Advanced Canoe Poling Course 0, Black Flies 1 | JMB Blog 1962

We wrapped up the spring semester a week ago, and started the Advanced Whitewater Canoe Course strongly with a great day on a local rapid and lake going over skills and maneuvers with both pole and paddle. On Tuesday we headed into the woods, to camp at Churchill Dam on the Allagash. After setting up camp, we got on the water and worked on poling in the rip just below the dam. It was hot; a 3-day heat wave with temperatures nearing 90 degrees. And the black flies were bad; as bad as I’ve ever experienced.

The plan was to get up in the morning and run the rapids to Bisonette Bridge, then shuttle back to run them again. We planned three days of this, in order to get in a lot of reps on the fast-moving water. I was up early, and when one of the participants came out of their tent, they were unrecognizable. They had been bit so many times that their body had an allergic reaction to the bites and their face has swelled up so that they looked nothing like their normal self. Black flies have the habit of landing on you, then climbing up under your clothes or headnet before biting you, and this person had bites all over their body. This was bad.

About fifteen years ago I had to evacuate someone from the same location due to similar circumstances. Maybe I’m overly cautious with regard to allergic reactions, but when people have dramatic reactions like this, in my mind they are not far off from a lot of other bad things happening medically. Especially since there was no way to get them out of the bugs except putting them in their tent. It is the sort of thing that is no big deal right up until it becomes a very big deal. I needed to get them away from the bugs to stop them from getting bit (stop adding more poison to their body), as well as monitor their swelling and get within a short distance to medical care if it got worse. So I decided to call an end to the course right then and get that person out of the woods. It sucks having to cancel a course, especially when we were already halfway through, but it would be much worse if their airway had swollen shut, or restricted their breathing even a little bit. So we loaded up our gear and I medically evacuated this person.

It took about two and a half days after coming out of the woods for their swelling to go away and return to normal. I feel like they dodged a bullet. Churchill Dam is notorious for its black flies in June. This I was aware of, having experienced them on many prior trips. The x-factor here was the excessive heat; it made the bugs worse, and was not part of my planning process when I was putting this trip together in my mind last winter.

So on the negative side of the ledger, I had to cancel a class halfway through for the medical evacuation. On the positive side, we averted further medical issues by isolating the afflicted person from further bites, and they eventually processed the poisons out of their bloodstream and returned to normal, although with a healthy respect for black fly season. It wasn’t how I had planned to finish the course or the week, but I think that it was the right thing to do in that situation.

And now it’s Sunday morning and people will be arriving for the summer semester in a few hours. The heat wave broke with a bunch of rain and cool temperatures, and the land around here is at peak lupine. It’s a different place than at the beginning of the spring semester, but each season has its challenges.

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With gas prices being so high, I'm thinking about one of these for my next vehicle.
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https://blog.jackmtn.com/wooden-car/

Wooden Car

With gas prices being so high, I’m thinking about one of these for my next vehicle.
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The Nature Of Teambuilding, Spring WBS Completed | JMB Blog 1961

The spring, 2026 Wilderness Bushcraft Semester, our 68th long-term program, is complete. Yesterday we gathered together for a send-off dinner, shook hands and said I’ll see you when I see you.

I never grow tired of watching people of different ages, from different walks of life, from different places coming together and forming into a team. This is different than a friendship because we’re actively working towards specific goals, not just hanging out. It’s where each individual can count on the others to have their back, to give them a helping hand when they need it, or a kick in the ass when that’s more appropriate. It isn’t magic, and I’ve seen it happen so many times that my ongoing fascination with it is likely the outlier, not the thing itself. I think what makes it stand out to me is that it is so rare in the modern world, and it happens with such consistency here.

This isn’t to say we don’t have our share of interpersonal conflict. We do. But when when it comes down to it, when we are shoulder to shoulder working toward a common goal, sometimes struggling, sometimes coasting, but always moving forward, this is when individuals become a team. In my opinion, this is when the magic happens and is the essence of the human experience, whether it’s 2026 or 20,000 years ago.

