NAPO TO BABAG TALES CXXX: A Different Kind of Wilderness Survival Camp

THIS IS A STRANGE CROWD that I am facing today, March 23, 2018. Ricky Petiluna, the event organizer had assembled one which looked like it came straight out of Bohemia. Ricky himself is a front act of a local death metal band, the Kryptic Skulls. I assume the rest of the band are here and the rest are its fan base.

This band has a different philosophy. They are enchanted with nature and the outdoors. Everytime they have out-of-town gigs, they make it sure that, after the klieg lights, after the ear-splitting music, after the exhausting performance, after the shrieking crowds, they go straight to the hills of their hosts and launch their own nature appreciation therapy.

It has a different energy and it travels through their soundbytes. This event and the participation is testament to that. A couple of Boy Scouts took the opportunity when it was posted in Facebook and hanged on to the call of the wild. The venue would be at a place I designate as Camp Xi, easy to access but tricky to find.

 

All the participants are accounted for at the parking lot of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. We all proceed to the trailhead of Napo, the gateway to the Babag Mountain Range, Cebu City, Philippines. Going to assist me are Ernie Salomon, Jonathaniel Apurado and Randy Salazar. Their mere presence already elicits awe among participants as they have created names for themselves in our small outdoors sub-culture of bushcraft.

After a hike of an hour through the beautiful trails of Sapangdaku Valley, we cross a stream and ascend a ridge leading to Camp Xi. The campsite is ready with a good water source 150 meters away – spring, waterfall and stream; separate latrines for men and women; a firepit with adequate firewood; and a grassy meadow to welcome individual shelters.

The participants set up their tents and simple shelters. Some opt to find places to hang a hammock. After claiming their spots, I let them prepare their meals for lunch. Ernie and Jon cook the food for the four of us camp staff. I would start the training after siesta and that would be at 13:00. The weather is warm and humid assuring us sunshine all the way.

Before proceeding to the first topic, I talk about the purpose and the design of the BASIC WILDERNESS SURVIVAL COURSE. You see, the mountains consist of harsh environments, steep inclines, high elevations and unpredictable weather patterns. It is remote yet people visit these places to chase passions and desires. Accidents are most likely to happen there in a flash.

After that, I proceed to the Introduction to Survival. Survival is different from bushcraft. It is immediate and would bend rules and morality in the pursuit of life – of surviving. That is a hard reality which all survivors must live with while in the course of their dire consequences and the thereafter.

While nobody has that ultimate technique to survive accidents and calamities, a prepared mind would, at least, be blest by chance. Surviving the initial impact is one half of it while ensuring your survival until help comes in is the other half of that. In between, the mind controls everything from the way you think and even to the release of adrenaline. Your brain is a supercomputer but, unfortunately, it could only process one thought at a time.

Survival situations demand that you stay tough after the initial impact. Mental stability and toughness are very important characteristics of a survivor. You must develop a survival mindset. Do not engage in prolonged mind games of fantasy and false hopes. You should rein in your mind so you would not release excess adrenaline and cause you more confusions in a very stringent moment.

The best thing to do is stay still and fill up your lungs with oxygen. Your brain need it most to help you process thoughts. You are now in a high state of agitation and so does your brain. Your brain will be in hyper mode, collating and processing many thoughts all at the same time which is beyond human capacity. We can do so one thought at a time only. Just stay still and breathe regularly, supplying your blood system with oxygen.

In the hierarchy of needs and of nutrition in a survival situation, water is always on the top of the scales of both. Rightly so, for we are in the tropics and humidity plays a big role. With that, we surrender perspiration by the acts of our exertions and by what the climatic conditions imposed on us. Along with the lost moisture, is our body heat which we let go without our knowing.

When you stay still in one place, you lessen wastage of moisture and body heat. Then you confine the latter by setting up a shelter (if you still have one) or make one from scratch. That is the second need. The third would be food then warmth. Although food, and even water, would give you warmth, but heat from a naked flame or from the rays of the sun or from a person’s body is solace. Last is security which would complement well with the rest.

