Rocky Mountain Bushcraft: Just who writes this dang blog anyway?!

Dear readers,

I realize that we have been rather mysterious, at least as blogs go. You've probably been here and wondered "who the heck are these guys, and what makes them an authority on anything?" I'd like to use this post to introduce you to us and why we write this blog.


Jason, Founder of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft 

Hi everyone, I'm Jason, the founder of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. I started this blog in December of 2011 after actively participating for several years at Bladeforums.com and BushcraftUSA forum. It was on these sites that I wrote lots of posts, articles and reviews on subjects ranging from axes and knives to wilderness survival. Though I enjoyed contributing, I also wanted more freedom in what I posted, so I started this blog.

I'm a Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, interned with the US Forest Service as a Forestry Technician, and studied Outdoor Recreation, Wilderness Survival and Forestry at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, CO.

I originally became interested in bushcrafting at age 6 when I saw "Jeremiah Johnson" for the first time. Not long after, Grizzly Adams started as a weekly TV show (yes, I'm dating myself here!) and I would watch it every week, completely mesmerized.

Luckily I had a dad who was already into the outdoors, and though I didn't get to see him much (my parents divorced in the early 70s), he always took me fishing, hiking, camping and shooting whenever we spent time together.

Not only was he a Commando in the 82nd Airborne during the Vietnam War, he also looked a bit like Dan Haggerty from Grizzly Adams, so I always thought he was the coolest dad around!

In the photo below I'm practicing marksmanship with a BB Gun with my dad, before getting my own .410 Single Shot Shotgun the following year.

My Dad also bought me my first Victorinox Swiss Army knife when I was 8. That knife was probably the coolest present I ever got. Safe to say, I was hooked for life!

Pretty much the rest of my childhood was spent running around in the woods pretending I was Grizzly Adams. At some point as a teenager, I bought a used copy of Larry Dean Olsen's "Outdoor Survival Skills" and almost wore the cover off of it while trying out the stuff in the book!

Though originally an eastern boy, I was lucky enough to spend a year in Colorado at age 17, so I got to live out a dream by camping for weeks at a time in the Pike National Forest. I'd spend days on end practicing skills from Olsen's survival book, like making arrows from wild rose bush shafts, chipping obsidian, wrapping the feathers and arrowheads with natural sinew and gluing them together with boiled pine pitch.

I'd make bows from wild locust, rub animal grease on the staves and then leave them by a smoky fire to cure. I'd then make the string with natural sinew found from dead animal carcasses. I got so good at it that a couple of local tourist shops started buying them from me to resell to tourists!

A year later, I joined an Army Reserve unit that ended up becoming federally activated during the Gulf War. I was lucky enough to get some great training while serving, like attending US Army Wilderness Survival Training, Desert Warfare and Survival, Urban Warfare, etc.

Axes

Now that you know more about my background, you may still be wondering about my "axe credentials" and how I came to write about and review them.

It's simple. After the 2008 economic crash, money got tight, and I had to start using an axe to keep our Colorado homestead warm. My girlfriend, my stepson and I couldn't afford to run anything except the woodstove and we didn't even have the money to fix our broken chainsaw.

So I bought an axe and learned how to use it. My first axe was a Stihl Axe made by Ox-head. My second axe was a Fiskars 28" Pro Chopping axe. The Fiskars blew away the Stihl axe and made me realize what a good sharp axe could do. I literally chopped and split tens of cords of wood for a couple of harsh winters, so I had to learn fast about what worked and what didn't.

So there you have it!

I really appreciate all the traffic we've had since December (over 18,000 page views!) and want to thank you all for visiting. I do love to hear comments though, any comments, so please let me know what you think!

I might also add that we are very review-heavy right now because of my commitment to spreading the word about American-made outdoor gear. I will be posting lots of other articles about survival and bushcrafting after finishing my "Buy American" project though, so keep checking back!

Cheers,

Jason

Dave C, Review Assistant, Field Tester, Bushcrafting Comrade
































Hi, I'm Dave. Aside from keeping things on the humorous side while we're out field testing gear, I'm also the guy in many of the review photos. When I'm not helping Jason, I'm out giving tours in Rocky Mountain National Park or in the neighboring Roosevelt-Arapaho Forest.

I have 20 years of experience in survival and backpacking in the deserts and foothills of the Southwest as well as the Rocky Mountains. I'm also a trained Wildland Fire Fighter /E. M. T.

I've been a survival knife guy for most of my life, but lately I've become an axe fanatic and currently own a Gerber Camp Axe and a Fiskars X15 Chopping Axe. Luckily, Jason has a huge collection of traditional axes that I get to try out as well! I've also become a fan of Mora knives, with my favorite being the Mora Clipper and recently, the Mora Swedish FireKnife.

We work really hard to bring you the best articles and reviews and appreciate you stopping by.

Cheers!

Dave

Leah K- Rocky Mountain Bushcraft Editor- Hi everyone, I'm Leah, the editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. I have a Journalism-Communications Degree from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, and though I have many years of experience in other fields, bushcrafting is new to me.

I've always enjoyed the outdoors and spent many afternoons exploring the woods as a child, building pretend "cabins" and picking blackberrys in the summer.

In high school I tried archery and loved it, but it was one of those skills that I didn't have a chance to use as an adult. I originally took this on as a favor to Jason but I found that it's really interesting! 

I got my first Mora survival knife recently and am excited to start putting it to good use learning bushcrafting skills for the first time! I'll let you know what I think and I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks for joining us at Rocky Mountain Bushcraft, I'm excited to be part of this adventure!

Peace,
Leah