Ultralight Hiking:

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PS: You can make your own alcohol stove too. I have several posts about this. Try a search in the bottom left hand corner for ‘stove’

14/08/2020: Asparagus Dreaming: Della: Today’s job was the asparagus bed: This is a perennial crop, and having planted the crowns about 30 years ago, we have little to do each year other than cut off the dead fronds each winter.

Gardening guides say that you can do this once the fronds turn yellow in autumn, but that is hard work, I found, as each thick frond has to be cut by hand with secateurs. So over the years I have put the job off later and later until I discovered that August is the perfect time. By then the stems are dead enough to come away with the gentlest tug, and so the work is minimised.

So here are today’s before and after pics, along with the first taste of asparagus for the season. Another reward in leaving the bed looking untidy all through the cooler months is the early shoots that are waiting to surprise me beneath the bleak canopy. Tonight’s dinner accompaniment!

Most impressive. I wish I could do a ‘show and tell’ for my day’s work on the fence, but at the end it still just looks like a fence even though I am exhausted! An asparagus bed (like a good fence) will pretty much last a lifetime. I will not have to build either again anyway.

13/08/2020: The Best Hiking/Hunting Shoe Ever: I received my new Topo Hydraventure 2 shoes from Injinji about a month ago. The new model is even better than the old one.

Look at that tread.

310 grams in US size 9.5: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/08/13/the-best-hiking-hunting-shoe-ever/

12/08/2020: Prometheus has a lot to answer for– but Boy, have we ever been sitiing around the campfire for a long while: https://www.livescience.com/when-did-humans-discover-fire.html

11/08/2020: Aricxi $30 Tent Review: It took quite a while to get here what with Covid 19, but it came a couple of days ago. I am as pleased with it as I thought I would be when I mentioned it in this post back in April. The tent is very well made and well thought out. For most people it will be big enough for two people and will certainly be a palace for one. It really does only weigh 320 grams including the guys!

I will make a few improvements to mine. they are all things you could do with a little bit of competent hand sewing which will make the tent even better. I use the word ‘tent’. this has been the normal word for a folding ‘roof’ you sleep under for thousands of years. I do not understand the absurd distinction between tent/tarp some wish to draw insisting that if it does not have a floor or bug protection it is somehow not a ‘tent’. You can always simply add these features, or dispense with them… https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/08/11/aricxi-30-tent-review/

06/08/2020: DIY 33 Gram Roll Up SS Hobo Stove: I am over carrying heavy stoves – and fuel. This one will do me. I will produce a version in titanium which will weigh about half what this one does in stainless steel, so under 20 grams! And no fuel to carry. Good enough? https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/08/06/diy-33-gram-roll-up-ss-hobo-stove/

05/08/2020: They keep ‘discovering’ the world’s tallest trees - and ignoring the even taller ones which used to exist in Victoria: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/worlds-tallest-tropical-tree-discovered-climbed-borneo/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=Compass_20200801&rid=401F76E6763B0B094694A8EC247EC256 & https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/01/20/our-largest-trees/

02/08/2020: A Moondarra Maelstrom: We took a break from building the fox-proof fence this afternoon to have a stroll on the Wirilda Track which snakes along the beautiful little Tyers River North of Morwell. For many years it has been the Latrobe Valley's principal fresh water supply. It was a lovely late afternoon deep in the Tyers Valley. Just on sunset we came to the bottom of the dam which was overflowing powerfully giving us some wonderful views of its spectacular waterfall: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/08/02/a-moondarra-maelstrom/

01/08/2020: Della: Swallows: Yesterday Steve saw some of our swallows return for the season. Sadly, one small member of the flock made it bravely across the world to our verandah home and lay down to die of exhaustion. It was small, very young and so light - no doubt not quite old and strong enough for the journey. I gently buried it next to one of my roses, to no doubt feed a host of insects that will in turn feed her family flock.
And so my mind turned to A.D.Hope's "The Death of the Bird"... and to that morning's news of the death of one of our daughter's childhood friends, and then to other recent deaths that have touched us, and so to all the suffering of those dealing with death during this pandemic.
"The Death of the Bird" has some very poignant lines: Not comforting, no sugar-coating, just some raw insight into the way things are.
It was not happy contemplation, but necessary sorting of my thoughts.
Hopefully some time in the paddock fencing with Steve today will lift my small bout of melancholy.
I recommend the poem, especially the 2nd half.

The Death of the Bird

For every bird there is this last migration:
Once more the cooling year kindles her heart;
With a warm passage to the summer station
Love pricks the course in lights across the chart.

Year after year a speck on the map, divided
By a whole hemisphere, summons her to come;
Season after season, sure and safely guided,
Going away she is also coming home.

And being home, memory becomes a passion
With which she feeds her brood and straws her nest,
Aware of ghosts that haunt the heart’s possession
And exiled love mourning within the breast.

The sands are green with a mirage of valleys;
The palm-tree casts a shadow not its own;
Down the long architrave of temple or palace
Blows a cool air from moorland scarps of stone.

And day by day the whisper of love grows stronger;
That delicate voice, more urgent with despair,
Custom and fear constraining her no longer,
Drives her at last on the waste leagues of air.

A vanishing speck in those inane dominions,
Single and frail, uncertain of her place,
Alone in the bright host of her companions,
Lost in the blue unfriendliness of space,

She feels it close now, the appointed season:
The invisible thread is broken as she flies;
Suddenly, without warning, without reason,
The guiding spark of instinct winks and dies.

Try as she will, the trackless world delivers
No way, the wilderness of light no sign,
The immense and complex map of hills and rivers
Mocks her small wisdom with its vast design.

And darkness rises from the eastern valleys,
And the winds buffet her with their hungry breath,
And the great earth, with neither grief nor malice,
Receives the tiny burden of her death.

01/08/2020: How long do butterflies and moths live? Longer than I thought anyway: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/faq/how-long-do-butterflies-and-moths-live

01/08/2020: A Phone in Your Fob: If you work outdoors doing physical work as I have done most of my life you will realise that most smart phones are quite unsuitable. It is just about impossible to carry them in such a way that they will not break. I used to carry my small (4″) Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini in a padded pouch suspended from my belt but I still broke screens/phones.

The fob pocket was invented just for the purpose of protecting a pocket watch in these circumstances – so you need a phone which will fit in your fob. Fortunately there are a few such.

This is my Atom in a pair of very worn farm jeans. As you can see from the attached mud in the lanyard hole it has done some pretty hard work around the farm helping build fences , deliver lambs, rebuild vehicles & etc. There is a wonderful new model. Read More: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/07/31/a-phone-in-your-fob/

27/07/2020: Just take a look at this lightning: https://www.drroyspencer.com/2020/07/lightning-strike-video-close-up/ BTW Did you realize that the longest lightning bolt yet seen was over 700 miles?

24/07/2020: Unihertz Jelly 2: I have had their Atom phone which I am delighted with for a couple of years now. It is just great to have a phone in your fob pocket. This new one has a slightly bigger screen which will be appreciated, more ROM, is still dual SIM but now expandable with a microSD card. To me this is the ultimate phone! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jellyphone/jelly-2-worlds-smallest-android-10-4g-smartphone?ref=thanks-share&fbclid=IwAR0nS9JJXF6xhPBAIXZeVjAQNKugXUbtQIPUc0X7DCs_9SAlfbsiFsFHxYs

21/07/2020: DIY Roll Up Hobo Stove or Windscreen: I made this last night out of some aluminium flashing. The aluminium will most likely not stand up to the intense heat of a fire for long, but as a prototype/proof of concept I am happy with it. Some .5mm (soft) stainless steel foil has arrived this morning in the mail so I will be able to try that soon instead.

I may even need a harder stainless steel or even titanium. It took me less than an hour to make on (a piece of plywood so as not to damage) the kitchen table after dinner.

I have made this (exactly) just wider than my 1100 ml pot so that as little heat as possible escapes and so that I can make a carbon fibre cosy to conserve heat when I am burning alcohol in it (such as with one of Tinny’s Gnomes). Preliminary results show a saving of at least a third in fuel usage! I have ordered some fire-resistant thread (aramid) to sew the cosy up with.

Because it is a cylinder it will press up against the inside of the pot (it fits completely inside) so that it takes up next to no space. It doubles as a wood stove and windscreen. This prototype weighs exactly 40 grams. I can see that the .5mm stainless steel one will weigh considerable less, probably less than an ounce (~30 grams)!

It would be easy to include a further piece of the same material in the pot to protect the ground and create a dry fire-lighting floor as the height of the is stove is greater than its diameter: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/07/20/diy-roll-up-hobo-stove-or-windscreen/

20/07/2020: Finnsheep: If you have read this blog regularly you will realise that I have been a farmer for many years. For the last few decades a sheep farmer. And more specifically Finnsheep, but not just any Finnsheep. These sheep are the result of forty years of very careful, very practical sheep breeding. I believe they are the best Finnsheep, and possibly the best sheep anywhere in the world: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/07/18/finnsheep/

Our aim has been to produce a sheep which will successfully raise 3-4 good lambs every lambing on pasture alone and in every kind of weather – and we have succeeded! At the same time we selected the sheep to produce 4 kilograms or more of soft long fine wool per shearing. This has never been done before. You can find out (much) more about our sheep on my main sheep page here: finnsheep.com

20/07/2020: Wonnangatta Murders #15: An interesting item on the ABC - Russell's reported earlier 'altercation' a year earlier with the 'Button Man' is a revelation - as is the statement that he had also camped at the button man’s camp on the trip previous to their disappearance): https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-19/how-four-people-disappeared-without-trace-in-victorian-mountains/12455124?nw=0&pfmredir=sm&fbclid=IwAR0xXWGgMKtgUixrO8VQoDgWnfiay7Hww35o-i12Dz_pk6gq-3KoAzmhLik

09/07/2020: Meanwhile, A Beautiful flight over an icy crater on Mars: https://www.sciencealert.com/new-mars-footage-let-s-you-take-a-flight-over-the-korolev-crater-on-mars/amp?fbclid=IwAR23Qtl8YwjV2w3jc5T7x5uzymrfSmCMTd2r84ndLEQIk-8lgqH1ytGZxW0

07/07/2020: Why ‘culture’ is important: https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/07/a-viral-new-bird-song-in-canada-is-causing-sparrows-to-change-their-tune/

4/07/2020: The Tiniest of Knives: Just as a follow-up to my recent utility knife post I have recently become aware of these two wonderful little knives, one of which must just about qualify as being the tiniest of knives at .169 oz (4.8 grams) – less than a credit card, they say in their ad! The other is a cheaper, slightly heavier version of the Dragonfly knife: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/07/03/the-tiniest-of-knives/

02/07/2020: The Carry-on Knife Problem Solved: It is such a nuisance arriving at your destination and not having your favourite knife available for those simple tasks like peeling an apple, opening a box, cutting a rope etc. It is also awkward to have to post your knife ahead for pick-up or buy one then throw it away or post it back - but there is a better way, as they say: the folding utility knife: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/07/02/the-carry-on-knife-problem-solved/

30/06/2020: What it’s like to live in a city full of moose: https://weather.com/safety/news/2020-06-12-living-in-a-city-full-of-moose

27/06/2020: Wonnangatta #14: A few more clues in today’s Herald Sun ‘interview’ with a close friend of Russell Hill: Mr Ashlin says, ‘Russell would never, ever leave his vehicle’. (So they really did not go for a walk and get lost. We can definitely discount that). He also says that during their final conversation (of Russell) ‘He was sparkling like normal, he never had a worry in the world. The way he was behaving was like he had done any other time up in the bush. He was upbeat during our last chat’.) So there was no indication (to his friend) that there was anything about what happened to Russell that he had any apprehension about). “During their final conversation Mr Hill announced he was at Wonnangatta station and soon planned to drive to Dargo, about 70km away. He had not been there before and asked for directions’. (This is a surprise to me). ‘Something that puzzles Mr Ashlin about the mystery is why Mr Hill went camping alone in the area of the King Billy and Bluff Track between March 11 and 13 before the pair’s trip. “He never said boo about it, it was a surprise,” he said… “I don’t know why he went on that trip, it was only an overnight stay, and a six-hour drive each way. There is something strange about it. Robyn can’t work it out either.”’ – Perhaps he met his murderer/s on that occasion? Did he have (unknown) business with him/them?

There is also this photo of Russell camping (on a sunny day):

Missing man Russell Hill on an earlier camping trip.

You will remember that Russell’s hat was on the dash of his car and that the car was locked and the keys missing. Russell clearly took precautions against sun exposure. This pretty clearly shows that what happened to them happened on the night of the 19th March as he would clearly have taken his hat if he went for a walk on the 20th.

Mr Ashlin also said: ‘He’s been attacked, I believe there is more than one person involved.’ He does not explain why he thinks this. Perhaps it means nothing – but it is quite difficult for one person to lift (two) bodies into a 4WD (even moreso if it was a tray/ute) by themselves. (Two people are also more likely to be caught than one acting alone). The more people who know the more likely the truth will leak out. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/friends-last-conversation-with-missing-high-country-camper-russell-hill-revealed/news-story/3ab69d511adaa85926918fa8f92ab088

25/06/2020: The Ultralight Hairdresser: Of course you could just go about with your hair looking like an untidy birds' nest but few girls especially would want to. I have carried the same old comb below (3 grams) for twenty years. I own that I could probably have found a slightly shorter, lighter one but there is some sentimental attachment.

The broken tooth was courtesy of my daughter Irralee when Canoeing the Seaforth on the Dusky Track (2009) as she had forgotten to bring something for her hair! Memories. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/25/the-ultralight-hairdresser/

24/06/2020: Just what you need, a Pocket Sized Bottle Rope Maker: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grimworkshop/pocket-sized-plastic-bottle-rope-maker-turn-trash-into-rope?fbclid=IwAR1NueTgoIm6DLEh34Ov5uOovDdqK6Qkf32iL9W9UsFrp2z9DmMXn0OLlOY&ref=6teva8 When one thinks about the many wonderful uses to which used drink bottles can be put (eg bottle rockets) one wonders that any are thrown away ever.

22/06/2020: A Hobo in a Roller: If you are a really up-market hobo you can buy this ready-made Tomshoo Brand titanium (of course) hobo stove from Aliexpress for US$14.94 (June 2020). It weighs 55 grams (1.9 oz). Dimensions are : 80 mm (high) x 91 mm (dia) / 3.15 x 3.58 in – so a little smaller than mine 1250mm x 100 mm / 5″ x 4″ (height/dia) and 92 grams (but free). https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/22/a-hobo-in-a-roller/

21/06/2020: A Caldera Cosy: You will have seen the Jetboil and similar devices supposed to save fuel. I suppose they do but there is something wrong with the whole concept of carrying canister stoves. This ‘device’ saves fuel on an alcohol stove.

I have made one for my caldera cone which is an important component of my Cookset but soon to be upgraded my myself to an improved model. My ‘cosy’ will still fit however as I won’t be changing my pot.

I have made this truncated cone ‘cosy’ from a piece of carbon felt (because it is insulating but doesn’t burn) to see how much fuel would be saved if all the waste heat that escapes out the top of the cone and along the sides of the pot had to be directed into the water in the pot. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/20/a-caldera-cosy/

19/06/2020: A Hobo’s Breakfast: It costs nothing at all (and only a couple of minutes) to create your own safe wood burning hiking stove which will cook you up a wonderful breakfast (below) in just a few minutes without having to carry any fuel at all (or any other stove) with you into the wilderness. A big saving.

