headed further North up the lake. At one point we came to a small cove and decied to go ashore. It led us to a big nothing. Just a barren piece of land full of felled spruce trees. But just as we were about set out again we saw something that hyped us all up. Right there in the water was a bunch of crayfish. We didn’t have anything to catch them with so we tried using our bare hands. They’re not exactly defenceless so you want to grab them from behind which can be extremely difficult when you are aiming through the distortion of the water surface. I have no experience with getting pinched by a crayfish so I tried grabbing them with caution, but they kept hiding between the rocks. Then suddenly Jacob saw a big one and in a flash he caught it with his bare hands and threw it into the canoe. We were all hyped up about it. We tried catching some more without any luck. Looking back we should probably have kept trying for another hour or so. It would have been time and energy well spent. But just catching one boosted our morale.

We were super excited as we continued our trip. Our next destination was a fairly big island further up north. It was more lush than what we had experienced before. This time we were lucky to find both Swedish blueberry and lingon. We also found some bay boletes. Just what we needed after a long trip with only little food.

We laid down and enjoyed the sunlight for a while before preparing a small fire by the lake. It was a blissful moment. We cooked the crayfish over open fire and split the meat. It’s incredible how big an impact such a small portion of meat has on your morale. It was a bite sent from heaven. We had a piece of bolete to go along with it. It was an amazing meal. For dessert we had blueberries and lingonberries. Two majestic buzzards took care of the entertainment as they elegantly hovered above us in circles. We had long forgotten about survival.

The rest of the evening we spent relaxing in our camps. A thing about survival that few people consider is the waiting time. Often you will have nothing to do except to wait. Of course you have things you need to do but you will also have a lot of spare time once you’ve established yourself. The danger of it is you risk becoming apathetic. Overthinking is also a known risk in wilderness survival. It may lead to analysis paralysis. A condition that can keep you from taking action on vital tasks. It’s important that you stay active and ahead of things but ofcourse your should allow yourself to relax and be in balance with yourself. Survival is a 99% mental challenge.

We had travelled far on this trip so the next morning we decided to clear our camps early and begin our journey back. We wanted to be able to take it easy and enjoy our last day of paddling.

I always practice the art of LNT (Leave No Trace) when I spend time in nature. Not just because it’s the right thing to do. Covering up your tracks is also quite fun. From a survival point of view covering up your tracks can be a very useful skill to learn if you are on the run or are being hunted by someone. Evasion and counter tracking techniques are very hard to do properly however, especially if you’re facing professional trackers or a hunter force. But if you know what they look for, you can at least be aware of it and possibly make life a little harder for them. Just in case you need to.

Even if you don’t care about counter tracking, leaving nature in the same state as when you came is the decent thing to do. After all we love nature, not other people’s decaying shelters right. Think about it, how often do you bump into someone else’s shelter and think “hey, this is cool, I’ll fix it and sleep here tonight”? I’m sure you never did unless you had to. Nobody admires your shelter quite like yourself. So clean up please. It’s quite fun too.

The last hours before the challenge was over were a little boring to be honest. To kill some time one went swimming and two of us took a nap. I was going to drive back to Denmark after we finished the challenge so I was happy to get a good rest. That was it. We returned to civilization exactly 72 hours or three days after we took off. Great weather made the challenge a great experience and a walk in the park from a survival point of view. The canoes added a new dimension to the concept. We had become nomads.

Bushcraft fun in the forest with my kids

Friday May 12th was a Danish holiday called “Store Bededag” or “Great Prayer Day” in English. My two sons and I took advantage of the spare time and spontaneously headed for the forest.

The original plan was to let my kids take care of everything by themselves and so they did, to begin with at least. They had planned the trip themselves deciding which things they wanted to bring, what food and how much. They did very well and I was surprised how little they actually brought. I guess it was partly because they had to carry everything themselves too.

We took off Thursday afternoon right after school as the rain fell slowly from the sky. The next day was supposed to be fair according to the weather forecast. It had been a while since we all went on a trip together and we were all in a great mood as we finally left “civilization” behind and headed into the beautiful Danish beech forest.

