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You know how I mentioned I was collecting Swiss Army Knives, right? Well I dropped the cash on one of these:
Not only does it have the usual cool survival tools, but this one also gives you the Time, Altimeter, Barometer, Countdown Timer, Stopwatch, Daily Alarm and Temperature. The LCD screen has a backlight, and there's a mini flashlight built into the toolset, see.
So this, being the highly touted "ultimate outdoor survival tool" just shy of a full-blown GPS, I had to take it out for a spin. So I loaded up a large Kelty backpack with my tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, lots of water, 3 days worth of food, drove out to mountain trail head and proceeded to hike up the mountain. NOTE: I only intended to go out overnight to test the tool, but you always bring more supplies than you need in case you get into trouble.
Half way up the mountain I wasn't sure if I was still on the trail, so I whipped out my new Swiss Army Knife (SAK) to check the readings. That's when I realized: although it tells you the elevation and air pressure, it doesn't have a compass! So I was like, WTF? Should I turn back or move on? I decided to move on, because going back could get me more lost, whereas going UP the mountain can only lead to the top; and once you get to the top, you can easily find the trail back down again. Only problem is it took 5 hours longer than I expected to get to the top. By that time it was getting dark and I needed to set up camp quickly.
Once I was set up I opened a can of beans with my SAK's can opener tool, then proceeded to surf the Interwebs with my iPhone... except there was "NO SERVICE". Duh! No big deal, so I sat around watching what was left of the sunset, built a small fire and eventually dozed off to sleep. According to my SAK the temperature dropped to 46 degrees last I looked. It was cold, and of course, you always have to get up in the middle of the night to pee.
In the morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, because a frigging bunch of black crows told me to. I looked around, saw the trail back down, and wasn't worried, so I spent half the day enjoying the scenery of this beautiful mountain top. As I headed back down the mountain around noon, I was happy to breifly meet a few people on their way up to the top. Heading back down, I eventually became lost again. I consulted with my SAK for altitude readings, but the weather was changing which means the barometric pressure was falling, and since the altimeter works based on air pressure, the readings were way off. So I had no idea how far down the mountain I was, see. I had no compass and no altimeter and the weather was slowly declining - at least the barometer was an accurate indicator of the weather.
By about 5pm I knew I was in trouble, because the clouds were getting darker and darker, the barometer kept dropping, and you could feel the wind kick up and the temperature was dropping. So I had to poke around for another hour just to find a level enough place on the side of this mountain to set up for the night again. Soon after I set up the wind kicked up pretty hard and it started to rain fairly heavily. Fortunately, my tent held up and didn't leak. But I couldn't start a fire, and by now I was down to eating trail mix for dinner. Still no cell phone reception, so after a few more sing-songs I bedded down for the night.
In the morning the sun was out and all was bright and clear, albeit, soaking wet. It's great to be dry all night, but when you have to pack up a soaking wet tent with all your other possibles? That's nasty! I started back down the mountain, again aimlessly, but as long as I was going down, I figured that was a good thing. I met no lions, tigers or bears (oh my!) along the way. I think I headed out by about 8am and eventually found my way to the bottom of the mountain by 3pm, near a dirt road. Except I wasn't anywhere near where I parked my car at the trail head.
I had no way of knowing which direction the trail head was to get back to my car. Was I too far left? Right? How far? Which way is East? West? I was on a dirt road alright, but it ain't like an interstate where you can hitch a ride and ask questions. I considered the position of the sun, and started off in my direction, not knowing how far I might need to go. Eventually a truck came by. I heard it off in the distance, and at first I felt a rush of excitement. Immediately followed by fearful recollections of the movie "Deliverance". Now would be the time I could choose to either hide and try to continue on my own way, or stop and ask for help confidently knowing I had my (trusty?) Swiss Army Knife should I need to use it.
Turns out it was a couple of local guys out for some hunting. I told them my situation, and they said they thought they knew what trail head I parked at, and they gave me a ride in the back of the truck. The drive was rather long, and being back there all by myself, I began to get nervous. "Am I being kidnapped?" I thought. What could they possibly want with me? Thoughts of Deliverance pummeled my mind for what seemed like forever.
After what was more likely 20 minutes at 10 or 15 MPH on this mountain back road, we arrived at the trail head where my car was. They dropped me off, and after a few thank you's I jumped in my car and split.
Anyway, so that's it. That's my story, not much more to it. Other than a flea market and a boat ride, that was my biggest adventure in a long time. I'm just glad I didn't bring my micro puppy - he's only about 8" tall. He wouldn't have fared so well I think.
If you or someone you know has a story you would like to share with us here, we would love to hear it!
