Virgin Falls camping trip

Back at the first of November some friends, my Dad, brothers and myself took a trip to Virgin Falls state park.  We found it was a great place to hike.  There was a good amount of fairly difficult trails,  and a large cavern. Also the Caney Fork river was next to one of the camping areas.  The leaves were in their best color, and there were some good views.  We just camped over night but it was a very enjoyable trip.

This is Virgin falls, probably over 100 feet tall.

Here is my bag that I took. I added my leather sling bag to the back of my backpack for extra room.

 

                                                          One of the many rock overhangs.

 

 

 



 

Nothing like something warm to drink around the campfire.

 

 

 

 

All the wood was a little damp so the fire was a bit hard to keep going.

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of the views that we stopped for on our way out.  I definitely want to come back here again.  I am always excited to get to explore a new trail.

Favorite gear

In response to the request of the Weekend woodsman, I am posting three of my favorite woodcraft items.  I say "favorite", but I have many tools, weapons, bags, and other things that I enjoy.  It's hard to choose.  I chose these three because I have searched for something like them for a long time.  I have been trying out different camping gear for a while.  And I will probably find something in the future that suits me better.  I have posted some about these items before so I hope I am not boring you.

 

 

 

 

I searched a long time for a sleeping bag or bed of some kind that worked for me.  Every thing I tried was not quite right.  Then a friend of mine had a wool blanket very similar to this, so I decided to give it a try.  So I a bought this one for around twenty or thirty dollars.  It is thin but very, very warm and it is light.  It weighs about three and a half pounds.  I usually carry some other blanket or sheet with it, but it is just right by itself if its warm enough; like it often is where I live.

 

 

 

 

 

I like this knife because it  has most of the qualities that I want in a knife, plus it was made by a friend.  I like its size, shape, and color.  The blade has that feel like you can carve anything short of  granite.  I made the sheath out of cow hide and artificial sinew, and it holds the knife in just by being a bit snug around the handle. The handle is made of walnut.

 

 

 

It has a nice feel to it.

 

 

 

This backpack is one of my favorites.  I have several backpacks including a nice Kelty backpack on a pack frame, and the Swedish rucksack.  This pack however has some qualities which are especially useful to me.  I like its smaller size, especially since I do lots of short walks around our property and need something to carry books or my camera.  I also have a haversack that I use for this purpose more than anything, but if I need something a little bigger this is what I use. I also like that it is somewhat rigid and holds its shape, this makes packing and carrying so much more pleasant.  It also has many straps that I can use for strapping blankets to or other things that are to big to fit inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I am not sure of the dimensions.

Thanks for looking.  I have many more projects that I have done that I will post as soon as I get the time.