CAMPFIRE COOKING: ROCK CHICKEN RECIPE

Campfire Cooking: Rock Chicken Recipe...

One of the best things about being in the wilderness, in my opinion, is eating a tasty meal around the campfire. Maybe it's the feeling of being primitive, or the open air, or maybe even a little dirt that always seems to find its way into the food, but for some reason food just tastes better in the bush.

One of my favorites is "Rock Chicken". it is a great meal when prepared properly. The use of hot rocks allows the chicken to roast slowly and the meat is quite tender and succulent. In cold weather, you can even prepare it and toss it into your backpack and it will help keep you warm on your trek... a warning for this though, DO NOT carry it in your backpack in areas frequented by bears!!! The last thing you need is to get mauled by a bear while hiking through the woods.

Here is my recipe for Rock Chicken...

It is an easy recipe that you can start and forget about for several hours. Here’s how it’s done, and yes, it’s primitive cooking.

 

1. Find three good-sized rocks about the size of softball, and place them in the campfire to get hot. Sometimes you get a rock that will crack when heated so it is wise to place a couple of extras in to heat, just in case. The rocks have to get very, very hot.

2. While the rocks are getting hot take a whole chicken and clean inside and out, then rub it down with salt, pepper, and other spices to taste. Stuff 2 whole celery sticks and 1 whole onion into the chicken.

3. After the rocks are HOT, stuff one of the rocks into the chicken with the celery and onion. Place the chicken on a large sheet of tinfoil and take the other two rocks and place one under each wing.

4. Now wrap the chicken in several layers of tinfoil. If you don't use enough foil the rocks may burn through and you will lose too much heat to cook the bird.

5. Then take wet newspaper and wrap it around the tinfoil. Also make sure you wrap at least 10 to 20 layers of newspaper around it, the more the merrier. This will hold the heat of the rocks in extremely well.

6. Let the chicken cook. The heat of the rocks will cook the chicken in about 3 to 5 hours.

NOTE: it might be best to try this recipe at home before going into the wilderness... you want to make sure you have it right.

We hope you enjoy it!

EXPEDITION: LAGUNA MADRE

Image courtesy of Leftray.com

Expedition - Laguna Madre

In our last post, "Expedition: Preliminary Talks", we hinted at an upcoming kayaking expedition in which HSA could be involved. The time has come for a few more details.

The concept of this yet-to-be-named expedition is a 120 mile kayak trip through the Laguna Madre in South Texas (see map below). HSA Founder, Joe Vulgamore, will paddle the three-day trip on a SOT touring kayak, camping at certain points along the way.

Still in the very early preliminary talk/planning stages this expedition is a paddle for charity event. The early concept is to raise funds for persons with intellectual disabilities. Until certain legal aspects are taken care of, we are not allowed to use the name of the charity in this post.

Basically though, the idea is for people to donate money for each mile paddled. The charity's Community Relation Director is working out the details on that, as well as trying to line up sponsors for equipment and gear, as well as a Title Sponsor for the adventure.

Plans are also in the works to obtain media partners. Everything from planning meetings and pre-expedition training to resupply points and POV video, will be video documented along the way and eventually put together as a full-length documentary.

The preliminary date for this expedition is early April 2014.

At this point, we can't say any more about the trip other than we, as well as our founder, are stoked and honored to be asked to be a participant in this event!

 Below is a map of the Laguna Madre with the tentative start and stop points, as well as the route through the Lower Laguna, the Intercoastal Waterway land cut (Saltillo Flats), and into the Upper Laguna.

Stay tuned for more info my friends!!!

VIDEO: "LIFE RECLAIMED" Trailer 1

Here it is! The first trailer from the HSA Documentary "Life Reclaimed". "Life Reclaimed" is an inspirational adventure documentary based on the premise that "Nature is Greater than Therapy". It covers the story of a man who lost everything he worked a lifetime to aquire and his fight to reclaim his life from depression, devestation, and lonliness by getting back to his roots in adventure sports.






 
HSA Trailer1B from Sirfur Productions on Vimeo.

DESTINATION: ADVENTURE - Recap

Photo: HSA

HSA Expedition Recap

Our adventure to the Oklahoma outback was exciting, fun, beautiful, and at times, quite grueling.
We started off leaving our home in Corpus Christi at about 2:00PM on Friday June 14 and drove straight on through to our destination in the Arbuckle Mountains.

We arrived at approximately 1:00AM and slept for a few hours in the jeep waiting for first light to set up our camp. As the first signs of light began to glow, just before the yellow ball peeked it's head above the horizon, we sat up our base camp and prepared for a long hike to the waterfall.

After several hours of hiking we reached our destination. There we found a beautiful 77' waterfall with an inviting natural swimming hole. As it was extremely hot out, I took a dip in the hole while 2 of my companions waded in the shallow stream created by the overflow.

After the swim, we ate lunch and began the trek back to base camp... all the while capturing footage for the HSA documentary. The hike back to camp was equally grueling. Once we were back, we sparked the fire and began cooking our dinner before laying our weary heads to rest.

The following morning, I sat out on an extreme hike to find the source of the creek that eventually lead to the waterfall. It was an arduous journey, full of rugged and steep cliffs, rocky ledges, and thick overgrowth that I had to climb and bushwhack my way through. The end result was worth the 3 day round trip as I was left with a sense of accomplishment, blessed with beautiful scenery, and the euphoria that can only come with being at one with nature.