Cheers!!
Not only does it have the usual cool survival tools, but this one also gives you the Time, Altimeter, Barometer, Countdown Timer, Stopwatch, Daily Alarm and Temperature. The LCD screen has a backlight, and there's a mini flashlight built into the toolset, see.
So this, being the highly touted "ultimate outdoor survival tool" just shy of a full-blown GPS, I had to take it out for a spin. So I loaded up a large Kelty backpack with my tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, lots of water, 3 days worth of food, drove out to mountain trail head and proceeded to hike up the mountain. NOTE: I only intended to go out overnight to test the tool, but you always bring more supplies than you need in case you get into trouble.
Half way up the mountain I wasn't sure if I was still on the trail, so I whipped out my new Swiss Army Knife (SAK) to check the readings. That's when I realized: although it tells you the elevation and air pressure, it doesn't have a compass! So I was like, WTF? Should I turn back or move on? I decided to move on, because going back could get me more lost, whereas going UP the mountain can only lead to the top; and once you get to the top, you can easily find the trail back down again. Only problem is it took 5 hours longer than I expected to get to the top. By that time it was getting dark and I needed to set up camp quickly.
Once I was set up I opened a can of beans with my SAK's can opener tool, then proceeded to surf the Interwebs with my iPhone... except there was "NO SERVICE". Duh! No big deal, so I sat around watching what was left of the sunset, built a small fire and eventually dozed off to sleep. According to my SAK the temperature dropped to 46 degrees last I looked. It was cold, and of course, you always have to get up in the middle of the night to pee.
In the morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, because a frigging bunch of black crows told me to. I looked around, saw the trail back down, and wasn't worried, so I spent half the day enjoying the scenery of this beautiful mountain top. As I headed back down the mountain around noon, I was happy to breifly meet a few people on their way up to the top. Heading back down, I eventually became lost again. I consulted with my SAK for altitude readings, but the weather was changing which means the barometric pressure was falling, and since the altimeter works based on air pressure, the readings were way off. So I had no idea how far down the mountain I was, see. I had no compass and no altimeter and the weather was slowly declining - at least the barometer was an accurate indicator of the weather.
By about 5pm I knew I was in trouble, because the clouds were getting darker and darker, the barometer kept dropping, and you could feel the wind kick up and the temperature was dropping. So I had to poke around for another hour just to find a level enough place on the side of this mountain to set up for the night again. Soon after I set up the wind kicked up pretty hard and it started to rain fairly heavily. Fortunately, my tent held up and didn't leak. But I couldn't start a fire, and by now I was down to eating trail mix for dinner. Still no cell phone reception, so after a few more sing-songs I bedded down for the night.
In the morning the sun was out and all was bright and clear, albeit, soaking wet. It's great to be dry all night, but when you have to pack up a soaking wet tent with all your other possibles? That's nasty! I started back down the mountain, again aimlessly, but as long as I was going down, I figured that was a good thing. I met no lions, tigers or bears (oh my!) along the way. I think I headed out by about 8am and eventually found my way to the bottom of the mountain by 3pm, near a dirt road. Except I wasn't anywhere near where I parked my car at the trail head.
I had no way of knowing which direction the trail head was to get back to my car. Was I too far left? Right? How far? Which way is East? West? I was on a dirt road alright, but it ain't like an interstate where you can hitch a ride and ask questions. I considered the position of the sun, and started off in my direction, not knowing how far I might need to go. Eventually a truck came by. I heard it off in the distance, and at first I felt a rush of excitement. Immediately followed by fearful recollections of the movie "Deliverance". Now would be the time I could choose to either hide and try to continue on my own way, or stop and ask for help confidently knowing I had my (trusty?) Swiss Army Knife should I need to use it.
Turns out it was a couple of local guys out for some hunting. I told them my situation, and they said they thought they knew what trail head I parked at, and they gave me a ride in the back of the truck. The drive was rather long, and being back there all by myself, I began to get nervous. "Am I being kidnapped?" I thought. What could they possibly want with me? Thoughts of Deliverance pummeled my mind for what seemed like forever.
After what was more likely 20 minutes at 10 or 15 MPH on this mountain back road, we arrived at the trail head where my car was. They dropped me off, and after a few thank you's I jumped in my car and split.
Anyway, so that's it. That's my story, not much more to it. Other than a flea market and a boat ride, that was my biggest adventure in a long time. I'm just glad I didn't bring my micro puppy - he's only about 8" tall. He wouldn't have fared so well I think.
If you or someone you know has a story you would like to share with us here, we would love to hear it!
Cheers!!
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Jeez. We ain't got a mountain near the Motor City.
