Training Primer: Hike out to my resource area and work on multiple tarp configurations based on the Week 6 Challenge. AAN: I set up an A-Frame tarp configurations based, supported using a rope kit without anything being pre-staged. After I disassembled that set, I attempted an unsupported plow-point shelter. Although the concept worked OK, it was very difficult to keep things tight with the tent pads in snow. I disassembled that and set up a supported plow-point, much more successfully. I tried a timed exercise just for grins. It was a modified lean-to which went 9 minutes and 20 seconds. More than two minutes too long.

What failed the first time you tried natural tinder in wet conditions? What corrected it?

Working on this challenge involved two resource walks and a solid trip to my dry storage. On the first snowshoe walk I identified and harvested grass, flower tops, and birch bark. I also found a pine tree that has great potential for Fatwood. I had cedar bark in dry storage from a harvesting last summer and milkweed pods from last fall. I processed down two piles of cedar bark and kindled one with a ferro rod and one with flint & steel. Actually the charred punkwood was sparked with a piece of flint and my 1095 steel Migizi Bushcraft & Survival Knife. I specifically mention this because until recently, this is a skill that has alluded me. I also harvested two pieces of Fatwood from my dry storage, procured from a job site last fall. You can see on one of the pieces where I tested it in the field. I processed down the punk wood around the Fatwood, which would have been much easier with a hatchet but the Fatwood carved feathers very nicely, I was able to scrape some power with the spine of my knife and this easily lit with the ferro rod (and striker). I was under the impression that milkweed pod fluff was flash tinder but this was not the case. It smoldered just like charred material (and stink) but I was able to blow the fluff into a flame against the actual pod. I used that to start Saturdays fire. My second snowshoe hike was out at the family homestead where I knew there were cattail tops. I found tops of various degrees of degeneration and harvested several of each. I have not kindled this patch of grass and flower tops yet and still need to investigate the uses of the cattail. I will add to this in the comments. Darned wedding next weekend that is going to compromise my availability. Not a relative but close enough that there are expectations.

Training Primer: Go for a snowshoe hike of at least one hour, conduct five or six OODA Loop evaluations along the course of the hike, document decisions in an after-action-note. AAN: I snowshoed in the yard packing down the dog exercise trails and prepared to leave my property onto the abutting corporate land. OODA Loop 1 - leaving my property, am I wearing the appropriate clothing and have the materials for the hike? 28 degrees, 15 mph winds, 1400 hours. Yes. OODA Loop 2 - breaking out onto the RR tracks, wind condition, drifting snow, continue or turn. Continue. OODA Loop 3 - Branch overhanging the trail, widow-maker, dangerous in the windy conditions. Continue. OODA Loop 4 - deer crossing, open water, is this a year-round resource or long term water source. Probably, there are several along the tracks and the running stream adjacent to the tracks. OODA Loop 5 - perpendicular trail that during warmer seasons goes into the homeless camp. What is the brown paper bag tied to the tree? There are old tracks in the snow, not real recent. Probably a good reason not to venture into the camp area. Evaluate going further along the tracks. Very deep snow, turn around. OODA Loop 6 - Which trail to return on. Follow my track all the way back to better pack the trail and also to not put any pressure on any deer that might be bedded down. One course correction, to turn around and not venture into deeper snow at that point. I decided not to turn off the trail. I got my snowshoe wet crossing a small brook when a snow bridge caved in, I should have evaluated it better to not get my equipment wet. Distance: 0.92 miles, 1 hour.

I started this subsection of the weekly challenge last Sunday but arrived at the selected site to find that none of my cordage was pre-staged, it was in fact still wrapped in the paper directly from Wally World. Mission abandoned - momentarily. I processed the 50-foot bundle into a rapid ridgeline and four 6-foot sections. I made the opportunity to get back out to the same spot and set up a Helicon Tex poncho on a rapid ridgeline and used the SFO Pathfinder Ponco Poles. I use a simple running bow line knot on one anchor, held with a tent peg, a truckers hitch with an extra turn on the tensioning end. One corner of the poncho is held to the Prussic Knot with tent peg and one with a stick. The back corners were held with a hank of paracord tied with two-half hitch around the poncho pole and a marlin-spike hitch to the more robust tent stakes. The back of the poncho would need to be buried in the snow and pine boughs would have to be collected for insulation. The temperature was 40 degrees and was calm. Although not working against the clock, it took approximately 10 minutes. This was an anchored lean-to as contrasted with an A-frame shelter.