On the 5th day, it was time to restock supplies and recharge the electronics. Shooting footage for a documentary deep in the middle of nowhere poses certain challenges, like hiking certain areas 2 or 3 times in order to place cameras, get the proper footage and angles. Afterward a break was much needed With my Dad living in Oklahoma, it was a natural choice to rest at his house before embarking upon the second part of the adventure.

READ MORE (and see photos) AFTER THE JUMP...

DESTINATION: ADVENTURE - Update

Photo: Human Spirit of Adventure

After 4 long days in the rugged backcountry, we are back to civilization for a day. We need to restock supplies and recharge all of the electronics... shooting footage for a documentary deep in the middle of nowhere poses certain challenges. It has been a great experience so far and looking forward to the rest of the journey.

Thus far we have hiked miles and miles of rugged terrain, done 4 river crossings, and been bitten by every bug known to mankind. Tomorrow we should reach our final destination and enjoy the serenity and watersport action of Lake Eufaula.
We will have a full journey update upon our return, so stay tuned...

DESTINATION: ADVENTURE... 5 DAYS AWAY

5 Days and Counting...

In five days, we here at HSA will set of on a week long adventure. An adventure that will encompass multiple adventure sports.

On the agenda is miles and miles of rugged backpacking,  hiking, climbing, cave exploration, and freshwater snorkeling... topped off with rivers, waterfalls and spectacular views.

This adventure will be filmed on GoPro cameras as part of HSA's upcoming documentary tentatively titled "Life: Reclaimed"

We are gearing up and beginning the final week of preparation for this adventure. We will try to post some photo's along the way on our Facebook page and have a full blown recap right here on the blog upon our return.

See you then!

DOUBLE DISAPPOINTMENT... BRITAIN'S OMM CANCELED

Photo: prlog.org

Original Mountain Marathon A NoGo...

STORY BY: MICK LORD

Last weekend I was all packed, tent, rucksacks packed with the lightest gear I could find, car ready to go bed early on Friday evening for a very early start Saturday to arrive at the Original Mountain Marathon Lite early on Sat morning ready to go.

Checked the website for any last min stuff as I got up on the Saturday to find the following message posted on the site:-

Dear Friends

It is with great regret we announce the cancellation of this weekend's OMM Lite and OMM Bike.

We will provide a full refund to all participants, however, for those of you who wish to join us the camping is free for the weekend and the meal for Sunday is also free. Hopefully you can then enjoy this beautiful part of the country as individuals rather than as an organised event.

All of us at OMM are incredibly disappointed that this has happened and wish to extend our sincerest apologies to all of you who have been inconvenienced.

We are in he process of personally calling all entrants to fully inform them of the situation. If you have any questions then please place a comment and we will answer as soon as possible.

Thank you for all your support

The OMM family,

Andy, Tom, Matt, Stu, Iain and Giles


We were really disappointed, but know that cancelling any event is not an easy decision, so we were left with a free weekend at the last moment.

On the Sunday we went to participate in a 3hr navigation trail race in the South Yorkshire Hills so all was not lost, we covered a very hilly 22k and would have been a bit more had it not been for a big dog that didn't want to let us through his field. Our course for the 3hr event http://connect.garmin.com/activity/314915831.

I had also arranged during the week to take a flight in a hot air balloon but this was also cancelled due to the high winds :(

Myself and Jack have another 2 day mountain marathon coming up in early July in the beautiful Lakedistrict area of the UK, we will let you know (hopefully) how we progress on that one. http://www.slmm.org.uk/ We will be doing the BEDAFELL CLASS for parents and their children.

CAMPING - The Rite of Passage

CAMPING – The Rite of Passage

Ahhh summer is drawing near. The air is getting warm, school will soon be out, and millions of families will answer the call of the wild and brave the great outdoors in the ritual known as camping.

Growing up, my mom and dad would gather us up; load up the car and off we would go on an exciting journey. As kids we looked forward to cooking hotdogs and roasting marshmallows on the open flame, hiking all day to a nice and cool swimming hole, and tell ghost stories around the fire.

As adults, when we look back, we forget the snakes, scorpions, bugs, and mosquitoes, but we remember the time that dad fell in the water and mom forgot the popcorn. Summer camping is a ritual, a rite of passage that is fun, memorable, and at times disastrous.

So as summer descends on us, whether we are backpacking through the outback, or car-camping in a campground, let us not forget certain essentials that will make the trip more bearable and fun, and give great memories that will last a lifetime.

Below, we have compiled a list of some essentials… this is a broad list that can be narrowed down for solo backpacker, or expanded for the car-camping family of city-slickers... Oh yeah, don’t forget the popcorn!

CAMPING LIST AFTER THE JUMP...

Backpack Review - Gama 8.0 Internal Frame Pack

So I finally decided to retire my 25 year old Army issue ALICE pack and get myself a new bag for 1-to-3 day hikes. I was skeptical about buying a budget-pack from Wal-Mart, but so far, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with its performance. The Outdoor Products Gama 8.0 Internal Frame Pack is designed to provide a great pack for hiking or shorter backpacking trips. It has all of the modern conveniences that a good pack should have. For anyone who wants to use this pack as a street bag, you may not be happy with it. It has an over-sized waist belt and comes in 2 ugly colors… olive green (shown) and orange. I chose the olive green because I’m not thrilled about standing out on the trail… however I do live in Texas and the orange one might be better for protecting me from drunk, gun-toting rednecks (That was a joke so lighten up people). I took this 39.1L pack for a 2-day tryout and I must say that it met the test. I've not tried it on a longer trip or in overly rugged terrain, but for a low-budget pack I still feel pretty good about it.


For my overall assessment of this pack, READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP...