The Ray Mears Fan Club

If you're American, the odds are you've never heard of Ray Mears. And that's a shame. So let me tell you about him.

He's a British dude who has done a million and one (approximately) shows for BBC television*. The shows are all about bushcraft. That is, survival. But not irritating survival like SOME shows I can think of, where the host is dropped in the Kalahari desert with nothing but the contents of a theoretical broken-down Land Rover or whatever.

Those shows are lame. Ray Mears is not. He knows his shit. He carves his own tools. He learns from indigenous people. He has traveled all over the world and learned about the animals and plant life everywhere he goes. He's kind of goofy, very enthusiastic, and just . . . likeable.

Of course, I have no idea what he's like off camera, but on camera he seems like the kind of guy who would actually be tolerable to camp with for a couple of weeks. Which is more than I can say for most people.

So go to YouTube. Search for Ray Mears**. When you've got some time to spare. A LOT of time, because there are a TON of shows.

In sum, Ray's got the Blackrock Seal of Approval. I know he'll be pleased with the endorsement.

* He also runs a school teaching bushcraft in the UK, and he has an online store that sells a bunch of junk that seems kind of at odds with the theories of independence and wilderness innovation that he preaches on the shows. But, you know, a guy's gotta make a living, and I still like him. 

** Some of the series are better than others. We haven't so much liked the "survival" ones. I think there's one called Extreme Survival and one that's World of Survival. Those are more gimmicky. We like the bushcraft ones. And the wild food ones. And the northern ones. And . . . well, all the other ones.