We had taken this trip before but not all of us together. My sons are now 10 and 8 years old and we talked about how they used to demand a rest along the way when they were younger. Now they were way ahead of me as well as making fun of my enthusiasm with nature by impersonating me.

We were heading for a spot next to Lake Esrum where we were to set up camp for two nights and do nothing but enjoy spring in the forest.

We arrived quite late and immediately started building our shelters. My kids were supposed to make their own shelters like they had done it before, but my older son decided that he would rather build one with me so we could sleep next to each other. My younger son still wanted his own shelter but right next to ours. So we decided to build them in connection with each other. Unfortunately the wind picked up and we were right in it’s path. We had turned our shelter the wrong way. Although we had great view towards the lake, it was a really cold night.

The next morning I woke up early and thought I’d start a fire. I didn’t have much time for it the night before. On top of that everything was wet so it was a struggle trying to get it going. I was tired so I gave up and hit the sack instead. Now I was set on getting a fire going however so I headed out to find some proper tinder / kindling to be able to cook some breakfast.

I stumbled across a tree with withered leaves that was standing in a clearing right where the sun was shining. I collected some totally dry leaves from it and proceeded to forage some withered stinging nettles from last season standing right next to it.

The old stems stood in between the new shoots coming up. A great place to forage for both kindling and wild food. Had it been a survival situation or an Undepend Challenge I would have been well off in this place. Every step I took I had to take care not to step on escargots. There was plenty of wild food growing here too. From stinging nettles to dandelions, Broadleaf plantain and Oxalis Acetosella to name a few.

I went back to our camp with a couple of handfuls of withered stinging nettles and my pockets full of dry leaves. A few minutes later I had a fire going. My kids had fallen asleep the night before without getting a proper meal, so they were really hungry by now. The older one roasted a sausage over the fire and I cooked some tortellini for his brother. Now everyone was happy.

The kids were playing so I decided to go back to the clearing and forage for some stinging nettles. I had brought some frozen chicken on our trip which was just about thawed now. My plan was to do a bit of wilderness cooking. An improvised chicken / nettle soup.

I took my time picking only the top leaves from all the young nettles. I was really enjoying myself knowing that I had all the time in the world. After I filled my pot with nettles I headed on to pick up a few Oxalis acetosella to add to my soup as well. On my way back to camp I thought for a second that I had just run into bunch of wild garlic which would have been perfect. It turned out however that it was Lily of the valley. A very poisonous plant that you should be careful not to mistake for wild garlic (one important test is to rub the leaves and if they don’t smell like garlic, then it isn’t).

Back in camp I took two nice pieces of chicken thighs, put them in the pot and covered them in nettles. I then added a stick of butter or so, some salt and pepper, and some dried basil that I had also brought with me. I then added just enough water to cover the chicken with, put the lid on the pot and hung it over the fire to boil for about half an hour.

I know that everything tastes better in the wild but this soup seriously turned out delicious. Even my kids liked it, which is quite the recognition.

The rest of the day we just hung out. It was a truly great trip with no rush at all. We just talked and had fun playing.

As evening approached I re-arranged our shelter so that we all slept together in one end. I put a wind shield in the front of that end and used the rest of the shelter as a dry storage for our firewood and kindling. It is always nice to have some dry kindling in storage if it starts to rain over night. After all this is Denmark and you never know what the weather will be like the next day.

I had gradually been building a wind shield by our fire place from natural materials so our camp was getting really cosy now. Too bad we had to leave the next day.

I felt so well rested when I woke up the next morning. We had all slept comfortably without freezing. I got up in order to get the fire going which had burned out during the night. But my younger son insisted that he should do it. I had promised him before we came that he would be allowed to build his own fire. He is quite skilled with a ferro rod but he wanted to use his waterproof matches. So I told him he could only use one match to light the fire with then. Instead he would have to prepare everything properly.

I had filled my bushcraft tinder pouch with dry leaves the day before and we had also kept some dry stinging nettles under our shelter to use this morning. We talked about how to prepare the kindling and I told him to have some firewood ready as well. And without any problems he had a fire going in a few minutes.