Our body has four hypothetical storage tanks that need to be replenished from time to time during survival. First is constant rehydration that would offset dehydration. Second is food that would give you nutrients, carbohydrates and proteins. Third is sugar which is converted by enzymes for your adrenaline rush. Fourth is fat, hardest to find in the tropics yet are wrapped as tissues in our body.

The next topic is about Water Sanitation and Hydration. The first chapter had mentioned the importance of water during survival. Water could be sourced from natural springs, water seeps, water holes, flowing streams, the atmosphere and from plants. It could be sanitized through boiling, through filtration and by desalination. It is wise to cache water  or travel early and take advantage of shady places and breeze if you happen to have less.

We move fast to the third topic of the day which is Knife Care and Safety. The knife is a tool and should not be used to what it was not designed for like digging latrine holes and as pry bars. It is a vital piece of equipment that should be properly handled and cared for because it is your link to your surviving. In all training I conducted, knife etiquette is learned first before you touch a knife.

Besides my rules, there is a knife law that forbids the display, even of concealed carrying, in public places unless you are in a lawful activity, which we are in right now. A knife should be in a sturdy sheath when travelling and should be unsheathed when at home to keep it from rust. There are many kinds of knives and it is important that you know the parts, blade shapes, grind styles and the tang designs. You must also learn how to field sharpen a knife.

After the much appreciated instructions about the knife, we move on to Survival Tool Making. Making a tool is essential in survival or even when not in that situation. I showed them the most basic of tools like the digging stick, traps and snares from pieces of bamboo that I was able to obtain, and the batoning stick.

I let the participants practice their knife dexterity by making their own spoons, jugs and cooking pots from poles of bamboo. They work in groups of five and closely supervised. Before 17:00, the groups managed to finish their tools. The first day lecture just end and everyone goes to prepare their dinner.

The first evening of the day is reserved for the Campfire Yarns and Storytelling. This had become tradition after it had its first introduction in 2011 during the first Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp. With the campfire as the center of social life, participants sit in a wide circle listening to funny tales and anecdotes, usually fueled by a moderate dose of alcohol. This last activity for the day ended at 23:00.

The second day, March 24, begin with Notches. There are five basic notches that are used regularly in bushcraft. These are commonly used in building shelters and creating tools. Again this is another exercise of knife dexterity together with the baton stick. Another stick is supplied each participant and they proceed to carve the five notches there.

The next chapter is Foraging and Plant Identification. Foraging food in the wilderness or on unfamiliar terrain can be very taxing to the mind. When you are stressed and hungry, you tend to remove all caution. Looks can be very deceiving in the tropics like fruits, leaves, nuts, roots, flowers and mushrooms. Likewise, you need to evade harmful plants while travelling your way in a jungle.

Short term food would be grub, tree snails, fresh-water shrimps and crabs and frogs. These can be picked by hand. Cook it if you must to remove parasites and bacteria. Long term food are meat from mammals, fish, birds and reptiles. For that, you must use a weapon, traps and snares. Traps could be anything designed to lure prey into a simple contraption of a hollow bamboo or a dam of rocks. It must work with the terrain, with gravity and the habits of creatures.

Snares are more complex. It has a spring mechanism and a trigger mechanism which would be initiated by the prey. Showed the students a very common snare employing a pressure-trigger mechanism. It could catch anything from birds to goats. Then again, you must use bait so prey would be lured to step on it. A single trap or a single snare would not yield you a catch but a trap line of 20 to 30 snares or traps would after ascertaining where would the prey would most likely pass or visit.

Related to these is the chapter on Food Preservation and Cooking. If you can eat a deer all in one setting, well and good. You are very fortunate to still possess a healthy appetite. Meat rot in a short span of time. During survival, meat can be preserved and its edibility can be extended for a few more hours to several months. You can boil it. You can dry it. You can smoke it. Or you can cook it with its own oil from its fat.

Fish can be preserved by drying and by smoking. Fruits can be digested after a drying session and provide you natural sugar. Common rootcrops, has high starch value, and should be cooked, by all means possible, to remove toxins and poison. Famine rootcrops need to be immersed in running water for five days before cooking. Salt and vinegar are good food preservatives. Vinegar can be sourced from any palm.

