In the December 2019 – January 2020 print issue of Field & Stream magazine I was interviewed by Matthew Every for a question and answer article about survival food, outdoor gear and few other topics. He asked about what I carry in my survival kit that might surprise other outdoorsmen. My answer: “Tang. It’s part [...]

There’s an article featuring Jack Mountain in the Bangor Daily News spring 2018 spring/summer special section outdoors magazine. The article, titled “The Survivor: Deep in the Maine woods, Tim Smith teaches others to survive in the wild”, gives a brief overview of what we do and has enough philosophical nuggets to make it interesting. The [...]

New Role: Authentic Marketing Instructor I did a phone interview a while back that the person said they were turning into an article. Then I forgot about it until yesterday, when I saw the article. I like how it turned out. The article is about authentic marketing for schools by an outfit that offers services [...]

On January 19, 2018 I was interviewed by Gundy on The Big Wild radio show, heard all over the midwest on the radio and the world via their podcasts. We were the first interview on this episode of the show (and the podcast). To listen, go to their website at: http://www.podcastgarden.com/episode/the-big-wild-011918_121684 You can also download [...]

Last night Discovery again aired the Norway episode of Dude, You’re Screwed featuring yours truly. It was a great experience from start to finish; great people, beautiful place and a little boat that grew on me over time. Being on the show has given me a lot of great memories, as well as my first [...]

In the February, 2014 issue of DownEast Magazine there’s a big article on the military veterans that attended the fall, 2013 Wilderness Bushcraft Semester. The article focuses on their transition from active duty to civilian life. There’s a bunch of stuff on Jack Mountain, such as the quotation below, but the focus is squarely on [...]

This year we’re partnering with GALA ( a local non-profit) to offer a monthly workshop series on self-reliance. Workshops run the second Wednesday of every month and are $15. More information is our Self Reliance Workshop page. The upcoming workshops are: 1/8 – Traditional Winter Gear, Snowshoes And Snowshoeing 2/12 – Soap Making 101 3/12 [...]

What happens when a woman spends a weekend in the woods learning learning wilderness survival and bushcraft during a snowy Maine winter? Deirdre Fulton spent a weekend with us, and you can read her account of it in this article from the Portland Phoenix.  Read it here. I wasn’t learning how to outlast the zombie [...]

Is the whole survival thing a sham? Steve Rinella, host of the Travel Channel’s show The Wild Within says so about the made for TV survival episodes in an article in the May/June, 2011 issue of Mother Jones. Written by Brian Kevin and titled “Savage Love: How the larger-than-life bushmen of cable TV are creating [...]

The Jack Mountain Bushcraft School was recently listed as one of the top five survival schools in the USA by Tony Nester, Outside Magazine’s survival guru and the owner of the Ancient Pathways school in Arizona. Tony is well respected in the industry and has two decades of field experience teaching survival and bushcraft. To [...]

I’ve had the good fortune to be featured in a bunch of media outlets over the years, and while it’s always nice to see your name in print, when your peers write about you it means that much more. This month I’m the featured guide in the Maine Wilderness Guides Organization newsletter. Since it’s not [...]

Most survival advice available in the press is dubious at best, written by professional writers and not seasoned instructors with field experience.  Thankfully Outside Magazine decided to hire Tony Nester of Ancient Pathways to answer their  reader’s questions on their Survival Guru blog. Tony’s got two decades of experience teaching in the field, has written [...]

I’ve been trading emails with Taj Forer for a few months, and last weekend we finally got together.  Taj is a photographer and one of the founders of Daylight Magazine.  We discussed a project he’s working on documenting traditional wilderness skills and made plans for him to join us for some of the spring bushcraft [...]

I was recently interviewed by Iain Haywood at ooh.com.  You can read the piece here.  In addition to some nice photos of Ernie Davis and David Bosum, I’m quoted on educational philosophy: “At its best, teaching should be invisible; a person who learns from a mediocre instructor will realize how talented their instructor is. The [...]

Yesterday I received a dvd copy of a television show shot a year ago called I’ll Try Anything Once and featuring Touré and myself, with a guest appearance by Don Merchant.  I spent several days teaching Touré the skills of winter survival, culminating his 24-hour solo in the winter woods.  I hadn’t seen any footage [...]

Over the weekend I learned that the article about our 2005 canoe trip on the Big Black River that Tom Haines wrote appeared in the book The Best Travel Writing 2006; True Stories From Around The World.  It originally ran in the travel section of The Boston Globe on June 12, 2005. You can get [...]

In the February issue of Men’s Fitness we’re featured in an article titled “Surviving The Elements” (“When Tragedy Strikes” in the print edition) by Jesse Huffman.  We offer some survival advice to hikers and snowshoers. Read the article here.