You only need a few simple hand tools such as those pictured (or similar) which I’m sure you have in your kitchen or workshop. A can opener which will cut out the side of the can (not the top). A ‘church key’ such as used to be used for opening beer cans (Remember?) and a pair of super-tough scissors (or tin snips) for completing the stove ‘door’ opening: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/18/a-hobos-breakfast/

18/06/2020: Mostly Perspiration: According to Thomas Edison that’s what genius is – and he should have known, with his 2,000 patents. Each took countless experiments, lots of trials and error before he got it right. Tim Tinker is the Thomas Edison of the ultralight tent stove. For years he has been working away at his miniature radiative beauties in his eternal quest for the perfect stove. I would like to showcase just two of his many creations: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/17/mostly-perspiration/

18/06/2020: A Lava Bomb Map. Fascinating: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/58893

17/06/2020: Small Game: Was once the bushman’s standy-by. It is usually abundant, enormously varied, relatively easily to take, involves little waste or preparation and is varied and nutritious. Of course much of it is also illegal. You will notice that in my post about the journey to Cromarty not so long ago everyone used to take a rifle to obtain extra food on the journey

It is a bizarre contradiction really that the folks (who require such bans and who mandate such poor management of public lands through ‘conservation’ strategies such as National Parks) should also be responsible thereby for the episodic vastly destructive wildfires which are so destructive of such wildlife – whilst the larger animals (deemed pests by the same folk) such as deer and brumbies survive better.

Where (and when) game is plentiful though (and only being reserved for the next apocalyptic inferno anyway) and considering 90+% of every season’s annual production would normally only perish over the lean seasons of winter/summer through starvation also, I see no rational reason why one’s larder ought not be supplemented with it – as it always used to be… https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/17/small-game/

15/06/2020: Plumbing the Depths: You can repurpose many humble plumbing fittings into wonderful ultralight hiking tools. Take this cheap 19mm (3/4″) irrigation tee from Bunnings for A$1.54 (June 2020) .

I have carried one to sit the sharp end of my hiking pole in so it doesn’t pierce the floor of my tent. An end joiner works well for that purpose too – and is lighter. You can set it up to start with using your cook pot, then switch after you have your tent pegs in.

They are also just excellent for driving a tent stake into hard ground without damaging the stake – or your hand! This one weighs 14 grams. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/14/plumbing-the-depths/

13/06/2020: All Thumbs: Sick of burning your thumb when lighting the fire or the stove with your Mini Bic? I know I am. Here’s the ultralight (1.5 gram) solution. J. Burrows’ Thimblettes from office supplies for just 64 cents each. You can store one on the end of the lighter (as shown) so it is easy to find. One has already gone into my cookset: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/13/all-thumbs/

13/06/2020: The wonders of modern technology: an entire Roman city mapped without any digging at all: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/58829

12/06/2020: Good news for those struggling with home ownership: You Can Buy Land on Mars Only US$35/acre. Great value.

11/06/2020: The Last Straw: You can bend over the end of a drinking straw then if you fold it in along the middle slightly you can slip a cut off piece (say about 1" onto it to lock it in place. It will hold liquids such as iodine or sunscreen perfectly well, as well as powders such as salt, pepper and spices, or safety equipment such as matches, strikers, fore starters etc. I'm sure many other uses could be imagined. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/11/the-last-straw/

11/06/2020: Mt Disappointment and the Wonnangatta ‘Murders’: I as stunned as you were that a two day ‘search’ by 400 people (obviously including the very same sort of ‘specialist’ police used in the Wonnangatta search) failed to find this 11 year old boy within less than 30 metres of clear going along the creek or adjacent to the Road 1. First the Herald Sun Photo. Then one taken from Google maps Satellite view, the third is also from Google maps showing the type of vegetation there.

Google Maps shows the distance from Road I to the creek to be approx 150 metres. You can’t imagine deer hunters taking more than 15 minutes to find a deer they had shot in that situation. Yet the searchers never found the boy even though he was not much more then 100 metres from his last seen location (not even the 300 metres the Herald Sun reports), barely out of sight, and you would definitely think a search would circle out from this location with the ‘known’ that lost children do not travel far and seek to hide in thick patches. Unsurprisingly he was found by a lone bushman who was not part of the official search. Well done Ben Gibbs.

This leads me to reprise Vicpol’s statement that the Wonnagatta ‘couple’ cannot be in the search area. Now while I think it is vanishingly unlikely that two older (experienced) people could both get lost and die close to a familiar camp, I can also see that Viocpol’s search protocols are absolutely hopeless. Vicpol is obviously largely headed up by and manned by complete idiots! I still think the most likely situation is that Russell and Carol were murdered and their bodies dumped, but after the finding of this child (if the gates were not now locked) I would be going up to the Wonnangatta myself for a few days to check out all the hollow trees and logs & etc in the vicinity of their campsite.

It just keeps happening, ie someone else finding the person (usually their body, alas) pretty much within sight of where they went missing - there have been several examples of this just in the last year alone. Vicpol's training and procedures need a serious shake up. I think clearly when someone goes missing Vicpol need immediately have procedures in place to to call on volunteers eg from Deer Hunting groups to search for them ie people who are used to actually being in the bush (without getting lost) and who are skilled at looking for things. Arrangements could be made for them to be paid for their loss of wages in just the same way as for volunteer fire fighters: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/bushman-hailed-a-hero-as-william-callaghan-found-on-mt-disappointment/news-story/831d6a10e6664bb954bb9f3dfbf5113c

10/06/2020: Skara Brae – What a wonder! https://archaeology-world.com/scottish-farmer-discovers-5000-year-old-lost-city/

09/06/2020: Ultralight Pot Lifter: I found this enchanting post on a chat forum this morning: ‘For the last 5 years I’ve been needlessly carrying this extra 0.40 Oz with my Evernew titanium pot. Now I can manage just fine with one handle’. – thank you Wayne Adelkopf‎. I do admire the lateral thinking here. It is just such genius which made America great! And Britain before it! Now solimpply called the ‘UK’. I do prefer ‘Great Britain’!

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And .4 of an ounce is 11.5 grams (which, if you have been following A Lazy Man’s Guide to Hiking and Hunting works out like this: ‘A saving of 10 grams now doesn’t seem so silly does it when you see that it is the same as shifting 100 kg (200 lbs) one metre (yard)!’ In this case 115 kg – try lifting that! (or just over 250 pounds) – a not inconsiderable amount!

08/06/2020: A Cure for Knee Pain? (Preliminary observations)‘Always listen to the experts – and then do something else’, as the old saying goes. I thought I had about tried just about everything with my knee/s (as with my back (in retrospect) and had about bitten the bullet that there was nothing for it but once again the dreaded knife – though I know that too is a solution replete with unsatisfactory outcomes, except for the surgeon’s new Porsche! The cold laser seemed to bring some relief, and an exercise cycle which I have not been as religious with using as I should (I’m sure an unsurprising revelation) had not been the ultimate panacea either, but a couple of scraps of information/wisdom niggled at the back of my mind. The orthopedic surgeon commented (aside) that they had no explanation why some folks were ‘bone on bone’ and yet free of pain (and disfunction) yet others not.. The same has been noticed about backs, and on autopsy of many other things besides. The body (and even more the mind) remains a great mystery still. Another person (referring to the benefits to be obtained from the cold laser device) said that I would (probably) have to learn to walk all over again. Like many simple truths such as ‘Give it time to heal’ one tends to ignore - when you begin to see some sort of benefit from something (such as the cold laser), and ‘less is more’ ie don’t overdo something which seems to have benefit. That is not necessarily how things work. Anyway I decided to have a go at learning to walk again. This is something (strangely enough) which I have emphasized again and again in my hunting advice – but one tends not always to listen to one’s own advice, or anyone else’s! Strange! About ten days ago I decided to try it out though. Now, particularly my left knee has hurt for the last seven years every time I put it down, so I thought, ‘What if I am putting it down wrongly?’ & ‘Can I walk without pain?’ So I decided to experiment. Like the hunting walking I always advocate, ‘Softly, softly’ is the way to go. Can I just glide ahead with as little impact as possible, taking small steps and walking on my‘toes’ (at least the balls of my feet) instead of clumping down with my heels as people are wont to do – with no pain. The answer is that I can. It may be (is) slower, and it may look strange. I have never been over-much concerned about what odd ideas others may have anyway. I long ago eschewed the common throng anyway – as Horace advised long ago (‘Odi profanum vulgus et arceo’). I have now switched to my Topo walking shoes (because they have no heels and so facilitate this odd method of locomotion), but…So far I have walked completely without pain for ten days! This is good! Try it! PS: Something I failed to mention: Never straighten your knee, or 'lock' it backwards. People often do this when they are standing. Always maintain the bent shape of the knee. Stand on your muscles, ligaments etc, not on your joints. They were never 'designed' to stand this sort of mistreatment. So too back. I have learned (now) that the chief cause of back pain is poor stance and weakening of core body muscles. PPS: Read also my previous ‘report about cold lasers here: I Kneed You Knee arthritis is ‘associated’ with inflamation. Evidently ‘no-one knows’ whether the inflamation is the cause of the arthritis or vice-versa or whether they just occur together. The pain however in my experience does not seem to be doing me ‘any good’. I endure it because I either value the aciviuty that brings it on (hiking, hunting etc) or need to do the thing that seems to bring it on eg work, for some other reason. But if I can go about my business whatever it is without the pain I would choose to do it. I only did not know that I could avoid the pain whilst remaining active. (Too much sitting has its negatives too). But this ‘creeping about’ I am doing at present allows me to do things I want or need to do without endureing the pain so to me it is a win-win – whether it is actually ‘doing me any good’ – whaterer that may mean I leave to the philosophers and the shamans.

07/06/2020: Ultralight Ultracheap Deer Hunting & Some Ripping Yarns: I am often approached by prospective deer hunters for advice, particularly about what they need to acquire before beginning hunting. How little both in weight and dollars do you need to spend (supposing you already actually own nothing – unlikely)? I have put together here some suggestions (with links to previous posts).

Here is a photo from many years ago (c1990) of me with a young stag taken off my foxhounds at the bottom of Deep Creek near Walhalla, Gippsland. Note ex-army boots, woolen trousers (patched), Aussie Disposals shirt & hat. The deer would have been shot with my old SMLE. One shot. Thirty yards. It is dead right where it was running. (More about this at bottom of page). Lesson: You don’t need to spend a fortune to (successfully) hunt deer: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/06/ultralight-ultracheap-deer-hunting/

06/06/2020: A Hiking Food Compendium: Folks are always asking me, ‘What do you eat on the trail?’ I have posted about this again and again, but I just thought I would bring all my posts about this together as one compendium. When you get tired of eating all these you could just quit life or hiking I guess. These are mostly our own recipes (tried and true). I have freshened this post up a lot (04/06/2020)

A couple of these are to enjoy at home, but most are from dry ingredients which make the meal as light as possible (calories per gram is all!) and use supermarket bought rather than specialty hiking meals as they are both cheaper and tastier in my opinion: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/05/a-hiking-food-compendium/

04/06/2020: Born With a Wooden Spoon in My Mouth: If your wife loses your ultralight titanium/aluminium hiking spoon whilst doing the washing up (while you are folding up the tent) in the Franklin-Gordon wilderness (as my lovely wife, Della did - and she will never be allowed to forget it, poor thing!) or a similar disaster strikes, then it might be a good idea to be carrying a spare...but one can hardly be expected to heft the extra enormous weight of another 9 grams, so here is a lovely 2 gram hiking spoon. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/06/04/born-with-a-wooden-spoon-in-my-mouth/

04/06/2020: Wonderful objects out there waiting: an Einstein Ring. What next a Dyson Sphere? https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/06/03/astronomers-find-cosmic-golden-needle-buried-for-two-decades/

04/06/2020: The Genius of Mathematics: Just hard to believe how brilliant some people are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan & https://www.popularmechanics.com/…/conway-knot-problem-sol…/ See (Stephen Fry) film: The Man Who Knew Infinity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlXHwMgS06c Something to watch tonight when there is nothing worthwhile on TV!

03/06/2020: A 9 kg Rabbit – and I did not even know you could house-train a coney: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/pets/giant-pet-rabbit-cocoa-puff-almost-as-big-as-kids-photo/news-story/42c54a8d677a820bc37a98f99d3b990d

01/06/2020: A Lazy Man’s Guide to Hiking and Hunting: Work equals force by distance, where a single newton of force represents the amount of force needed to move one kilogram one meter. The equivalent imperial unit is the foot-pound which is self-explanatory.

Image: Sisyphus: ‘In Greek mythology Sisyphus or Sisyphos was the king of Ephyra. He was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity.’ Wikipedia

An example, if you chose a pair of shoes which each weighs 100 grams (1/10^th of a kilogram) more (than another shoe) and you walk 20,000 half metre steps in a day, you have moved the equivalent of an extra tonne (1,000kg) during the course of the day (.1 x .5 x 20,000) a distance of one metre.

That is a lot of extra effort. If I asked you to shovel a tonne of manure from this pile here to that one a metre away there you would think it was a lot of work, and maybe wouldn’t want to do much else for the rest of the day! (It would be a pile approximately a cubic metre/yard say 3′ x3′ x 3′). But that’s just what 100 grams in each of a pair of shoes adds up to, yet you are likely carrying several kilogramss extra somewhere in your kit! How many tonnes of s—t is that? https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/31/a-lazy-mans-guide-to-hiking-and-hunting/

01/06/2020: Mars Here We Come. Go Dragon. (thirty seconds in): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZolorqY2AM

01/06/2020: ‘New’ Games With Irving Finkel: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/58766

31/05/2020: 1400 Posts: My daughter Merrin started this blog for me four years ago on 26 May 2016 so I am surprised I/we have been so busy, but today this is my 1400th post! Just thought I would take a few lines to highlight the last 100 posts which have occurred over the last six months or so: I guess the highlight in our memories of the last 100 was our walk on the Everest Base Camp Trail back in November 2019. Now read on: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/30/1400-posts/

31/05/2020: Wonnagatta Murders (cont): A tiny bit of new information in the Herald-Sun this morning: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts/missing-campers-time-frame-narrowed-to-18hour-window/news-story/f14372ce134482e3ae4c265c01284d82

Police have narrowed the time frame a little. ‘Mr Hill talked via his radio with a friend at about 6.30pm on March 20…He spoke only briefly because darkness was descending and he wanted to set up the camp site. The next day, other High Country visitors came across their camp at about 2pm. They saw fire had destroyed a tent and camp furniture and had also scorched the side of Mr Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser. Those passers-by believe it had been out long enough to have gone cold. It was not smoking at that point... search and rescue squad officers, who have run major operations in the surrounding area, were convinced they would have found some trace of the friends if they were still there… it was possible something had gone wrong while the pair were out exploring the bush. But both getting into the kind of trouble which led to death was less likely… Investigators are now trying to track every person who was in the area.. there were a lot of people in the High Country that weekend… Mr Hill had been in the King Billy and Bluff Track area from March 13 to 16 on a separate solo visit with his new drone. He also took the drone on the trip with Ms Clay the next week… Anyone with any other information on the disappearance or who has any CCTV or dashcam footage can call Crime Stoppers.’

Sunset occurred on March 20 at Mt Hotham Vic at 7:22pm Twilight at 7:48pm https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/australia/melbourne?month=3&year=2020 Deep in the Wonnangatta Valley (which runs roughly North-South) and close up against the Western side in the narrow Dry Creek Valley, sunset/twilight would occur much earlier, at least an hour. When Russell said it was ‘getting dark’ so he could not talk for long that was right. After setting up camp there was definitely no time to fly, lose and search for a drone. If he had lost it before he would have mentioned that fact in his radio call and that he was about to go look for it (as well as setting up camp – impossible). If he had done so early in the morning they would never have been ‘lost’. They were not ‘lost. They were murdered and dumped.

‘The fire was cold…it was not smoking.’ The people who found the camp would have seen or smelled smoke/burning plastic (at the campsite) if the fire had occurred soon before 2pm, say since 10-11am. There is usually very little wind in the Wonnangatta valley The wind almost always blows from the West (when it does) but it reverses direction for a brief time around about dawn. A morning fire (quite a lot of black smoke from burning poly, vinyl canvas, sleeping bags etc) would hang low in the air all morning. (It takes quite while for the fog to lift (not until after 10 am usually) so even a fire at 8-9 should still have smoke hanging around at 1 pm as the people who found the camp were driving up or down the valley on their way in. I think it unlikely the fire occurred in the morning.

‘Search and rescue squad officers…were convinced they would have found some trace of the friends if they were still there’ exactly. They have been removed from the scene.