Last chapter for the day is Fire, Fuel and Campfire Safety. You cannot make a fire if one or all elements are not present, namely: fuel, heat and air. Lately, they added a fourth element – chemical reaction. Fire-making is 80% common sense, 10% skill and 10% perspiration. We are talking about the friction methods. Your fire can start if you can acquire and identify the right tinder, if you are in a dry place, and if you have the patience.

Aside from friction, there is the conventional method which are exemplified by the use of matchsticks, lighters, ferro rods and the flint and steel. Then there is solar magnification which can be done with magnifying glass. Then you have pressurized air, exemplified by the fire piston. Showed them how to use the flint and steel, which I paired with charclothe, and the ferro rod. I also showed them how to make a tinder bundle. 

Showed them how the bow drill method is made and spun. Unfortunately, I could only make thick smoke as sawdust embers refused to light up my tinder. Too humid. Likewise, for the bamboo method. It is now late afternoon and dusk is just around the corner. I let others try the bowdrill, the bamboo, the ferro rod, and the flint and steel.

In this second day, all the participants are exposed to a whole day of fasting. They have to experience the pangs of hunger. The stomach would crave for food and would challenge their concentration. It would increase drowsiness, decrease attention span as the humidity, the uncomfortable situation, even the crawling insects place them in an irritating mood.

After securing the fire, the four groups consisting of 5-6 participants each, begin their quest for dinner. Rice is cooked inside bamboo poles and when it is done, they go to the next phase, which is Nocturnal Hunting. No food, no dinner. All looked for edible snails on trees and fresh-water crabs on the stream. There was good foraging and Ernie cooked it for them, gourmet style. 

The second edition of the Campfire Yarns and Storytelling starts and wonderful tales begun to unravel, much more so when bottles of local brandy mysteriously appeared from out of nowhere, courtesy of two very resourceful participants, who hunted something different other than snails and crabs. The night extended well beyond midnight until the last drops have been consumed.

The third and last day, March 25, start with Customizing the Survival Kit. It is better that survival kits are made from scratch than bought commercially because a survival kit’s size and its components depends upon the type of the activity you are indulging in and the kind of environment you are going to visit. Your personal preference still matters.

Next comes Navigation and Understanding Trails. It is more on traditional navigation which use the natural terrain, shadows and the sky fixtures for travel; avoiding obstacles and exposed areas; and knowing how to identify signs on trails made by both animals and humans. Following that is Understanding Cold Weather. During survival, exposure to the elements is expected. There are five physical mechanisms that steal away body heat and the things that we should do to keep us constantly warm.

The last chapter is Outdoors Common Sense. This is the subject matter that I based from my yet unpublished book, ETHICAL BUSHCRAFT. It is about trail courtesy and behavior while on the trail; choosing the best campsites; practicing stealth camping; increasing individual safety and security; wildlife encounters; and introduce people the idea of Blend, Adapt and Improvise.

After I have closed the training camp, I let them witness how the Blade Porn looks like. This is another bushcraft tradition which is unique in itself and is not found in any outdoor disciplines. This is a staple of good conversations and Randy explained to the crowd the innate qualities of each blade. A few of the participants place their blades to the collection and they begin to understand the purpose of this.

After an early lunch, we break camp and walk down the ridge to another different ridge, crossing a bit into Kalunasan. We finally reach the road at 14:00 and a transport begins to transfer the participants back to Guadalupe. This was one of the best survival training camp put together by an independent organizer. The participants are provided an event t-shirt and a badge plus a giveaway. Congratulations Ricky, I see one future bushmaster in you. Some day.

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NAPO TO BABAG TALES CXXIX: Camp Preparation

PREPARING A CAMPSITE for bushcraft or a survival training camp is one that I have done many times and I always have a checklist which needs to be followed. In the early days and on a few occasions of late, I do it alone. I love working silently. I have mastered this aspect and it also involves identification and selection, borne out from discovery of places.

