Wintercamping with a frenchman.

So, I woke up pretty early the other day, made breakfast and had my cup of coffee.
Pacing back and forth in our tiny apartment as I usually do, looked out through the window on the fresh snow which was covering the ground - remembering that the night before was one of those dream-like evenings with a snow covered sky - heavy snow, covering the ground on just a few minutes, quiet and peaceful.

I decided to hike around the lake which is just outside the town where I live, a 35km long hike in the snow with a beautiful lake view, perfect environment to hike around and the perfect image for the amateur photographer which I am. 

Enough said, I packed my bag with all I were to need for my adventure.

My Nikon D3400, food, bushstove and cooking equipment as well as my woolblanket for when I finally found a great place to make a small camp for taking a lunchbreak.

Over looking the forest, enjoying the silence of the winter.

I were just about to head out through the door when I checked my phone, I had gotten a text message through my instagram, courious to whom were texting me - I had to look.

It happened to be a frenchman which I had met on a campsite when I was out photographing and were to cook some dinner over the flames - he was wondering if we should meet up and do a overnighter in the snow. 

My first thought was to decline, mostly because I´m not used to meet new people - and I truely hate to speak english (funny since I choose to write in english haha), but I decided, what the hell - why shouldn´t I, I have the oppertunity to meet new people and get to go outdoors and do what I love to do ! 

Enough said, we were to meet up a couple of hours later and travel together with bus to a place just a couple of kilometers from where I live. As we arrived to the hiking trail we had one goal, we need to find a good location to set up camp with a good resource of fire wood and some what in cover from the weather.  Mostly because for my sake, I was using a DD Hammocks 3x3 tarp so I would be the most exposed to the elements. 

Our camp site for the night, I´m using a simple tarp setup
and Guillaume are using his Hilleberg tent.
Gotta say, I love the contrast between high tech and low tech. 

We had just around 1.5 hours before sunset - to put up our camp, collect firewood and all the other essential things which were easier to do while we had some daylight. 

The rest of the night were shared around the fire, speaking about all and nothing, shared some knowledge and talked about photographing, video making and gear. 

Most say I was positivitly surprised how easy going everything was and how fun it was and taught full it was to hang around someone els with the same interest. 

Waiting for a good coal base to be created so we could cook some dinner
and didn´t need to worry the flames would go out
thanks to the snow we got later on.

It started to snow in the evening, it truely felt like winter in southern sweden.

The night was long and cold, sleeping in a 2 season sleeping bag with no firereflector or fire close by to generate heat, fortunally Guillaume brought a sleepingbag liner for me to borrow for the night - with the liner and my canteen filled with hot water I managed to get 3-4 hours of sleep before waking up cold as a popcycle haha. 

Never the less I managed to sleep for half an hour at the time for the rest of the night and by 7 o´clock I decided to head out and try to capture the sunrise (the weather forcast said it should be a clear sky this morning), hiked my way through the cold winter morning up on a hill just a couple of hundreds of meter from our camp. 

The moon light managed to squeeze through some
heavy clouds covering the sky this cold winter morning.

As I hiked my way through the fresh powder snow, I had to stop so I could catch my breath for just a short while, as caught my breath and tried to keep my breathing under controll - I saw how the ground was illuminated by some sort of light.

In the heavy cloud covered morning sky, the moon managed to squeeze through some illuminating lights - giving me just enough light to so my poor 18-77mm lens could capture the moon light. 

Unfortunally the clouds were to thick so I couldn´t take some beautiful shots of the sunrise, 
but atleast I got warm after hiking up and down on those steep hills haha. 

As I got back to camp I made a small fire to get some warmth and to cook some breakfast, waiting for Guillaume to wake up from his beauty sleep haha. 
Once he woke, I packed up my stuff and and left him by himself while I explored the surrounding area, making the best of the time I had in forest.

Picea abies, red spruce
embracing and thawing the froozen water drops from it´s branches.

Betula pendula, silver/wart birch with it´s lovely hanging branches.

Old barb wire on an old fence post.

Found a lot of animal tracks in the snow, this fox were tracking a rabbit. 

On my way up for a pretty steep hill, I had to stop
and soak in the warmth of the sun even though it didn´t last for very long.

Guillaume all packed up, ready to head into the woods and do some exploring.

Headed back to camp to meet up with the frenchman before deciding where we were to venture, still amazed how much gear he could manage to fit into his backpack, he had it all. A drone, videocamera, some sort of stabiliazer for it, all camping gear, solar panels, batteries, spotlights and even a frikking espresso machine, haha!

I was sure happy not to have to carry all of that gear on my back!

Guillaume on his way to a sweet look out spot. 

As we arrived to the spot, Guillaume brought out his drone to take sweet footage from the sky - overlooking the valley and the river beneath us, sure was eye opener to see how it works and what amazing shots you can get by using one of those.

At the look out spot, snow covered trees
and a fresh breeze of cold air - truely a gift from mother earth.

I think it´s pretty interesting how two people from different backgrounds, wealth and cultures can come together to be joined in union and enjoy something as simple as nature - here we were two strangers with nothing in common besides, photography and nature, still we managed to bound and come together as what I would call - as friends. 

