Historic Strides

Well folks, the Trek is over. We got back from the Primitive Trek late Sunday afternoon and everyone survived, even if we were a bit sore.

Trek Description

We left the Capital District area around 9:30am on Saturday, headed toward Brandt Lake, NY and the Pharaoh Lake trail head. Along the way we made a couple of last minute stops and also hooked up with our daughter Paige and granddaughter Keira for a brief photo shoot and general well-wishing. For those that may not recall, Keira has Cystic Fibrosis and was the reason the Primitive Trek was also a fund raiser for the CF Foundation of Northeastern NY.

The entire trekking crew with Keira before the Trek. (Back row left to right) Dan, Amy, Sarah, DJ
(Front row left to right) Keira, Samantha, Casey, Sydney

Once we were 1/2 way up the road to the trail head we discovered that it turned into a 4×4 trail. So, everyone piled into our Xterra and we proceeded on.

We donned our garb and gear and headed out. Saturday, even in the Adirondacks, was in the low 80’s which made for an exhausting 3 mile hike in to our camp area. Once we located a camping area* we started to hear the distant rolls of thunder. We immediately, set up the rain fly, relocated our gear under it, and hurriedly gathered fire wood. We were lucky (mostly), after nearly two hours of listening to thunder, the rain waited until we already had a fire going before it started.

(*Remember in the Adirondacks, a camping area is anywhere you want it to be so long as it’s more than 150 feet from a trail or water; so camping can be somewhere VERY remote if you want. And we did.)

Started with flint and steel, the first tendrils of smoke signal success!

It was a steady rain that lasted about an hour, and although it meant cooking in the rain our fire held out and we munched heartily on bread, cheese, jerky, herbed carrots and turnips, and beef roasted on a skewer. We then packed our extra food into a pack and hoisted it into a tree to make it a less easy target for passing bears and other critters and got the area under the rain fly ready for sleeping.

During the night the rain continued off and on but the rain fly was sufficient to keep us dry. Of course the rain meant that there was a Front moving through. Once the Front went through the night was chilly, but tolerable. So, when we woke up the temp was in the mid 40’s. This meant fire was the first order of business. Apparently I work flint and steel better when I’m freezing cold, because while I couldn’t get the dinner fire started (DJ did that), I had the morning fire started in 4 strikes. Breakfast consisted of bread, cheese, beef jerky, and bacon.

A chilly overcast morning was the start of the day on Sunday

As it turns out my hunting license expired 3 days before the Trek. So that was not an option and we were too sore to circumnavigate the Lake. Therefore not having anything else to do, we hung out a bit, then cleaned up, packed up, and struck camp.

The hike out was easier than the hike in. Yes, the hike out was downhill, but probably the biggest factor was that Sunday was in the comfortable mid-60’s as opposed to the low 80’s of Saturday. Two and half hours later we were back at our cars.

Overview/Realizations

Most of our handmade primitive gear functioned really well. Other than a tie breaking on Syd’s pack, and shoe “explosions” from being packed with too much wool, none of the gear actually malfunctioned or broke.

That said we have discovered some period “comfort modifications” that should be made to the frame packs, and we want to look into some other ghillie designs to make walking a bit more comfortable. Also, some of our clothing fabrics were a bit light for sleeping in these temps.

We may want to consider actually creating a scenario or specific goal. At this point we’re skilled enough to build shelter, fires, cook with minimal equipment, and survive an overnight. Sarah had suggested giving the kids a goal such as building a sundial for the campsite to use. Perhaps something similar could be extrapolated out for the adults too, such as advanced survival skills, or building a drum or musical instrument to play by evening?

The Future

A long term goal may be for ACC to have a week long Primitive Trek. With some preplanning a core group could stay in the Adirondacks, and others could hike in, meet up, and replenish the “base camp”, and stay for as many days as they could. This “base” might slowly move along a trail (as if it were a Celtic migration) or it could stay put (as if preparing to “settle” the area). But a longer event could give others the opportunity to participate. Additionally, a series of goals or longer survival projects could be carried out with this scenario. A complete photo album can be found here: http://www.celticclans.org/gatherings/trek2007.html

As the date of the Trek approaches three members have had to withdraw.

Both Ron and Richard have had unexpected work conflicts arise, and Joey’s schedule makes traveling 5 hours from NJ into the Adirondacks a difficult feat.

All is not lost however.  Posts about this Trek on Living History Library sparked the interest of a new person, Daniel (yes another one )  Although he had some suitable equipment, with less than a month to go, he’s quickly gathering the supplies and making everything else he needs from scratch.

So current Trek companion lineup looks like this:

• Dan C. (me)
• Sarah (my wife)
• Sydney (our daughter)
• DJ
• Amy
• Samantha (DJ & Amy’s daughter)
• Casey (DJ & Amy’s other daughter)
• Daniel P.

That puts us under the threshold for needing a “Wilderness Area” permit, which makes life easier in some respects.  The flip side of that is Ron, Richard, and Joe were all seasoned woodsmen and were a great asset for the Trek.  But sometimes life gets in the way.

Happy Birthday Keira!

Today Keira turned 1 year old. Full of energy and life, most of the time you would never know that she has Cystic Fibrosis. In fact, only on her bad days, when she coughs or is wheezing do people have any idea something is not quite right. And of course most of the time they simply figure she has a “bad cold”.

Keira, not quite sure what to do with her first piece of cake

In the 1930’s a CF baby’s life expectancy was 6 months, and even in the 1950’s many of them never got to first grade. Today, most “CF’ers” will hit the average age of 36, but that is still only half as old as their non-CF peers.

It didn’t take too long to figure it out, but she did insist on using a fork.

Treatments have gotten better, but the best way for Keira to keep her lungs clear is to stay active. Right now that means crawling at top speed chasing down any of our 4 cats, or playing “chase me” with her mother, grandparents and aunt. She get additional “percussive therapy” (PT) as needed, but so far we’ve been very lucky that she is doing this well.

It should be interesting to see what she’ll be up to once the Trek is here. She’s already working hard to take her first steps, and she has mastered “kitty” and “kitty-cat” as her first words. With any luck she’ll be walking some of the Trek with us (even if it’s several feet at a time) and enjoying the Adirondack mountains with the rest of us.