I believe that lessons like this really teach you how to make fire. It’s not enough learning just how to use a fire steel or even a bow drill. It is also the understanding of organizing your materials properly and being patient enough to allow the fire to catch on before you add more firewood.

I made a warm cup of cocoa for the kids and a cup of coffee for myself before cooking a last meal. After that we packed up and headed back home. On our way we passed a small herd of Shetland ponies. We fed them some fresh grass. Unfortunately my older son accidentally cut himself on a grass straw so I had to get my first aid kit out and patch him up. This little incident aside I think this was probably the most pleasant trip I have ever had with my kids so far. We just connected in a way we haven’t done in a long time.

Undepend 48 Hour Challenge 2016

48 hours in the wilderness with no shell layer and maximum 4 items

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No jacket, no backpack, no sleeping bag. Unless you wanted to bring them as part of your 4 items you would have to do without them. Personally I didn’t need any of them. To me having a pot, a hatchet and a fire steel was sufficient. I also brought my knife although I didn’t really need it. I just enjoy having it with me.

THURSDAY

Leaving for Sweden
Thursday evening on August 25th I was picked up by one of my friends in his dads car right after work. We were 7 people, driving in two cars from Copenhagen heading for the Swedish wilderness in the Northern part of Jönköping near Vättern.

The destination, a small hut in Aneby, was about 400km north of Copenhagen. A little more than a 4 hour drive. My longtime friend Petrus from Stockholm who had helped me arrange the trip was meeting us there. His family owns the hut which was to serve as our pre-challenge base.

We were full of anticipation as we crossed the Öresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden. The sun was shining and the weather forecast looked extremely good for this time of year. We were talking about everything from music and work to challenge related stuff like the terrain and our strategies. As the organizer of the challenge I was also a little bit keen on getting to our base in time to plan for the next morning.

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But after about an hour of driving our car started acting weird. We pulled in at a nearby gas station just in time before it came to a full stop. This was definitely not what we had hoped for. There was a roadside service insurance signed for the car but even so we had to wait for more than an hour to get help. We ended up being towed back to Helsingborg which is about half way back from where we came. Everything was closed there including all the car rental companies. It took my friend Thomas many discussions with the insurance company as well as a lot of work and stress before we finally managed to get a rental car. I don’t know how he managed to stay calm but apparently he is a highly trained diplomat. By the time we reached the hut it was 1 o’clock at night and the other guys had gone to bed. They didn’t quite sleep yet so we all had a quick chit chat before hitting the sack. We agreed to postpone next days challenge start two hours because of our late arrival. Unfortunately I never got to meet my friend Petrus who was supposed to meet us there.

FRIDAY

Breakfast and preparation
We woke up to a warm and sunny morning. We all helped each other prepare breakfast before challenge start. We had oatmeal with milk, scrambled eggs, sausages and bread with cheese. A last proper meal before take off. Everyone was excited. We exchanged thoughts about the 4 items we had decided to bring as we prepared both mentally and practically for the challenge. It was the right decision to postpone challenge start two hours. It meant we had a calm morning with enough time to clean the hut and get ready without any stress.

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Gear check
Besides your regular clothes, in this case underwear, socks, pants, a shirt, footwear, a belt and 2 liters of water in a plastic container, you could bring 4 items of your own choice. With these items you had to spend 48 hours in the wilderness. These were the rules of the Undepend 48 Hour Challenge. To some it may sound like too little, to more experienced bushcrafters and survivalists it may sound like plenty. Either way the rules gave all participants the flexibility to adapt their gear to their level of experience. And the more experienced still had the possibility to challenge themselves and go more primitive.

Adam, the more experienced participant of them all decided to bring only two items. Well he insisted on keeping his hat on so he ended up bringing three items actually. Apart from his hat he brought a small hatchet and a fire steel.

One participant with long hair was very challenged by the fact that I deemed his hairband as an extra item. It was almost equal to a Buff which would have given him extra protection against the elements. So he had to replace it with a simple hair elastic band.

After gear check we packed up and took off. We drove our cars down some small roads left and right before finally turning up a small dirt road leading us into the wilderness area where we were to spend the next couple of days. We parked our cars between the brush next to the road, grabbed our things and got out. It was time for challenge start.

