The Outdoor Boys spent 5 days in the biggest swamp in Louisiana, so of course we decided to go hiking and camping deep in the bayou. We hiked through chest deep muck, braved a storm and fed thousands of mosquitoes.
We also made frog leg jambalaya with some yellow throated frogs we caught with our hands in the swamp.
We also made frog leg jambalaya with some yellow throated frogs we caught with our hands in the swamp.
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TravelTranscript
00:00All right boys, you ready to go play in the mud?
00:23Yeah!
00:24You want your spears, right?
00:31Yeah!
00:32All right, thanks!
00:33Go eat it!
00:34See you tomorrow!
00:35What do you think, is this swampy enough for us?
00:36It's swampy!
00:37All right, follow me.
00:39See, follow the lamp.
00:43See, follow the lamp.
00:52Oh yeah, we can steer an alligator.
00:54We're dangerous.
00:56You are dangerous.
00:57Yeah, we are.
00:58For a lot of reasons.
00:59Daddy, if whales had technology, they would have guns as big as cement trucks.
01:05They would probably just break and kill us in one shot.
01:09Yeah, it gets deep over here.
01:22Oh, big wasp.
01:29Oh, it's steep.
01:32Okay, why don't you guys go push through.
01:35This would be easy for an alligator, is that right?
01:37Yeah, you'd just swim underneath it.
01:39I'm touching the bottom.
01:40Oh, no, I'm on tippy toes.
01:42Oh, look at the spikes on that tree.
01:44That's like a death tree.
01:46That is the most unfriendly tree.
01:48That tree does not like tree huggers.
01:50Oh, this is a nice place to swim.
01:54Oh, do we have to swim now?
01:55Yeah, it is.
01:58This is really deep.
02:02Oh, that's green stuff, folks.
02:04Let me find a spoon.
02:07My gator is just going to swim over here.
02:10Tommy has an imaginary pet alligator that's following us.
02:13His name is Chomper. Isn't that right?
02:15Look at all those tickle spiders.
02:18Little tickle spiders, huh?
02:24Do you need help?
02:26Daddy, it's getting shallow.
02:29Yeah, keep going straight, boys.
02:30It's going shallow.
02:31Yeah, you got a good path there, Tom.
02:33It's kind of deep.
02:39My adult can kind of use the bathing in this water.
02:44Oh, it's land.
02:46Yeah, land ho.
02:48Careful, Tom. That's where the snakes like to hang out.
02:50They like to hang out on the land.
02:56Now, normally, being on land is bad for the snakes
02:58because this is how they sun themselves.
03:00The clouds came in, so it's not sunny anymore.
03:02I just don't want another banana spider in my face.
03:05Oh, my goodness.
03:07Those are the creepiest spiders.
03:11Whoa! Banana spider!
03:15Hurry up, guys. There's a rainstorm coming.
03:18All right, guys. We found ourselves a little bit of high land.
03:21And there's some trees here that we can start using to build camp.
03:26Got to be really careful. A lot of poison ivy around here.
03:29This right there, that's poison ivy.
03:31That's poison ivy. That's poison ivy.
03:33That on the tree is poison ivy.
03:35You can tell it's got the three leaves,
03:37and then it's got the little, like, a thumb on the outside.
03:41All right, guys. You ready to build camp?
03:43Yeah.
03:45Hold it. That's rain.
03:47Come on. The rain's coming.
03:49I've got to get you guys someplace dry.
03:51It's dry.
04:01Here's my Japanese pocketknife. I love this thing.
04:04All right.
04:06We better get this tarp up.
04:08I hear some thunder in the background.
04:10I think it's going to rain here soon.
04:22Here it comes.
04:34There we go, guys. We got the tarp up.
04:36You guys staying out of the rain?
04:38Yeah.
04:39All right. Let's get the hammocks.
04:41All right. We got mosquito nets and hammocks,
04:45and we're going to need both.
04:52All right. Luckily, I brought
04:54one of the most important pieces of survival gear,
04:57a handkerchief.
04:59Let's wipe those feet off.
05:01Okay. Now hop on in there.
05:03As long as you're below the sides,
05:05you can't fall out, just like a boat.
05:07Anything that touches the ground
05:09is muddy, grimy, wet, and stinky,
05:11so the hammocks cannot touch the ground.
05:13And this is hard to do.
05:15So what you do is just wrap it around your neck
05:17and work that way so that you don't drop your hammock.
05:20Wow. I got that tarp up just in the nick of the time,
05:23and got both the boys' hammocks up,
05:25and they're sharing a mosquito net,
05:27and that seems to be working really well.
05:29I got to get a third hammock and second mosquito net up,
05:32and then we'll be in a little bit of room to breathe.
05:35I've got a problem with my brand-new hammock.
05:38You know how there's the string on a hoodie,
05:41and if you pull it on one side,
05:43the string will come out, and your hoodie's drawstring
05:45is kind of done?
05:47That's what's happened to my hammock,
05:49and I'm trying to redo it really quick.
05:52Uh-huh! I got it!
05:54Oh, man, the rain has brought the bugs out,
05:57but I've got the boys out of the rain and under the tarp.
06:00Now I need to worry about food,
06:02and, man, I just need something to cook on
06:05and a way to cook out of the rain and out of the mud,
06:08so we'll see what we can come up with.
06:10The bugs aren't as bad as you'd expect in the bayou,
06:13except at sunset and when it rains,
06:16and they're just terrible right now.
06:18So I'm going to put on some of this Ulthuan 12-hour bug repellent.
06:22This is the good stuff.
06:24This is some of the best bug repellent you can get.
06:27So we'll see if it works.
06:36Oh, I'm walking through a lot of spiderwebs.
06:39Oh!
06:49Oh!
06:54All this right here is poison ivy,
06:56and the sap is what gets you.
06:58And so I've got to make sure not to touch the blade
07:01or anything that's touched the poison ivy.
07:05Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo!
07:07Diarrhea! Diarrhea! Diarrhea!
07:09They're whispering.
07:12Chomp!
07:15Chomp!
07:16There's lots more, so...
07:24I'm not...
07:28Are you trying to bust me, sister?
07:35Whoa.
07:36Are you trying to bust me, sister?
07:42Boom.
07:46Boom.
07:53Boom.
07:55Boom!
08:03Bark!
08:08Bark!
08:11This is that thorn tree, so got to take all the thorns off it
08:22Boys! Nathan, that's really bad for the mosquito netting, okay
08:32All right guys, less roughhousing in the hammocks, okay?
08:41Oh
08:53What is in there?
08:55Wow, something just stung me between my toes and it really hurts. I think this plant must be like some sort of stinging nettle
09:02Whoo, ouch
09:11Nathan, did you fall out of your hammock again?
09:31Yeah
09:41Daddy, we're in the same group, we're in the same group
10:01Daddy, that's not a break, that is a stick
10:19Yeah, your pet chameleon is riding the tree, bro
10:25I'm so proud of Tommy and Nate, they've been in that hammock for a couple hours now
10:28And they've been entertaining themselves wonderfully. All they've got is a mayonnaise jar with a chameleon and a tree frog in it
10:35Oh yeah
10:42All right, there we go
10:44Got it done. Well, there you go. This platform is pretty solid
10:47You don't need to lash the decking together. Just the compression of everything squeezed tightly together keeps it in place
10:59Is that a little bit better?
11:01Yeah
11:02I can see a little bit more. Hey, you can push yourself with your feet, huh?