More often now, I am with my people from the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild and it makes camp preparation quick with so many hands helping out. However, in a noisy crowd there is always someone dedicated to cooking the meals and preparing coffee. Even when the day is warm, these things, in an outdoor setting are heavenly.

Today, March 18, 2018, I am going to Sapangdaku, Cebu City to use again the campsite I used last year for a wilderness training course done for an outdoor club or maybe find an alternative. I am considering another location beyond the old campsite but it remains to be seen which one would be better.

I am not alone today. Going with me is Ricky Petiluna. He is organizing next week’s Basic Wilderness Survival Course for friends which he would also attend as one of the participants. We would meet at the parking lot of the Our Lady of Guadalupe and then proceed to the trailhead in Napo on motorcycles.

I am carrying my old-school Lifeguard USA canvass rucksack but inside it is my folding seat, which I love to call as the “SOP”; a US Army-issue folding shovel, a trowel, the AJF Gahum knife, the William Rodgers bush knife, a Victorinox Ranger, a Swiss Army can burner, a Nalgene bottle, my fire kit, a headlamp, whistle and cotton gloves.

It begins to go warm and humid as I led Ricky from Napo to Kangsi. The ground is dry from lack of moisture but the greens have not wilted. Sapangdaku Creek is noisy and robust, despite the absence of rain for many days. A smaller tributary, Sarapia Creek, joins it. The small stream still has water and that is a good sign that the “tub” will be good for bathing.

 

From the stream, we follow an ascending path that lead to an abandoned house. We rested here for a while to munch on water apples (Cebuano: tambis). From there, we proceed up the trail, passing by the old camp. Showed him the camp ground with all of its green meadows and ancient mango trees. 

This is the primary choice. Its advantage is it has a clean natural spring, a nearby stream with a small waterfall, bamboos on its lower slopes, abundant firewood, an established campfire ring, abundant vegetation for plant ID, trees for shades and my own personal bathtub. Its disadvantage is it is not hammock-friendly. It simply has too few places to accommodate hammocks.

After the inspection, we walk uphill, following the same trail to look for a local farmer whom I befriended a few years ago. He is not here yet. Maybe later. Instead of waiting, I brought Ricky down to Sarapia Creek to check on the condition of the water source. There is a newly-installed bamboo trough that channels the water flow. Very nice.

I check the stream where I think would be off limits to people, especially on a crucial moment like nocturnal hunting. I found it downstream where thick vegetation obscured the view of what is below it. That place gave me the creeps. It was dark and perfect for venomous snakes to hide. There have been sightings of Philippine king cobra (banakon) within the environs along Sapangdaku Creek and its tributaries.

We walk upstream and the water cascade down the small waterfall. After crossing the small stream we climb up a steep path and stood above the waterfall and examine the foliage of an ancient but wild johey oak tree (marang) which the locals mistakenly assumed for a long time as a tipolo tree (Sp. Artocarpus blancoi).

A path leads more of upstream. I need to check my personal natural bathtub. I am disappointed. The last strong rains have filled it with sand, pebbles and silt. Although I have a tool to dredge it, it is not priority. I have but a few hours of morning left, which I would use to inspect a secondary camp across a peak and dig latrines.

 

I retraced my path back to the marang tree and follow another path towards Mapawon Peak. It is a kilometer away and passes by soft disintegrating ground where the trail passes by. Since it is a peak, it is moderately steep and it takes some effort to reach the place. There are two holes where water is fed in it by two separate PVC pipes.

There are many trees here and it is great for hammock camping. I go down to a saddle where there is a giant power pylon. The ground is wide enough for five tents but I have second thoughts. It is susceptible to lightning strikes since the steel structure is a long conductor. I liked this place because but it could not host a big camp.

We go back to Sarapia Creek and then to the main choice of camp. The farmer is there also and he let me borrow his digging iron after I consulted him of using the place again for Ricky’s activity. I also mentioned to him of digging latrine holes since people would have to poop and I do not want the place and all around it spoiled.

