Murder in the Big Woods

Creepy.  Check it out!

http://www.sharpenedaxe.com/murder-in-the-big-woods/

Just a Reminder...

We've moved!  You can find us at http://www.sharpenedaxe.com/.  We've added a few more guest writers and some diversity in content.  C'mon over.  Sit a spell.  Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Attack of the Biscuit

For those of you who haven't followed us over, you can't miss this one. Too funny!

http://www.sharpenedaxe.com/attack-of-the-biscuit/

The Good Haul....

http://www.sharpenedaxe.com/the-good-haul/

Just a Reminder...

Today is the day that we're switching over to the new domain name.  Check it out!  http://www.sharpenedaxe.com/.  I'll be posting there tonight. 

Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,

Mike, Oscar, Hotel.....out

Blogcation.....

As I've mentioned in previous article, it is time for a blogcation.  I'll be meeting and spending time with a few of our guest writers over the next week during our travels.  I'm really excited about this opportunity!  When we return (October 17th) we will be moving the blog over to http://www.sharpenedaxe.com/.  I'll post some reminders here as we make the move.  I'm hoping that the new site will give us more exposure and afford us some different opportunities over time. 

All previous information will remain on this site for reference purposes.  In addition, Conspiracy Carl, our web guru, has also cataloged all of our old articles on the new site.

In addition, we will be trying our collective skills at video posts.  I don't expect that video will become the core of the blog, but it may attract folks that aren't that comfortable writing, but are comfortable presenting. 

We're always looking for guest articles or videos here on The Axe.  It can be about anything bush related, homesteading, DIY stuff or.....?  Try us out.  The guest writers are really what make this blog work.  I imagine that ya'll would get tired of hearing me blab on all the time about all of the things I do.  Variety is the spice of life and guest writers are the spice of the blog.  If you have a comment, article or just want to say hello, email me at thesharpenedaxe@hotmail.com.

I hope that all of you have a blessed week.  Try not to miss us too much and please, please, please, remember us.  We will be back in a little over a week!

Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,

Mike, Oscar, Hotel.....out.

Ruunaa Hiking Trip, by bmatt, an American Bushcrafter in Finland

Today in the News:  bmatt!  bmatt!  bmatt returns!  One of the things that I selfishly love about hosting this blog is being able to see how people do their thing in other places.  Every time I see a bmatt article, it makes me want to go to Finland.  Period.  Thanks for the great post, bmatt. 

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Back in June, I spent 48 hours at the Ruunaa hiking area near Lieksa in the North Karelia section of Finland. This hiking area borders the frontier zone with Russia and is only about 12 km/7 mi away from the border. The Ruunaa hiking area is over 3,100 hectares/7,750 acres in size and has over 50 km/30 mi of trails. I chose to do the longest trail, called Koskikierros. This trail is 31 km/18.5 mi long and winds around the lakes and rivers of this beautiful natural area. I was amazed at the great variety of different forest and swamp types to be found there.

I started the hike on Saturday early evening and finished Monday late afternoon. I could have done it quicker, but I took my time and fished along the way, took lots of pictures, cooked all my meals over fires etc. I much prefer to do it this way than to “rush to the finish line”. Both nights I slept in laavus near river rapids, which was a great sound to sleep to. The first night there was a thunderstorm and some rain. The weather for most of the trip was around 15*C/60*F and windy/breezy during the day, so I didn’t sweat too much or have lots of mosquito problems. :) The temperature dipped to about 2.5*C/36.5*F at night (I can’t believe the Finns call that “summer”…), but luckily my Swiss sleeping bag was mostly warm enough. To sustain myself, I ate fruit, bannock and prepackaged pasta meals and then boiled water from time to time to refill my bottle and canteen.

Since this area is home to a population of wild reindeer, I was really hoping to see some, but I didn’t. I did see lots of birds, a lizard, a snake and plenty of bugs. This area also has bears, wolves, moose, lynx, wolverines etc. One thing I really liked about Ruunaa was that much of it is forest in its natural state. It was very interesting to see how the forests of Finland grow without intervention from humans, i.e. through timber harvesting. Very beautiful.

In addition to hiking, camping and fishing, you can also traverse the rapids in rafts, which looks like a lot of fun. I’ll definitely be going back to Ruunaa.

I’m just going to post one picture after another and comment on a few of them. These pictures express about 1% of how beautiful this place is.

Here’s the laavu I stayed at the first night.

This is the area’s observation tower and a view from the top.

Here you can see how sphagnum moss clogs up streams over time.

Here’s a huge swamp with dead trees in it. Kind of eerie.

I was really happy and surprised to find some dwarf birch there, which is usually found much further to the north!

Camp shoes like this are priceless when taking breaks from hiking.

These rapids were awesome.

All in all, it was a great way to spend 2 days and see a (slightly) different part of Finland. Next time, I’ll kick it up a notch and cover the one-week trip to Lapland I took in July, high on the treeless fells, 250 km/150 mi above the Arctic Circle.

bmatt