Gary and Ginger stop for a drink and snack on the way back to the Tower trailhead – Piney Creek Wilderness
01 January 2012 | Copyright © 2012 Gary Allman
Sunset at Bucksaw, Harry S Truman Lake, Missouri
The wind blew hard and unpredictably most of the evening, making sitting round the campfire hazardous at times, but the sparks made up for the absence of fireworks.
05 November 2011 | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
Dead tree, Bucksaw, Harry S Truman Lake, Missouri
05 November 2011 | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
More fun in the workshop
This is another picture from my 365 Days of 2011 project, taken while I was working on building a “batch-loaded, inverted down-draft gassifier” wood stove out of old tin cans. Building the stove kept me occupied for a couple of hours. The reasons for trying this are (1) it’s fun, (2) carrying a traditional stove and fuel adds around 2-3 lb to my backpack. A stove like this should weigh around 4 oz, is smaller than my backpacking stove, and (3) did I mention it’s fun? Anything involving power tools and fire has to be. In the picture I’m lining up the outer casing before drilling the air inlet holes.
Postscript: the stove worked, but not efficiently enough for my liking, the burner inset wasn’t deep enough and it wasn’t tall enough to draw properly. Watching the jets of wood gas burning is fascinating. A Mark II stove followed which works a lot better and I’m toying with modifications to that design for the Mark III.
05 April 2011 | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
Bluffs on the Meramec River, Meramec State Park, Missouri
This picture is another fine example of the ‘painterly’ images my little Fuji compact camera can produce.
24 March 2011 | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
Sundown at Little Brazil Creek, Missouri
21 March 2011 | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
Our MSR Mutha Hubba backpacking tent at Berry Bend Campground
We spent a long time researching and looking at tents. Each time we thought we’d found the one we wanted we saw another we liked even more. A three season tent was essential for spring and fall camping, some useable vestibule space that would double as a wind break for cooking was also high on our wish list. It had to be big, or even a three person tent so that we can keep our packs inside if the weather is really foul. And it needed to be as light as possible for backpacking, this tent is working out great for us.
We’ve written a short review of the MSR Mutha Hubba tent here
21 November 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Gary and Ginger Sitting by the camp fire in the moonlight
We decided to cheat on preparing the fire. Not wanting to spend a lot of time and energy gathering and cutting wood, we bought some logs for $4 and I split them with an 8lb non backpacking axe. However, we did successfully light the fire backpacking style using cotton wool pads coated with Vaseline.
20 November 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Gary and Ginger: wildlife and lake watching
Friday evening we took Alek, Katie and a couple of kids from youth group to Kansas City for a Church event. We needed to be on hand to collect them again Sunday afternoon, so we left Lanie in the capable hands of Ginger’s cousin Betsy, put Getzger in charge at home and once we’d dropped the big kids off we turned around and went back to go camping at Berry Bend on Harry S. Truman Lake.
We didn’t bother taking the kayaks; we had a very nice quiet day sitting watching the lake and wildlife instead. It gave us a change to try out our Trekker chairs. I was dubious about sitting so low to the ground, but they proved very comfortable. The great thing about the chairs is that they use our existing Therm-A-Rest mattresses for the seat and seat back so there’s very little extra to carry. Which brings me to a problem. My Nikon weighs in at 2lbs. I need something lighter for backpacking, or I’m going to have to compromise somewhere else. We’ll see.
While sitting here we saw loads of different woodpeckers, hawks, and other birds including a bald eagle. We also watched the squirrels and chipmunks rushing around. Over the course of the weekend we also saw a deer, possum, coyote, and evidence of a beaver.
I never did get a chance to read the book I brought along, and I don’t think Ginger got much knitting done either.
20 November 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Berry Bend, Harry S. Truman lake, Missouri
09 October 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Berry Bend, Harry S. Truman Lake, Missouri
08 October 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Mist at the Pines Overlook Campsite
Just enough time for some pictures and to enjoy the daybreak before packing up camp and setting off to pick up the girls.
07 August 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Red Bluff on Huzzah Creek, Davisville, Missouri
Once more the lighting is challenging, and I’m still not 100% happy with the results. I do like the person at the bottom of the frame – he really serves to give an idea of the scale of the bluff, though I had to rush the shot to catch him in the sunlight.
05 August 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Pines Overlook Campsite at night
22 July 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman | Red Bluff Campground, Davisville, Missouri
Huzzah Creek and Red Bluff, Red Bluff Campground, Missouri
Red Bluff is one of our current favorite camping destinations. However, getting a decent picture of the bluff is proving a bit difficult. The red coloring on the bluff is actually a stain from the red topsoil. In places where there’s no soil the bluff is white. At around 150′-200′ the bluff is quite impressive.
22 July 2010 | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman | Davisville, Missouri
Mark Twain National Forest – Table Rock Lake, Missouri
I had to get quite wet in order to get the shot. It wasn’t a hardship though, the lake was as warm as bath water.
14 July 2010 | Table Rock Lake, Missouri | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Sunrise and fishing on Table Rock Lake
The peace, tranquility, light and mist on the water more than made up for being up at six-thirty.
20 June 2010| Big Bay Recreation Area | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Sunrise on table rock lake, Missouri
Ginger found us a very nice campsite at the Big Bay Recreation Area on Table Rock Lake.
We got up early and ventured down to the lakeside to see the sunrise. Fortunately the water was very warm as I had to wade in up to my waist to get this picture.
The peace, tranquility, light and mist on the water more than made up for being up at six-thirty.
20 June 2010 | Big Bay Recreation Area | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Big Bay Recreation Area, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri
19 June 2010 | Big Bay Recreation Area | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Jacks Fork, Blue Spring Campsite – Ozark National Scenic Riverway
Jacks Fork and Blue Spring at the campsite where we spent Memorial weekend.
Today I confirmed that taking the Nikon camping is not necessarily a good idea, as the humidity caused problems, with a whole load of images spoiled due to internal fogging on the optics.
A complete slideshow of the weekend (22 Slides)
31 May 2010 | Ozark National Scenic Riverway | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
Bluff on Jacks Fork – Ozark National Scenic Riverway
Ginger and I were invited to join Tom, Rebbie, Dash and Leslie camping and on a float trip this Memorial weekend. They even borrowed a canoe for us to use. We’d planned on a couple of hours float back to our campsite, but our planned put-in point was overwhelmed with people, so Tom took us further up river, and we had a much longer trip.
I discovered that taking the Nikon on a float trip is not conducive to taking pictures. Ziplock bags managed to keep the camera dry even when we took on a load of water, but it was very difficult trying to get the camera out of the bags. A small waterproof point and shoot is required.
A complete slideshow of the weekend (22 Slides)
29 May 2010 | Ozark National Scenic Riverway | Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman
