Challenge start
I briefly outlined some safety principles as well as a few instructions on what to do if lost. Basic stuff like S.T.O.P. (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan), a little bit about distress signaling, principles about eating wild plants, the Rule of 3 and the like. I also repeated the challenge rules as well as a few rules of conduct. And THEN we took off into the wild.

It was an extreme feeling of freedom and anticipation as we walked deeper and deeper into the forest. The terrain was rocky with a mix of birch and spruce trees growing dense.

We occasionally stopped to collect tinder from thistles, tinder fungi and birch bark. Since it was a hot sunny day it was a perfect opportunity to get some dry tinder for later. It could become a valuable resource in case it started raining later.

As we walked on we saw tracks from both moose and wild boar meaning we were not going to camp in those particular places. You don’t want to camp on an animal path. Both for the sake of your own safety as well as the risk of disturbing local wildlife.

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Setting up camp
As much as we had hoped for it, we never crossed any streams or creeks on our way. The weather had been warm and dry for a while so they had probably dried out we figured. It would have been a perfect situation to find running water before setting up camp. But it was getting late considering that we needed time to establish our camps before sunset. So we decided for a suitable spot and started building our shelters.

The first ones to start building had found a nice, well drained spot on flat ground between some spruce trees next to a glade. I was a little jealous of their spot but I didn’t want to camp right next to them. Instead I found a spot halfway up on a small rocky hill. When finding a place to camp in the mountains the general rule is that you want look for flat ground in between the top of a mountain and the valley. Although we weren’t on a mountain, the principle turned out to be quite favorable even on a small scale.

Some of the other participants had built their shelter on top of the rock which gave them a great view. It also meant however that they were exposed to the wind. Luckily for them the weather was fair so it wasn’t a real problem. Another participant had build a cave like shelter all the way at the bottom of the terrain. He didn’t have to worry about the wind. But when he woke up the next day surrounded by morning mist he was freezing.

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I was a bit challenged by the fact that I couldn’t find any flat ground to build my shelter on. So I came up with an idea to kill two birds with one stone. I created a raised bed that would keep me off the damp ground at the same time as leveling the ground for me. I used two spruce trees as the foundation for my construction. I put a couple of long logs uphill of the trees so that they would naturally be pressed downhill towards them. I then cut up a lot of smaller logs to use for slats. It was a lot of work but the comfort it gave me was worth every drop of sweat.

I then proceeded to create the roof. In order to fasten the crossbar I went out to dig up some spruce roots. They work excellently as rope for shelter making. They are very flexible and you can easily dig them out from right under the surface of the ground.

To prepare my camp for the night I collected some firewood as well as some big rocks that I found near what appeared to be a dry creek. I used the stones as a reflector for my fire to keep me warm through the night. I was quite tired when I pulled out the thistle seeds that I had collected earlier on and prepared to light my fire.

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In need of water
We had brought 2 liters of water each. (Normal Recommended Daily Intake is 2-4 liters for a male adult at normal activity) But the hot sunny day as well as our increased activity meant that almost everyone was already low on water before the first day was over. A few people complained about a beginning headache and so far we had only spent about 8 of the total 48 hours.

We knew there was supposed to be a lake somewhere, but it was a big area and there was no guarantee that it was near by. I talked to a few of the other guys about making a last attempt at locating water. It was about to get dark now, so heading out would be risky. Darkness comes quickly in the forest. And finding your way back in an unknown wilderness in the dark can be both difficult and dangerous.

We still decided to give it a try. Wary of the danger we decided to go to the edge of our camp where we were certain we could find our way back – even in darkness. There we left one person. The rest of us moved on as far as we could without loosing visual and auditory contact with him. Then we left the next person there and so on until we reached a nearby peak. We had seen it earlier on and we were hoping to be able to see something from the top of it. It was really disappointing when we realized that there was no view at all from up there. There were trees all over and we couldn’t see anything. It was getting dark quickly now so we went back down and returned to our camp.

I felt so privileged as I lay down in my shelter with my fireplace in front of me. As I looked up to the sky right before falling asleep, the last thing I saw was a beautiful red sky.

