Jungle Wil visits the Aeta

 Rattlesnake Rhys Davies of F6 Expeditions Recently experienced a 5 day jungle trek with the Aetas Negrito tribesmen of the Philippines. The Negritos were the primary jungle survival instructors for the U.S. Navy as Subic Bay Naval base for several years and trained the Naval pilots in survival during the Vietnam war era.

When the U.S. Navy left Subic Bay in 1992 Jungle Environmental Survival Training Camp (JEST) was created to help the Aetas transfer their attention to the civilian population. The U.S. Military camp was converted by SBMA/FSC to the new JEST Camp, where regular people like you and I can learn Jungle survival skills.

Some of the skills you can learn include basic mountaineering, fire-building, wildlife identification, traps and snares, and other wilderness survival techniques. One of the most interesting demonstrations is when the guide created a full campfire out of nothing more than dried bamboo; no matches or lighters are allowed.

without food or water and with the Aeta guide “Tata” leading the way, Rattlesnake Rhys was taken through the rainforest on a 3 night adventure, .Rhys was shown how to  retrieve water from various plant vines and other important survival skills when you have nothing but your trusted “Bolo” knife at your disposal. Rattler was also shown how to cook rice using green bamboo, make insect repellant and soap from certain plants.

Our company “Jungle wild adventures” will soon be offering Jungle survival and trekking courses of various lengths, depending on your time frame or budget. We have also located a source for quality Bolo knives and jungle survival kits.

Rattler had with him in the Jungle on this most recent adventure the minimum of equipment needed;
tent – light weight 2 man bivvy
sarong
light weight “Gohike” brand clothing
1 gallon plastic water jug
1 liter stainless steel mug with Lid
Bolo knife
jungle boonie hat
lighter
mid sized back pack
Rice
plastic tarp
And not much else, most items used for eating and cooking were crafted from Bamboo , and shelters were made completely of bamboo.
Please check back for more information from F6 Expeditions survival treks and wilderness survival items.

Personal guns ; The marlin papoose

Personal Guns

I’m not a big Fan of Guns. Even though I was an Armorer in the Army and as a Military contractor in the Middle east and Africa. I like them more for their aesthetic appeal rather than their use.
My personal gun collection is only 4 guns. I use to own many more but never used them. I have either sold the extra ones or traded them off for more practical items like cast iron cook ware or wood working tools. And, I’m not sorry to say, I always found going to the range to shoot a little boring and not worth the effort.  Also, Going to the range conjures up nightmare memories of being in the Army and awake at 3 AM, wearing Kevlar, web gear, and gas mask then either freezing my ass off or baking in the blazing sun all day – no thank you.

Anyway, as I said I only have 4, a .22/,22 mag “rough rider” pistol. A marlin “Papoose” take down rifle, a 20/.22 Savage break action shot gun, and a Chinese pellet rifle. I had a 50 cal Black Powder “White mountain” hunter but sold it recently.

The guns I have would provide for me If I ever need to count on them for Survival hunting/ foraging purposes. A .22 rifle and a brick of 500 bullets is really all you need for long term survival. If I had to haul ass after some great disaster, I would grab my papoose and the rough rider. I have killed a Caribou and deer with the papoose, and the .22 magnum on the RR pistol is an awesome round. While working as a big game hunting guide in Montana back in the day, many of the old timers referred to the .22 mag as the best “Poaching” round there is.

With My 20 guage (62 cal), Simply by changing ammo type or shot weight, I can kill any big game found in North America . The ammo can be reloaded with smokeless or Black powder providing I have the caps. Or, I can reload it with some backwoods savvy taught to me by various native people in SE Asia.

The Chines air rifle I use to keep varmints out of my garden, and if need be for hunting small game.
I’m a little amused at “survival types” who hoard guns and ammo just in case they need them to fight a corrupt governments soldiers etc. You will not win a fight against Hardened troops in the event of martial law. It is stupid to think you would.

Anyhoo, you don’t need 50 guns and thousands of rounds of ammo to survive an economic collapse , kill the zombie hoards, or fight government troops. Just get a couple of practical guns that are easy to fix, simple to use, and come in common calibers, keep in mind that the 12 guage ,30.06, and .22 are the most common rounds in the USA.

I was attempting to fire my Marlin Papoose.22 rifle the other day only to realize that the firing pin was broken!

After consulting the internet for Papoose plans and schematics, assembly/disassembly instructions my friend I called the local gun repair shop and located a Papoose firing pin for 8 dollars. I drove down to the gun shop, bought the firing pin, hit a couple of pawn shops on the way back, then bought some coffee and cinnamon rolls and I was in business.

In less than 5 minutes I installed the new firing pin, reassemble the papoose, and test fired it.
Im always amazed at the information you can find on the internet.

The Orient Express; A true Tomahawk Adventure

The Orient Express

Man, I love train travel! My oldest brother Russell got me hooked on it when I was a kid of about 6 or 7. He took me on the train to Chicago from our home town of Sandwich, Illinois. It was only about a 60 mile trip but I can still remember the dining car with its, white table cloths, silver decanters and Train stewards.

Since then I have made trips by train all over the world. I have taken every AMTRAK route in the western USA , leaving out of Chicago,and 1 route from Boston to Richmaond, Virginia.

