As much as I love winter, I always seem to enjoy the changing of the seasons. Thinking about spring I am reminded about last year and all that happened. One thing about spring is, that it is a transitional time, winter doesn’t want to give up without a fight and summer tries to come on, but is beaten back frequently.
Last spring Shauna and I went on a hike early one morning with the intention of hiking up a canyon a few miles, and then kicking back and making breakfast by the creek. As we drove up the canyon to the trailhead, we got into the snow, huge flakes just comin’ down like crazy. We parked, got our packs on and headed up the trail. We set up our Personal Survival Tarp and used the Twig Stove to cook on. It was really a nice time, you know how the snow makes everything so quiet? About the time breakfast was over the sun came out, melted everything and it warmed right up, all the clouds went away and it was nothin’ but blue sky. Such a beautiful day. The extremes of spring can really heighten the excitement of it all. Video of that little trip here.
One of the other truly great things about spring is all the wild plants putting out shoots, and blossoms. When you are learning about fresh edibles in the wild, there is no time like spring to identify new plants. So get out your books and start looking at what is interesting in your area, then when you go out, find them and try eating some. You can take Elderberry blossoms, they are bunched up like an umbrella, dip ’em in some pancake batter and deep fry, they are great. You can do the same thing with Dandylions as well.
Springtime is a wonderful time of year everything fresh and new, all the green and the blossoms. Here are some ideas to make the most of your spring outings.
- Get a Plant Edibles book for your area and when you go out, look up some of the plants you see so you can ID them.
- Try using some new plants in a meal
- Lay out all your camping gear and go through it, get rid of stuff you don’t use
- It’s easy to accumulate gear, so to lighten the load, decide what the important things are, pull out the rest
- Check your footwear, sometimes we forget that new shoelaces are needed or a repair done
- Stock up your first aid kit again, you probably used some pain meds, moleskin, and antibiotics.
- I like to keep some emergency food rations in my pack, make sure you’ve restocked
- Use a few light easy spring outings to prep for a big one in the summer or fall.
- A cruise we were on a few years ago had a theme, “Just Get Out There” not a bad idea
Like I always say, have fun, try some new things, test your skills. Take care and have the best of spring times.
This is Perry Peacock, for Wilderness Innovation, “Simplifying Survival”