We did not do much for the rest of the day except dig three rectangular holes very far apart from each other, on two opposing sides of a ridge, two for males and another one for females. The digging iron was most useful as the soil was hard, but the folding shovel made a big difference. In the old days, I would have crafted a digging stick and it demands lots of energy, which I am wont to expend when the sun is at its zenith.

Ricky was much satisfied with our working excursion and gets to learn camp selection and preparation personally from me. The checklist left a few blanks after that and the bushcraft camp is ready for next week. We finished earlier than we thought it to be and an early rest is more welcome.

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BUSHCRAFT CAMP FOR KIDS IN BLUEWATER MARIBAGO (VER. 2)

THIS BLOGGER RECENTLY SIGNED a Memorandum of Agreement with BLUEWATER RESORTS, represented by its corporate marketing officer, Enrico Monsanto, as resource person for a series of bushcraft events in 2018 designed for children in all its recreational facilities located in Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort, Lapulapu City; Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort, Bohol; and Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort, Cebu.

The first of this is at the Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort. Participating would be children from the Dolpo Kids Club, from guests, walk-in registrants and from the staff of Bluewater Resorts. I would be expecting the presence of the parents and nursemaids too as was the last time I did this same activity last year (March 25, 2017). In fact, parents last year joined the kids carve their own bamboo spoons.

But before this, there was a teaser video released by Bluewater Resorts about the summer-long activities offered by their facilities for children and Bushcraft Camp for Kids is one of these. In fact, members of the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild made themselves available for a video shoot right inside Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort. Please watch the video:

Before 08:00 of March 17, 2018, I was already at Allegro Restaurant with Mr. Monsanto. With me are Jhurds, 8-year old Jacob, Jonathaniel and Jingaling. They will assist me during the Introduction to Bushcraft for Kids. I have subdivided this day-long activity to a Plant ID Tour, Primitive Cooking, Elementary Firecraft, Blade Safety, Knife Dexterity Exercise, Animal Snares, and Simple Shelter Construction    

A couple of Japanese minors and a Korean joined a handful of Filipino kids as I talk about the essence of bushcraft. Then I point to each and every tree that would help them find water in case of survival and other helpful plants which harbor useful parts. This was possible during the Plant ID Tour around the confines of Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort.

Considering that a bamboo is the most common plant in the tropics even in temperate parts of Asia, the idea of cooking food using a bamboo as an improvised cooking vessel is shown to the kids and parents alike in Primitive Cooking. A two-meter pole of green bamboo is opened with a knife with the aid of a stick. That done, rice and water are poured into and then a fire is started.

The kids are also taught how to create a fire by a magnifying glass and by a ferrocerium rod during the session on Elementary Firecraft. With a fine downy material, the kids shrieked in delight as they create fire when they scratched the ferro rod over it. Fire by solar magnification took time to evolve but with a charred clothe, a smoky ember appear, blowing it to life when placed among a bundle of dry tinder. Thick smoke erupted then fire.

The next topic is Blade Safety and it is this part where it is most difficult to proceed since the children would be exposed to harm. The edge and the tip of a knife are parts where it is sharpest and, therefore, harmful. Extra care should be undertaken when handling a knife, especially during the practical exercise. Close supervision would be properly exercised by my staff.

The kids are attentive during the lecture on the procedures of handling a knife, repeating it over again as I see fit and proper. It is very important that the direction of the strokes should be away from you and should be slightly downward. Then you may have to choose your most comfortable position and engage work in the safest location. Engaging in conversations while working is discouraged.

A knife at rest should be returned inside its sheath and it is forbidden for anybody to walk around with an unsheathed knife. Then there are rules how to pass a knife from one person to another. All of those are the most important and the children are now ready for the Knife Dexterity Exercise wherein they are made to carve a spoon from a piece of bamboo. Parents joined their wards, as well as the Bluewater staff.

After an hour of close supervision, the children proudly showed off their bamboo spoons. They have achieved this work on their own, mastering their fear and timidness and, once they have gained confidence on this single moment, they would be comfortable handling a knife with responsibility. Then a demonstration is shown to kids how an animal snare work and how to construct a simple shelter. The day is capped off by tasting the rice cooked in bamboo.