I have hopped on the train in Mexico, Peru, Thailand, Cambodia and a few other places I have forgotten about. But, the one train trip I can also remember vividly is taking the Orient express from Strausburg to Munich Germany back in the 70s. What a beautiful train.

Recently, I was told that the line is still running but has ceased to go all the way to Istanbul, Turkey. I had always wanted to make the trip from Paris to Istanbul but just never got around to it. But, Alas! Ill never get my chance now, thanks to cut rate airlines and faster trains the glory days of train travel are a thing of the past.

There are some private trains that still run most of the way but to me, it wouldnt be the same…..It would be fun travel but, not on par with the old Orient express.

The original route, which first ran on October 4, 1883, was from Paris, Gare de l’Est, to Giurgiu in Romania via Munich and Vienna. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the Danube to Ruse, Bulgaria to pick up another train to Varna, from where they completed their journey to Istanbul (then called Constantinople) by ferry. In 1885, another route began operations, this time reaching Istanbul via rail from Vienna to Belgrade and Niš, carriage to Plovdiv and rail again to Istanbul.

In 1889, the train’s eastern terminus became Varna in Bulgaria, where passengers could take a ship to Istanbul. On June 1, 1889, the first non-stop train to Istanbul left Paris (Gare de l’Est). Istanbul remained its easternmost stop until May 19, 1977. The eastern terminus was the Sirkeci Terminal by the Golden Horn. Ferry service from piers next to the terminal would take passengers across the Bosphorus to Haydarpaşa Terminal, the terminus of the Asian lines of the Ottoman Railways.

The onset of World War I in 1914 saw Orient Express services suspended. They resumed at the end of hostilities in 1918, and in 1919 the opening of the Simplon Tunnel allowed the introduction of a more southerly route via Milan, Venice and Trieste. The service on this route was known as the Simplon Orient Express, and it ran in addition to continuing services on the old route. The Treaty of Saint-Germain contained a clause requiring Austria to accept this train: formerly, Austria allowed international services to pass through Austrian territory (which included Trieste at the time) only if they ran via Vienna. The Simplon Orient Express soon became the most important rail route between Paris and Istanbul.

The 1930s saw the zenith of Orient Express services, with three parallel services running: the Orient Express, the Simplon Orient Express, and also the Arlberg Orient Express, which ran via Zurich and Innsbruck to Budapest, with sleeper cars running onwards from there to Bucharest and Athens.

During this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping-cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine. Royalty, nobles, diplomats, business people and the bourgeoisie in general patronized it. Each of the Orient Express services also incorporated sleeping cars which had run from Calais to Paris, thus extending the service right from one edge of continental Europe to the other.

The start of the Second World War in 1939 again interrupted the service, which did not resume until 1945. During the war, the German Mitropa company had run some services on the route through the Balkans, but Yugoslav Partisans frequently sabotaged the track, forcing a stop to this service.
Following the end of the war, normal services resumed except on the Athens leg, where the closure of the border between Yugoslavia and Greece prevented services from running. That border re-opened in 1951, but the closure of the Bulgaria–Turkey border from 1951 to 1952 prevented services running to Istanbul during that time. As the Iron Curtain fell across Europe, the service continued to run, but the Communist nations increasingly replaced the Wagon-Lits cars with carriages run by their own railway services.

By 1962, the Orient Express and Arlberg Orient Express had stopped running, leaving only the Simplon Orient Express. This was replaced in 1962 by a slower service called the Direct Orient Express, which ran daily cars from Paris to Belgrade, and twice weekly services from Paris to Istanbul and Athens.

In 1971, the Wagon-Lits company stopped running carriages itself and making revenues from a ticket supplement. Instead, it sold or leased all its carriages to the various national railway companies, but continued to provide staff for the carriages. 1976 saw the withdrawal of the Paris–Athens direct service, and in 1977, the Direct Orient Express was withdrawn completely, with the last Paris–Istanbul service running on May 19 of that year.

The withdrawal of the Direct Orient Express was thought by many to signal the end of Orient Express as a whole, but in fact a service under this name continued to run from Paris to Budapest and Bucharest as before (via Strasbourg, Munich, and Budapest). This continued until 2001, when the service was cut back to just Paris–Vienna, the coaches for which were attached to the Paris–Strasbourg express. This service continued daily, listed in the timetables under the name Orient Express, until June 8, 2007. However, with the opening of the LGV Est Paris–Strasbourg high speed rail line on June 10, 2007, the Orient Express service was further cut back to Strasbourg–Vienna, departing nightly at 22:20 from Strasbourg, and still bearing the name.

Sling shot

 The other day I was riding out a hail storm under my tarp. I was getting a little bored so I decided to make a slingshot. I had with me some wide rubber banding material, given to me by my good friend Shawn Sprague in Maine.

It is a bit too wide to use as is so I took my dura shears and cut a strip off the edge, about 18 inches long. Instead of cutting it and adding a cup made of leather (from a glove) or canvas (made from a torn up bag) , I simply torn a strip of duct tape from my Nalgene bottle and added a small piece to each side of the band where the cup should be.

This tape gives me an idea of where to load the ammo without actually looking at the slingshot. That way, I can run and shoot at the same time.