11:05Yeah, that works
11:07Well, I've been sweating my brains out, man. I gotta get some water in me. So we're gonna do some cool water purification techniques
11:14When you look at the swamp water around here, the word stagnant and putrid comes to mind
11:20So I wouldn't recommend drinking it straight
11:23So what we're gonna do is we're gonna use a product called Chlorofloc
11:27It chlorinates water, kills bacteria and viruses, and then it makes all the sediment and suspended material fall to the bottom
11:34And then we can filter it out really easily
11:36So it makes the water not only safe but tastes a heck of a lot better, too
11:39So you put about one or two of these packets per liter
11:42We got three liters in here
11:44So I'm gonna go full throttle and put six packets in
11:49Once you've added the packets, you shake this for one full minute
11:52Let it sit for 30 seconds, then shake it again a little bit
11:55Then let it sit for at least 15 minutes
11:57And then you can take it to the next level
11:59So we're gonna put it in this bucket
12:01for 30 seconds then shake it again a little bit and let it sit for at least 15 minutes.
12:08There we go, that's a minute. We'll let this sit for a little while. I'm going to straighten up
12:12camp and then we're going to shake it some more and we'll have drinking water. When you're just
12:17wallowing in mud like this you just got to have a platform. The boys here are changing into their
12:22jammies and they need some place to stand and they can do it without getting out of the bug net.
12:28It's just so important.
12:30Well guys, the sun is setting quickly here in the bayou and we
12:59need to eat dinner and so we are going to make fried frog jambalaya and I have a bag of four
13:05live yellowthroat frogs that me and the boys caught last night with our bare hands.
13:10If you guys would like to see that video and see our week-long excursion here in the bayou,
13:16we have caught and cooked gar and blue catfish and buffalo and blue crabs, the huge blue crabs.
13:25We're down here with Cajun Experience and if you don't know who those guys are,
13:29I'll put a link in the description. If you want to see our week-long adventure,
13:33I'll put a link to that video as well. So definitely check that out. But I have got to
13:39butcher and cook up some frogs. I'll tell you guys, fried frog legs are no joke,
13:45one of the best things ever. But we're going to try jambalaya style today. Cleaning frogs is pretty
13:50easy. Just chop off the head, remove the feet, take off the skin and the guts.
14:01Four frog legs in a pot. Well by now the chlorofloc has really done its job.
14:06Look how clear that water is and there's all this junk down here on the bottom.
14:11A little bit still floating in it but we're going to filter those out.
14:21All right, we're going to put some Cajun seasoning on these frog legs
14:28and get them nice and flavorful. Let that sit.
14:38The seasoning is making the frogs twitch and jump. That's when you know it's fresh.
14:44Is that creepy?
14:54My pot's too small for these frog legs. I gotta quarter them.
15:00There we go. All right, now they fit in the pot nicely.
15:08Now we're going to fry up a bunch of vegetables.
15:13All right, now we've got this Cajun spicy jambalaya mix here. We're going to add in there.
15:30That's looking pretty good. Just bring that to boil and we're going to simmer it for a while.
15:33Should be ready.
15:38My legs sure are gross but the mosquitoes love them.
15:43We're really putting our bug repellent to the test. I mean, there are just a
15:46ton of mosquitoes in here. I haven't seen this many mosquitoes since I was a boy in Alaska.
15:52Well, that Ultron bug repellent works pretty good and it doesn't burn or smell nasty like beet does
15:59but you really got to cover every nook and cranny with it or they will find a sweet spot.
16:05Oh, see look right there. You got one right there.
16:18Do you want some jambalaya? Yeah.
16:22Don't spill in there. Remember, this is your bed. Hey Tommy, what do you think?
16:26It's a little spicy. It's a little spicy? Yeah, that's Cajun food.
16:38Well, I think the frogs and jambalaya taste delicious
16:42but the boys here disagree so we have a fallback plan. Hot dogs.
16:50Who's ready for some hot dogs? Okay, grab that. Don't spill them.
17:02Well, I just finished dinner and I can hear tons of bullfrogs and yellow-throated frogs
17:07out here around us so we're gonna see if we can't catch some. I am wearing this high-powered
17:11headlamp on my head and I'm shining it around looking for the blue light of frog eyes and
17:17of frog eyes and if I shine the light in their eyes they'll hold still long enough I can get
17:22up to them and hopefully grab one but it also makes all the spiders and other creepy crawlies
17:28in the swamp make their eyes glow as well. I can see all of these twinkling lights.