I consider it an honor and a sort of redemption for my brand of outdoor activities, to be accepted and trusted wholly by Bluewater Resorts, a certified green hotel and resort, to propagate bushcraft on their recreational facilities that involve children. Although bushcraft uses blades as tools, it is a child-friendly activity which nurtures the creativity of the child and aids the child the value of life skills, which is now beginning to wane due to easy access to WiFi and the electrical outlet.

This writer, who have toiled to create this blog from scratch and for which many original ideas came forth which animated the local outdoors scene from its dull one-dimensional existence. The Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp, the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild, the exploration and establishment of the Cebu Highlands Trail, the Thruhike, and the formation of the Camino de Santiago of Cebu, are all fruits of this blog which fired up the imagination of outdoorsmen who wanted variety.

At the end of the day I am more than satisfied that people – children most specially – are getting interested again on the long-neglected skills of bushcraft. It is not spectacular compared to most outdoor activities which has an abundance of supportive corporate names. Most often it is maligned and misunderstood and I have to fight it from within to remove those wrong misconceptions. I weeded out the wrong practices which popular and social media are erroneously propagating.

That rare opportunity and, forthwith, being associated with one of the best green hotel in Southeast Asia, gives a prestige which I have had not expected before. It is something that I would watch carefully when traversing over opinions and contents in social media. What I digress would surely reflect to names that I am currently associating myself with. It is an unfamiliar territory but I would not want it in any other way. It is just right. 

It was a long journey for me, jagged and steep, running against the wind to corner an elusive prey. I am now on to that special place where dreams become a reality. The sheep is now snarling like a wolf but it is just a harmless shadow. I let it be and so I claim my rightful place under the sun.

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BEBUT’S TRAIL XX: Foraging in the Rain

I GOT KIDS TO TEACH spoon carving on Saturday, March 17, 2018. I need them to carve the softest bamboo that is still green and thin. Kids have little hands and do not have the strength to slice and whittle bigger and harder bamboos. They will be using blades, you know, and that makes it very dangerous. Self-inflicted injuries cannot be discounted.

Why am I teaching children to use knives when parents forbid it? In my generation, we were also forbidden but we were taught by the elders how to use blades safely and properly. Growing up with blades taught us responsibility and we earned our first blades when it was observed that we have grown to appreciate the value of a knife in our everyday lives.

In a society that is too politically-correct, old values which tend to aid children into better adults are discarded because of unfounded fear brought on by sensationalism and by reckless movies which depict glory in blood and gory. Too bad, nobody teaches blade safety and dexterity to kids anymore except from a lone voice in the wilderness.

This is now my advocacy. In my bushcraft camps, there are no shortcuts to handling a knife without sitting all ears first to the topic about knife care and safety. But those were mostly adults and, despite that, it is still strictly supervised. How much more for children? The best age to introduce the knife to children is 7 years old and above.

Because I place good premium on safety, I would forage these green and soft bamboo poles myself. Although I have requested the host of the event to produce green bamboo poles, it might not be the kind of bamboo I meant. I have to be sure because I also put good premium on quality of instruction. These kids should be taught only the best.

On an unusually cloudy morning of March 13th, I left the comforts of home for Guadalupe. It is a Wednesday. I would just be on a very short hike on the hills where I thought I found a lot of healthy groves of bamboo. There are many species of bamboo that I have come to know of but I am only after one kind that is known by its local name: “buho”. 

When I arrive in Guadalupe, I buy a sachet of instant coffee and five bread. This would be my breakfast which I intend to enjoy somewhere over that hump that I love to call as “heartbreak ridge”. It is actually called Guadalupe Hills and there is a trail that goes over its bare back which ultimately goes into a thick forest of Banika and Baksan.

I am carrying my canvass Lifeguard USA rucksack and inside it is an aluminum Swiss Army wood burner, water in a Nalgene bottle and a repurposed Gatorade bottle, a cup, cords, a cheap laminated plaid-nylon sheet, a Cold Steel Bushman, a William Rodgers Bushlore, a Victorinox Trailmaster, my fire kit, extra t-shirt, my “wildlife kit” and a folding “SOP”.