Many of the stones in this part of the mountains where I operate are edgy and  it is difficult to find decent round or elliptical stones for ammo. Looking around I found a few stone that I made work. However, while “draining the main vein” I noticed some nicely shaped balls of pine pitch at the base of a ponderosa pine tree. There balls of pitch were roundish to elliptical and weighed about the same as the stones I was finding – perfect!  This ammo put me in mind of the sling ammo used in the days of old – like David used to slay Goliath.

I was curious as to how fast this slingshot was shooting so, keeping in mind my 120 paces to 100 meters pace count, I stepped off 15 paces(= 37.5 feet or so), I took one of the semi large elliptical chunks of pitch , loaded it, drew back and let fly! From release to to impact – Wack! – with the Juniper tree, it was a count of  10001 = approx 1 second. So I’m assuming it flies at 37 feet per second, or about 25.2 miles per hour(??).

It was a lot of fun to make and play around with, I especially like the non lethal pine pitch ammo, it was also low impact,but effective to ward off pesky bears and squirrels.

Lavvu or Chuum tent

 

As some of you may know, A while back, I purchased a cheap tipi on ebay for $150.00. I probably should have known better then to waste my money on it but , at the time I just figured what the hell…
I shipped it up to Maine and set it up, it only took a few minutes for the first tear to appear. The grommet in the apex of this tent ripped out. I punched a hole in an old soup can and inserted it onto the end of the single pole, I was then able to tie the apex onto the pole and erect the tent.
Things went well until the first rain storm and accompanying winds, I then found the interior swimming in water, and a large tear in the fabric…oh well! So much for buying cheap gear. Lesson learned.
The fabric is still pretty good and very useful so, I decided to make a tipi style tent (Lavvu or Chuum) used by the Laplanders and Evenk people of Siberia.
I cut 12 poles from balsam fir and maple, made 12 tent stakes, gathered several small round stones to use as points to tie my tent stakes to, gathered up some bailing twine and other cordage scraps, then set to work.
The next thing I did was to split the tipi straight up from one of the 2 doors. Next, I cut the floor out of the tipi, then the apex. I left some of the nylon webbing attached to the apex intact to use as a means of securing the tipi fabric to the pole so I could raise it in place.
I set up my tripod, raised it into place, laid some additional poles in the manner of setting up an American Indian Tipi, Tied the tipi fabric to the last pole and raised it into place at the back of my “Lavvu”.

The next step was to spread the fabric around the poles and secure it into place with some cordage scraps. Next, taking my small smooth stones, I placed them on the fabric from the inside of the tipi, gave them a twist and tied them into place. Starting at the door way of my tipi, I secured the stakes in place by pounding them in using the back end of my Gerber hatchet. The only tools I used were my trusty Swiss Army knife and a Gerber hatchet.Next, I gathered up all of my gear and moved in. I set up my army cot and wood burning stove, cut some fire wood, and I was in business. It was a cold and rainy past couple of days Here in the Maine north woods, It was nice to be able to get a fire going in the stove to take the chill out of the air, and brew some Chaga tea.

The Lovat scouts – The 1st British Army unit to wear Ghillie suits.

Major Frederick R. Burnham 

This Scottish Highland regiment was formed in January 1900 for service in the Second Boer War by Simon Joseph Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat, father of the World War II commando, Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, and uncle of David Stirling, the creator of the Special Air Service. Recruited initially from gamekeepers on Highland estates, the unit was commanded by an American, Major Frederick Russell Burnham, the British Army Chief of Scouts under Lord Roberts, who fittingly described Lovat Scouts as “half wolf and half jackrabbit”.



Major Burnham was selected for the Victoria Cross but declined rather than give up his American citizenship. Burnham would later go on to become one of the founders of the Boy Scouts” Well practiced in the arts of marksmanship, field craft, and military tactics, they were also phenomenal woodsmen always ready to tempt fate, but also practitioners of discretion: “He who shoots and runs away, lives to shoot another day.” Lovats scouts have the distinction of being the first military unit to wear a Ghillie suit.

Ghillie suits;
I have always thought the Ghillie suit was interesting, I remember as a kid there was a Vietnam vet I got to know pretty well, he made a Ghillie suit out of burlap and string and used it for deer Hunting and “People watching” as he said.

I can remember the 1st time he demonstrated the functionality of the suit to me, it was late October in the Midwest USA and he simply walked into the woods wearing the suit and sat down.
He seemingly dissapeared. In my personal experience at that time I really had to look and concentrate on finding my friend hiding in plain site. It was pretty cool to see.

A ghillie suit, or yowie suit, is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble heavy foliage. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of cloth or twine, sometimes even made to look like leaves and twigs. Snipers and hunters may wear a ghillie suit to blend into their surroundings when they feel it is important for them to camouflage and hide themselves from enemies or their targets. The suit gives the wearer’s outline a three-dimensional breakup, rather than a linear one. When manufactured correctly, the suit will move in the wind in the same way as surrounding foliage.

The name was derived from ghillie, the Gaelic for “servant”, in English especially used to refer to those assisting in deer hunting or fly fishing expeditions in the Scottish Highlands. A Ghillie Dhu-Scots “Ghillie Dubh“-Irish, meaning ‘Black/Dark Servant’, is a faerie, a guardian spirit of the trees. The ghillie suit was allegedly developed by Scottish gamekeepers as a portable hunting blind .High-quality ghillie suits are made by hand, most military snipers generally construct their own unique suits.