I suspect the murder and the fire occurred the night before in the tent probably after they had gone to bed and that their bodies were removed that night probably back up the Zeka Spur (the most likely place to dump them). Lots of people (almost all) arrive in the Wonnangatta on Saturday morning. Most people come up the Howitt Road and turn off at the Zeka Spur or they come in from Eaglevale. The couple came down the Zeka Spur (They came through Licola). Morning would be the worst time to (successfully) murder someone. If you did it under cover of darkness though and because you were already in the valley before dark and knew there were no other campers about (or who would see a fire) that is another matter.

You had followed them in from where they had camped on the night of the 19th probably the King Billy ‘Crossroads’ as Russell had camped there only a week before when he was planning this trip – Where they camped, moved (ie the couple’s movements on the 19th and 20th) is a crucial bit of information which there may be evidence for. The couple drove down the Zeka Spur in daylight with this person following (at a distance) behind them. Someone camped on the tops (eg at Howitt or Guy’s Hut) might have seen these two vehicles (or even have dashcam footage’ – which the police are seeking). They were either followed down the Howitt Rd to the Zeka Spur turn off (probably by a stranger) or up it (by someone known to them).

Once it was dark you could be sure of that no other campers were about ie no lights) and make your move. Approach on foot using the red light on your head torch. It would be easy to hit two elderly people over the heads with eg the back of an axe when they were lying in their swags. Easy enough to bring your ute up, drag them into the back, smooth over your tracks with a branch, set fire to the tent, make sure every trace was burned away (five minutes) - and be off up the Zeka Spur having already selected somewhere you could safely dump the bodies ie somewhere you can safely stop – there are lots of steep pinches where this would not be easy. You would also want to be able to see lights approaching, so not near a ‘blind’ bend. Possibly there is even a spot where you can get a vehicle off the road? Safer. I haven’t paid that much attention when I have driven up/down it (only a couple of times). I almost always drive in from Eaglevale (canoeing) or I walk in from the Moroka.

You could not afford to take the bodies downriver (too much chance of running into other campers) or out onto the Howitt Rd - ditto, clear country and a chance of a police/DELWP roadblock checking cars and hunting licences. So, the Zeka Spur almost certainly.

Clearly though (then) their bodies were also dumped (probably) on the Zeka Spur in the dark possibly using infra red lights (again) for concealment, as to do so in the early morning would invite discovery – as this is when ‘everyone’ arrives. (This is a fairly ‘professional’ job. Planned). It would be a tricky thing to conceal two bodies fairly quickly and well in the dark. If they are buried they will not have been buried deeply – and wild dogs may have scattered the site, somewhat making it easier to find now A careful search along the sides of that track may pay big dividends. The murderer should really go back and move them or check that they are well concealed, as when they are found lots of new evidence will be available to police.

PS: Russell's (though patchy) phone records and the drone footage on his home computer should confirm where he camped. From there it is an easy step to forensically examine the campsite for DNA traces (eg buried faeces) to confirm the spot - and whether anyone else's DNA is there too! Then police can recontruct the events precisely and the likely timing. I find it surprising that they did not arrive at Dry Creek until nearly dark on the 20th given that they left Pakenham at 7:30 am on the 19th - and presumably passed through Licola that day. (Talking t someone?)

The Howitt Road is much busier though than around King Billy etc. Whenever I have been up there someone comes by every few minutes so there ought to be lots of people who saw two cars (the first Russell's distinctive white Landcruiser) the second the murderer's) passing by clearly in daylight hours. From the time they arrived at Russell's (clearly planned) camp (say 6:00pm) you can guess they must have turned down the Zeka Track around 4:00pm, meaning they passed the Howitt Hut or Dimmick's Lookout just before then. There are so often people about up there. You would think someone must have seen them.

As well, the patchy phone records should show a 'handshake with Russell - and Carol's phone simultaneously. Likely the very next phone is the murderer, providing he had a phone. (When I had my CDMA phone it used to say what tower you were connected to - up there it would likely be the Hotham one). So, unless the police are exceedingly dim-witted (not impossible) they should know who the murderer is. His phone will also have 'shaken hands' with the transmitter sometime perhaps around midnight on the way out (when no-one else would be moving about)! The phone record is not enough (as we saw in the Ristevski case even when the murderer was the husband) but once they have the bodies and some other DNA evidence, he will be sprung - and we can all take to going back to the Wonnangatta camping safely!

30/05/2020: Keweisi USB Amp Tester: This is a really handy piece of gear (18 grams). After you have bought it/them you are going to be throwing out a heap of other things! It measures the voltage and amperage through itself when plugged into a USB outlet and can time and add the total so that you can see how long it took to attain a certain number of milliamp hours of storage. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/30/keweisi-usb-amp-tester/

29/05/2020: Cookset Solutions: Today I am using the Gnomatic alcohol simmer stove below. It is available for US$25 (May 2020) plus freight and weighs 19 grams with the simmer ring. It is just about the best alcohol stove and simmer stove I have ever owned, and you do not have to worry about accidents because it is virtually spill-proof (because of the carbon felt inside) and wonderfully easy to light from the top (first time every time) without burning your fingers. Just make a flat level space on the ground with your thumb.

I have is set up inside a Trail Designs Caldera Cone (31 grams in this size). It fits either of my two pots the Evernew deep pot with frypan lid 900 ml at 123 grams (for one) or the Toaks Titanium 1100 ml at 156 grams (for two – big enough for us anyway. Both weights are including the lid. BTW If you need a second plate these are the cheapest and lightest I have found).

You also need two eg titanium shepherd’s hook tent pegs (total about 11 grams). https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/29/cookset-solutions/

28/05/2020: Astonishing: A Loon With the Heart of an Eagle: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52779727

28/05/2020: Wonnangatta again: Vicpol seems to believe in fairies, alien abductions and such. Evidently they are seeking to eliminate the possibility that Russell and Carol won several million in the lottery, decided to run off together yet instead of simply doing just that, changed their bank accounts and identities, Russell planted another 4WD (by himself?) somewhere in the Wonnangatta then they drove out via Eaglevale and Black Snake Creek. Just possibly this was quite another ‘elderly couple’ who (like us) do not consider themselves particularly ‘elderly’ and so would not necessarily come forward even in the (likely) scenario that they had taken a quiet drive up the Wonnangatta Rd on March 22^nd. Apparently (unsurprisingly) they were not seen in the Wonnangatta Valley. Of course Vicpol does have to eliminate all the possibilities (however remote). It is very revealing though how interested they are in the doings in the Mt Howitt-Zeka Track area and in exactly when the fire occurred – as am I: https://www.police.vic.gov.au/appeal-visitors-wonnangatta-area-contact-police-investigation-missing-campers-continues?fbclid=IwAR3gSY2K87_AWOo96lV3d2Etltue8e1QbFjH6dV61TJwn2c2gWOWe0QcniE

27/05/2020: Neat Ultralight USB Light: These are an interesting emergency light at just a couple of grams each . They plug straight in to your ultralight power bank. Some of them have a touch switch. They are not as energy efficient as these 11 gram rechargeables but would make a good spare. You can buy them from Jaycar for A$9.95 for three: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/26/neat-ultralight-usb-light/

27/05/2020: Wonnangatta Murders: The Plot thickens: ‘Detectives have been able to confirm Mr Hill was camping alone in the area of the King Billy and Bluff Track between March 11 and 13. He was in his white Toyota LandCruiser and had his DJI Mavic drone with him on that trip.’ https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/fresh-clues-in-missing-camper-search/news-story/32245606102ef8be1505315f434bb8b9 This is indeed ‘The Crossroads’ the Button Man’s haunt mentioned in the earlier Age article where he was the last person to see missing lone hiker Niels Becker . What did Russell discover with that drone (or possibly discover) that led someone to stalk and kill them both? A marijuana plantation perhaps? (on top of a mountain?) Seems unlikely. Illegal wildlife trapping/trafficking? Something more sinister? I hope police are having a good look around that area. And looking for the dumped bodies adjacent to the tracks leading to/from the Wonnangatta where deer hunters or others are unlikely/forbidden to venture. PS: I have probably mentioned this before, but the only place they could be (and not be found) is in a hollow tree. It is vaguely possible that if they were sitting up (dead) inside a such a tree the wild dogs would not have approached them and scattered their bodies/clothing. However surely professional search teams are told to particularly check (look back when passing) such trees. I still think the chance of this being innocent is less than in a million. I wonder where they camped on he way up there? Did Russell go back to the Crossroads? NB: Button Man clearly has a 'thing' about people taking pictures. remember the story in the original Age story about his taking photographs of the photographer with his own camera while he slept.

Thanks for the link to your photos. (https://www.facebook.com/gerard.white.7/media_set?set=a.828773063845809&type=3&hc_location=ufi). I do intend to do posts about your trip in the future (and indeed have made a beginning - it is an enormous task!) The photos give something of an idea of the type of country where the Button Man has his camp and why someone might fly a drone there - just great scenic footage - nothing illegal needs to have been discovered. Just that the photography (twice perhaps) irrationally annoyed him - of course the murderer could also be a third person. I think the post March 20th 'sightings' are certainly of someone else - unless she 'hitched' out of there to Black Snake - but then she would have turned up at home! A murder/suicide is indeed possible, but you have to think of the unlikelihood of neither of their bodies being found in a search. it is one thing to hide someone else's body; much harder to hide your own.

I certainly think the fire was deliberate. However, the scenarios you envisage of she and Russell separating up there are very unlikely for elderly people who are good friends. If she 'wandered off' she would surely have followed a track and would have been picked up on the 20th. Either Russell has done this - but no bodies - or someone else. The link to the 'Crossroads' is very suspicious at the moment. I would like to know whether when the campsite was found burned out (2pm on the 20th it seems) whether people saw smoke in the sky ('Plastic' smoke hangs around quite a while - as does the smell) or if it was still warm/smouldering etc. Knowing whether the fire occurred that day or the night before is so crucial. Also was the drone controller at the campsite? Anything else interesting missing/present? One of Oz's great mysteries...

"The Crossroads" looking north from Mt Clear Track...King Billy Track to the right, Brocks Rd to the left. Bluff Track straight. There's a weather station somewhere to the right apparently that's where Button Man camps. The AAWT heads up just to the right of Bluff Track. This is at the base of King Billy No.2 straight ahead.

Police are seeking information: https://www.police.vic.gov.au/appeal-visitors-wonnangatta-area-contact-police-investigation-missing-campers-continues?fbclid=IwAR3gSY2K87_AWOo96lV3d2Etltue8e1QbFjH6dV61TJwn2c2gWOWe0QcniE

Crime Writer Andrew Rule Gives Some Details On The Mystery “Button Man” In The Victorian High Country On the Hot Breakfast: https://www.triplem.com.au/story/crime-writer-andrew-rule-gives-some-details-on-the-mystery-button-man-in-the-victorian-high-country-161688?fbclid=IwAR1WjxgbCVlctkaZWSZNR8VKVKFrftye2w7D03ZVgm4LxM8cvgmLtnbL47c

26/05/2020: Better Seam Sealing: You have probably used Silnett and similar products to DIY seal the seams in your tents, tarps etc. You can mix up this mixture which is also good for increasing the waterproofness of your floors too but both these methods are fairly messy. Or you can buy some PU seam sealing tape which just irons on. Use a piece of baking paper between the tape and the iron so it doesn’t stick to your iron, and be careful not to have the temperature too high (‘Woolens’ is a good setting), be careful and patient and you will get a professional result. The tape weighs .77grams/foot or 2.5 grams per metre. I doubt whether you cold seam seal any lighter than that anyway and this will give a much neater job on a new tarp: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/25/better-seam-sealing/

26/05/2020: Snow Peak Titanium Sierra Cup: Something ultralight to make your cup of java below with. Just 39.5 grams and 322 mls (10.9 fl oz) D 4.8″ H 1.75″ May also make a useful small billy lid eg for something like this. US 19.95 May 2020 on Amazon or SnowPeak : https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/24/snow-peak-titanium-sierra-cup/

25/05/2020: Hard to believe Bob Dylan is 79 today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeP4FFr88SQ (At Newport 1964: introduced by Pete Seeger).

24/05/2020: Real Coffee Never Got Lighter: The Montbell 4 gram coffee dripper (US$19 May 2020):

‘Lightweight, packable, portable, washable, economical, and ecological! This convenient coffee filter utilizes a 60 micrometer mesh to let you enjoy the “true” aroma and flavor of your favorite bean in the backcountry: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/24/real-coffee-never-got-lighter/

23/05/2020: Wonnangatta Murders (cont): Human remains are being investigated at Moondarra (between Moe and Thomson Dam). If this turns out to be Russell & Carol then ‘Button Man’ is probably not involved but likely someone who knew them – and where they would be – as I said weeks ago. However I also said weeks ago (10/5) that whoever took them from their camp site would likely dump them where they would never be found: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/missing-persons-squad-combs-bushland-in-victoria-s-high-country-20200523-p54vsi.html

Timeline: ‘March 19: Russell Hill leaves his home in Drouin with plans to visit various campsites along the Dargo River. He is seen by neighbours picking up Carol Clay from her home in Pakenham at 7.30am. Phone tracking shows the pair travelled through Heyfield and Licola to get to Wonnangatta Valley.

March 20: Mr Hill was last heard from via HF radio where he told a friend in the amateur radio community he was at Wonnangatta Station in the Victorian Alps setting up camp before dark.

March 21: Campers find Mr Hill's white Toyota Landcruiser with signs of minor fire damage, and their tent and some belongings torched near the Dry River Creek Track in the Wonnangatta Valley around 2 pm. A search begins.’ NB I got this useful piece of information from the Facebook Police page last night: ‘Their Wonnangatta campsite was located unattended on 21 March, 2020’ Most of the reports said that the car had been found six days later. If it was found when the police say then they were gone and the camp burned within twelve hours of their arriving, so it was clearly never a case of an elderly couple getting lost and this an someone else’s involvement should have been obvious to an astute observer at the very outset.

‘Local cattleman Bruce McCormack, who has assisted in many searches over the years, said the valley they were camping in was up to 1000 acres of "clear country".

"It's sort of a great open area in the middle of the Alpine National Park."

He said around one kilometre away from the campsite, the area turned into dense bushland where you would "never find them". https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/new-evidence-including-drone-linked-to-victorian-missing-persons-carol-clay-and-russell-hill/4ea2f0a8-07da-4978-8b01-d23abacecf03

Clearly they camped somewhere along the way if Russell was ‘’setting up camp before dark’ on the night of the 20th. Clearly they did not go looking for a drone that night and would not have taken (both) their phones with them if they had. We do not know whether those who found their camp saw smoke or observed smouldering, however the couple were unlikely to have gone for a walk and failed to return during the day as they would have seen the smoke known it was their camp and had it to guide them. The area where they were camped is largely in a huge area of clear country with bush beginning about a kilometer away. They would have been unlikely in the extreme to have gone for a walk in the dark in the bush at night off track or looking for a lost drone. Besides a lady of that age almost invariably carries her mobile phone (which would not work there) in her handbag which would have been left at camp for a short walk as was the phone charger. Someone who was looking for them (and knew the general area they would be in) or someone who was following them or their tracks would have spotted them at a considerable distance in daylight. We can surely add several more layers of improbability to their disappearance being natural considering this additional evidence. For example, both phones taken: 1/5?, went for a walk in daylight and failed to return to burning camp: 1/10+? Or went for a walk at night in distant bush: 1/100,000.

No. They were stalked, murdered and their bodies taken away within hours of their arriving there probably under cover of darkness. Clearly intent and someone who knew they would be there. So many false leads in the reporting of this. It cannot have helped the police and it certainly did not help me understand what was going on. The standard of journalism in Australia is abysmal. BTW: The crime scene was clearly substantially ruined by the time police arrived or they would never have been conducting a search for ‘lost’ people. There ought to have been clear evidence of another vehicle, another person.

PS: Turns out the body was another hapless ‘victim’ from Moe.

23/05/2020: Wonnagatta Mystery again: ‘What has not been revealed is that Hill was in the area a week before, flying his drone near the Button-Man’s campsite.’ https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-button-man-could-be-key-to-mounting-mountain-mystery-20200521-p54v4p.html & https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-rule/oddball-loner-talk-of-victorian-alps-amid-string-of-disappearances/news-story/c44a9ca93b98936a4742e0161892e39a Of course this 'Button Man' is a good enough bushman he wil have made the bodies unfindable (unlike the yokel spotlighters I speculated about). This (and his extreme vigilance and cleverness) may make him well-nigh uncatchable. PS: I also missed this piece of crucial evidence: ‘Police have not found either of their mobile phones’: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/grandmother-missing-with-man-bought-new-home-days-before-camping-trip-20200422-p54m7y.html NB. When I speculated about spotlighters accidentally shooting them I was thinking they were camped in bushland, but apparently the area is in the middle of a large cleared area so the spotlighters would have had to be particularly inept (not impossible). Surely we do come back down to someone who knew them or a (strong) lone murderer.

22/05/2020: I’ve never understood why a bird would want to lose the ability to fly, but this one extinct for 100,000 years is back from extinction. Now that’s something: https://www.esquireme.com/content/46133-an-extinct-bird-just-evolved-itself-back-into-existence

21/05/2020: The restorative power of the elk on a million acres of strip-mining: https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/dirt/2019/04/13/land-recovery-elk-wildlife-habitat-appalachia/

20/05/2020: Fun in the Mud

There was an old man who bogged a tractor.

What a quacker he bogged a tractor!

He bogged the tractor trying to rescue the truck.

How’s that for luck to bog a truck?

He bogged the truck trying to save the ute.

What an old coot, he bogged the ute……..

What a story.

To be continued… https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/20/fun-in-the-mud/

20/05/2020: Australian native finger limes: (Della) I bought one of these plants several years ago whilst indulging in a little garden-centre impulse buying. Since then I have sporadically noticed 3 or 4 of the fruit deposited at the base of the shrub during autumn and picked them up as a novelty. Today, however, I discovered that the shrub has become a little more serious about its mission and was able to carefully pick a little bowl full of the fruit.(I say "carefully" because of the vicious spines liberally sprinkled through the branches). They were perfectly ripe, and the jewelled fruit within had a sharp lime flavour. So, what to use them for? Experiment 1: G&T garnish. Result: looked impressive and a great flavour burst, but a tiny bit would have tasted better than the contents of one whole fruit. Undeterred, I used another to dollop some little flavour balls on our salmon patties at dinner time. That was really good: tiny bursts of limey flavour enhanced the fish beautifully. Apparently they only last for a few days once picked but freeze successfully for future use. Will check that out: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/20/australian-native-finger-limes/

17/05/2020: Deer Hunter's Tent Goes Bush: I will not confess I broke the lockdown rule against 'camping' and took my Deer Hunter's Tent up the bush for a trial run. It is always possible at my age to have walked so far (and with this trick knee, back etc) that I could not safely make it back to my vehicle before dark: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/17/deer-hunters-tent-goes-bush/

14/05/2020: Thomson River Packrafting Day Trip: You can have some really wonderful single day packrafting adventures on Gippsland’s wonderful Thomson River. I promised to post this ages ago, but the summer fires and the coronavirus lock-down has meant I have not had the opportunity to go take a look – and I need to take a couple of more looks in the future, so I will be updating this.

Nevertheless yesterday on the first day restrictions were eased took a drive to check out whether they had finished clearing the Mitchell Creek Track. We would have checked out the marble Quarry Track too but they were still working nearby, so we went around to the other side and drove up the Stoney Creek Rd to see whether the T8-10 had been re-opened.

The good news is the Mitchell Creek Track has been cleared pretty much all the way to the river. The last half a kilometre of very steep going is really only suitable for $WDs (probably equipped with a winch – be warned). However you could drive along with a normal SUV as far as the drop-off pictured then walk from there. At the moment there is a deep puddle about 100 metres further back where you should probably stop.

The last 300 metres is suicidally steep.

14/05/2020: Teddy Roosevelt: We will probably not see his like again: https://time.com/5259995/theodore-roosevelt-portrait-conservation-hunting/

10/05/2020: Wonnangatta Mystery Continues: I suspect police will be looking for another Wonnangatta murderer. (You will remember that the original 1912 murders were never solved). Today’s ‘new’ information is that the missing man’s friends say it is most unlikely he would have walked far from his campsite. To me this is crucial: if he had been a hunter, canoeist etc it might have been otherwise. Now we have these ‘probabilities’ which can be multiplied together. Chance of he being far from his campsite: Alone 1/5? In company 1/10? – probably much less. Chance of a fire starting (in the absence of a campfire) in a temporarily deserted campsite (in the late autumn): 1/100? Chance of an experienced bushman becoming lost and never found (1/20?) Chance of two people becoming lost together and not being found (1/100?) Chance of a thorough search of the immediate vicinity turning up no sign at all 1/10? – probably more like 1/100. As I say these chances are cumulative: 1/10 x 1/100 x 1/100 x 1/10 = ie less than 1/1,000,000. Therefore, it is more than 99.99% certain someone else was involved, killed them in the tent, took the bodies away in their ute to be disposed of where they would not be found and set fire to the tent to remove DNA, fingerprints, blood-stains, etc. The person (almost certainly a man – I have seen very few women in there and never alone) was very likely familiar (at least) with the male deceased and certainly with the area – eg knew where he would camp! May not have realised the woman would be with him (his wife claims not to have known, etc), but unlikely. She may have been killed because she would otherwise have been a witness. More likely: the person knew both of them., but also is very familiar with the area and knows to dump the bodies where deer hunters etc are unlikely to find them (eg a Reference Area like Mount McAdam on the way out to Eaglevale. If their bodies were in the search area (after the first week, before the search began) wild dogs would have devoured and torn them to pieces (in the extremely unlikely event they both became lost) and scattered their clothing (relatively easily spotted from drone footage surely?) But they would also still have smelled (to a search party) out to at least 50 metres say. You figure the area searched unsuccessfully on foot in a week in that event. Missing garments collectively: socks, shoes, trousers, underpants, bra, tops, jumpers/coats, hat/s, glasses – say 20 items altogether spread out (by dingoes) over perhaps 2500 square metres - as well as their bones! ie They are not there! Police definitely need to hear from anyone who was in the Wonnangatta at the same time even if they were not involved but perhaps there for illegal purposes (eg spotlight hunting – there is also the possibility one was shot accidentally and the other to remove a witness after all). Remember the guy near Woods Point who was struck and killed by presumably spotlighters a couple of years back. Police should offer an indemnity to such folk, or a reward to anyone who knows someone who was there at that time. There is also a better than 50% chance the person was not there alone – I have been there lots of times. Few people travel there alone as I do, but (if you wonder) I have been home all this time, actually longing to go hunting/hiking in the Woonnangatta, and elsewhere – though I do not relish finding a couple of corpses: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/search-for-missing-campers-on-secret-rendezvous-continues/news-story/a09f612e46c0bc13210515ddc9ba0162

PS: Some other thoughts: I said the perpetrator almost certainly used a ‘ute’ to take the bodies away (or possibly a station wagon) indicating that it was unlikely to have been a tray – as if he were alone it would be practically impossible to load two bodies onto a tray. A station wagon would also be very difficult as it is quite a dead-lift. You could use eg a dual cab ute’s tail-gate to facilitate dragging the bodies up the incline formed when you drop it down onto the tow-bar for example, or propped against a piece of wood maybe. It would require quite a lot of strength. I know I have had to move dead sheep from the paddock, and a person would be a longer more difficult object to move than a sheep. (In the same way people who try to display their ‘hunting prowess’ by posting photos of stags on the backs of their tray vehicles obviously give themselves away as poachers in this way. You cannot drag a dead deer far, nor get it up onto the tray by yourself without throwing the winch rope over an overhanging tree – ie it was obviously shot on the road under the lights. Not much of a trophy!) It is extremely unlikely that a woman or a diminutive man could have done this. Then when ‘he’ was dumping the bodies he would have had to drag them off into the bush. This implies bush that is not too thick for walking more or less upright, and it is really unlikely you would/could drag two bodies more than 50 metres, if even that far. The police drones have not found the bodies where they are not, but they might find them where they are by searching along the (main three) tracks in and out of the Wonnangatta either on foot or using their drones - as the bodies clearly have to be dumped before you return to ‘civilisation’. If they find the bodies there might be some ballistic evidence still if they were shot – though if they were shot (clearly with a hunting round – otherwise the bullets would have passed through them and be found by police metal detectors) surely you would hack the bullets out of them where you dumped them. Either a single perpetrator (some lone, crazed opportunistic killer – so unlikely) is involved or someone who knew at least one of the victims, or spotlighters killed them – in which case there were likely two, as it is difficult to drive and hold a spotlight at the same time, and if you had to stop to take a shot you would have most likely noticed you weren’t shooting a deer! Police should be able to get one of the two spotlighters to dob the other in for a sufficient enticement. If it was someone known to them, then it would most likely be some other paramour of the woman, as the man’s wife is clearly elderly too and unlikely to be able to drag an lift the bodies etc. There should be very few suspects and the police ought to have apprehended one by now.

09/05/2020: Tyvek Solar Reflector: The wonders of Tyvek once again! This device boosts the electrical output of my solar panels by approximately X+ times (and weighs approx 28 grams). Tyvek reflectivity is just about as good as it gets: 97% eg as compared with white titanium dioxide paint at 95.5% so it is perfectly suitable for this application.

The reflector has approx 6 times the surface area of the panel, so I am hopeful I will get a significant boost. I may not get such a good result out of this prototype because the output of the panel may be amperage limited – so too the batteries I am trying to charge. If I get significant improvement I will be trying a larger version whose solar panel has two outlets, and I will move on from there: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/09/tyvek-solar-reflector/

03/05/2020: The Creek #1: We have a lovely unnamed creek here at Jeeralang Junction (I like to call it ‘Sawyer’s Gully’ after the original selectors here) which rises high in the forest valley behind and winds through the bottom of our farm. Not long after we came here nearly thirty years ago I hacked a path through the blackberries along the roadside from our front gate down to where the road crosses it. Slowly I gnawed away at the brambles and rubbish till I reached our rear boundary. Each day’s work was a revelation. There has been a lot of clearing, dam maintenance and tree planting since then. Years ago I made a 3 km loop trail through the fern gullies behind our house. Over the years it has been neglected but I recently thought I would use some of the enforced time of the the corona lock-down to re-establish it.: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/05/03/the-creek-1/

01/05/2020: Superlight Hunting Pack, 193 Grams: You don’t have to spend a fortune or carry around a tonne of bricks to secure a wonderful hunting/hiking backpack. I recently bought three of these Clever Lees 35 Litre Backpacks from Aliexpress. They cost me around US$14 each (April 2020) about twice what I would have paid had I lived in the US! As you can see from the Specs they weigh a mere 305 grams. I intended to cut one down but then add an extension collar and pad holder. After I cut it down it weighed 184 grams and after I added the 8 litre extension collar it now weighs 193 grams – not too bad for a (approx) 40 litre hiking pack. This will suit Della well and will be fine for me as a hunting day or weekend pack. Well, fine for 3-4 days surely?

30/04/2020: Do You Need a Bug Net or a Tent Floor: If you have been following this blog and particularly my DIY tent/shelters etc you will realise I don’t think you do. I have slept under the stars collectively for several years of my life – more than enough for a dozens of ‘through-hikes’ which are things I would probably never do, as I dislike tracks and crowds. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/30/do-you-need-a-bug-net-or-a-tent-floor/

29/04/2020: Ultralight Ultracheap Rain Fly: Can’t make your own? How about this one? 310 grams US$30.25. You couldn’t make it for this. Of course you can’t use it as a hammock tarp as well like mine but it is the beginning of a good cheap hiking kit. You can pair it with a bathtub floor and mosquito net set-up very cheaply too, but I think you can get by with a 50 gram space blanket for a groundsheet, and they cost around $2 each (on eBay etc). https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/26/ultralight-ultracheap-rain-fly/

29/04/2020: 250 Years (Tomorrow) since Captain Cook landed at Botany nay. 50 years ago (in 1970) even the Queen was here to celebrate this momentous event in Australia’s history; one of the greatest journeys of discovery of all time, and probably the most awesome feat of navigation, and cool-headedness – yet this year, nothing. How shameful is that? The rewriters of our history have had an awful impact.

28/04/2020: Cheap Ultralight Bathtub Floor: I was thinking of making one of these for my new Deer Hunter’s Tent but at US$27 and a quite reasonable weight of 180 grams single ( 31 1/2″ x 7′ ie 80 x 210 cm) or 227 grams double (7′ x 4′ ie 210 x 120 cm) I might not bother. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/26/cheap-ultralight-bathtub-floor/

25/04/2020: Deer Hunter’s Tent #2: A tent that is also a tarp and a hammock shelter. This tent has been evolving in my head for a number of years and I realise that some of you are impatient that you have not been able to buy one or other of its iterations. However your wait might soon be over. Be that as it may here is my latest and I believe best version of it: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/25/deer-hunters-tent-2/

25/04/2020: Two reasons I may never visit Machu Picchu:

23/04/2020: Te Araroa: The Longest (NZ) Walk. When the crisis is over you might spend a few months less enjoyably than this: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-longest-walk/

21/04/2020: An C18th .50 calibre air rifle which could punch 30 rounds through a target over 100 yards away: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/20/merewether-lewiss-air-rifle/

19/04/2020: Vale Westie, a Real Fiordland Legend: You have probably seen my posts about Westies Hut and about that section of the South Coast Track. We have stayed in the remarkable hut in a sea cave at Price’s harbour – and hope to do so again, next time for a slightly longer period, despite the sandflies. I doubt we will be staying for 8 years though, as Owen West its eponymous ‘creator’ who has recently died did. Though the hut was begun by Southland fisherman ‘Slack’ Dawson much of the final construction was done by Westie and more recently much work has been done by Cliff and Ann McDermott of Invercargill and others.

Once the lockdown ends and we can go to NZ again we will be heading for the South Coast Track again or the Dusky, moose hunting.

Some Westie’s Hut eye candy:

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/19/vale-westie-a-real-fiordland-legend/

18/04/2020: A Folding Plastic Kayak at around US$300 and 13 kg. Just great if you are short of storage space: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/18/tucktek-folding-kayak/

14/04/2020: The new Deer Hunter's Tent. Just about finished. See post: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/11/miniature-whelen-hammock-tent/

13/04/2020: South Coast Track: Two ‘I wish’(s) this morning in my facebook memories. This one from 2015: ‘The next hiking adventure begins! Heading off today to conquer the South Coast Track of New Zealand for 6 days with only our backpacks and stamina. Stay tuned for pics and reports when we return to civilization. (NB this pic is an old one of Steve and I attempting to conquer the south coast track in Tasmania (same name, different island!) a few years ago; now we are older and wiser, ...will that help??? :) ) The weather forecast is not particularly auspicious, with a reasonable dose of rain expected, but what are raincoats for?! Wish us luck! http://www.doc.govt.nz/…/things-t…/tracks/south-coast-track/’ and this one from 2016: ‘South Coast Track, Fiordland, NZ: Finally finding time to go through the pix. Internet availability being what it is in wilderness areas, I missed the chances to post pix on a daily basis, so I will do a daily selection now we are home to mirror the days on the track.
Day one was totally passive, involving a jet boat ride over the beautiful Lake Hauroko and then helter-skelter down the fast-running Wairaurahiri River to the sea. There we stayed overnight in lovely wilderness accommodation and prepared our packs for the big walk ahead.’ Catch up with them here: South Coast Track, Fiordland, NZ: Finally finding time to go through the pix. Internet availability being what it is in wilderness areas, I missed the chances to post pix on a daily basis, so I will do a daily selection now we are home to mirror the days on the track.’ Catch up with them here: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/04/25/south-coast-track-fiordland-nz-dellas-version/

13/04/2020: Wild Dogs in the Wonnangatta: I agree with Andrew Rule that sooner or later the lost campers would have been eaten by wild dogs: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-rule/andrew-rule-missing-high-country-campers-revive-centuryold-tragedy/news-story/22c177ddb2f89cfe558e8e87e621715e I have been hunted by packs of them in there myself – and would never camp in the Victorian mountains without a gun! They were much worse before last year’s fires which seemed to have thinned them down a but. I expect to encounter several packs of them in there every trip, like this one back in 2013 with my old dog Tiny: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2013/09/29/hunting-the-wonnangatta-moroka/ More about Tiny here: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/02/23/a-tiny-life/ For many weeks this was my most popular post. People love dogs. I know I do. But not wild dogs.

12/04/2020: I am spending my Easter lock down making a new Whelen tent. Stay tuned here: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/04/11/miniature-whelen-hammock-tent/

11/04/2020: I have come up with a seam which is easier to make than a flat-felled seam when you are making a tarp or tent: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/09/04/hammock-hunting-till-dark/

09/04/2020: Another Wonnangatta Mystery. I have been there so often - up to half a dozen trips a year for the last nearly twenty years. I know the area well where these two have disappeared. The torched tent is the worst distraction. It may mean nothing, just an odd co-incidence. One hopes there is not another murderer on the loose there (as in 1912 – I always suspected Harry Smith myself, but we are unlikely to ever know). I suspect a sequence of unfortunate accidents this time: a fall perhaps followed by the inability to return to camp, then exposure, but the fire is weird and may indicate foul play I suppose. It is also astonishing that the police search failed to find anything – how far would an elderly couple have travelled on foot from their camp? They could not have canoed from where they were. It is unlikely to be the same murderer as in 1912 in any case. Normally the area would be alive with campers and deer hunters at Easter but it would have been very quiet there over the last month and will remain so. It is the most remote spot in Victoria yet I can usually walk from where they disappeared down to ‘civilisation’ in a very busy 2-3 days. If you were lost and still a smoker – or anyway had matches, you should survive, and following the river out would seem a reasonable choice to become ‘un-lost’. Strangely though people do not behave at all rationally when they are lost, so it is hard to predict where you will find them: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-06/search-ends-for-wonnangatta-campers-missing-since-march-20/12123290 Lost person behaviour here: https://profoundjourney.com/13-facts-lost-person-behaviour/ PS: I like that the guy's wife has come out and accused him of being a 'silly bugger' as she thought he was camping alone! Oh, what a tangled web...

29/03/2020: Instructions for making an ultralight stuff sack: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/03/29/diy-stuff-sacks/

27/03/2020: My new DIY tent. Something to keep your mind off things. It is the silnylon version of my recent 10 x 10 tarp. It can be used (two ways) as a tent and two ways as a hammock tarp as well - and weighs under 600 grams. It cost me less than $20: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/03/27/silnylon-hammock-tent/

26/03/2020: I wish. My post from this day in 2014: ‘Expect a break from me: tomorrow I am off for ten days’ hiking in Fiordland. In the unlikely event that I capture a photo of a live moose, I will come back $100,000 richer as there is a prize offered. I HAVE seen one, and have seen much sign over the years: tracks, browse, fewmets…so I am in with a chance. Wish me luck. In any case, be assured I WILL enjoy myself in that vast wilderness.’ See my posts about it here: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/03/05/from-dawn-to-dusky/ It will be a welcome relief even if we can’t be there at thre moment, perhaps ever again.

17/03/2020: How to Make a Tent Pole: I made a sub one ounce hand saw for this purpose, but this is even easier than sawing a branch to length: You can cut approx 10″ (25 cm) of 1″ (25mm) poly pipe to join two hiking poles like this. I used standard ‘rural C’ grade poly pipe https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/03/16/how-to-make-a-tent-pole/

16/03/2020: Lighting a Fire in the Wet #2: It is no trouble to light a fire with a large magnifying glass when the sun is shining in a clear sky, but it is a different matter if the lens is small or if only brief, occasional gleams of sun come through gaps in the clouds. It can be done quite easily, however, by taking into account elementary physics. White or light-coloured surfaces reflect heat, so with a very small lens or under poor conditions it is useless to try to light a piece of paper, a leaf, or dry grass. But black absorbs heat and therein lies the whole secret of success.

This can be demonstrated in a striking way by using a prospector's lens, no larger than a 2-cent piece, or the almost as small eyepiece from .a pocket telescope or pair of binoculars. Wait until the lower rim of the sun is just touching the horizon—the time when least heat is received from it—and then focus the rays on a piece of black tinder made from cotton cloth. Within 2 or 3 seconds the tinder will start to glow. The same thing happens when the sun gleams for a second or two through a gap in driving clouds.

If no tinder is available, use a tiny ball of cotton thread taken from the clothing, or some very fine threads of grass leaf or inner fibrous bark, bone dry and blackened by thorough rubbing between the finger and thumb with a scrap of old, soft charcoal.

Lighting a "fire in wet weather is another art which must be mastered. The worst conditions are those under which so many of our troops lived, ate, slept, fought, and died in the jungles of New Guinea. Through the steamy green gloom of the rain forest the tall columns of the trees rise to a thick ceiling of leaves. Their trunks are festooned with a tangle of lianas and canes. Underfoot is a mat of sodden leaves and all the fallen timber is like a wet and rotten sponge. Only too often, especially in the afternoon, the rain streams down, hour after hour. To get a fire going to cook some food or make tea under these conditions might seem impossible, but it can be done by those who know what to do.

In the rain forests of Queensland there is a tree whose wood burns when green. It is the 'kerosene tree' or ghittoe (Hal-fordia) whose heartwood is filled with minute specks of resin. It is identified by the absence of root buttresses, and by large, yellow-barked roots which twist about on the surface of the surrounding soil. The leaves are small, dark green, and resemble the fruit of a fig tree in outline.

A slab is split off the trunk of a ghittoe—a tough job, for it is one of the hardest timbers in the world and it cannot be done without an axe. Some of the saffron-yellow heartwood must be included. Little splinters of this heartwood are stuck in the ground in a circle with their tops touching, like the framework of an Indian tepee. Larger splinters are added, then pieces of wood the size of a pencil. The match is applied to the fine inner splinters through a gap left for the purpose.

It should be laid in a sheltered spot among the root buttresses of a big tree, as a little puff of wind will extinguish it when first lit. It is also necessary to stick the splinters firmly into the ground, because it will not burn if laid flat in the ordinary way. Although ghittoe wood is the best of them, there are other woods in the rain forests of Queensland, as well as in New Guinea, New Britain, and other tropical countries, which will burn green if the fire is laid in the way described.

They can be identified by asking natives to point them out, or by experimenting with splinters of the heartwood.

Another method in the Queensland rain forests is to look for the blue kauri pine, Agatbis palmerstonii. It can be distinguished from the brown kauri, Agathis robusta, because the trunk of the former is mottled with bluish patches, while the latter is a dull brown. When one of these trees is found, see if it has a broken limb—most kauris have one or two. Stand directly under the end of a broken branch and scrape away the leaves. Lumps of hard, glassy resin which have dripped from the stump will be found; they range in size from a walnut to a football. Even when wet, a chip of this gum will light with a single match and bum with a hot but smoky flame like that of rubber. A few chips will boil a billy of water.

In the rain forests of other tropical countries, members of the pine family of trees will be found which yield inflammable gum in the same way.

In the forests of southern Australia, look for trees such as the jarrah of Western Australia or the stringybark of the south and east of South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales. Tear off strips of bark and rub the inner layer into bull's wool. Wherever the blackboy, yacca, or grasstree grows, dry kindling can be obtained in wet weather by breaking off the dry, dead leaves which have been sheltered by the overhanging green ones. Porcupine grass (Triodia) burns green.

In very wet weather, little can be done with dead sticks gathered from the ground, as they are usually sodden. Break dead sticks off she-oaks or other casuarinas, from some of the wattles, particularly the blackwood, Acacia melanoxylon, or almost any of the gumtrees. If they are very wet, split them down the centre. The gidgee (Acacia cambagei) of the northwest of New South Wales and western Queensland, or any of the mulgas of the inland, are particularly good in this way.

Fire-lighting under adverse conditions is one of the most important of all things to the bushcraft student.

To bank up a fire in wet weather, so as to have hot coals for the morning, obtain some big banksia cones if possible. These were known as mangait (mahn-gah-eet) to the Aborigines of the south-west of Western Australia. Place some in the centre of the fire, fan until well alight, let them burn for a time, then cover completely with ashes and place a sheet of bark on the top to shield from the rain. In the morning, fan away the ashes and the mangaits will start to glow.

The same thing can be done with the chunky ends of hardwood logs. If gidgee wood is obtainable, it is merely necessary to put one end of a small log in the fire. It will smoulder away through the rest of the night without bursting into flame, burning only on the underside if it is raining heavily.

To carry fire from one spot to another some distance away, it is useless to try to do it with a single stick, unless it is a dry water-root from a gumtree or a stick of gidgee. Use two sticks with the burning ends together, as shown in the sketch. This is the Aboriginal method. It also helps to keep one warm when walking on a bitterly cold day. The sticks should be waved to and fro by swinging the arm while walking, to fan the burning ends. The drawback to it is the way in which the flying sparks burn holes in the clothing.

Carrying fire-sticks

I have seen Aborigines in central Australia with the skin of their upper arms, chests, and abdomens pitted with marks similar to smallpox scars, caused by the burns inflicted by sparks from their pairs of firesticks.

15/03/2020: Backpack Tips and Tricks. Most everyone's backpack is hopeless as well as too heavy. There is a better way: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/03/15/backpack-tips-and-tricks/

14/03/2020: Lay Flat Kettle and Pudding Bowl Stove: Some more great ideas from 'Tim the Tinker'. 'Winter is coming' as they say, so it is time to sharpen up your winter tent and tipis designs and complete your experiments in how to heat them effectively: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/03/11/lay-flat-kettle-and-pudding-bowl-stove/

14/03/2020: Lay Flat Kettle and Pudding Bowl Stove: Some more great ideas from ‘Tim the Tinker‘. ‘Winter is coming’ as they say, so it is time to sharpen up your winter tent and tipis designs and complete your experiments in how to heat them effectively.

It is a pure delight to be out and about in our wonderful Victorian fastnesses, (for example) chasing the wily sambar in the clear cold days of winter, but it is even more delightful at the end of the day to be able to dry off clothes and self, to have a hot meal and any number of hot drinks and gather around a toasty fire out of the wind to yarn about the day’s adventures, times past, absent friends – and sort out all the problems of the world! First though you must perfect the art of lighting a fire in the wet and making tinder.

I was already mightily impressed by Tim’s wonderful ‘lay-flat’ kettle which weighs a mere 31 grams for a 700 ml capacity. It is an ingenious idea which I have known would work since I saw the astonishing Prof Sumner-Miller on TV when I was a lad demonstrating that you could boil water in a paper cup, but I had not thought to actually make one for myself. Tim has – well done Tim. Here is how he made it out of copper foil, silylon and silicone: https://timtinker.com/lay-flat-kettle/ and here it is boiling 2-3 cups of water:

Della and I used to see and talk to Prof Sumner-Miller practically every day when we were students at Sydney Uni back in the early 70s. What an enchanting man he was. His TV show ‘Why Is It So?’ has never been bettered. You can still catch some of the episodes on Youtube.

Here is the kettle lying flat:

Here is a delightful little video of water boiling in the lay-flat kettle over the pudding bowl stove:

Tim also has his Instagram page (above) with lots of illustrations of his DIY ideas. You should check it out: https://www.instagram.com/telemarktim/

In his post linked above he considers the various features of the Pudding Bowl Stove and his new Miniature Dome Stove. Like his stove I described before (see links below) all these stoves are very light. He is concentrating on stoves which will weigh .5-1.0 kg such that the whole thing including chimney can easily be carried on or in your backpack for winter (snow) camping.

The stoves are intended for both cooking and providing enough warmth for convivial evenings in the tent/tipi. They output around 1,000 watts of heat which is surprising for such a small stove using only 400 grams of twigs an hour.

They certainly convince me to have a DIY attempt at a small stainless steel stove which can maybe stoked and shut down enough to only need refueling every 3-4 hours. Stay posted.

Here is his Miniature Dome Stove hard at work:

The Instagram video (below) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8nkT_AhlQn/ shows how it can be used as a tent stove, blower stove or alcohol; stove all in the one little package:

These stoves are made from easily purchased stainless steel cookware or lunch tins etc. The chimneys he makes himself from Titanium foil. They are ingenious and extremely light.

He will make one for you for a fee, so you should contact him if your are interested. The chimney would be especially attractive as it is difficult to obtain the titanium foil to make it anyway.

The temperature of the stove can be higher than 350C but the temperature at the top of the short chimney is only around 100C so that a DIY Peltier electric generator would work there with one side in the near freezing air. This would be good for providing illumination and charging your various devices just as a by-product of eating and staying warm. More about that later…

See how hot they get here:

He also has instructions for making a ‘Tent Flue Gland‘ to prevent the tent from being melted by the chimney, and many other wonderful things such as Lay-Flat Handles, for example. You can spend many hours of enchantment exploring his site.

Lay flat handle laid flat in backpacking position.

You should remember that this man has journeyed (likely for longer than you have been alive) easily on skis in winter and camped out safely and comfortably for many days in the snows on our mountain tops, something which would be the death of less experienced or foolish folk – so there is much to learn from him, particularly perhaps if you think about harvesting a sambar stag above the snowline one beautiful winter’s day in the future…

Here you can see one of his winter camps in one of his DIY tents. Note the chimney:

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/25/seamless-tyvek-tipi/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/05/26/how-to-light-a-fire-in-the-wet/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/02/27/tinder/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/23/winter-tent-stoves/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/09/09/how-to-carry-a-saw/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/09/16/fire-umbrella/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/03/02/tyvek/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/05/28/tyvek-solo-fire-shelter/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/06/17/one-pole-tyvek-tipi/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/10/23/fire-on-the-snow/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/02/23/how-to-have-fun-when-hiking-in-the-rain/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/06/25/fire-from-a-can-of-coke-and-a-chocolate-bar/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/08/06/how-to-make-a-fire-with-a-gum-wrapper-and-a-battery/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/04/12/fire-engine-rolls-over-peanut-lighter/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/11/09/interesting-wet-weather-fire-starter/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/08/29/duct-tape-fire-starter/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2014/12/08/firelighting-tip/

I don’t usually camp in the snow so I find it safer and easier to have an open fire outside my tent. I have been fiddling with my tarps https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/06/two-great-poly-tarp-configurations/ & especially https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/24/10-by-10-tarp-update/over the last few days in preparation for a trip to Mt Darling (we hope), but I will get back to a tent stove as I develop my tipis (https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/25/seamless-tyvek-tipi/) I have added some additional tie-outs and am now up to the point of making the 10 x 10 out of silnylon which will save me 200 grams.

I should have a very roomy tent for two (with a floor), the ability to have a fire out the front and to fasten it down completely if rain comes from all directions which will weigh all up (ie guys and pegs too) under 500 grams. It can also be a much larger shelter (if pitched diagonally) and a fully enclosed hammock tarp for one or an open hammock tarp for two.

You must certainly avoid this:

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/02/04/to-build-a-fire/

09/03/2020: Enchanting tricks you can use weather radar for: https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/03/weather-radar-shows-spring-bird.html

07/03/2020: A stupendous photo but not exactly the ‘green hills of earth’ is it: https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/figures/PIA23623_fig1.jpg

06/03/2020: New Evidence of Fiordland Moose: New Sighting Below: Some time back I was contacted by a young journalist, Charlie Mitchell from Stuff, New Zealand. I helped him out as much as I could from my experiences. Over the last two days I have been thrilled to read and see what he has put together of the continued existence of this wonderful herd. There are other moose hunters out there as well. That is good news.

Les Murrrell’s two bulls in the Seaforth River, 1927.

There have been two authentic DNA confirmations of the NZ moose this century. Only last year (May 2017) I encountered fresh browse and fresh moose scent in the Hauroko Burn.

Eventually someone’s hard work will pay off with authenticated footage of one of these ‘gentle giants’. Of course everyone involved hopes it will be their photos which reveal this strange carry-over from an ancient era lurking in the primeval forests of New Zealand. I will be having another crack at finding them myself if my fitness and finances hold up. I will keep you posted.