Jack Mountain was featured in an article titled Extreme Survival Schools by Scott Bowen that hit the web on October 15. From the article; “The instructors at Jack Mountain Bushcraft can teach you everything from how to live happily in the woods with nothing but a knife, to proper snow-shoeing techniques, to the art of [...]

This month (October) Jack Mountain is featured in an article titled “Could You Handle An Emergency?” by Michelle Crouch.  The article deals with how to handle a variety of emergencies.  Our short blurb focuses on what to do if attacked by a black bear when hiking.  For those who want the short answer, it’s to [...]

I was at the library in town tonight and found out that there was an article in the local paper about a recent edible and medicinal plant walk I ran. It’s in the July 17th edition of the Granite State News in the Home and Garden section. Titled “Finding edible plants and medicines in your [...]

We’re in the August issue of Men’s Journal with a write-up of our northern Quebec canoe and bushcraft trip with the Cree. Jesse Huffman wrote about some wilderness trips for August, including our trip, a course with BOSS, and trips with Outward Bound and NOLS in the Adventure section of the magazine. Included is a [...]

I’m featured along with Survivorman Les Stroud in an article titled “Getting Out Alive; Survival experts show pilots what to do when the propeller stops spinning” by Marc C. Lee. Although written for pilots who find themselves alone after ditching their airplane, it’s a good primer for most survival situations. You can read the article [...]

In the current (April, 2008) issue of AMC Outdoors magazine, there’s a great little article by Christopher Collier about canoe poling titled Pole Position where I’m quoted several times. There’s also mention of Don Merchant and Pole And Paddle Canoe. Read the article here.

This morning we’ll be wrapping up the filming and everyone will be on their way. It’s been a great time and we’ve had a lot of fun, but it has kept me pretty busy. If you’ve called or emailed in the past week, I’ll be getting back to you tonight. The show, I’ll Try Anything [...]

The weather shifted yesterday, with an inch of so of rain falling in the afternoon.  The front came through last night, and now we’ve got sun along with high winds rushing to fill in the low pressure system as it moves out over the Atlantic.  I haven’t been into the woods yet this morning, but [...]

We had another busy day filming yesterday. We started in the morning ice fishing out on the lake. It was dead for a while, then we caught a nice bass. Afterwards we were back in the woods. I went into the woods off of the trail at one point and sunk into the snow up [...]

A busy day yesterday working on the hands-on, nuts and bolts of winter survival.  It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 40’s – a welcome change from the snow and ice we’ve received lately.  Today we’ll be looking at more traditional skills and lore of the bush, identifying many of the trees [...]

I had a great day yesterday with the director of the tv show that’s here filming this week. We scouted the locations I had in mind for the shoot, then took a ride around to get some shots of the area. It’s tough walking in the woods, as there is 3.5 feet of snow with [...]

Next week a tv crew will be here shooting a show called I’ll Try Anything Once. The host, a New York journalist named Touré, and I will be together in the woods for the week, along with a small camera crew. I don’t have a lot of details, but we’re sure to have a good [...]

There’s a short piece on us in the February/March edition of Portland Magazine. They think pretty highly of our naturalist skills.  From the article: “Follow the paddle whirlpools of America’s greatest naturalist online at www.jackmtn.com”

I finally got a copy of the May/June issue of Paddler Magazine, and my article on canoe poling titled “Pole Position” appears on pages 74-75.  So if you’re looking for some tips on poles and poling go out and get a copy.  And let me know what you think.

I was quoted about the waterways being the traditional highways through the northeast in the section about the Northern Forest Canoe Trail in Ethan Gilsdorf’s article “10 Things Not To Miss”. Read the article here.

Although the leaves have yet to show themselves, the maples are budding out and the peepers are singing each night. At dusk last night I heard the hermit thrush’s song coming from the woods, and this morning I watched a beaver as it swam by. Life has returned to this part of New Hampshire that [...]

Last month my friend Tony Nester of Arizona took writer Jonathan Green out on a knife-only outing. Today Jonathan’s article appears in the Escapes section of the New York Times. I liked the article because it touches on Tony’s motivation for teaching and his appreciation for both the land and the skills of those who [...]

Yesterday I received the latest issue of “The North Texan”, the alumni magazine from the University of North Texas where I recieved my M.Ed. It features an article on Jack Mountain and our bushcraft, wilderness survival and earth skills education programs titled Educator In The Wilderness.

The summer issue of Natural New England arrived yesterday, containing the article on canoe poling I previously blogged about as well as an essay I wrote about a 10-day snowshoe trip without a sleeping bag I took in 2002. I’m pretty excited as it’s the first article with my byline to appear in a magazine.