General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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Many (online) shops classify boots between hiking and hunting; for example, see hunting boots. The hunting boots look more like the kind of boots I like, than the hiking boots do. What are the di...
I have a friend who lives in Orlando, Florida. She and her husband are avid sailors and travelers. They also hunt lighthouses, and have seen over 100 different ones. They're currently on a trip fro...
I caught this fish yesterday in St. John river in Canada. My father and I don't know what it is. Fish like this have been caught recently (this Summer). Apparently, the fish was caught using worms.
I've been using an old lure with great success and I'd like to know more about it. what is this type typically called? what are the proper uses? what fish will likely take this lure? It dives...
I swim decently - no pro but I can do a couple of km, resting once in awhile. Many times, both in day and night, in the warm, summer, Mediterranean sea, friends have cautioned me to "not swim so f...
Like many people, we have bird feeders, and a bird-bath. We also have a feeding station (replenished in the mornings only) that attracts squirrels and chipmunks and some of the larger birds. Duri...
I've only been climbing a few months. I bought a harness and have been using it. I know they don't last forever. How do I know when to stop using it and buy a new one? (How should I check climb...
I am used to abseiling with a prusik cord, which gives me protection for the case I lose control of the descent speed. However, I have heard that in canyoning, in some situations, using the prusik...
I have a Brunton Truarc 3 compass. At the time I bought it I wasn't aware about declination settings or navigation basics. But recently I realized that it has offset of a few degrees (around 6 degr...
I'm a knot novice and I was thinking about using a Blake's hitch while camping. The hitch is finished with a stopper knot, which appears pretty critical to me. I thought it would make sense to inse...
When reading this question (What is the ecological justification (if any) for bird feeders?) on bird feeders I wondered if there would be an ecological impact on having a bird bath. Especially in ...
I'm in the process of designing a more functional "hood" to block UV / sun exposure and also provide shelter from rain. I believe that the best gear and products are developed by "looking to natur...
We found this beauty in our yard: It was 10 cm long and it was crawling pretty fast. What made it even more spectacular were the little turquoise spots on it. I suppose it will be a butterfly (...
Skinning out deer is complicated when it comes to fiddly parts like the ears. This is especially true for Antelopes. How to correctly skin out the ears of an Antelope?
I am planning to do a 16 day "standard" Everest base camp trek in Nepal coming September. Can I expect to visit Camp 1 (or even beyond?) as well or is this completely off limits for casual tourist...
I hike in Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India. Most of the times the hike involves walking/climbing in day time and resting/sleeping, often in caves/unmanned temples/shaks of some kind at night. Some...
I'm very new to/inexperienced at hiking, and I got invited to an impromptu, 7-mile hike tomorrow at Alamere Falls (places online say it's "intermediate difficulty"). I've only gone on what I think ...
This has been an especially prolific year for ticks in the northeastern region of the United States. We've had so many in our yard that I've given up gardening and switched to planting in pots! We...
Any ideas what bird is making this song? Unfortunately, this photo was the best I got, but I did get a lot of audio of it's call (the YouTube video has a bunch of them clipped together). At the e...
Today I went to paddle with a friend and he said that I should sit in the back because I'm heavier. But why is that? How does this help with the weight distribution or handling of the kayak?
Why do climbers not use electrically heated suits to climb peaks like Mt. Everest? Or am I just mistaken and they already do it?
I will be in the path of total darkness during the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017. I plan to be in alpine wilderness (Oregon Cascades), but will adjust my location as needed so that there are no...
What are the easiest trekking routes to take in Sarek National Park in Sweden? Consider late summer, Saltoluokta and Kvikkjokk as starting/ending points, 5 to 7 days without access to food store. ...
This question is related to this, and perhaps others on the site, although I don't think it's an exact duplicate. I have friends who would like to take a two-person kayak trip down a stream in the...
Use Climbing rope double up as braided as 1.5" Gym Climbing rope. What type, diameter rope, No of Strands? Found these sample videos but curious to know what would be the best way to do this? h...