Meanwhile you can find Charlie’s two fine articles here:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/103196185/new-zealands-moose-hunt-a-centurylong-quest-for-a-forests-final-secret

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104071821/there-are-signs-moose-still-live-in-nzs-wilderness

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/15/cheap-comfy-hiking-pillow/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2014/01/06/exped-ultralight-pillow/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/04/14/ul-pillows/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/04/stop-losing-your-pillow/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/08/25/diy-super-ultralight-pillow/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/06/10/a-soft-pillow-and-a-warm-bed-under-the-stars/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/09/09/modifyingshortening-hiking-mats/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/02/09/light-lighter-lightest/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/01/28/messing-about-in-boats/

Lots of Other DIY Hiking Ideas

29/02/2020: About (that plague) of cute koalas. We live hard up against the Strzelecki forest outlined in the article. There really are plagues of koalas (wombats, swamp wallabies and foxes) here: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2020/02/bushfires-and-koalas-its-not-that-simple/

29/02/2020: Listen: The Sound Of The Hagia Sophia, More Than 500 Years Ago – you can really understand why some folks go to church: https://www.npr.org/2020/02/22/808404928/listen-the-sound-of-the-hagia-sophia-more-than-500-years-ago

28/02/2020: Tinder: This is a gem from yesteryear. So much useful survival knowledge is all-but lost: ‘Fire Without Matches: More nonsense has been said and written on the subject of lighting fires without matches than on any other—except, of course, the birth of the kangaroo. How can one tell, by reading what a man has written about it, that he couldn’t make it work if challenged to give a demonstration? Quite easily, and it can be summed up in six words.- ‘The age of miracles is past”.

It would be nothing short of a miracle if a fire could be lit by some of the methods described. This is an example: ‘Sparks struck off the flint by the steel are caught on dry grass or cotton threads and are then blown into flame’. It is incorrect in two ways. The spark comes from the steel, not the flint. It is a speck of metal, heated to incandescence by some of the energy expended in the blow of the steel against a stone even harder than itself.

Further, no matter how many of these sparks are rained on to dry grass, cotton, bark, and similar stuff, they will never ignite it. Apart from gunpowder, never used nowadays in the Army, and highly inflammable vapours such as those from petrol and alcohol, those sparks will ignite nothing except tinder.

When bushcraft training began in the Army, we were faced with the problem of making tinder from a substance which a serviceman would have with him, or could find in the bush. This ruled out the use of chemicals such as saltpetre or chlorate of potash. A round was made of technical schools and the university; old text-books from public library vaults were consulted without success. Tinder-making without chemicals seemed to be a lost art. Then a senior officer, who held an arts and not a science degree, hit upon a simple solution.

‘No use going to orthodox schools and universities,’ he said, smiling. ‘Try a different kind of educational establishment— the jail.’

‘We’ve got the man you want locked up now,” said the jail superintendent. ‘No matter how thoroughly we search him, he can always light a smoke in his cell. Mandrake’s got nothing on him. I’ll get him for you.’

Old Bob was suspicious at first but when told why the information was required he took me out of sight and hearing of the warders and parted with all his secrets. He did more than talk about it; he demonstrated everything as he went along. That old man had been in custody for most of his life, but he did more for the troops than many of those who have never seen the inside of a jail. Thousands of soldiers had reason to bless him when the matches gave out.

If flint is unobtainable, any hard rock will do; quartz, chert, chalcedony, etc. For the striker, carbon steel must be used, such as the back of a knife, a safety razor blade, or a piece of a file. Alloy steels such as a hacksaw blade will not do, neither will soft iron. The only substitute which occurs naturally is iron pyrites, the hard and brassy ore sometimes mistaken for gold by amateur prospectors. Best results in this case are achieved by striking one piece of pyrites against another, but even so the sparks are dull red instead of at white heat and it is often necessary to do a great deal of hammering before the tinder catches.

An airtight, waterproof container is necessary for the tinder. The ordinary boot polish tin is the easiest to obtain, but if cut off from all the resources of civilisation a substitute must be found. Prehistoric man in Europe used a hollow bone fitted with a wooden plug. A member of the A.I.F., cut off by the Japanese advance, used a short length of bamboo fitted with a stopper.

The best tinder is made from a piece of cotton cloth, washed to remove dirt, sweat, and grease, then dried thoroughly. First scour the tin with sand, dry earth, or ashes to remove any traces of polish. Place it on the ground with the lid beside it. Light a small fire, take a piece of the cotton cloth about the size of a handkerchief, place it across a couple of sticks and hold it over the fire, out of contact with the flames. This makes sure that it is dry.

As soon as it starts to scorch, let it take fire. It will flare up. As the last of the flame is dying out, lower it into the tin, pack it down with two sticks and at once put on the lid. When it has cooled, remove the lid and the tinder is revealed as black, fragile flakes. If cotton cloth is not available, substitutes can be found in wild cotton, taken from the ripe pods, thistledown, the silky threads from the fruits of the kapok tree, or the brown fluff from the base of the leaves of the palm-like Macrozamia, but this last-named substance must be first boiled to remove the gum and then dried.

Tease any of these substances into a large ball, light it, and at once pack into the tin and put the lid on, as they burn very rapidly. Another substitute is the large, white, bread-like fungus (punk) found growing on trees, or the pith found inside some species of reeds. Break both into little chips, then heat on a piece of tin held over a fire or on a hot stone. As soon as they are glowing, rake into the tinderbox and put on the lid.

All these forms of tinder ignite at the touch of a spark because the cellulose in them has been reduced to a mass of carbon filaments, through excluding the air at the critical point in the initial combustion.

To light a fire with tinderbox, flint, and steel, have ready what the bushman calls ‘bull’s wool’—dry grass or bark rubbed to fluff, coconut fibre, or anything else of the kind, as well as a heap of kindling sticks. Place the tinder-box on the ground with the lid off, hold the piece of stone between the thumb and finger of the left hand and about 8 centimetres above the tinder. Take the steel between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand and strike a light, quick blow with the edge of the steel across a sharp angle of the stone. Move the steel parallel to the ground; do not strike downward, as this is likely to hit the tin and scatter the contents, with unfortunate results if the ground is wet and the tinder becomes damp.

Flint and steel outfit

A shower of sparks will fly off if the blow is struck in the right way and the tinder will glow where any touch it. Pick out a burning piece of tinder and put the lid on the tin at once, for otherwise the rest of the tinder will burn to ash within half a minute. Put the burning tinder in the middle of a small bunch of bull’s wool, blow on it gently until it takes fire, and poke it under the heap of sticks.

In passing: I first introduced these boot polish tin, piece of quartz, and safety razor blade outfits in Western Australia in 1942. A few months later, in Queensland, I found them in general use, as soldiers had sent samples and instructions home to their families. They definitely helped to overcome the wartime shortage of matches for civilian use. It furnishes a modern example of the spread of knowledge known as culture diffusion to anthropologists’.

From, ‘The Bushman’s Handbook’ by H.A. Lindsay. Harold Lindsay was a survival instructor with the Australian and American troops during World war 2.

PS: I always carry something to help start a fire: a couple of esbits and a scrap of bicycle inner tube and of course I use a metho stove so I always have a bit of that too. You should read the post How to Light a Fire in the Wet.

PPS These lightweight aluminium cans would be excellent for your tinder.

23/02/2020: Another Cheap Hiking Mat: The Vertex Mattress (which includes a pillow) at 450 grams, generously sized 74.8” x 22.8” with a reasonable R-rating for warmer weather of R 4.2 and an excellent price of US$39.99 (Feb 2020) would have to be good value. If you are shorter like Della and I are you could easily cut this down to 5’6″ (397 grams) or even 5′ (360 grams) to save some weight – yet you still have that generous extra 2.8″ of width. This would be good practice for other DIY heat sealing projects such as pillows and pack rafts. You even get a free fire starter! I cannot spot the height – looks to be about 2″. If you are on a budget this could be for you. In the colder months you could pair it with a cheap closed cell foam mat to add a couple of R-points. Lots of folks at the bottom of Vertex’s page seem happy with it. You might pair it with these cheap down sleeping bags and coats.

PS: You may be eligible for a 10% discount right now (Feb 2020).

This post continues a series about budget hiking. Here are some of the others:

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/30/best-5-spent-on-camping-gear-ever/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/03/03/ultralight-hiking-on-a-budget/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/03/24/budget-pack-mods/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/07/60-diy-ultralight-hiker-ideas/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/01/01/cheap-down/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/01/12/how-good-is-this/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/09/09/modifyingshortening-hiking-mats/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/06/12/thermoplastics-101/

PS: The pillow I made has become my favourite. I have slept on it every night since i made it around a year ago.

21/02/2020: Amps are Everything: It’s hard to find a solar panel which fits on top of a backpack nd can reliably charge eg an 18650 battery/powerbank. This one from Aliexpress looks pretty good.

It is 275 x 150 mm (10 ¾” x 6”) and weighs:141 grams. so it should just fit on top of your pack. It puts out 2 amps at 5 volts (10 watts) so it should technically just about charge a single 18650 in an hour supposing you can find a 2 amp charger and cord to go with it. It might be safer to charge two 18650s together at 1 amp through a 2-3 amp charging cord but if hooked up to a 1 amp charger it should do the job safely in just over two hours.

Even on the top of your backpack you should get the equivalent of two hours of bright sunshine dut=ring the course eg of an eight hour hiking day. The 3700 milliamp hours available from a single 1860 battery ought to be enough to charge a small phone, camera battery and torch each day. Given that most of these will only need charging at mst every second day that should be quite enough to keep them topped up and any other electrical gadgets such as an emergency sat phone/communicator and emergency radio text messager such as the Go tenna. At US$12.90 delivered (Feb 2019) it is worth a try.

The diameter of the charging cord is vital to successful charging. Wires are measured in AWG (gauges) the lwer the number being the thicker, as seen below

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html Here are some cheap 3 amp charging cables (pictured above 5 for US 6.99).

You need to check what amperage your (eg 18650) batteries can handle and how many amps your charger delivers to each battery. Many such batteries can handle around 1.7 amps (each) so that a power bank/charger) which contains two such batteries and can take 3 amps should be fine. I am using the 18650GA flat tops in mine.

Such a charger should charge the two batteries, approximately 12 watts each (at 5 watts times 1.5 amps each = 7.5 watts per hour) in a bit over an hour and a half. It is quite difficult to find a power bank/charger which delivers more than 1 amp each to the contained batteries. The batteries are always wired in parallel so the current is divided between the batteries.

Indeed it it diffcult enough to find one which delivers 1 amp each (.5 amp is more typical) Now perhaps you see why your device/s take so long to charge. Practically all my charging cables proved to be 28AWG wire and so delivered at most .5 amps. As you can see the one above is 20 awg wire and will deliver 3 amps plus to the power bank/charger. There are other cables which promise to deliver 5 amps. Of course length/weight is also a factor.

18/02/2020: The Sleeping Bag Re-Imagined: The wild idea races far ahead of the imagined object. For many years (for me) I tossed up between hammock and tent camping using a 7' x 7' and a 169 gram (including suspension rope) Nano hammock tarp for hammocking, then I started rigging my 8' X 8' cuben tarp for either purpose, but it was only really good for one person as a ground shelter - sometimes the only choice because of the absence of suitable trees - though I attached 'wings' to it so we could use it for either in a pinch.

You can see here how we used to use it here - and it only weighs 200 grams! I am swinging back to silnylon and silpoly instead of cuben fibre though for various reasons, cost (!) for one, but durability also. Now that Tenacious Tape can be used for repairs and waterproof sinylon fabrics are available in 1 oz/yd2 and even .77 oz/yd2 and are much more durable I just don't see the point. I am sick and tired of my cuben fibre stuff sacks shredding just as I tired of my cuben fibre packs doing the same a few years back and am making new silnylon ones.

It is much nicer to have my lovely wife Della's company but sometimes we are forced to take to the trees as the ground is so wet, so how to do this in the lightest way possible? Lightweight hammocks and suspensions for one thing. My new tent/tarp coupled with my double bunking hammock swing solves all these problems - and I daresay we can also use the tarp as the skin of an emergency boat to get ourselves across swollen rivers in our path if the need arises. Multiple use is what it's all about.

I chose my current sleeping bag (that's it above) because it shape-shifts to fit and has plenty of room for my shoulders and arms - and of course it's light, around 550 grams for -2C. I am quite fond of it but it does not thermo -regulate as I imagine future materials might (and be just as comfy from minus to plus 40C) though we have added down to one of mine to make it suitable for trips to Everest. Nor (I think) can it be used to catch fish (as I think future sleeping bags might) or fit in your breast pocket (as they did in Heinlein's 'Tunnel in the Sky' What a great book - download it here).

What other wonders might future sleeping bags have? Could they be waterproof enough so that you could lie in a pool in the rain yet breathable enough so they were bone-dry inside? Could they catch your perspiration, and re-purify it as drinking water like the stillsuits in Frank Herbert's 'Dune'? Could you use one as a parachute? Could they double as clothing? There are already some interesting make-overs to have this happen. I know it is a no-brainer that you can wrap yourself in it of a cold evening before bed. It would be excellent if they were fire-proof so that you did not either melt holes in them around the campfire or when cooking and you could roll yourself in one to save yourself during a wildfire.

In the meantime I am surprised that 1000 fill power down bags are not available yet. This is an obvious weight saving. You should be able to get a zipperless bag made of lightweight materials suitable for around 0C at a weight under 400 grams I would have thought.

13/02/2020: Paper Maps App: This is a great App I have just discovered. It opens Pdf Maps and many other types.

If you are tired of Avenza’s version of Pdf Maps only allowing you to open three maps before you hand over cash to them every year – and taking forever to open every map into the bargain (I am). I have a new phone and the trick I used before didn’t want to work, so I went hunting for another App to open Vicmaps Topographical maps in Geopdf format. I found this wonderful App.

This is Della’s favourite place (Hawick Scotland – where her ancestors resided). She won’t get lost there now. I will have to take her there again soon.

Here she is enjoying every minute of it:

It opens a map much more quickly. I guess in less than 30 seconds. Avenza maps used to take minutes, but was much faster if they were already open. It will open: GeoPDF, Geospatial PDF, GeoTIFF, JPEG, KML, KMZ and Shapefile.

You can record GPS tracks, add placemarks and photos, add data layers with schemas, Import your own maps or from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive. 600,000 maps are available in Paper Maps App catalog including 400,000 US Topo maps, US Forest Maps, and Historic Soviet topo maps. Once you have loaded the map it works off-line – and the GPS is very fast and accurate.

Have your own map? Just use it!

Need a map for your journey? Just use one of 600,000 maps available in Paper Maps App! Add placemarks and photos. One map? Or 1,000 maps? Load and use all of them. You can also Organize data in layers or add schemas and styles.

It takes only seconds to get the hang of it. I am sold on this App: https://www.paper-maps.com/

You can download Geoscience Australia’s maps for your particular area and never get lost.

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/10/27/geoscience-australias-free-1250000-topo-maps/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/10/26/never-get-lost-with-google-offline-maps/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/03/24/nz-topo-maps-app-for-hiking-in-nz/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/07/20/car-camping-scotland/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/05/26/convert-a-car-to-a-camper-for-50/

10/02/2020: Della: 47 years married to this wonderful man, and still relishing the great adventure of our lives shared. Happy wedding anniversary, Steve Jones!

Della: 47th Wedding Anniversary dinner: I tried doing a selfie shot with both of us in it, but my smart-phone-selfie savvy is well below par, so we had to settle with recording the event in a quick shuffle of turns in the seat without the light washout. The menu was immensely exciting, but all the dishes were sadly eclipsed by the salt-shaker. Fortunately the company and the prosecco were reliably top-notch, as always!

10/02/2020: Light, Lighter, Lightest: If things keep going on like this my backpack will have negative mass and will be carrying me! ‘Lead balloons’ will soon actually exist! In fact they were first imagined ‘in 1670 by the Jesuit Father Francesco Lana de Terzi, sometimes referred to as the “Father of Aeronautics“, who published a description of an “Aerial Ship” supported by four copper spheres from which the air was evacuated’. Neat idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship

Of course in reality the spheres would collapse, but we are almost ready to make spheres using graphene scaffolding which is strong enough that they can be evacuated (and refilled) to control lift – so the same may well occur with backpacks, ie backpacks with lift! It’s a wonder you cannot buy a helium lift-assist kit for heavy backpacks already. Of course they might be a bit bulky!

