Gina Beach is a former teacher, current world traveler (by bicycle) and all-around impressive and accomplished young woman. I had the good fortune of having her in the fall, 2018 Wilderness Bushcraft Semester course. She publishes a great blog and the Saturn Returns podcast, and she’s been posting podcast interviews she conducted with other people [...]

One of my favorite places in the world at a beautiful time of day. Miles from the bustle of the modern world, deep in the North Maine Woods, with no signs of people as far as the eye can see.

I’ve written before about the bushcraft and wilderness living skills we teach not existing in a vacuum. During a semester or other long-term course, these are practiced every day out of necessity and that helps students and instructors alike to really “own” them. What I see happening is that a lot of the time is when students [...]

Ed Butler, the Working Class Woodsman, stopped by and we spent an hour and a quarter talking about winter preparedness, the changing face of the forest in northern New England due to economic pressure, what you should carry with you, the boiling point of propane and butane, and a bunch of other winter-focused things. I [...]

Looking into the wood stove in one of our Jack Mountain Expedition Tents. The orange and red colors inside the stove are incredibly dramatic when compared to a grey winter day. Did you know that we designed our own tent a few years ago? Get more information here.

Big crafting projects are important on our courses at Jack Mountain and School Of The Forest. Not only do students get to make a completely functional piece of kit that they’ll actively use during the course, but they start to understand something about what it means to live an outdoor life.  On a recent semester, [...]

Photo from a past trip out on the land with David and Anna Bosum. Only a few spot remain for our March, 2019 trip. If you want one of them, register soon.

Deep in the North Maine Woods, it’s big country with big views. I’ve been roaming around this region for several decades and there’s still so much country to explore.

Rules can be a drag. Oftentimes they make people feel policed. If the rules are handled poorly or ill defined, it can cause people to walk on egg shells and worry more about getting “caught” breaking them than actually following them for the reasons they were established in the first place.  Over the last few [...]

Dragan Uzelac is the owner of Niko Wilderness Education in Beaver County, Alberta and a Jack Mountain alumnus. In this episode of the podcast we discuss guided winter expeditions that Dragan will be leading this winter. We talk about making the gear needed for winter trips, the importance of planning ahead, and why it’s amazing [...]

Paracord was and continues to be the go-to cord in bushcraft and survival circles, but I never use it on our courses or expeditions. Instead I use string from the commercial fishing industry; a braided nylon. You can’t take it apart and use the small, inside strings for different things, but it holds up better [...]

Spent the day in the woods with the dog, marking trails and visiting some of my favorite spots including Sandy Beach and the Fairy Bridge over Perry Brook. For the trail map I’ve been working on for over a year, click this link.

Two landlocked salmon in a 16″ dutch oven over a fire. On canoe trips where we do a lot of fishing I often bring my 16″ dutch oven because the fish just taste better when cooked in it.

We were coming down a fast, narrow stream in early spring. On a bend in the stream was a full-width strainer; an obstruction spanning from shore to shore. After a short debate, we opted to cut it rather than unload and carry around it. So we poled a boat out into the current and held [...]

Donovan Burgess is the founder of Liquid Sessions Surf, a surfing school and full-service travel company in Pavones, Costa Rica, as well as a Jack Mountain Yearlong Immersion Program alumnus. Through Liquid Sessions Surf, Donovan offers a variety of learn to surf programs, including a month-long immersion into the skills and lifestyle of surfing that includes [...]

Cooking after dark over an open fire.

Forest Trees Of Maine is a fantastic guide to the trees of Maine and surrounding areas. If you’re at all interested you should get a copy. Get a free pdf copy through the Maine Forest Service. Order a print copy through the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Order a print copy through Amazon. [...]

Hanging a pot over an open fire is a great way to cook outdoors. Over the years we’ve experimented with a wide variety of pot suspension systems and have arrived at four criteria by which to judge them. As we’re often cooking for and with groups of ten or more people, it’s important to note [...]