I wanted to take a bow-hunter course (DBJV) following the guidelines provided by IBEP and EBF. However, all the regulations seem to be for compound bows. Is it even possible to take the exam with a...
Inspired by the question Where should a person who can't hold a paddle sit in a tandem kayak? "One friend was born without arms" Many life jackets are vests that are in part, kept on the person by...
The Situation: Your party is hours or days from the trailhead, when one of the party stumbles on a yellowjacket nest and is stung multiple times by the tiny fighter aircraft. The person had been ...
I'm going on an adventure to Africa next year. We'll be in the savanna and thus I'm wondering how to behave in sight of hippopotamuses. What are the most common mistakes people make around hippopot...
My boyfriend and I do top rope climbing quite regularly in our indoor climbing centre. On attempting a harder route, he slipped and fell, reaching the ground. I am trying to understand what went ...
I am always amazed when there is a rain cloud moving across the country dropping inches per hour of rain as it goes. In my imagination I try to visualize how the cloud could have carried all that w...
I just saw this claim on BBC news, and found it hard to believe. Annually 7,300+ car vs moose accidents in a country that is 173,000 Square Miles, that is like one collision with a moose (and prob...
The other week me and my wife climbed into a Cwm/Corrie/Cirque in the lake district on the side of St Sunday Crag in the UK. I could distinctly hear someone talking. I could basically hear every wo...
I am a complete noob when it comes to ropes and knots. It's high time I start practicing. Which rope, most preferably easily available and portable, should I use for practice? Should it be of par...
So this happened the other day; shouldn't have happened if I had been taking my time and paying attention to what I was doing, but it did: I was cleaning several ropes from the top of a short cra...
I know that they say to make as much noise as possible to try and show your dominance, but what happens if I am sleeping? If I wake up with a bear right outside my tent while i'm sleeping, and I ha...
How rare is it to be resistant to poison ivy, or become resistant. I ask only because when younger I was very allergic, but now I can pull it out with bare hands or roll around in it without even a...
After a hike, we often find many ticks on us (and remove them of course). But the assumption is that some might still be in the clothing, on the shoes, etc. I don't want to throw the worn stuff in ...
I'm off this weekend for a three-day big wall with two other friends. I read "Big Walls", by Long and Middendorf, but the book is too old and doesn't really mention strategies for a three-member cr...
I'm wondering if anyone else has had any experiences with guns and/or bear spray in combination, instead of just carrying one over the other? How have bears reacted to warning shots? We backpack i...
I've recently gotten into foraging for mushrooms locally and have been happily eating field mushrooms and giant puffballs (these are absolutely delicious if you can find them BTW). I was reading ...
I know dry bags come in different sizes and materials, some being soft and some being rigid and tough. However I've noticed there are items in the market that are exactly the same as a soft dry bag...
I've been climbing 1-2 times / week (usually once) for about a month. After each time I climb, I feel joint pain in my elbows. From my understanding, this is likely Tennis Elbow. Slowly but surely...
I'm thinking about getting into geocaching with my girlfriend, as it sounds like an activity that we'd both enjoy a lot. However I really don't think that I want to buy a dedicated GPS device if a...
I was hiking in the Southern Canadian Rockies yesterday and was paying special attention to all the plants I'm not familiar with, one was these bushes with these clusters of tiny blue berries. The ...
I was hiking in the Ptolemy Plateau in the Canadian Rockies yesterday. There were all these plants that looked like something right out of a Dr. Seuss book. What are they?
The sunfish is a small sailboat with a lateen sail. Realistically you can not raise the sail while in it. Usually raising and lower the sail is done at shore. It is occasionally necessary to p...
Currently bicycles are prohibited in federal wilderness areas in the United States. However there is a bill in the House of Representatives that would remove the prohibition. As one can imagine, t...
There are foam sleeping pads with a reflective surface on one side like this one with instructions to use the reflective side for maximum warmth. I don't doubt that it is warmer, but I do wond...
Everyone knows that fires are a big concern during droughts, but can they also cause a drought elsewhere? I currently live just on the East side of the Canadian Rockies. All summer long fires have ...