PS: It is somewhat of a surprise that helium actually exists anywhere on earth in that it is light and energetic enough to escape earth’s gravity – and so what does exist should be conserved for more serious purposes than party balloons! The truth is that it is created by radioactive processes deep in the earth and is trapped in certain structures in the crust (such as a few Texas oil wells whence most of the earth’s supply comes). Given that it is a super-conductor at low temperatures and may have all sorts of other strange properties (eg as a solid!) we probably should conserve it somewhat more than koala bears (which are as common as wombats around here)!

Gossammer Gear have long been pioneers in ways to reduce your pack weight. I have posted about various of their products over the years including their carbon fibre hiking poles, backpacks, Airflow Sitlight Seats Polycro Ground Sheets and so forth.

Here are some really nice lightweight ideas I found there today in their Accessories section:

These micro dripper bottles are even smaller and lighter than their earlier ones. These little guys only weigh 1.95 grams each and hold 3 mls so they are ideal for eg a small quantity of iodine or insect repellent. You should add them to your collection of small is beautiful ideas such as this and this.

This ultralight (3.5 grams) toothbrush for only a dollar deserves to join your war on weight: https://www.gossamergear.com/collections/accessories/products/toothbrush

Some natural silk floss sachets at US3.99 have to be a ‘must’ – and you could use them for fishing.

This hands-free umbrella clamp has to be a great idea at US$5.99. A pity ‘Rambling Hemlock’ didn’t patent hers – perhaps she did.

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/08/30/a-gorilla-in-the-bush/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/01/25/gossamer-gear-air-flow-sitlight-camp-seat/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/11/22/ultralight-ground-sheet/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/10/16/small-is-beautiful/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/05/10/the-ultralight-fisherman/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2014/08/18/single-use-antibiotic-packs/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/12/14/a-hands-free-umbrella/

10/02/2020: Do you tell your children wild camping is illegal? I think this is such a good title for a post. It is up there with my post title Nuts to Leave No Trace. The Nanny State wowsers would ban all fun if they could. The author is from the UK. One thing which surprised me during our trip around Scotland last year was how much freer hikers and campers had it there than here. Scotland is 17% forest (more than Victoria) and you may walk and/or camp anywhere on it. You may also walk across private land anywhere ‘as of right’. England is more crowded and more rule-bound apparently. I am not especially looking forward to our trip there – but I guess we have to go and see where the ‘ancestors’ came from sometime.

The author has some tips about encouraging children in the worthy civil disobedience of ‘free or stealth camping’. I couldn’t agree more.

One of my all-time favourite books is Thoreau’s Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience which you can download and read for free from the link. The alternative title might be more evocative for you: ‘Life in the Woods’.

Thoreau retired (c1820) to a tiny remote cabin in the woods (near Walden Pond) where he chose to live a life of simple self-sufficiency – an inspiration now to many generations of us who have essayed to emulate him. it is a great read and always on my phone when I venture into the trackless wilderness which I often do, thank goodness.

Tom Smallwood discusses the delicate chore of telling your children that what you are doing ie camping on someone else’s land is illegal, but alright to do nonetheless. The idea of raising a tribe of such young anarchists strikes a chord with me. Here in Victoria much of our camping (eg in National Parks, & even perhaps on waterways may be technically illegal, but should be encouraged nonetheless – so long as you don’t leave a mess or spook the sheep!

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/01/04/nuts-to-leave-no-trace/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/05/01/the-littlest-hiker/

Walden

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/23/the-ultimate-hunting-trip/

10/02/2020: 1000 FP Down Vest: Just 150 grams and US$49.92 this little guy would make the perfect partner to its big brother the Naturehike 1000 FP Down Jacket which was on sale last week, sold out (at $60!) but is back again this week for US$ 67.43 – just in case you missed out!

It has both hand warmer pockets outside and generous storage pockets inside.

These two garments with a combined weight of 324 grams will allow you to get out in really cold sub-zero weather. Get one now at Aliexpress.

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/01/01/cheap-down/

10/02/2019: 2,000 years: Seeds can last a long time: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/57817

28/01/2019: Australia Day 2019: Latrobe River near Rosedale:

25/01/2019: Della: ‘This little sweetheart was out to welcome us home as we approached our driveway this evening. We had just encountered a goanna on our afternoon walk in the local pine plantation along with a couple of echidnas and the usual handful of wallabies and roos, and I am currently listening to one of our resident possums galloping thunderously across our iron roof.
"There's no place like home," Dorothy...’

23/01/2019: Nitecore 550 Lumen Head Torch: What a great new head torch I managed to pick up from Deal Extreme for under US$30! Equipped with a CREE XP-G3 S3 LED, the NU32 emits a bright 550 lumens extending out to 125 metres/408 feet. In addition to this primary LED, which offers four different brightness modes, the NU32 also features high-CRI auxiliary LEDs that can be activated for close-range tasks, like reading and repairs. It weighs just 98 gram/3.5 ounces including its comfortable headband. Engineered with a 1800mAh/50-hour rechargeable battery, it won’t stop during critical tasks either.

LED: CREE XP-G3 S3 LED
Maximum brightness: 550 lumens
Peak beam distance: 408 ft (124.4 m)
Peak beam intensity: 3900 cd
IP rating: IP67
Impact resistance: 3.3 ft (1 m)
Dimensions: 2.5 x 1.7 x 1.7 in (6.3 x 4.3 x 4.3 cm)
Weight: 3.51 oz (99.5 g)

Brightness Outputs

Turbo mode: 550 lumens, 1 hour runtime
High mode: 190 lumens, 17 hour runtime
Mid mode: 33 lumens, 50 hour runtime
Ultra low mode: 1 lumen, 330 hour runtime
Auxiliary high CRI mode: 19 lumens, 25 hour runtime
Red mode: 9 lumens, 38 hour runtime
Flashing red illumination mode: 9 lumens, 45 hour runtime
Beacon mode: 550 lumens
SOS mode: 550 lumens

Looks good with a ripe Plumcot from or garden too doesn't it? I've modelled it below:

That beard needs a trim!

They seem to have sold out at dx.com but they are incorrectly listed. They still have 10,000 of them! They also have the Nitecore HC60 Cree XM - L2 U2 1000LM LED Headlamp for US$47.95. I also picked up the new Nitecore Concept 1 1800 lumen single 18650 battery (61.9 gram) torch for US$54 - more about that later! They also have the Tube, Tiny Thumb and Tip mini rechargeable torches I wrote about before at a very reasonable price.

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/08/22/smallest-rechargeable-flashlight/

I use the Tube all the time when I am hiking:

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/09/27/11-gram-rechargeable-head-torch/

22/01/2019: Fourteen Days of White Water: The Wonnangatta-Mitchell is Victoria greatest river. It rises deep in a wonderful remote wilderness that is the heart of Gippsland and finally finishes (weeks later) at the amazing ‘Silt Jetties’ where it enters Lake King. It can be canoed (when there is sufficient water, ie approx 1.8 metres on the Waterford Gauge) from the Humffray River confluence at the base of the Wombat Spur, the beginning of the ‘Wonnangatta Station’ deep in the Alpine National Park. There are 14 easy days of delightful white water canoeing from there to the Glenaladale Bridge near Lindenow. From that bridge there is still an excellent week’s paddling on flat water to Lake King. Along its whole length there are vast opportunities for memorable camping – and other adventures.

This weekend there will be enough water to canoe it. You need to keep a ‘weather eye’ on the rainfall patterns and river heights. This post Canoeing the Wonnangatta, Catching the Wave will help you decide.

We have canoed most sections of it many times and I have previously posted about all of the white water sections. These posts begin with a pack rafting trip from the Humffray confluence to Eaglevale. We have also been down this section in Canadian canoes a number of times. That trip mostly through a serene remote forest far from tracks, roads, habitations etc takes at least two days but would be better enjoyed over three (or more). Here are my two posts about it:

Pack Rafting the Remote Wonnangatta

The Remote Wonnangatta Day Two

We have had other adventures in there such as:

Pack Raft Saves the Day

and Home Made Pack Raft

You can easily spend three days on the section from eaglevale to the Kingwill Bridge. One recent summer we did There are also a number of opportunities to explore shorter sections of this part.

A Wonnangatta Spring

Wonnangatta Spring Day Two

Wonnangatta Spring Day Three

We have canoed the section downstream from the Kingwill Bridge to Black Snake Creek, thence to Hut Creek (Scorpion Track), and thence to the Rock of Gibraltar and Waterford numerous times beginning when our children were tiny tots over thirty years ago – and we are still enjoying it.

Kingwill Bridge to Meyers Flat

Pack Rafting the Wonnangatta

Canoe Wonnangatta

Kingwill Bridge to Black Snake Creek

Black Snake Creek to Hut Creek

Hut Creek to Waterford Bridge

The section downstream from Waterford is much more committing. You could do the run down to Angusvale in two long days but it is better over three. On the third day you encounter a few grade Three rapids including first the Surprise rapid. You will find it at the end of a long, still pool (as most such disasters occur. We portaged around it. there are a couple of others further down where discretion is the better part of valor. there is not much sense in a serious injury so far from help.

Waterford to Angusvale Day One

Ther are plenty of lovely spots to camp.

Waterford to Angusvale Day Two

Waterford to Angusvale Day Three

Again the section downstream from Angusvale is quite committing. You can take two days to the Den of Nargun (if you are pack rafting) but it would be a long way to carry canoes out. It is better to continue on for the third day and exit gracefully at the Glenaladale Bridge.

Marvellous Mitchell Day One

Marvellous Mitchell Day Two

Marvellous Mitchell Day Three

three whole weeks on a crystal clear river wholly within Victoria is pretty special. You would think it would be swarming with canoeists, but though we have canoed it many times we have never encountered another party. Perhaps we are just fortunate. I hope you enjoy your trips on it as much as we have enjoyed ours. I know that if you are there this weekend you may well see us.

21/01/2019: Impact of Bushfires on Wildlife. This is a very distressing video showing how a handful of deer have survived the fire (though far from unscathed) in a tiny area of Vic’s High Country. Just remember there are literally millions of hectares burned just like this. I have witnessed this time and time again, sometimes finding a deep pool in a stream with a dozen dead deer crowded into it by the relentless inferno. There is so little other life which has survived the fire. Even these few deer have a traumatic and difficult time ahead. They have to heal (if they can) and find enough to eat until the bush vegetation springs back into life. Being so big and so tall they have a better chance than most of the native wildlife if it survived this calamity. In the future their greater numbers will cause them to be blamed for the situation the bush will be in instead of forest ‘managers’ who failed to protect it with fire breaks and routine fuel reduction eg by cool burning, logging and cattle grazing, hunting etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DegZjlzjYww&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2GgHs7hgsEXv-sXlwRhq0sX8ylsEsmuSpfqAx1Auu5j5kD92YiL5FfVZY

21/01/2019: Just Wow! Crossing the Atlantic from Greenland to Iceland in a Cessna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcdbA1kjpPo&feature=emb_title

21/01/2019: Mark Twain – ‘A Dog’s Tale’. I always thought Jack London’s ‘White Fang’ and ‘Call of the Wild’ were the ‘be all and end all’ of dog books but Twain blows them away. This is the saddest animal story I have ever read. What a writer he was! If you do not burst into tears at least four times in the few minutes needed to read it you have a heart of stone! https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3174/3174-h/3174-h.htm

20/01/2019: Beam me up Scotty: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-manage-quantum-teleportation-between-computer-chips-for-the-first-time

20/01/2019: Platypuses are on the 'brink of extinction' - and experts say they'll be almost gone in just 50 years: This could be a little like the 'experts' who 'predicted' that Bumble bees can't fly! I took these photos of a very happy platy during a long walk far up the Wonnangatta-Mitchell River last winter: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/07/30/the-seventieth-birthday-platypus/ This was despite the awful fires there in 2009 which I thought had killed practically everything, and the fires last autumn (2019) which again burned right down to the water's edge (and wiped out four of my camps there) but which seemed to be much less destructive of wildlife (less to burn perhaps). The next fires will oddly have more to burn as last autumn's fires have felled most of the fire-killed trees from 2009 but not been able to burn them as the forest floor fuel had already burned by the time they fell. My thinking is that a 'cool' fire there soonish eg next autumn might rid the forest floor of these logs and make it safer for the surviving wildlife. Birdlife has been coming back (from a low of 6 birds seen in 40 km in 2009). I even saw possums at night last winter near two spots I camped. I haunt this river on which you can have three weeks of wonderful canoeing (a la Huck Finn) beginning at the Humffray confluence: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/11/20/pack-rafting-the-remote-wonnangatta/ My latest foray there was just as these awful Gippsland fires were beginning (before Xmas) and so was a bit of a smoky affair: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/12/23/marvelous-mitchell-river-day-1/ PS: I often see platypodes: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7904763/UNSW-researchers-say-platypuses-brink-extinction.html?fbclid=IwAR32ViL7qTIUIOPx7NovUJYCBGfCeMhOmq2_cg908Cs7O6kJWnffh5syh0c BTW: Despite the fires a visit to Gippsland is extremely worthwhile!

Upper Yarra Track Adventures: Warburton to Bairnsdale Ride courtesy of Gerard White. There are many adventures you can have starting in Melbourne and utilising the wonders of the marvelous Upper Yarra Track. As you can see Gerard has just ridden his bicycle all the way to Bairnsdale. You can see the route he used here: Bundoora to Bairnsdale Route.

He has ridden along the Upper Yarra Track from Warburton all the way to Myrrhee then looped around the North side of the Baw Baw Plateau utilising the Thomson Valley Way, then the Tyers-Rawson Rd, then the Cowarr-Rawson Rd. From Cowwarr he was able to utilise the Rail Trail pretty much all the way to Bairnsdale (and indeed Orbost -if he had had time).

An allternative would have been to utilise my Upper Yarra Track Winter Route (search for posts in the search box below) via Tanjil Bren and the Western Tyers to Collins Siding, and Jacobs Creek thence onto the Rawson-Cowarr Rd. This would have been a little less busy – but the Upper Thomson Rd is one of the most scenic anywhere in the world and coasting down it and then down the Tyers Rawson Rd must have been a delight.

Just after Myrrhee (on Gerard’s route) you pass the Block 10 Rd. A km or so down it is the junction with Newlands Rd. The Upper Yarra Track (walking) takes this route. (Here are my instructions for the Upper Yarra Track including camping spots and water availability. Here is a map). It would probably be possible to take a mountain bike this way to Stronach’s Camp but the track is very overgrown from Franjipani saddle to the junction with the Alps track which is a pity as Newlands Rd is perhaps the most beautiful road in Victoria. Anyway as you are going past it anyway you could go take a look. It will never be cleared by public servants so if you have a bit of energy to spare feel free to lend a hand. There ia a delightful camp about a km into Newlands Rd . There is a short side track on your left which leads to a delightful dam with many resident trout.

Day 1 – Warburton to Ada Tree

Day 2 – Ada Tree to Stronach’s Camp.

NB The photos that follow for quite a while of Boundary Rd and the Forty Mile Break Rds show they are absolute scenic delights. They are closed to cars from May to November but a bike should be no problem. There are numerous delightful campsites along the way.

This is Mt Horsefall (around 1300 metres) with a five acre clearing on top and 360 degree views of some of Gippsland’s finest forests.

The photos have jumped here from the Forty Mile Break Rd (near Toorongo) to the Thomson valley Way.

Day 3 – Stronach’s Camp to Heyfield

There used to be a hut at Little Boys Creek up the side track but it may have been removed.

Day 4 – Heyfield to Bairnsdale

PS: With his kind permission I have already brought you Gerard’s account of his Warburton-Walhalla walk along the Upper Yarra Track. (You can find my instructions here and a map here). I will soon be posting sections of his and his friend’s walk along the Alps Walk from Mt Baw Baw to Canberra.