This is when it doesn’t matter what kind of knife you have, or axe, or any other piece of gear. This is when it doesn’t matter if this is your first time out on the land or if you have a lifetime of experience behind you. This is when what matters is that the other members of the group can depend on you, and you on them. We help others to achieve the goal, to get to the finish line, and they in turn help us get there. This is what is rare in the modern world.

This is also something the corporate team building industry has missed; that it takes authentic challenge and adversity to achieve this, not manufactured, short term games. If you want to build a team, get a group of people together and do something hard with real consequences. The outcome will be something a cushy corporate retreat could never achieve.

I’ve got a weekend of down time before starting the advanced canoe poling and paddling course. It’s going to rain most of the weekend, which should bring up our local waters, but we’re headed to Chase Rapids on the Allagash for a few days where there’s plenty of water, so if the storm goes in a different direction we’ll still have enough. Then another weekend and we start the summer Wilderness Bushcraft Semester, where another team will be built. Summer is busy in Masardis.

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New episode, JMB Podcast 137 - JMB Digital Archives Project and Spring Semester Wrap-Up. Time flies during the Wilderness Bushcraft Semester, and here we are at the end of semester number 68. Oz and I gathered around the old microphone to discuss the JMBS Digital Archives Project, the challenges of the spring semester (this semester in particular), how we're running 3 semester courses this year, and a few other topics.

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https://blog.jackmtn.com/jmbp-137/

JMB Podcast 137 | Digital Archives, Spring Semester Wrap-Up

Time flies during the Wilderness Bushcraft Semester, and here we are at the end of semester number 68. Oz and I gathered around the old microphone to discuss the JMBS Digital Archives Project, the challenges of the spring semester (this semester in particular), how we’re running 3 semester courses this year, and a few other topics.

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Photo: Deer in the field.

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 137

Kid-Friendly?
There is no profanity in this episode.

Links:

• JMBS Bibliography from 2009
• BushcraftSchool.com
• Jack Mountain Bushcraft School Calendar

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:05 — 31.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

WBS Week 8 Completed. Foraging Season In High-Gear | JMB Blog 1960

We finished week 8 of our spring semester and have one week to go. The final week is when students go out for the solo experience, putting the things they have learned into use and reflecting on the entire semester. It is the culminating experience that bookends the entire semester.

Maine spring weather has been very cool, with many nights still close to freezing. Last night there was some snow in the mountains, but we didn’t get any.

Foraging season is in high gear, and I’ve been eating cooked cow parsnip greens, stinging nettles, and today will get some milkweed shoots. Yesterday we finished making crooked knives on a campfire, and while we were bending and tempering them we pulled a bunch of cattail shoots from the pond and cooked them like Cossack asparagus. This is when you put the whole shoot on the fire to singe the outside, then pull off the burned leaves and enjoy the roasted and steamed center shoot. It’s my favorite way to eat cattails. The fields are loaded with salad greens, as this is the time of year when many of the small greens you see are not too tough or bitter to put into a salad. Some of what we’ve been eating are dandelion greens and ox-eye daisy greens, with young blue-bead lily leaves chopped up for a cucumber-like taste.

Five of my apple seedlings made it through the winter in pots, and are vigorously growing and ready to be put in the ground. Also the rhubarb is up and the juneberries are in flower with the berries starting to develop.

With the plants have come the bugs, so it is smudge-pot season. Although the recent bout of cool weather has kept the bugs at bay. Everyone has adapted and people are almost never sitting still without a smudge pot smoldering nearby.

So there is a lot going on. Tomorrow we’re out on solos, then back in camp for a few days to wrap up the experience. Life here is good.

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JMB Vlog 232 | Memorial Day Canoe Trip

On our recent trip, getting ready to go in the morning I found time for a short update. High water and cool temperatures, it was beautiful.

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JMB Vlog 231 | Fiddleheads

On a trip upriver and we ran into a bunch of prime fiddleheads. These are the young shoots of the ostrich fern, and are a much sought after edible plant of spring. We ate well on this trip.

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JMB Vlog 230 | Island Rips Poling Practice

At high water levels there is a great small rip on the far side of Samsquanch Island, and we’re at that water level now. So we spent the afternoon building quickwater poling and snubbing skills.

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