Manufactured Ghillie suits can be anywhere from 1 to 4 pieces. Proper camouflage requires the use of natural materials present in the environment in which a sniper will operate. Making a ghillie suit from scratch is time-consuming, and a detailed, high-quality suit can take weeks or even months to manufacture and season for use.

Ghillie suits can be constructed in several different ways. Some military services make them of rough burlap flaps or jute twine attached to a poncho. United States military ghillie suits are often built using either a battle dress uniform (BDU), or a pilot’s flight suit or some other one-piece coverall as the base.

On the base, rough webbing made of durable, stainable fabric like burlap is attached. A nearly invisible material like fishing line can be used to sew each knot of net to the fabric (often with a drop of glue for strength). The jute is applied to the netting by tying groups of 5 to 10 strands of a color to the netting with simple knots, skipping sections to be filled in with other colors. The webbing is then seasoned by dragging it behind a vehicle, leaving it to soak in mud, or even applying manure to make it smell “earthy.” Once on location, the ghillie suit is customized with twigs, leaves, and other elements of the local foliage as much as possible, although these local additions must be changed every few hours, due to wilting of green grasses or branches.

Ghillie suits are essentially impossible to clean and actually work well if not cleaned. Although the underlying garments are tough and washable, the attachments tend to be too fragile to survive washing. In practice, this is a moot point, as dirt is an essential part of the suit’s camouflage. Generally, snipers are unconcerned with being fastidious because they are rarely inspected for correctness of uniform, and they stay far away from the target.

A new generation of ghillie suits are being made with synthetic threads. The synthetic thread is much lighter than the natural jute or burlap. It is also somewhat washable, but washing the ghillie suit can often cause it to lose its abilities to blend in with the environment.

Although highly effective, ghillie suits are impractical for many situations where camouflage is useful. They tend to be very heavy and hot. Even in moderate climates, the temperature inside of the ghillie suit can soar to over 50 °C (120 °F).The burlap is also flammable, unless treated with fire retardant, and the wearer may be exposed to ignition sources such as smoke grenades and white phosphorus.

To enhance safety, the US Army Soldier Systems Center has developed an inherently fire resistant (FR) ghillie suit fabric to replace the jute or burlap. This new material does not need to be treated with any additional flame retardant, as the fire resistance is inherent in the product and the FR ghillie suit fabric will self extinguish. This material was successfully field tested in late 2007 at the Sniper School at Fort Benning, and has been standard issue since June 2008. They are a full set of clothing trousers top and hood.

The gear of “The Mad Trapper”

The gear of “The Mad Trapper”
by T. D. Moore
The Mad Trapper of Rat River
The Mad Trapper of Rat River has always been one of my favorite Survival and evasion stories. The RCMP chased this guy for 48 days and covered about 150 miles in winter before they finally killed him. He was never known to have built a fire to cook food or warm himself during the entire chase period. He carried 2 rifles , a  300 Savage 30.30 “Feather weight” lever action, and a bolt action .22, his pack weighed about 200 pounds. Also, I thought what he was carrying in his pockets at the time of his death was interesting.

Albert Johnson known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River, was a fugitive whose actions eventually sparked off a huge manhunt in the Northwest Territories in Canada. The event became a minor media circus as Johnson eluded the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) team sent to take him into custody, which ended after a 150 mile (240 km) foot chase and a shootout in which Johnson was fatally wounded.

Details of Johnson’s life before his arrival in Fort McPherson on July 9, 1931 are unknown. Soon after arriving he built a small 8×10 foot cabin on the banks of the Rat River, near the Mackenzie River delta. Johnson did not take out a trapping license, however, which was considered somewhat odd for someone living in the bush.

In December one of the local trappers complained to the local RCMP detachment in Aklavik that someone was tampering with his traps, tripping them and hanging them on the trees. He identified Johnson as the likely culprit. On December 31 Constable Alfred King and Special Constable Joe Bernard, each of whom had considerable northern experience, trekked out to Johnson’s cabin to ask him about the allegations. They noticed smoke coming from the chimney, and approached the hut to talk. Johnson refused to talk to them, seeming to not even notice them. King approached and looked in the window, at which point Johnson placed a sack over it. They eventually decided to return to Aklavik and get a search warrant.

They returned two days later with two additional RCMP officers and a civilian deputy. Johnson again refused to talk and eventually King decided to enforce the warrant and force the door. As soon as he started, Johnson shot him through the wood. A brief firefight broke out, and the team managed to return King to Aklavik, where he eventually recovered.

A posse was formed – this time with nine men, 42 dogs and 20 pounds (9 kg) of dynamite which they intended to use to blast Johnson out of the cabin. After surrounding the cabin they thawed the dynamite inside their coats, eventually building a single charge and tossing it into the cabin. After the explosion collapsed the building, the men rushed in. Johnson opened fire from a foxhole he had dug under the building. No one was hit, and after a 15 hour standoff in the 40-below weather the posse again decided to return to Aklavik for further instructions.

By this point news of the events had filtered out to the rest of the world via radio. When the posse returned on January 14, delayed because of almost continual blizzards, Johnson had left the cabin and the posse gave chase. They eventually caught up to Johnson on January 30, surrounding him at the bottom of a cliff. In the ensuing firefight, Johnson shot Constable Millen through the heart. [1] The troops remained in position, and that night Johnson scaled the cliff to elude the RCMP once again.
The posse continued to grow, enlisting local Inuit and Gwich’in who were better able to move in the back country. Johnson eventually decided to leave for the Yukon, but the RCMP had blocked the only two passes over the local Richardson mountains. That didn’t stop Johnson, who climbed a 7,000 foot peak and once again disappeared. This was only discovered when an Inuit trapper reported odd tracks on the far side of the mountains.