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/06/08/upper-yarra-track-instructions/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/06/18/upper-yarra-track-map/

Some other adventures you can have in Gippsland:

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/03/12/the-great-gippsland-circuit/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/12/27/gully-walking/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/12/06/gippsland-pack-rafting-routes/

19/01/2019: Ultralight Titanium Cards: These little guys are only US$13.95 each from CountyComm (or sometimes available from Drop for US$26 per pair. They weigh only 8 grams each. It is easy to think of a circumstance that you might need one of these. All you would need would be some line (eg from your repair kit) and you will soon have fresh fish for breakfast! Usually I use my own DIY fishing kit which weighs just one ounce (30 grams).

Then again you might have locked yourself out of your house and need a handy set of lock picks!

See:

https://drop.com/buy/maratac-edc-titanium-pocket-tool-cards#overview

https://countycomm.com/collections/tools/products/survival-titanium-fishing-card-limited-run

https://countycomm.com/collections/tools/products/covert-titanium-lock-pick-manipulation-card

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/05/10/the-ultralight-fisherman/

15/01/2019: "For real people, if something works in theory, but not in practice, it doesn't work. For academics, if something works in practice, but not in theory, it doesn't exist." Nassim Nicholas Taleb

15/01/2019: Wrote this on this day back in 2013 in response to the fires we were having then – have had all this century. Once we used to have (short) holidays on the river over summer, but we are always on ‘fire-watch’ now – and the fires have stolen all the water from the rivers. I would not change a single word of it still, but the urgency has become greater: You would hope that the fires would teach people that the tourism, mining, timber, farming, grazing etc industries know better how to manage the land so that there are commercial livelihoods, needed products and much better protection for wildlife and nature in general. I am totally opposed to National Parks (so too 'aboriginal' land) and would like to see them eliminated - as they produce exactly the opposite result to what is intended: rather than protecting fauna and flora, they are responsible for its widespread destruction. They are intended to ‘save’ that which had already been better saved by many years of the previous management. The land needs to be managed piecemeal, not wholesale. There is no one answer. Drawing vast imaginary lines around an area does nothing to protect it; the reverse is true. Instead, a diversity of land uses produces a diversity of opportunities for nature and leads to no such wholesale destruction as we see happening now, again - to my great sorrow. I would like to see every Greens voter having to go out and deal with fires and the rotting bodies of all the sheep, wallabies, etc which their obsessive policies have killed - much as the Americans forced Germans to deal with the dead and dying of the Death Camps at the end of WW2.

15/01/2019: The rain predicted nearly a fortnight ago (by the GFS) is finally beginning today. Here is another interesting long-range service which seems to have a pretty good track record (Weatherbell). We willl be hearing more about the MJO in future I suspect. It looks like 1-2” all along the East Coast so the fire danger will be mitigated – and the canoeing opportunities may resume (for a short while). See for example my post: Canoeing the Wonnangatta: Catching the Wave (https://www.weatherbell.com/register/pre & http://joannenova.com.au/2020/01/the-cloudless-nw-indian-ocean-may-drive-australian-storms-and-us-cold-weather-in-the-next-month/ & https://www.theultralighthiker.com/?s=catching+the+wave)

14/01/2019: Sleeping Pad News: New pads, new valves from Thermares and a new R-value standard. If It Works, Don’t Fix It – Thermarest’s WingLock™ and TwinLock™ Valve: https://www.thermarest.com/blog/crafting-a-better-valve/ Time to buy a mat while you can still opt for the ‘Classic’ valve perhaps . Extra weight and extra complexity for what? Who found it so difficult to pinch the material behind the valve during inflation to create a one-way valve. Who had difficulty letting a little air out of their mat in the past? The Classic valve is simple and pretty much bullet-proof (though replaceable anyway). Why would you seek to improve perfection?

A few days ago when Thermarest updated the valves across their entire range of of mattress, at the same time they have also increased the R-values for the entire NeoAir range. The new value for our old favourite the Neoair X-Lite Womens at 5.4 is a bit of a surprise . There is now not so much of a jump to the X-Therm (at 6.9) as there was, but it is still almost 2 warmer.

My new Exped SynMat HL Winter M (Now 5.2 rather than 5) doesn't look so good as it did when I bought it - but it is mighty comfortable! If I needed more warmth I should try Exped Ul Downmat Winter M at 480 grams and R = 7.1. You should also look at thickness, width and 'feel' before you make a final choice. Klymit hasn't yet listed their pads' values.

Some Pads and R-values The first figure is the Pre-2020: R-Value the second figure is the new 2020 'ASTM F3340 Standard' R-Value.
Big Agnes Insulated Q-Core SLX N/A 3.5
Big Agnes Insulated Q Core Deluxe N/A 4.2
Big Agnes Insulated AXL Air N/A 3.4
Big Agnes Insulated AXL Trail Boss N/A 5
Big Agnes Insulated Air Core Ultra N/A 3.3
Big Agnes Air Core Ultra N/A 1
Big Agnes Hinman N/A N/A
Big Agnes Two Track N/A N/A.

Exped FlexMat New 1.5
Exped FlexMat Plus New Pad 2.2
Exped Sit Pad Flex New Pad 1.5
Exped DownMat XP 9 (all sizes) 8 7.8
Exped DownMat UL Winter (all sizes) 7 7.1
Exped SynMat UL Winter 5 5.2
Exped SynMat HL Duo Winter 5 5.2
Exped SynMat UL 3.3 2.9
Exped SynMat HL 3.3 2.9
Exped SynMat HL Duo 3.3 2.9
Exped SynMat UL Lite 2.5 2.3
Exped AirMat UL Lite 1.7 1.3
Exped AirMat HL 1.9 1.3
Exped SIM UL 3.8 3.2 3.1
Exped SIM UL 5 New Pad 4
Exped DownMat 7 5.9 5.8
Exped DownMat XP 7 5.9 5.8
Exped SynMat 9 6 5.2
Exped SynMat XP 9 6 5.2
Exped MegaMat Lite 12 5.3 5.2
Exped SynMat 7 4.9 4.8
Exped SynMat XP 7 4.9 4.8
Exped SynMat 3-D 7 4.9 4.8
Exped SynMat Duo 4.9 4.8
Exped DownMat Lite 5 4.1 3.8
Exped SynMat Lite 5 2.5 3.4
Exped AirMat Lite 5 1.7 1.3
Exped AirMat Lite Plus 5 1.7 1.3
Exped SIM 2.5 New Pad 2.8
Exped SIM 3.8 4 4.6
Exped SIM 5 4.6 6.1
Exped SIM Lite 3.8 3.2 3.1
Exped SIM Comfort 5 4.6 4.3
Exped SIM Comfort Duo 5 4.6 4.3
Exped SIM Comfort 7.5 6.4 Incomplete
Exped SIM Comfort Duo 7.5 6.4 Incomplete
Exped SIM Comfort 10 9.5 8.1
Exped MegaMat 10 9.5 8.1
Exped MegaMat Max 15 New Pad 10.6
Exped MegaMat Max Duo 15 New Pad 10.6
Exped MegaMat Duo 10 9.5 8.1
Exped DeepSleep Mat 7.5 New Pad 8.5
Exped DeepSleep Mat Duo 7.5 New Pad 8.5
Exped MultiMat 1.4 1.4

NEMO Switchback UL N/A 2
NEMO Tensor Alpine UL N/A 4.8
NEMO Tensor Insulated N/A 3.5
NEMO Cosmo 3D N/A 3.3
NEMO Roamer SI NA 6
NEMO Nomad Camping N/A N/A
NEMO Vector UL N/A 3.5
NEMO Astro NA 2.6
NEMO Astro Lite N/A 2.6Sea-to-Summit Ether Light XT Insulated Air 3.8 3.2

Sea-to-Summit Ether Light XT Insulated Air Women's 4.2 3.5
Sea-to-Summit Ultralight Insulated Air Women's 3.8 3.5
Sea-to-Summit Ultralight Insulated Air N/A 3.1
Sea-to-Summit Comfort Light Insulated Women's N/A 3.8
Sea-to-Summit Comfort Light Insulated Air 4.2 3.7

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite 3.2 4.2
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite Women's 3.9 5.4
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm 5.7 6.9
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm Max 5.7 6.9
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir UberLite 2 2.3
Therm-a-Rest Basecamp 5.8 6
Therm-a-Rest LuxuryMap 6.8 6
Therm-a-Rest MondoKing 3D 11.4 7
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Camper Duo 2.2 2.5
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Venture 1.9 2.2
Therm-a-Rest Original Z Lite N/A 2
Therm-a-Rest ProLite 2.4 2.4
Therm-a-Rest ProLite Apex 4 3.8
Therm-a-Rest ProLite Plus 3.4 3.2
Therm-a-Rest ProLite Plus Women's 4.2 3.9
Therm-a-Rest ProLite Women's 3 2.7
Therm-a-Rest Ridegrest Classic 2.6 2
Therm-a-Rest RidgeRest SOLite 2.8 2.1
Therm-a-Rest Trail Lite 3.4 3.2
Therm-a-Rest Trail Lite Women's 4 4.5
Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro 4 4.4
Therm-a-Rest Trail Scout 4.8 3.1
Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol 2.6 2

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/06/02/mattresses-i-have-known/

14/01/2019: The Beauty of Volcanoes -Taal eruption in the Phillipines:

14/01/2019: Orange Origami. Astonishing, but don’t make a rod for your own back by showing this to your kids. Toast soldiers are bad enough: http://staff.ustc.edu.cn/~fuxm/projects/Peeling/ & https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/orange-peel-art-japan & https://www.pinterest.com.au/misakobeads/orange-peel-art/?autologin=true & https://ecobnb.com/blog/2013/12/10-ideas-reuse-orange-peels/ A peeled prawn from the artist Yoshihiro Okada.

14/01/2019: Make Way for Tomorrow (1937). What a magnificent film! ‘Orson Welles famously said about Make Way for Tomorrow, "My God! I watched it four times and cried my eyes out every time! That movie would make a stone cry!"’ I did too. Read Mark Steyn’s review here: https://www.steynonline.com/9970/make-way-for-tomorrow then download it from Pirate Bay. Motto: Be sure you own your own home and have enough super!

13/01/2019: Henry Lawson: ‘The Bushfire’ – a true master of words; if it does not have you in tears before the end I will be surprised: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2020/01/henry-lawson-the-bushfire/

13/01/2019: Automatic Chicken Door Opener: What a great idea this is - and only A$34.99 on eBay. I will certainly be getting and installing one. Of course foxes can strike during the day too - but so often it is because you are late home or have forgotten to lock the chooks up. I will be teaming this up with my fox-proof fences to try and ensure that we can have a few hens again in a soon-to-be-restored poultry facility.

There is some debate about what type of chooks we should get. the traditional chooks on this farm (for the century before we owned it were White Sussex, do that is tempting. then there are Australorps, the only authentic Australian breed. Araucanas with their coloured eggs are a temptation too, but we have had Rhode Island Reds before and would like to have them again. They are a charming breed with lovely brown eggs. I think we already have names for them. My grandson is going to really enjoy going up to the chook house to collect the eggs. I can hardly wait either - but back to the door opener...

‘Automatic Chicken Coop Door Opener - Light Sensitive or Timer Operation.
Never forget to lock the chooks up again and losing your flock to foxes!
Easy to install and set and forget.
Has four modes for you to choose from:
1/ Set time to open and Set time to close.
2/ Set time to open and Automatically close at Sunset
3/ Automatically open with the morning light and set time to close
4/ Open Automatically at sunrise and Automatically close at sunset
Flexibility to suit every need.
Features:
Operates on light sensitivity or Timer
Will lift a door .03kg to 1kg
Weather Proof
Runs up to 1 year on 4AA Batteries (included)
Comes with Aluminium Door and Rails
Four operating modes
Comes with instructions
Australian Made
Comes with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, just return it within 30 days if you are not completely satisfied’

I will probably try to include a solar charger to the battery set-up so that they never run flat - and I will afford some quality batteries to run it - like these Enerloops.

I will also probably add another idea to my new chook house, a 'fox-proof ladder' just as a further safeguard. I am so over having my beloved hens (and other critters - especially lambs!) destroyed by Brer Fox.

I will have the chickens entering and leaving their house higher up than a fox can reach. The chooks will have to hop up a wobbly 'ladder' made of a single length of 2" plastic pipe with 1" plastic pipe rungs pushed through it about every foot. A hen will easily learn to hop along up it, but a fox ought not be able to climb it! Photo to follow.

Door Opener available on Ebay here.

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/04/01/eneloops-rechargeable-batteries/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/03/23/brer-fox/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/05/06/hello-possums/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/04/01/vermin-proof-fence/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/07/06/wildlife-proof-fencing/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/08/03/poachers-moon/

A PS: The Ring-Tailed Possum have moved into the Macadamia trees with a much larger nest - boy how they will boom when I get that vermin-proof fence finished this summer!

PPS: I have borrowed the pics. I hope the seller doesn't mind. I hope to help them sell a few more openers after all!

12/01/2019: Naturehike 1000fp down 174 gram jacket with 70 grams of down fill, only US$65: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/01/12/how-good-is-this/

08/01/2019: Hundreds of Millions of Animals Have been Killed by the Fires So Far: This is the result of the sort of ‘conservation’ which promotes locking land up and creating ‘national parks’ etc. It is a dismal failure as I have explained again and again. ‘All flesh is grass’ is an old adage. What it means is that a given area of vegetation can sustain a certain mass of animal flesh. It doesn’t matter whether the animals are elephants or mice, the total mass is about the same. Of course adding phosphorus and other nutrients increases the land’s carrying capacity, so that for eg the dry ridges can carry less than the lush river valleys. If animals have nowhere else to go and unless fuel is reduced ahead of the summer fire danger season vast numbers will be wiped out. I have been observing this for many years in the Australian bush where I have spent most of my life. For example, along my beloved Wonnangatta Valley when I used to hunt/canoe/walk eg there in the 90s and 00s my secluded camps were overwhelmed by the almost deafening morning and evening chorus which rang way up every side gully. After the fires in 2009 there were about six birds along a 30 kilometre stretch of this wonderful valley. Most other native animals (kangaroos, possums etc) were wiped out. Animals which could shelter underground (like the surviving birds which were all bank nesters: kingfishers, wood swallows etc) such as wombats and echidnas (and of course rabbits) hung on, as did some larger animals such as sambar deer which were strong enough to flee ahead of the fire to deep pools and which could take advantage of every scrap of surviving or emerging vegetation up to 6’ above ground also survived – but it was an enormously reduced biota. Yet the same folks who brought us this disaster and now calling for the remaining forest to be locked up: https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/half-a-billion-animals-perish-in-bushfires/news-story/b316adb4f3af7b1c8464cf186ab9f52c I was in the Wonnangatta checking out the 2018 fire damage over winter. This time because of reduced fuel the fires burned a lot cooler and more slowly so that a larger percentage of the remaining animals survived. There are spots along the river where there are fair numbers of birds (though it will be many years before the marvelous dawn and dusk chorus returns). There were even some possums. However, the 2018 fires have felled most of the fire-killed trees from the 2009 fire but have not burned their wood (as they fell on burned ground). There is a huge amount of ground wood and no doubt many plants will spring up from the ashes which will struggle for water over the summer and die. Another cool burn sooner rather than later would help, eg 2021. There is a better way. Read my post Nuts to Leave No Trace.

Before 2018 fire

After 2018 fire:

31/12/2019: Cheap Down: These folks have ultra-cheap down sleeping bags, pants, jackets, socks etc on Aliexpress for unbeatable prices. What’s not to like about an 800 fill power ultradry down jacket for US$76.76 (Jan 2019) including delivery, or down pants for US46.41, socks for US$16.24, balaclavas for US$24.85 or 480 grams +5C sleeping bags for US 75.88! Certainly worth a look – they seem to have plenty of positive reviews.

If you needed a bit more warmth you could easily add some more yourself, as we did here: Adding Down to a Sleeping Bag

You can buy the down quite cheaply from eg Aliexpress Just be sure to buy eg 800 ‘fill power’ down. The fill power means eg the amount 1 ounce of down will expand to fill (in this case 800 cubic inches). So around four ounces (or around $20 worth of such down added to a bag will make it OK to say -10C. $100 is pretty cheap for a sub zero bag which weighs around 600 grams.Think about partnering it with one of these cheap backpacks and some other budget items

See Also:

Aegismax

Budget Pack Mods

Ultralight hiking on a Budget