by MHM
23 October 2018
Living in Montana and South Dakota afforded a lot of opportunities for folks who appreciated the outdoors, and not many "living historians" I knew took up the challenge of primitive camping during winter. By primitive, I mean using 19th century clothing and accoutrements.
During one Montana outing, our shelter was a tipi, which was fine by itself, but the fire in the center provided the only source of heat. Otherwise, your back was to the rear of the tent, and it was pretty cold where the wind blew under the flap.
I had three thick wool blankets for sleeping. One was folded up to provide some sort of bedding, while the other two were draped over me at bedtime. If anyone has slept under wool blankets, you soon find out that they tend to slide off during the night. It didn’t help that I was wearing a wool breechclout, which made for some really chilly wake ups. My wool blanket coat (capote) didn’t afford much protection from the cold wearing it to bed, so I took it off and draped it over me like a blanket. I also wore a linen shirt, over which was a thick wool overshirt.
I ditched the breechclout and leggings and went with some surplus wool pants that I had packed in my hand sewn knapsack, and that made the cold nights more tolerable. I can honestly say I was looking forward to the morning sun, and again building up the fire for some warmth. On my head I wore a wool voyageur cap, which was a necessity, in addition to wool mittens and socks.
Otherwise, time was spent on camp chores with such tasks as running ball, collecting and cutting firewood, and just plain relaxing and enjoying the wilderness. While some would like to believe they are “mountain men”, I was under no illusion given the fact that we weren’t in hostile country, and weren’t trying to survive on a daily basis. That, and while we were in a primitive area, the unpaved county road was only 30 feet away along with our vehicle.
All in all, my primitive camping experiences were for the most part quite enjoyable, with the occasional greenhorn or buckskinner thrown in to provide some entertainment (like the clown who boasted of being a “mountain man” for 20 years and didn’t know how to make fire with flint and steel).
23 October 2018
Living in Montana and South Dakota afforded a lot of opportunities for folks who appreciated the outdoors, and not many "living historians" I knew took up the challenge of primitive camping during winter. By primitive, I mean using 19th century clothing and accoutrements.
During one Montana outing, our shelter was a tipi, which was fine by itself, but the fire in the center provided the only source of heat. Otherwise, your back was to the rear of the tent, and it was pretty cold where the wind blew under the flap.
I had three thick wool blankets for sleeping. One was folded up to provide some sort of bedding, while the other two were draped over me at bedtime. If anyone has slept under wool blankets, you soon find out that they tend to slide off during the night. It didn’t help that I was wearing a wool breechclout, which made for some really chilly wake ups. My wool blanket coat (capote) didn’t afford much protection from the cold wearing it to bed, so I took it off and draped it over me like a blanket. I also wore a linen shirt, over which was a thick wool overshirt.
I ditched the breechclout and leggings and went with some surplus wool pants that I had packed in my hand sewn knapsack, and that made the cold nights more tolerable. I can honestly say I was looking forward to the morning sun, and again building up the fire for some warmth. On my head I wore a wool voyageur cap, which was a necessity, in addition to wool mittens and socks.
Otherwise, time was spent on camp chores with such tasks as running ball, collecting and cutting firewood, and just plain relaxing and enjoying the wilderness. While some would like to believe they are “mountain men”, I was under no illusion given the fact that we weren’t in hostile country, and weren’t trying to survive on a daily basis. That, and while we were in a primitive area, the unpaved county road was only 30 feet away along with our vehicle.
All in all, my primitive camping experiences were for the most part quite enjoyable, with the occasional greenhorn or buckskinner thrown in to provide some entertainment (like the clown who boasted of being a “mountain man” for 20 years and didn’t know how to make fire with flint and steel).
We organized one canoe trip on the Missouri in late September, just before the arrival of snow. A small island in the middle of the river was selected, only to
discover that beaver had gnawed all the saplings and small trees away, leaving the island rather barren and covered with what resembled punji stakes. One misstep and it wouldn't have taken much to pierce a moccasin and impale your foot.
Finally, we established some camp rules, the most important being that firelocks were to be unloaded in camp and unprimed with the pan open, or uncapped. For the most part we never fired our flintlocks, except on returning to civilization via the river, travelling on the very route used by the US Army’s Corps of Discovery 200 years previously.
Finally, we established some camp rules, the most important being that firelocks were to be unloaded in camp and unprimed with the pan open, or uncapped. For the most part we never fired our flintlocks, except on returning to civilization via the river, travelling on the very route used by the US Army’s Corps of Discovery 200 years previously.
mhm
Old School Survival (OSS) blog
23 October 2018
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