There’s a lot you can do with a simple piece of rope if you know how to tie the right knots.  There are also a lot of good reasons that knot tying is considered an important bushcraft skill.

If you want to learn the important knots, I suggest you try Animated Knots by Grog.  Each knot has an animated visual that goes step by step with written instructions.  Also included is practical information about the uses of each knot.  I knew a few knots before finding this site, but with its help, I feel I easily mastered all the basic knots I might ever need to know.

In my constant quest for new bushcraft information, I recently came across the website of Eric Stoskopf, the Woodsdrummer. His outdoor philosophy and methods resonate with me: he prefers old fashioned, even privative equipment that can take lots of abuse. He is about function over form. For example, he uses a body bag as part of his sleeping system. In fact, a discussion about using body bags that way is how I found out about him. Apparently, body bags are very warm, lightweight, and robust. The downside seems to be that they don’t “breathe,” and so perspiration can be a problem.

But, I think what makes me a fan of his is the subtle sense of spirituality that pervades his posts. When moved by the feeling of being in a natural sacred place, he feels an impulse to make offerings to the local spirits. He is ambivalent about doing this, as he is “wary of putting on facades of nativeness,” but this impulse was shared by our European ancestors as well. I hope to have a conversation with him about this sometime soon.

I was also touched that he came to my home area, New Orleans, to help rescue animals after Katrina. The log of the trip was very moving. Reading it is what impelled me to write a post, and track Woodsdrummer’s “digital footprints.”

Woodsdrummer is a an advocate of Ron Hood’s survival methods, and from reading Woodsdrummer’s outdoor exploits, I plan to get my hands on some of Hood’s video’s ASAP. Hood also provides a very active forum, which is providing me hours of distraction from work.

Being able to travel light is something I consider a virtue. It is the ultimate expression of self sufficiency, of freedom to explore the wilds, to wander the world. There is a site about lightweight backpacking I often turn to, but I just found a site that is much more practical and aimed at “everyday” travel. The core principal: learning to live out of just one bag.

He who would travel happily must travel light.

- Antoine de Saint Exupéry

I’ve formed yet another set of forums. Yes, yet another thing to take time away from my blogging, unfortunately. This one is for those interested in “warrior” spirituality, and the closely related subject of pagan event security. It is found at www.paganstronghold.com. I invite anyone interested in emergency preparedness, martial arts, and security from a pagan point of view to come join us there.

There are actually a few pagan warrior groups out there, but they are all local in scale and are devoted to specific pagan faiths. This forum is intended to be common ground for all of them, and is not associated with any specific pagan religion, faith, or organization. My introduction to the forum reads:

We are modern pagans of various faiths who follow a “warrior path” of spirituality. We find it spiritually fulfilling to serve our communities by preparing ourselves, mentally and physically, to put ourselves in harm’s way should the need arise. This forum offers support to those who want to serve the Pagan community as protectors and where such people can coordinate with each other and with Pagan event organizers.

Modern paganism has reached a point of critical mass at which we have caught the attention of the mass media and the general population. Among many other issues this creates for us is a more evident need for security at our events — a task we still have good reason not to trust to third parties such as off-duty police who may not be sympathetic to our ways. Our public events and large gatherings are attracting more and more unwelcome attention and a wider variety of people in general. This means that altercations, confrontations, accidents and other minor emergencies are more and more likely.

In our member forums, you will find discussions and debates about the finer points of “warrior” pagan spirituality and philosophy, strategy, martial arts, tools and equipment, and event security coordination. If you would be interested in such discussions, or in talking to us about how members might be of assistance with your upcoming event, you are invited to join us.

This website, by a Swedish survival expert, has several free videos about wilderness survival, with English subtitles. Good information at a price you can’t beat.