In desperation, the RCMP hired Wop May to help in the hunt by scouting the area from the air. He arrived in his new ski-equipped Bellanca monoplane on the 5th. On February 14 he discovered the trick Johnson had been using to elude his followers, when he noticed a set of footprints leading off the center of the Eagle River to the bank. Johnson had been following the caribou tracks in the middle of the river, where they walked in order to give them better visibility of approaching predators.

Walking in their tracks hid his own footprints, and allowed him to travel quickly on the tramped-down snow without having to use his snowshoes. He only left the trail at night to make camp on the river bank, which is the track May had spotted. May radioed back his findings and the RCMP gave chase up the river, eventually being directed to Johnson by February 17.

The team rounded a bend in the river to find Johnson only a few hundred yards in front of them. Johnson attempted to run for the bank, but didn’t have his snowshoes on and couldn’t make it. A firefight broke out in which one RCMP officer was seriously wounded and Johnson was eventually killed after being shot nine times. May landed and flew the officer to help, being credited with saving his life.

An examination of Johnson’s body yielded over two thousand dollars in both American and Canadian currency as well as some gold, a pocket compass, a razor, a knife, fish hooks, nails, a dead squirrel, and a dead bird. During the entire chase, the Mounties had never heard Johnson say a single word. To this day no one knows for certain who he was, why he moved to the Arctic, or if he was actually responsible for interfering with the trap lines as alleged.

Two relatively recent theories regarding Albert Johnson’s identity have appeared in print. In the 1989 book “Trackdown” by Dick North, the mad trapper was identified as John Johnson from North Dakota. More recently, in the 2007 book “What Became of Sigvald Anyway” the mad trapper is identified as Sigvald Pedersen Haaskjold by Mark Fremmerlid. Other writers such as Frank Anderson, Helena Katz, and Thomas P. Kelley, have considered the case unsolved.

On August 11, 2007, a forensic team exhumed his body and conducted forensic tests on his remains before re-interning it. Forensic examination is now underway in an attempt to conclusively establish his true identity. Results of this testing will be released in conjunction with the documentary film being done for Discovery Channel by Myth Merchant Films.

The event has been written about in a number of books, a song by Wilf Carter, as well as a fictionalized account that was later turned into the movie Death Hunt, starring Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin.

“The mad trapper of Rat river” by: Dick North
“The man was five feet nine inches tall. He had blond hair and pale blue eyes. He weighed 175 pounds, with legs like tree stumps; his neck and shoulders were as powerful as a caribou bull’s. His name was Arthur Nelson. He unslung the two rifles he carried over his two-hundred-pound pack. He put one rifle into the snow. It was a Winchester .22. He hefted the other rifle in his hands and quietly racked a shell into the breech. It was a 30-30 Model 99 Featherweight “take-down” Savage, and made up in muzzle velocity what is lacked in size. Slowly, the rugged, clear-eyed man knelt down into the snow. Unseen, he eyed the figure of a man following him here, above McQuesten Flats fifteen miles north of Keno, Yukon Territory. It was May 7, 1931, and he was heading to the Beaver River, and then across the Wernecke Mountains to the Arctic slope, and from there down north to the Porcupine country. He wanted to be alone and was ready to ensure that he would be. Slowly, he raised the rifle to his shoulder. Ten more steps and the man would be close enough. Nelson put his index finder through the trigger-guard of the rifle. He counted nine, eight, seven, six, five – suddenly the stranger stopped, looked around briefly, and then turned and started back the way he had come. Nelson brought the Savage down from his shoulder. He had seen that the man wore the chocolate brown drill parka of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Nelson shrugged his shoulders and slung the two rifles over his pack and continued north. He was never seen again.”

A few months ago I was lucky to receive a link via email for the Discovery channel Canada show called the autopsy of “The Mad Trapper”. It was an excellent show but a little inaccurate as to the equipment Johnson carried on his run from the law. The documentary showed TMT with a small partially loaded ruck sack instead of a Trapper Nelson frame pack and he was carrying a rifle saddle scabbard tied to his pack. A saddle scabbard for your rifle would be a very impractical item due to its weight, bulk, and once frozen in the extreme temperatures of the arctic it would be like sheet iron thus making getting your rifle into play nearly impossible.

Also, the documentary showed the character playing Johnson wearing cotton military style clothing – another inaccuracy. Perhaps, its just me. I have not watched TV in years but when I do I expect things to be portrayed accurately. I find that TV types are extremely vexing and annoying in the liberties they take. Portraying anything with inaccuracies only detracts from the true story and tends to cloud any issues involved in the story.

Recently, I was staying with my friend Tim Smith in New Hampshire. On the book shelf I happened to find the “The Mad Trapper of rat River” –  by Dick North.
In Appendix “A” – Exhibit “C” is a list all of the equipment Albert Johnson AKA “The Mad Trapper” had in his possession at the time he was killed by the RCMP.
Pretty cool to me and I’m sure to many others. I had personally never seen this list before and found it interesting to note that Johnson (according to the RCMP list) didn’t have extra clothing of any kind, no socks, wool cap, extra mittens, etc., nor did he have a blanket or sleeping bag.

