This is the 7th year for the Uitwaaien Bushcraft Gathering. Since its inception in 2017, it has morphed from a gathering with structured classes to an annual group camping trip. In recent years they’ve started offering a Spring Gathering as well.
Typically held in the fall, around the last weekend of September, the fall gathering is held on the grounds of The Western Clinton Sportsman Club in North Central PA.
Driving down was quite the adventure due to some road closures along my normal route. While it did add time to the drive down coming from NY, it was still worth it.
This Year’s Activities
This year I brought my long bows and youth bows for everyone to use. There was an impromptu bow drill competition and an archery competition. As well as a trivia game. We all had a ton of fun camping and telling stories around the campfire.
For the first time since I started attending this great event, I actually got to enjoy some time with friends off the grounds. A group of 5 of us went for a hike. And I must say for as out of shape as I remain, I still had a blast. So once again, thank you to my friends for inviting me to join on the hike.
For dinner one evening, I made the fish crumble from my backpacking recipes. We also had a group breakfast Saturday morning. For the group breakfast, most everyone chipped in either cooking, providing ingredients, or by helping with clean up.
All in all everyone had a great time. And this was another successful year filled with laughs and memories. I know I’m looking forward to next year and I’m planning on trying to make it to the spring gathering next year as well.
A Learned Lesson
This year I’m glad to have had a catastrophic gear failure happen here at Uitwaaien rather than while I’m miles out in the remote wilderness where I often find myself on my camping trips. So what happened was that Friday night I was one of the last to leave the campfire around 0100.
After climbing into my hammock and making my first adjustment to get comfortable, a sound like a .22 rifle shot rang out into the night immediately followed by a thud. My hammock suspension strap broke and I dropped approximately 6 inches to the ground below. Stunned for a moment, I laid there taking in what just happened and formulated a plan to not sleep on the ground.
I decided to tie the 2 pieces back together. Well, that didn’t work and I was on the ground again just as quick as before. Leaving the tarp up, I went about putting my hammock in its stuff sack and took my suspension lines down. After moving some gear around in my car, I was able to lay the passenger seat almost flat so I could get some sleep that night.
So because of this gear failure and a few other things, in my honor, we coined and started using the term/phrase “SURVIVAL LIMIT” to describe that point when a piece of gear’s weight rating has been exceeded but the gear is still functional and holding on for its life.
In The End
For anyone who hasn’t attended, I highly recommend attending at least once. While at this time there are no formal classes, there’s still plenty of knowledge to be passed around. All one needs to do is ask someone and if they don’t know, chances are they know who would best have your answer or be able to help you hone that skill you’re learning.
Hope to see you at the next Uitwaaien Gathering.
Links
Remember, If I can do it, You can do it too!!!
The Wandering Leatherneck 