17:33There are thousands and thousands of spider eyes here in this swamp. It's kind of cool,
17:38kind of disconcerting. That was a big bullfrog. I've already seen three
17:47frogs in a very short period of time. Oh, there's a big one and they're just everywhere.
18:09Dang it, I was so close to that one. Oh, geez, there's some big bullfrogs here.
18:15Oh, yes, broken turtle eggs. There's some more.
18:30Hear that? He squeaked at me. Oh, man, there was a bunch of bullfrogs there
18:35but sneaking up on these guys was a bit much. They were really, really gun-shy. Luckily,
18:42we had a really successful frog hunting catch and cook trip earlier this week so I'll put a
18:47link in the description to some of our other videos where we were a little more successful
18:52catching frogs but it is late and it's time to get to bed so I'm going to tuck these guys in
18:58and we're going to call it for the night.
19:18I do not have a clue how I would change out of these muddy clothes if I didn't have this
19:22platform to sit on. Holy mackerel. All right, let's get to it. Mosquitoes are going to love
19:27this part. Let's see, Tommy, you in here? Yeah, up here. Nate, you in here? Yeah, I'm right here.
19:33All right, I'm here. We got three hammocks under one tarp. All three of us are right
19:38in each other's business. This is close quarters. All right, guys, let's see if we can get to sleep.
19:44Oh, guys, I gotta tell you that was one of the roughest night sleeps I've ever had.
20:00Right before I fell asleep, I was in my skivvies and I flipped my hammock, fell into the mud,
20:05and I tore a hole in the mosquito netting and I had to jump out in my underwear
20:10and fix the mosquito netting, fix the platform, fix the hammock, re-rig everything, and the bugs
20:17ate me alive because I only had bug repellent on my arms and legs, and so I've got
20:23dozens and dozens of bites where the sun don't shine. I have been itching and itching and itching
20:29all night long. Usually the one or two mosquito bites don't do that much for me, but I probably
20:35have 100 mosquito bites if you total up all over my arms. I mean, my arms and my back are just like
20:41bumpy. Look at that. He's biting me through my shirt. Oh, man, they're just thick. Well, guys,
20:50I am not gonna hang out in this paradise for too long. I know Nathan got ate up a whole bunch too
20:55and he's been all itchy, so I'm gonna start cleaning up the camp and we're gonna pack up.
21:00I'm gonna find myself the biggest tub of Benadryl cream and we're just gonna just go crazy.
21:16Good morning, Tom. You get a lot of mosquito bites too?
21:20One mosquito in the tent last night that got all over me.
21:28Nathan, wake up. We're leaving, buddy. You need to put on a shirt. Well, Tommy, did you have a good time?
21:35Yeah. It was a little rough, but I'm glad we came and I'm glad you came with me, buddy.
21:41But, man, there's a lot of things I would do differently. Falling out of the hammock
21:45in the middle of the night in your underwear is really a bad idea.
21:53All right, guys, we're out of here. Oh, I gotta tell you, man, you looked like Prince Charming
21:58on a white stallion when you came in with that boat. Oh, you flatter me, Luke. Bye, mosquitoes.
22:04Watch out for those. Oh, man.
22:11Well, that was adventurous and I've been wanting to try that for a while,
22:16but I'm glad it's over. Man, I am so covered in bug bites. So, you got any bug bites on my back?
22:23Oh, my arm. Oh, look at that. Holy crap, that's a lot of bug bites.
22:30Oh, man, it feels good to be showered and in clean clothes again.
22:36Oh, we've had such a great time here with Cajun Experience. We've been staying here on their
22:40houseboat for five days. Also, if you guys want to see more from this trip, including all the
22:45frogging and catching catfish and just the whole experience itself, I'll put a link in the
22:50description to that video as well. But thanks for watching, guys. We hope you enjoyed this. Don't
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