He had no food, just some salt and red pepper. During the manhunt He was never known to build a fire to warm himself or cook a meal. I’m just guessing but Perhaps he made small twig fires cook small game like the whiskey jack and squirrel or to brew some spruce or pine needle tea in his lard bucket cooking pot. If he didn’t stop to cook or make a brew, I can only imagine that he was chewing snow for water and eating the small game he shot raw.

Looking over this list of equipment I think it shows definite wilderness savvy and potential skill. The Gear Johnson was packing was practical and functional and suited to the environment. His choice of rifles was excellent, one each for large and small game. Johnson even had an oily rag to swab down his guns. The axe, knives (2), sewing kit, matches, Compass, fishing gear, and babiche to repair his snow shoes all show that Johnson was no tenderfoot and knew what to carry for an extended stay in the wilderness. Smart, functional and practical but about average for your typical “sour dough” I think.

An examination of Johnson’s body yielded over two thousand dollars in both American and Canadian currency as well as some gold, a pocket compass, a razor, a knife, fish hooks, nails, a dead squirrel, and a dead bird. During the entire chase, the Mounties had never heard Johnson say a single word.

Many of the items Johnson carried on his run from the RCMP closely resemble what I have in my pack now….Like red pepper, salt, sewing kit, fishing gear, .22 rifle & ammo, Matches, cooking pot, small mirror, buckskin rifle case, match safe, cash, razor. I do have a blanket, hammock, and minimal food and clothing.

I would like to find one of those old trapper nelson packs though, They look pretty cool but are getting hard to find. I might have to locate a craftsman who could make me a copy of one. I like the simple design of the wooden frame and the canvas pack sack. I did some research into the Trapper Nelson packs and found that they first hit the scene in 1927 and were popular up through WW2 and were used by the Alaskan Army scouts during the war.

In fact, I watched the movie “Death Hunt” with Lee Marvin and Chuck Bronson, which is based in the “Mad Trapper” story and noticed that “Johnson” was wearing a Trapper Nelson pack in the film. You could also see his extra rifle and axe handle sticking up out of the pack.

Below I have copied the list exactly as it is written in the Dick North Book about “The Mad Trapper”. I’m too old and broken down now to do it myself but Id like to see someone replicate Johnson’s run from the law using this same gear. Personally?? I doubt anyone could do it.
Albert Johnson “The mad trapper”

(Gear)
When Johnson was killed he had the following possessions in is pockets and pack;
$2,410 in Canadian and American money.
A small glass jar containing 5 pearls valued at $15.00
5 pieces of gold dental work valued at $3.20
another small jar containing 13 penny weight of alluvial gold valued at $9.36
a model 99 Savage “Featherweight” rifle in 30.30
an Iver Johnson sawed off shotgun in 16 gauge
a Winchester .22 rifle model  58
thirty nine 30-30 shells
four 16 gauge shotgun shells
sixty four .22 bullets
a compass
a package of 32 pills
an axe; a trapper nelson pack ; lard can with lid in old sack; a dead squirrel; a dead whiskey jack
knife made from a trap spring
match safe
Gillette safety razor
envelope containing a piece of a 3 cornered file, an awl and a chisel made from a nail
a small knife with a moose skin cover
moose skin rifle cover, moose skin pouch, moose skin sewing bag containing needles and thread
small spring, nails wrapped in tin foil, Matches wrapped in tin foil, 30-30 cartridge box containing a small empty bottle and a small piece of wax.
7 pieces of moose hide, a sack containing 6 empty sacks, 15 pieces of babiche, 1 large bundle of babiche snow shoe lacing, 1 bundle of sewing thread, 1 moose skin lace.
Calico rifle cover
Large envelope containing;
1 box pony matches
1 bundle sulfur matches wrapped in tin foil
1 bundle sulfur matches wrapped in paper
1 tinfoil packet containing 2 pills
1 paper package of 6 pills
1 paper package of fish hooks
1 tinfoil package containing oily rag
1 leather cover containing comb and sewing materials
4 loose .22 shells
a moose hide container holding a small mirror
1 packet of red pepper
1 packet of salt
1 bundle of rag twine

Maine to Arizona Hitch

I had been hanging around the Jack Mountain Bushcraft school in Masardis Maine for several months and was getting a little bored. I had the itch to travel, so I packed my bag and hit the road at about 7 AM on the 10^th of September 2011. I walked the 1/2 mile from the field school to the road and stuck out my thumb……….

My first ride was with “Big Mike” who was heading to Boston after dropping off his nephew at a school in Maine, as luck wold have it Mike knew the area I was heading to in New Hampshire and offered to drop me off at my buddies house in Warner, NH. It was a good 7 hour ride , Mike is an interesting dude so the conversation was good and the scenery was pretty. I love the New England states but could never settle there due to the winter cold.

“Big Mike” dropped me off at my friend Sean’s place in Warner , NH. I reorganized my gear and spent a few days visiting Sean then hit the road one morning around 6 AM.

I shouldered my pack and walked down the driveway to the road, stuck out my thumb and caught a ride with Tom from Maine. He was on his way to Vermont . Tom dropped me off on the interstate ramp where I stood around for about 4 hours before getting my next ride about 12 miles down the road.