 

The SOP means “seat of power” and is nothing more than a folding seat. When you are now in your middle ages, seating is way comfortable than squatting on the ground. I found it very comfortable when I am working with a fire to cook food or boil water for coffee. I just bring this in short hikes because it is heavy but I have done it lately on extended hikes.

The wildlife kit is a new addition to my usual dayhike load. It is composed of a journal, a waterproof notebook, a ballpen, a pencil, magnifying glass, a ruler and a tape measure, all placed inside a handbag. This is my tool to find and document animal trails in Cebu, whether it is about farm animals, pets or wildlife. Another project in the making.

The weather is very mild today yet two days before I was complaining to myself that it was unusually warm. It was that time I was guiding people on the Babag Mountain Range which is visible from where I stand now on “heartbreak ridge”. The ground is partially wet since it rained lightly here hours before.

Arriving on the outskirts of the forest, precipitation materializes, dampening the mood of the day. Drops of rain fall on my clothes and shoes, totally getting me wet. I cannot stop just because it is raining. Until I found a good and healthy grove of bamboo. There are many visible from the trail but it is not what I desire.

I transfer to another path which I seldom take and found one in the innermost part of the forest. The rain does not bother too much now under thick foliage and so I set up camp near the bamboo. From my bag, I splay on the ground the cheap sheet and place all my things over it. The SOP is the last item I remove and I sit for a while to stare at the bamboos.

As an advocate of ethical bushcraft, you do not cut wantonly any member of a plant you desire. In this case, a bamboo. I study the poles. There are straight ones that reach to the top of the forest cover and there are a few who bow to the will of gravity. I do not need a thick pole, long and full of strength. What I need is a tender one that is thin and soft.

I found what I was looking for and marked it. Then I turn to the business of boiling water for coffee. Light breakfast first. Although it is raining, we in bushcraft (I taught a lot of people), could make fire under any circumstances. We could find dry firewood and tinder in wet conditions and light it up with a single matchstick or with a gas lighter.

With dry twigs and a sliver of paper, a fire came alive within the confines of the Swiss Army burner. I place the stainless-steel cup with water over the rim of the blazing burner and wait for the tell-tale bubbles on the bottom of the cup to appear. If you want it quick, do away the roiling bubbling moment and save time and fuel. In five minutes I have my coffee.

After finishing the five bread and coffee, I pick up a tool most suited for this kind of work: the saw. The bamboo pole I choose is not thick and it does not need brute force to remove it from the rest. The saw-teeth design of the Victorinox Trailmaster, or any Swiss Army Knife for that matter, is a very efficient cutting tool, better than other makes.

I cut an inch above the culm on the lowest part of the pole I choose and the rest of the pole come crashing down to earth. With the Cold Steel Bushmaster, I cut away the branches, the thick bottom and the topmost part where it is most narrow. Dividing the pole into five parts, I let the Trailmaster do its efficient and neat cutting work.

I now got my five poles at about 2 meters each and I believe it would be enough for my class four days from now. I secured all together with timber hitches on both ends for easy carrying. This bamboo variety is very light and hefting on one shoulder is no big deal, especially on a very slippery downhill trail.

I am much satisfied with my foraging work and, slowly, I stow all my things back to my bag. Thanking the place for accepting my intrusion, to include the disturbance. I keep it tidy as possible. I keep the cut branches mixed in with the foliage above while the rest of the unneeded parts, I place it inside a hollow trunk of a tree.

As expected, the path is slippery for it is smooth limestone. My Jack Wolfskin pair tried its best to grip the ground and it had succeeded because I deem to walk slow. It is still raining and a spray of water just slapped my face after I had taken a selfie. Nevertheless, this foraging work is not finished, not until I reach home.

I always give my best when I am teaching people. That means I make things happen that is beyond the scope of my work. That extra mile, that extra effort, is what people want although they do not know it and, likewise, do justice to the bread that they pay you for a glimpse of unconventional education that they yearn from you.

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