Sunday trip with my daughter

Sunday after church and lunch, my younger daughter and I decided to ride our bikes down to the park and the river.  It's about a 4.5 mile trip one way.  I grab the back pack and we head out.  It was a drizzly day and I expected it to be that way all day but I wasn't too concerned since the temp was about 75F.

We get to an inlet in the river and we dig up some earth worms and use the survival fishing kit for a while with no bites.

After 30 minutes with no bites, we head back into the woods.  We stopped at a spot that had a few birch trees.  This time of year is ideal for tapping trees for sap.  Every spring I like to harvest a few cups.  It's really nice when I get to brew some sap up to make pine needle tea.  In this case I whittled a small tap and stuck it in a slot that I cut with my knife tip. 

 

Another great source of clean drinking water is Muscadine vine.  I just cut a few whacks in a low hanging portion of the vine where I can put my cup under it.  It's not alot, but overnight you could get 2-3 cups per cut.

While I was doing that, my daughter decided to make a shelter for us to sit under since it was drizzly.  We have been watching Dual Survival so she knew to look for forked sticks to lean against the tree.  Then I showed her how to cut the palm fronds and bend the stalks back on themselves to lock them into place.  I doubt it would have shed much water but it was a great first attempt. 

By now it is 5p.m. so I tell her to load up, it's time to get home for dinner.  Right about that time the sky gets dark, the wind starts gusting, and I feel that sharp, cold, northern blast.  Then the rain starts coming down.  We are 4.5 miles from home wearing shorts and t-shirts.  So we put the hammer down and start for the house.  We get about 2 miles into it and she is beggin me to call Momma for a rescue.  So we stop under the next bay tree to block the rain enough to call home.

It was great to get out and great to spend some time with my daughter in the woods.  She had a great time as well and she was a trooper riding thru the rain.  The temp dropped 20F in the 15 or so minutes after we left the river.  Another reminder to watch the forecast before you head out on your next trip.

God Bless Yall!