Trail Magic
Our love for the outdoors and desire to share our axes with our community led us to set up a Trail Magic pit stop on rural Walnut Mountain Road in our town of Roan Mountain, Tennessee. You may be wondering what trail magic is and why we'd want to do it. Trail Magic is an homage to the hiking community, a free trail-side pop-up snack or meal service that can happen anytime and anywhere along the Appalachian Trail intended to fuel hikers, build morale and make connections.
The AT runs through Roan Mountain in several different areas, making hiking a big part of our community and giving life to two great local hostels. I grew up section hiking the AT with my dad, and while I don't get as much time on the trail as I used to, I can add some magic to the travels of other hikers.
Trail Magic is a good omen, an oasis, and, for some people, a much-needed relief after you've been hiking for days on end! As a hiker myself I have been on the receiving end of other trail magic pop-ups often consisting of protein bars, quick snacks and meat out of a container. This inspired me to share the magic of a fresh hot meal, and a place to hang out to show people how to use an axe at their campsite.
So I knew this would be a great opportunity to get my team outdoors, sharing axes with outdoor enthusiasts and to support one of the drivers of our local economy. Our crew for the day consisted of myself (Liam), my wife Tigerlily and baby Hoffman behind the camera, Nathan, Tristen, Juniper, Shelly, my dad Bill, and my father-in-law Jason.
This is what read on our sign to draw hikers in. We had big expectations to fill when exhausted hikers saw that and worked their way up the slight slope off the trail to our campsite.
Parked at the campsite was my lifted off-road 1993 Suzuki Carry, and perched on the flatbed was my small Blackstone, food prep, water, and a log book for hikers to sign their trail names. Just past the truck, they'd find a campfire Nathan built, stumps to sit on, and good tunes playing.
Our menu featured made-to-order bratwurst, bell peppers, sweet onions, and over-easy eggs, all wrapped up in a flour tortilla. And let's not forget the hot sauce. Hikers love hot sauce. We brought a 24 fl oz bottle of Texas Pete to cover our bases... Once the food was served, it was time to chill by the fire and check out our Mountaineer axe demonstration. We split wood using several different techniques to break down large pieces into smaller ones.
We demonstrated how to use a small hatchet, such as our 1.5-pound Mountaineer, to break down large pieces of firewood. First, we'd make a hard strike to the center, almost expecting it not to split all the way through. Once the axe was sunk into the top of the log, we demonstrated how to finish the split by flipping the log upside down with the axe still in it and then throwing the back of the axe and log down onto a chopping block. The weight and velocity of the wood aids the axe to continue through the log and finish splitting.
Once the log was broken down into medium-sized pieces, we demonstrated a typical splitting technique to break them down further. Once the pieces of wood were too narrow and long to stand upright and split easily, we showed a great, safe, and easy way to break them down even further by splitting them with the wood lying down instead of standing up.
Wood splits in a really excellent and controlled way when it's on its side, but it's not seen often anymore. It's the best option once the wood becomes too narrow to stand up easily. Sometimes, it's the only option if you're splitting logs that have been bucked with an axe, not a saw, as the ends of the logs won't be flat enough to stand up. One of our customers and inspirations in the axe community, Tim Gent, demonstrates how to split Farm Axe bucked logs on their sides with his Wood Bullet. You can check out his inspirational story on Youtube when you've got some extra time.
From here, we showed how to choke up behind the bearded blade of the Mountaineer to get enough control to carve fine wood shavings to start the fire. After all this was said and done, hikers had learned how to utilize a small hatchet to break down large logs into fire starters, small firewood, medium-sized firewood, and larger split pieces to use once the fire was established. Of course, watching the axe split wood wasn't enough for some folks - they wanted to try it for themselves!
Nathan and I assisted a handful of hikers, including both men and women from different walks of life, such as "Kaleidoscope" from Maine, and "Poison Ivy" from Ohio, who currently resides in Belize. All of these people can connect with the axe, one of the most useful hand tools on earth, synonymous with the growth and expansion of our country. The axe resonates with all of us. Once they began using the axe, it also became quickly apparent to them how much skill was involved in using this simple hand tool. A new appreciation was born, and an interest lit inside them.
The trail magic experience was topped off by smoking out of my custom-made pipe hatchet. A 1.5 LB axe head with a milled poll to hold tobacco, mounted on a 12" long bubinga handle fitted with a steel mouthpiece. Using this one-of-a-kind axe around a campfire is a one-of-a-kind experience, and getting to share it with employees, friends, family, and hikers was something I'll never forget.
At the end of the day, Trail Magic was a success. Hikers were fed, axes were used, and memories were made.
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