The quarry in the Hunsrück is no longer worked, but it is far from empty. Big excavators sit down in the pit, finishing the last jobs and shaping the ground for the land to be given back to nature. Late in the afternoon I walked up onto a rise at the edge of the slate pit, hammock in my pack and a few pieces of kit I had never used outdoors before.
A quarry going back to nature#
Slate breaks in flat plates, and that shapes the whole place. Fragments lie everywhere, some the size of your palm, some as long as your forearm. For a bushcraft overnighter that makes for an easy starting point. The ground doesn’t burn, there is no layer of humus underneath me for embers to creep into, and material for a fire ring is lying around in any quantity you want.
Birches and beeches stand on the rise, with moss creeping over the edges between them. Wild strawberries grow among the stones, all over the quarry, and they kept me busy later on.
The Crystal Bridge up on the rise#
Two trees at the right distance were quick to find. I hang up the Crystal Bridge, a bridge hammock from onewind. Two spreader bars hold the fabric apart, so you lie flat instead of sagging into a banana shape. Anyone who has climbed out of a classic hammock with a stiff back knows the difference. The bug net is built in and part of the construction.
Tree straps, suspension clipped in, height adjusted. A few minutes later the sleep system was up.
The underquilt for the night#
Up on the rise the wind runs over the edge, and it got noticeably colder after dark. That is where a hammock night is won or lost. Air pushes against the fabric from below, and the sleeping bag under your back is compressed and barely insulates at all. So the Bridge Hammock Underquilt came along.
It hangs on the outside, underneath the hammock, clipped to four carabiners. That is all there is to it. No fiddling with drawcords, no readjusting in the dark, and because it is cut specifically for bridge hammocks it sits without cold gaps at the ends.
Coffee and wild strawberries#
There was still time before the fire, so coffee on the Trangia first. While I waited I started picking wild strawberries from between the slate plates. They are tiny, and it takes a while to gather a handful. The flavour makes up for it, far more intense than anything from a supermarket.
Standing deadwood, shavings and a ferro rod#
For the fire I fetched a few flat plates and laid out a ring. The wood came from standing deadwood at the edge of the site, sawn down and carried over. Dead standing timber is dry right through to the core, even after rain.
Then a lot of batoning to get at the dry inner wood. From one of the split pieces I cut fine shavings with the Kurpfalz Outdoor Knife. The blade pulls through cleanly and stays controllable while doing it, which is the whole point with thin shavings.
I collected the shavings in the leather tray from Nordic Wolf. That turned out to be surprisingly practical: shavings in, sparks from the ferro rod straight into the tray, let it catch, then tip the whole lot out over the fire place. No feeding in single shavings, no juggling burning tinder in your hand.
Potatoes in the Billy Pot, steak in the cast iron pan#
The pan stand from Nordic Wolf sat over the fire. It is made of three round bars and three flat metal rods of the same length that screw together. Broken down it fits in any pouch, set up it carries a full pot without trouble. Use the code KAPPE for 10 % off at the Nordic Wolf Shop.
The potatoes went on first, in the big stainless steel pot, the Billy Pot from Fire Maple. Large jacket potatoes boiled straight over the campfire take their time, but time was the one thing I had. After that the hunter’s pan went onto the stand. Over open coals a cast iron pan holds the heat and gives it off evenly, so the meat gets a crust instead of patches. Steak, tomatoes and onions from the pan, with the potatoes and quark on the side.
Morning at the quarry#
The night stayed quiet, no rain, just wind over the edge. In the morning I got the fire going again for coffee. Breakfast was the leftover potatoes from the night before, cold, with quark again.
Then packing up. By the end there was nothing left to see on the rise, and on a site that is being handed back to nature, that is the basic condition for being allowed to come back.