Vermont rides were not too good but I was lucky when a car pulled up with New York plates! This was my first long ride, the drivers name was Justin and he was a decent kid and very intelligent. Justin took me to the Connecticut/New York state line, Handed me $20.00 for the road and took off in a flash. I found a decent place to camp for the night and slung my hammock between 2 ash trees. 3 white tailed deer came to watch me and were so tame then didn’t balk at my quick movements as I set up my stealth camp.

In the morning I packed up, shouldered my pack and headed to the on ramp of the interstate. My 1^st ride into NY state was with Phil who worked as a garbage man. A cool guy but probably smoked too much weed back in the day. Phil was fun to talk to and as we were driving along he pulled $10.00 out of his shirt pocket and passed it to me saying “get some food and coffee on the road”. I thanked him for it and stuffed the money in my pocket.

My next ride in NY states was with Ann who is a dog groomer. She was also a very cute and vivacious “Hippy girl”. Ann took me across the Hudson river to a spot where I could catch a ride. It wasnt long before my next ride came along. Rich Gore was an interesting fellow , he took me about 20 miles or so down the road and dropped me off in one of the best locations I had on the trip so far.
I stood around for about 3 hours before John (my next ride) came along and took me into Pennsylvania. John dropped me off just across the NY/PA state line.

I hiked a bit down the road and found a decent place to hitch from. After about 20 minutes or so a guy named Brian pulled up and took me down the road to the Delaware state forest. Brian was a generous person and genuinely interested in adventure travel. He gave me $20.00 and a bag of food for the trail. At the Delaware forest location where Brian dropped me off to camp for the evening I encountered the fiersest mosquitos I have ever encountered anyplace in the world.

It took me a few minutes to locate a place to sling my hammock in the woods and the skeeters were tearing me up. I quickly threw all of my stuff in the hammock and crawled in. there must have been about 400 skeeters on the mosquito netting in less than a minute.

In the morning the situation had not improved any and I quickly packed up and hit the road. I had to walk about a mile down the road to get a decent place to stand and escape the skeeters. After about 2 hours of swatting mosquitos . I caught my next ride with an older couple named Josie and Donald. Nice folks, they were on their way to a doctors appointment in the town where I needed to got on the interstate.

As bad luck would have it at my next location the road and ramp to the interstate were under construction so I was forced to stand way up the road from the ramp and try to get lucky enough to catch a ride. And lucky I was. Jeffery pulled up and told me he could take me down the road to Bartonsville, Pa about 10 miles or so down the road. Cool! I hopped in and headed out. I was most grateful to Jeffery for getting me out of that spot.

In Bartonsville I had a nice shady spot on the interstate entry ramp to hitch from. I was there about 2 hours and finally caught a ride with a real character named Hector Martinez. Hector took me about 50 miles down the road to a truck stop which turned out to be a bad location but good in the sense that while I waited there a gentleman named Kip came up to shoot the shit with me and offered me a lift to the next ramp and then gave me $150.00 to spend on my travels. I will always be amazed at the generosity of this total stranger to another total stranger. From the ramp where Kip dropped me off I caught a ride with David for a few miles before catching a ride with a cool dude who went by the handle “UGG” . He told me it was his nick name from his Hippy days. “UGG” gave me a ride all the way across Pennsylvania to a town called Barkleysville(?). It was a great ride and took me several hours down the road .

That night after “UGG” dropped me off I decided to get a hotel room because it was well after dark by then and I could not locate a decent place to sling my hammock.

In the morning I headed out about 8 AM and got a ride fairly quickly with a decent fella named “Butch” who was heading south near the West Virginia state line. Another great long distance ride!
“Butch” dropped me off at the interstate ramp in the blazing sun and I was lucky enough to catch a ride after only a few mins with  “Pearl” who was a ww2 Vet and served in the Army air corps as a combat weatherman from 45 to 48. He was an interesting old guy to talk to and had a funny story as to why his name was Pearl. Once Pearl dropped me off about 30 miles or so down the road ,I stood under the over pass near the entry ramp for the interstate to catch some shade.

After about an hour or so a couple of nice young guys gave me a ride about 40 miles down the road, their names escape me now but as I recall they too were very friendly and  courteous to a total stranger.

And so it went through the entire state of West Virginia, My rides came in a series of short hops down the interstate. I ended up staying in a cheap hotel my 1^st night in WV due to not being able to catch a ride before dark, and due to the location – there was absolutely no where to sling my Hennessey hammock.

The following morning I was lucky enough to catch a series of rides that got me all the way through “The mountain state” and into Kentucky.

The folks that gave me my last ride out of WV were pretty generous as well, they went out of their way to drop me off at a good hitching spot , gave me a sandwich from subway and $30.00 in one dollar bills.

After they dropped me off it wasn’t long before I got me next ride into Kentucky.  This gentleman was a minister and pretty interesting to talk too, I rode with him for about an hour, and when we reached his destination it was full dark so I asked him to drop me off at the cheapest hotel in town.
With the cash I had on hand and that given to me by the folks on the WV/KY state line, I was able to get a room and buy a decent dinner. In my hotel room that night I fired up my laptop and checked my email – as luck would have it my good friend and fellow wilderness Bum “Pog” sent me $150.00 via Western union, all I had to do was find a WU office and go pick it up.

Pretty cool!,  Knowing that there is a WU in every K-mart in the USA, I headed over to the local K-mart the following AM around 10. On my way to the WU office I was lucky enough to find a $10.00 bill laying in the grass along the side of the road. I was surprised! and picked up the damp bill and shoved into my pocket.

After picking up my $$ at the Kmart WU office, I headed  over to the on ramp for the interstate and stuck out my thumb. It wasnt long before and old guy pulled up and offered me a ride. He offered to drive me by the Mcdonalds en route and buy me breakfast. I agreed and thanked him for his generosity.

I had a series of rides from great and generous folks over the next few days. My longest ride came from a trucker named Chris, who carted me from somewhere in Kentucky to just south of Little Rock Arkansas.

From there I worked my way across Arkansas into Texas where I got my 2nd long distance ride. A guy named Robert stopped and asked me if I needed a lift. He said he was driving to Nevada and wanted some company to keep him awake. Later in the evening He decided to stop for the night and got a hotel. He also got me a room with his “points” then bought me dinner. He was sure a nice guy. In the Am , after the hotel  breakfast we headed out. Several hours down the road. Robert dropped me off in Sanders, Arizona right on highway 191 south.

I hiked about 3 or 4 miles out of town and set up my hammock in the juniper tree for the night. I was a good camp and I was rewarded with a great Arizona sunset. Early the next morning I was on the road heading south. I caught a series of short rides all the way to alpine.  At about dark, I was on 191 south looking around for a place to set up camp. Just then a truck full of hunters driving home to Tucson pulled up and offered me a ride to Benson, Az. Perfect!

It took about 3 hours to get to Benson,once there, I called my other friend “Homie Matt” in Sierra Vista. Matt drove over and picked me up. It took me a total of 16 days to hitch hike from Aroostook , county Maine to Sierra vista , Arizona. The distance according to Google maps was 3,900 miles. It was a long haul, but It was a good trip. I was amazed and impressed by the generosity of people toward me (a stranger) and have since paid forward that generosity whenever possible.

A short Hitch between Utah and Az

 

 

A couple of summers ago, I took a Greyhound bus to Price, Utah on Hwy 191 then proceeded to hitch to Huntington Canyon and hike around in the mountains there for a few days. I also camped along the Price River and began my return to Arizona on the 21st of June.

 The return trip took me a total of 24 different rides, it was about 700 miles or so but I’m not really sure. The first night was spent around Monticello, Utah, near the Blue Mountains. It was a stormy night with high winds/rain /and hail. After the storm it looked like snow had fallen due to the amount of hail on the ground.

On the second night I was camped by the San Juan River close to Bluff, Utah. I had the river to myself after I bushwacked through the tamerisk and Russian olive to find a “private” beach. I built a small fire and made coffee to celebrate my privacy. After night had fallen I simply laid out my poncho and pad and slept in the open on the beach. There was an awesome meteor shower and very clear skies to behold. I was able to make out all of the major constellations. The only problems were the gnats and mosquitoes.

The 3rd night I hopped the fence on someone’s property on the Navajo Reservation just south of Ganado, Arizona. It was in a Juniper and Pinion woodland with lots a sage brush and prickly pear cactus on hand.

On the 4th night I was just south of Sanders, AZ on the edge of the Navajo Rez, my camp consisted of just throwing up a poncho under some juniper trees in a natural arbor.

I reached the White mountains of Arizona on the 4th night and decided to spend 2 nights camped around 8K feet in a ponderosa forest, my shelter was made with a little more care due to the amount of rain in the area. It rained hard for several hours the 1st night in the whites, and continued to drizzle all the next day.

I was able to hike around and do some exploring and located some turkey feathers ,and then a bull elk skull with the skull cap recovered hanging in a tree.

That Night I heard some strange vocalizations and odd sounding banging in different areas of the woods all night. It was kinda cool to experience.

My coffee ran out so I hitch hiked back into Alpine with a lady who worked in the fire tower on “26 road” as she called it. I bought some food supplies and 2 cups of really bad coffee from the local store. I also managed to do my laundry.

After a couple of hours in “town” I hiked to the town limit and soon caught a ride which took my to Benson, Arizona, where I met an interesting character named Jose who once paddled the entire length of the Mississippi River and subsequently rode mules with his son across the USA back in the 80’s. Now he just hangs out in Tombstone, carving Indian style flutes for the tourists.

Jose dropped me off at the Benson city limits, then I caught 3 different rides over a 30 mile stretch to Sierra Vista ,where i hung out for a few days visiting friends before i headed into the Huachuca mountains to do some camping.

It was a fun and interesting trip and I look forward to sharing the pics and short videos with you soon. I  was my pleasure to have met several interesting and colorful characters along the way.
During my trip I noticed the kindness and generosity of folks, most of whom seemed to have very little but were willing to share what they had and help another person.The displays of kindness and generosity have partially reconditioned the waning faith I have in my fellow man. I look forward to further adventures on the road.

During the hike I managed to salvage lots of MRE’s and other gear from the dumpsters on the army base and to get some vids of the 2 bears I saw.

My arrival back in Arizona signals the end of an around the world trip I began on Jan 20th of this year.I was in Kuwait, Qatar, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, Mexico, and the USA(seattle,montana,New mexico,utah,arizona).The gear I carried varied, depending on the place I was and the local weather conditions.