We had a short break, talking about life in general and our ambitions and goals as photographers and film maker, I need to say that he has a more ambitious goal than me, making beautiful drone and hiking videos as a guide for those whom might want to go outdoors and hike a trail or visit some specifik area but don´t know how or are corious about how the trail look like.
(Hope I got it right haha)

I found the way he talked about his ambitions as a film maker, to be something I think I miss in my life, a true calling - knowing exactly what I want to do and giving it my all.

It made me think of what my ambitions with this blog and with my instagram page are, to be honest I don´t know. I don´t post things to get followers and become famous or to become a gear tester and earn an income out of it, I just want to share my adventures, ideas and thoughts through images and words. 

My ambitions with this blog were and are a way to unburden some of my thoughts - into writing, to talk about depression and how I deal with it and also to share my love as an outdoors lover, but also to hopefully inspire someone to get outdoors, go hiking, go fishing - pick up  wood carving as a hobby, carving spoons and kuksas is really fun, I promise!

Guess we all need to think about what´s important to us and find a way to
pursue our goals in life.

Thanks to Guillaume for inviting me for some winter adventure! 

/ Andy

A walk down the memorylane.

Back at my fathers old fishing spot, havn´t been back at this spot
for in the past 15 years.

Lately I´ve been feeling lost and misled, have often found myself wondering about what makes me happy and the things which makes me tick. 

I´ve been having this feeling of restlessness which I can´t seem to overcome - all I think of is how much I want to get out and to discover the world, I want to hike, fish and camp - living of the land and start to minimize my footprint on this earth, experience and learn as much as possible. 

I wonder how it would be like to not to have to think about money, work, education - my next move.

I feel trapped and clueless as to what is important and the small things in life that makes it worth living, I wouldn´t say I´m unhappy with my life I just wish that I had controll over what´s happening with myself and that I could´ve controll over my feelings. 

Not much but all I need.
Silky Gomboy Pro, Gränsforsbruk wilderness hatchet, Helle harding knife.
Trangia teapot and a primus 0.5l pot and some fishing lures. 

In search of a answer or atleast a little break from reality, I packed my bag with a woolen blanket, some tools and pots for fire prepping and food cooking.

I went out for a drive in without any idea of where I was heading. I thought about what I used to to when I was younger, what I did and where I found myself being where I felt at most happy.
I could remember being outdoors, in the woods or by a pond, running around on fields and jumping creeks. Building dams or cleaning up the creeks to ensure a good waterflow -just playing around and just having a blast! 

The water level of the river has risen making the field to become a part of the river.

After about 40 minutes drive, I found myself at my fathers old fishing spot, the exact same spot where I caught my first perch, might even be my first fish ever, I remember my father being proud of me and how happy I was. Posing by the mighty willow in my with Link shirt and showing of my trophy for the camera, this was probably the last picture which were taken of me as a happy child.
I can´t say that life was better then, divorses and custody desputes - a constant fuss, but at that moment in time, I sencerely was happy and at that moment - I fell in love with the great outdoors.

Male pheasant hiding from me, which I had a telelens to my camera to capture
it´s beauty.

While hiking my way through the wetlands in search for a spot to make camp and relax next to the river in this amazing autum weather, I tried my fishing luck (can mention that I had no luck haha!) and explored the surrounding for some great pictures.

Found some remainings from an old military bridge.

Foam on water creating a pattern which reminds me about animal prints. 

I found an old oak which were standing 6-7 meters from the river - made this spot to my campsite for this day, happy I had that wool blanket to sit on and rest my gear on without getting them soaking wet from walking through this marsch looking area. 

I find using a log fire method to build the base of your fire, working splendid and assures you to create a great coal very easy and almost effordless.

Build a base for your fire using a couple of split logs as a ground sheet, protecting the ground (even if it´s just for a while) from the fire and the fire from the moisture in the ground.
This will also ensure your fire to slowly build up a coal in the bed making it better for cooking.

Log fire on ground, next to the river and in a marsch looking enviroment so
wasn´t worried about the fire spreading. 

Then just start building your a log house around the base as high you want it to then start your fire using whatever method that you prefer - using this method will allow air to circulate better and this will help your fire to grow and keep it relative smokeless.

I always use a firesteel, most because it´s so practical and handy to always have in your backpack, car etc. but I wouldn´t mind learning how to use a bow drill!

Feeding the fire before heading down stream to try my fishing luck.

As the sun dusk approached my tummy was full and I headed out to try catching the sunset peaking through the trees, as I looked through the eye of the camera I couldn´t resist to think of
those posters from school of a water hole in an african savannah. 

Sunset over the marsch looking field I was hiking through -
makes me think of africa, doesn´t it?

Traces of tree larvaes´on an old and dead oak tree. 

As it got darker and darker I boiled myself a cup of tea and thought about my life and in what direction it´s heading, how I should cope with the changes which are to come.
I´ve always had a clear path to where I want to be and what life I would like to have in the future and I relized it´s now or never, why put your dreams on hold for noncens, why should I sacrifice my youth, my ambition and thrive for nothing worth caring for.
I will go fish, hike and camp - I will start to minimize my lifestyle and start to enjoy and expirience life as it is, I will venture out into the unknown and make this dream of mine become true!

Remaining coals from the log-building fire, hot and very effective.

 Before hiking back through the wetlands back to my car, I packed my gear and dispose the fire and restored the ground as good as I could ensuring not to leave some remains of me ever being there - other than a walk down memorylane and a clearified mind./ Andy

This winters first ice covered pond where I live.