A red sky at night is a sign of fair weather the next day. I have come to learn that the old saying “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight, red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning” is correct most of the time. At least here in the Nordic region. And there is actually a scientific explanation to it as well.

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SATURDAY

Breakfast
The next morning I woke up with the sun at about 5 o’clock. I fed my fire a few small logs and had myself some breakfast: Juicy sweet blueberries mixed with a few sour lingonberries that I had picked the day before and saved for this moment.

It’s a funny thing about living outside actually, you quickly begin to follow the rhythm of the day. At least when you’re not tugged away inside a sleeping bag. Only one of the other guys was awake. Adam who is also a very experienced outdoorsman. It was a great inspiration to have him as a participant in this year’s Undepend 48 Hour Challenge.

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Continued search for water
Knowing that water would soon become an issue for everyone, I suggested to Adam that we should head out to look for a resource before the others woke up. We knew there was supposed to be a lake somewhere but we had no idea about the direction or how far away it was. We also didn’t know if the water would be clean enough to drink if we found it.

As we left camp we had an idea that we would need to go east in order find it. The problem was that it was a very hard and potentially dangerous direction to follow. We would need to climb down a steep cliff and walk through really dense forest. I suggested to Adam that we headed north instead hoping that we would cross a creek leading to the lake.

As we walked on we occasionally turned around to take note of landmarks and change in vegetation, in order to remember what the landscape looked like from the other side. This is a really good idea if you are walking in a place that you need to find your way back from. Even on a trail there may be a fork in the road that you can’t see on your way out. Mind you that we weren’t allowed to bring any compass, GPS or the like.

We continued like this for about 20 minutes when Adam suddenly cried out: “The lake! I see it! It’s right there”. Contrary to what we had thought we had been walking straight in the direction of the lake. And furthermore it was only about 20 minutes away from our camp. When we reached the shore the water looked as clear as it gets. There didn’t seem to be any algae in it. This was almost too good to be true.

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We filled our bottles and headed back to camp. This was indeed a motivation boost. Some of the other participants were down to less than a mouthful of water. So it really made a difference. Most of you are probably familiar with The Rule Of 3. It’s a rule of thumb helping you prioritize in a survival situation. It says that you could die in as little as 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. This doesn’t mean that you can go without water for three days however. You quickly begin to feel the effects of dehydration if you don’t drink regularly. Fatigue, mudded thinking, headache are all symptoms of beginning dehydration. The problem with this is that you may end up making wrong decisions or mistakes. This can be critical in a survival situation.

We no longer had that kind of problems though. Our trip had suddenly turned into a luxury trip. This is where my pot really came in handy. For purifying water. Most of the other participants didn’t bring a pot so they had to take the chance of drinking the water as it was. Some of them had expected to be able get by on 2 liters of water for the whole challenge. I believe they learned something here. Luckily no one experienced any problems after drinking the water.

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Pure vacation and some foraging
The sun was shining and people either just hung out or they were out foraging for food. We had no permission for hunting or trapping but there was plenty of opportunities for foraging. I collected tons of berries, mushrooms as well as some birch bark and some ants. I was never really starving at any point. I just had fun testing different kinds of wild food.

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As we reached evening there was a slight change in the weather. It was getting a bit colder. I started collecting firewood for the night. I had a feeling it was not going to be as comfortable as the first night. I had been running around barefoot with just my pants and a t-shirt on. As I lay by the fire like this I quickly realized however that I needed to put on my socks. A few minutes later I also put on my shoes and my wool shirt. It was definitely getting colder.

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A change of weather
The next morning I woke up at about 5.30. It had been a cold night and I had been awakened by the cold numerous times. Each time I had fed my fire, gone back to sleep just to wake up about an hour later and start over again. The first thing I saw this morning was a beautiful red sky glowing through the silhouettes of the surrounding spruce trees. Sailor’s warning.

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Almost 43 hours had passed with great weather, what more can you ask for? I knew this morning would be spent taking down our shelters and erasing all tracks before heading back to civilization. So there was no need to feed my fire. It takes a really long time for embers to burn out and we certainly did not want to risk setting the forest on fire.

About 3 hours later we were all about ready to leave. It had started raining now which was actually perfect. Because although we had made an effort to put out our fires you can never be too certain. I have to admit that I also enjoyed the fact that the participants didn’t completely avoid a bit of rain. With only a hike through the forest and two hours left of the challenge this was still a luxury trip.

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Challenge end
It was obvious that some of the less experienced participants were feeling the wear of the trip as we began finding our way back out of the wilderness. They felt that they had already made it and all they wanted now was for the challenge to end. Personally I enjoy being outside in the rain and I wasn’t looking particularly forward to going back to civilization either. The trip back was a great one and we even managed to find some big and beautiful penny buns on the way. A couple of hours later we were back in familiar territory. And just as the 48th. hour ran out we finally reached our cars. Everyone had made it with bravour.

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Mushroom hunting with my son and a nice little surprise

September is perfect for mushroom hunting so last weekend I went camping bushcraft style with my 8 year old son in order to hunt for some delicacies. But I also had a little surprise.

I didn’t check the weather forecast before leaving. When you live in Denmark you’re used to a little bit of everything weatherwise. Most times the weather is so changeable that you can’t count on the forecast from one day to another anyway.

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The perfect day
This Saturday morning the weather was perfect. The sun was shining and it was quite hot for a late September day. My son and I were both wearing just a shirt. Our destination was a few hours away by train and we hit the forest at about noon. It was a beautiful hike through the autumn beech forest and along some open plains. I really enjoy being alone with my sons. You get to talk together in a different way than you normally do. We passed a lot of blackberries on our way so we made a few short stops too. About an hour later we reached our destination, a public tent site in the forest right next to Lake Esrum, and I immediately started building our shelter. It takes a little longer than putting up a tent but I prefer sleeping in a shelter because you’re much closer to nature. Also it is more convenient since you can sit under it and still be outside if it rains.

I asked my son to go and find some firewood in the meantime. He was playing around more than he was collecting firewood though. When it was time to build the fire I asked him if he wanted to have a go with the fire steel. I had brought some dry cattail to use as tinder as well as some dry grass. If you have ever used cattail as tinder you know that it catches a spark really easy but only holds a flame shortly. And then it happened: After only two attempts my son had a fire going. I was amazed and proud of course. But also surprised that he did it that easily. I guess we’re moving on to fire by friction next time.

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After that we headed out to do what we came for. Hunting mushrooms. For this purpose I use a mosquito head net instead of a basket. It’s much more convenient when you’re camping out. It takes up no space in your backpack when you fold it in. You can wear it over your shoulder as a bag which is really easy to access and it keeps the mushrooms protected and ventilated.

At first we couldn’t find any edible mushrooms. But then it was like they popped out everywhere. Mainly penny buns (Boletus Edulis) but also a few puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum) and one dotted stem bolete (Boletus luridiformis).

After an hour or so both our nets were full and we had more penny buns than we had expected. In the end we stopped collecting them all together. You shouldn’t take more from nature than you need.

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We had brought some pasta for dinner that we cooked over the campfire along with some sausages. It was really cosy sitting there enjoying dinner with my son who had not only started his first fire using a fire steel this day but he had also found most of the mushrooms we collected. We had a great time fooling around, singing and laughing.

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After dinner we took an evening stroll in the forest along the shore of the lake. It didn’t take long before darkness took over and it was getting difficult to see what we were doing. We headed back to our camp to hit our sacks and end a beautiful day. As we lay there looking out from our shelter we could see a lot of bats flying around. They had come out to feast on all the insects.

The less perfect day
The next morning we woke up to rain. I had already heard the drumming on our tarp during the night. So the first thing I did when I woke up was to go and check on our fire. I had put a big log over the embers the night before. There was still a dry spot under it and I could even feel a tiny bit of heat from the bottom of the ashes, but I couldn’t find any embers. So when the weather cleared up a bit I went to find some dry firewood to build the fire again.

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Meanwhile my son was walking around in the shallows of the lake. That’s when I heard a distant thunder. I went to tell him to leave the water if it was to come closer. And then I saw the horizon. It was very dark and you could see a weather front on the opposite side of the lake moving towards us. I went back out to look for some firewood and found a deadfall where the rain hadn’t reached the wood underneath. I chopped off some big pieces that I later carved into smaller twig size pieces. I then collected some birch bark and after a bit of work I had a fire going. And then it started raining heavily again! The thunderstorm had reached us sooner than expected and all we could do was to wait it out under our shelter.

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After about half an hour or so the sky had cleared up and I started over again. This time I still had an ember going so it wasn’t that big a deal although a lot of the firewood was wet, so I wasn’t getting a lot of heat out of it. And then it started raining again! I was getting really frustrated because we still hadn’t had any breakfast. And I had even prepared to fry some eggs on a stone for us. My youngest son had given me an egg holder for my birthday that I had brought thinking it would be a great chance to use it.

The sky cleared up for the third time. I had managed to cover up the fire with some rocks and a big log this time so even though it had been pouring down I still had some sort of fire going now. Or at least some more powerful embers. I rebuild the fire – again – to a point where I was able to get a lot of embers. I used them to cover a flat rock that I had found, before cleaning them off again and use the stone as a frying pan. My son had been eating all sorts of nuts and biscuits while we were waiting for the rain to stop. So he wasn’t hungry anymore. But at least my little project finally succeeded before we packed up and headed home. The weather had cleared up for good now of course.

Back home we made a delicious stew out of the mushrooms we had collected and served them on a toast.

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Morning hike in Gran Canaria – avoiding the summer heat

Right off the west coast of Africa, about 100 km from Morocco is an underrated nature experience waiting for you if you like hiking. When most people think of the Canary Islands they think of the hotel resorts I guess. But these Islands have so much more to offer in terms of wildlife experiences.

Gran_Canaria_3D_version1The Canary Islands are of volcanic origin. 80% of the volume of Gran Canaria was formed between 14 to 9 million years ago. And the last 20% was formed between 4.5 to 3.4 million years ago. The climate is subtropical.

My first experience with hiking Gran Canaria was in 2010 when I hiked to Pico de Las Nieves (1949 meters) – the highest point of Gran Canaria with Rocky Adventure. This year we came back to the island for our holidays and I didn’t want to miss hiking there. Unfortunately August is the hottest month of the year and no guides take people into the mountains at this time of year because of the heat.

I tried hooking up with a local hiker who I was told went up into the mountains every morning, but without any luck. She was on vacation just like me. So I figured I had to plan my own hike.

Somewhat concerned about the heat being a light skinned norse, I decided to get up early the next morning and aim for the nearest top. My 8 year old son asked me if he could come with me which was great. So we went to check out the direction in which to walk the next morning. We had to cross two highways before seeing any terrain. The first one had a pedestrian bridge over it and the second one had a tunnel under it as far as we could see. That was as much planning as we did except pointing out our destination and telling my wife when we planned to be back.

6 o’clock the next morning I was awaken by my phone. I woke up my son, got dressed and packed my backpack with the lunch pack we had made the night before as well as some water. My son got dressed and we were on our way. It was pitch black outside as we left our hotel. I was quite alert walking with my son near a highway in a strange place this time in the morning. So when a car pulled in right next to us I told my son to keep walking away with me. It was just a guy dropping off some workers but at that time of the day you’re always prepared for the worst I guess. We had passed the first highway as well as a small barren area before looking into a long dark tunnel under the next highway. I was a bit worried that it might serve as a shelter for homeless people or the like. So I told my son to stay put as I went to check it out. I turned on my iPhone’s flashlight and went in there. It looked completely safe so I went back to get my son.

The only thing ahead of us now was the mountains. So we started walking towards them, still in darkness. Our eyes had gotten a bit more used to it now however so we dived in to the terrain with excitement. Walking in barren rocky terrain like that is a bit difficult when you can’t properly see where you step, but we just took it one step at the time.

As we had climbed the first hill we were met by a small surprise. On a small hill above us there were about 500 goats looking down at us. We walked past them noticing that the sky had brightened up a bit. And when we reached the next top we had our first panoramic view. Out there in the horizon we could see the coast of Western Sahara in Africa and clouds forming over the Atlantic Ocean. Sunrise was near. If it wasn’t for the cloud cover the sun would have probably already shed it’s light on us. We stood there for a moment in the quiet of the morning looking at it all. We could also see the highways we had crossed.

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As we continued we could see that we had to either walk around a mountain top or jump a small fence similar to the one used to keep the goats in place. We decided to jump the fence anticipating that we might end up in the middle of a big goat herd, which we didn’t though. From here the terrain became more interesting. We now began moving into real mountain terrain. The whole place was rather barren but the rock is reddish and really beautiful. The interesting thing about Gran Canaria is that there are no real trees until you get to an altitude of about 1000 m. This is because the Canary Island Pine (Pinus canariensis) which is a special species of pine with very long needles gets its moisture from the air humidity from the fog and clouds that roll in over the island. The humidity that these long needles pick up then drops to the grown and is picked up by the tree.

We didn’t see any of these trees though but we quickly became familiar with another of Gran Canaria’s specialties. Caves. The first one we saw was just a small hole in a beautiful rock. It was big enough to easily fit the both of us had it been a survival situation however. In Gran Canaria there are still a lot of people who live in caves. We’re not talking about cavemen in the original meaning however. There are some very luxuries homes built into the mountains.

As we walked on we stumbled across quite a lot of goat remains. My son brought back a horn from one. But we also saw craniums and even a leg lying around. I’m not sure whether they were from goats who had strayed off and died or whether they were killed by some kind of predator, a dog or maybe hunters? I’m not aware of any predator that could kill a goat on Gran Canaria though.

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We had our first break right after hitting the first top on our route. As we sat there we watched the sun come up through the clouds in the horizon. It was magical to sit in the quiet mountains and watch it.

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Seeing the rocks turn bright red as the sunlight hit them was a beautiful sight but also a reminder that it would soon get warm. So after a sip of water we moved on.

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Not knowing what had killed the goats we soon encountered a real predator however. The first sign of it was flocks of pigeons flying frantically over our heads. They were flying so low over the mountain that sometimes they had to make evasive maneuvers to avoid flying into us. The next sign was a scream surrounding the mountain. The scream of a hawk. I never heard it in real life before actually. I only recognised it from an outro to a song. I probably couldn’t have identified which bird of prey we saw had I not recognised its scream. Being out there in the middle of it all and watch it happen right in front of you makes you feel so tied to nature though.

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The sun had really started to come up now and we aimed for the top we had set out to reach. We passed some more caves on our way that were bigger than the first one we had seen. It looked like someone had stayed there for hunting. At least we found quite a few shotgun shells lying around.

When we finally reached the top we had set as our destination we realized that a few hundred meters away there was another top which was a bit higher. So we decided that we wanted to go there too. It was a short and stress free walk and after 10 minutes we were finally happy with our achievement. We sat down in the shade for some food and water before heading back down the mountain.

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My son suggested that we took a different route back down the mountain which meant we could walk on the shade side of the mountain most of the way. We were starting to really feel the heat of the sun now so I thought it was a brilliant idea. Also because it would give us a chance to experience some more of the area.

Even though it wasn’t a steep descend it was fairly difficult to walk downwards since most of the surface consisted of loose rocks. Further down it looked like someone had prepared the mountain side with a snow groomer. When we came closer I realised that the striped structure was in fact goat tracks though.

A bit further down we came across a strange looking green rock which we would probably have brought along had it been smaller. It looked like it consisted of copper but it’s structure was more like chalk.

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After we had come all the way down to the valley we walked along a dried out riverbed. There were some big cactuses growing there (Opuntia dillenii). Their fruits are edible and turn maroon-purple when ripe. These were still green. Be careful if you ever plan on eating their fruits though. They have some areoles on them with tiny barbed spikes that you don’t want to touch.

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The last part of the trip we walked along a small dirt road and as we came out of the mountains right before we hit the tunnel back under the highway we were overflown by another bird of prey. Most likely a common buzzard. By then it was getting really warm too so it was a perfect time to get back to our hotel and take dip in pool. My son had done so well and I was really proud of him. And happy that I was lucky enough to share this experience with him.

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