General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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There is a video on reddit where a skunk is chasing a woman around. It's not spraying or even threatening to spray, but it's sure trying to keep up with her. Why would a skunk be doing that?
When shoveling snow in the winter, if my gloves are warm enough to keep my hands warm, they tend to sweat and get the gloves wet from the inside out. How can I prevent this?
I need to adjust the derailleur on my bike, I don't have a bike stand because I am on the bike trail. I have three options for pedaling while adjusting the the derailleur. Turn the bike upside dow...
I have some experience towing with an upright bike I am considering getting a recumbent trike, as my back side does not last as long as my legs. With an upright bike I automatically move my weight ...
For short trips, lithium-ion batteries to recharge your camera/phone/GPS make more sense. For something like the Appalachian Trail where batteries aren't going to last the whole trip, a solar charg...
Rather than take a can of chicken while backpacking, it's possible to open the can, drain the juice and stick the meat into a ziplock which makes it much lighter and a ziplock is much more compact ...
When I have time I like to get my bike and canoe out and do a day trip. Doing a mile or two is not hard but a good day trip is between 8 and 14 miles. When I started at the beginning of the year 6...
The baskets on trekking poles are very useful while hiking through snow, however, they have a tendency to break. How would one improvise a fix in the outdoors for this?
Sleeping bags have temperature ratings that tell you the aproximate temperature that will be comfortable at. Reflective tarps do not have such ratings, probably because most people don't use them ...
I am planning a long bike and canoe trip (bike tows canoe, canoe carries bike and cart), There are a couple of purpose built products for towing a canoe with a bike dumb stick & woody hitch but...
Last year one of my CSA boxes contained a basil seedling in a 4" starter pot. I'd never grown herbs before, but I transplanted it to a pot, took care of it, and had a tasty bounty all summer. Thi...
There are a couple of pretty good answers in How to make a cargo trailer?. After looking at those, at the answer to What are the safety concerns of a high vs a low mount trailer hitch? and doing s...
When you Google for images of "canoe & bike," you find two basic solutions to towing a canoe with a bike: A traditional axle mounted trailer is modified to have a tongue long enough to loa...
I found these plants while hiking in Colorado, they are pretty small and have red berries slightly larger than peas. The area was old growth that had been burned in a fire at least a few years ago.
I have 20+ year old space heater that is nearing end of life. 120 volt, 1500 watts We use it in the camper when have electric hookup, and need a little extra heat. I started looking online for a...
Sometimes a horse will become what is known as barn sour where all they want to do is hang around the stable/corrals and not go on rides. While on rides, they will keep trying to turn back and once...
Sometimes a horse/pony will bite humans. They bite each other to establish dominance and sometimes they will bite humans too. How do you train a horse to stop biting humans?
I am very familiar with dumping septic holding tanks in a camper on land. I do it regularly and safely, either at the camp ground or at home. I am considering a boat trip on the Ohio and Mississi...
Here is a whole bunch of ants gathered on a sidewalk around dusk, I have seen this before so its not totally uncommon. What would lead to ants doing this?
I have done lots of hiking on trails with switchbacks and one thing I have noticed is that the length of the legs (how long you walk in one direction before switching back to the other) can vary w...
On trails that go up steep hills, there are usually switchbacks where the trail goes first one way and then other, resulting in an overall less steep path. In the complete absence of a trail, how ...
My backpack has straps that are way too long and I would like to shorten them, both to save weight and to make it more organized. How can I cut the straps and then seal them so the ends don't come...
My team at work has occasional outings and one of the activities we've talked about for the future is kayaking or whitewater rafting. I've never done either and am also dependent on expensive pres...
I live in a downtown urban center. Normally I exercise by going to the gym or by taking long walks around the different neighborhoods or some local hiking trails in parks. Current social distancin...
Once in Nevada, I saw a sign on an old abandoned mine that said two things, Stay out, mines have noxious fumes. Stay out, bats live here. Both of those are good reasons to stay out, but it seem...
I'm looking for easily obtained fuels for an open-cup stove, such as a Trangia, in case I need to top up while travelling. I have a small simple DIY open cup spirit stove, for boiling water when b...
Thinking hypothetically, person A is taking a paragliding course over the course of a year in three stages. The first two are about mastering ground handling, taking off, basic landing, different a...
This just crawled out of a houseplant I purchased last weekend. Can anyone help me identify it? I also need to know what to feed it because it probably hasn't eaten in a long time. It's about 4 inc...
If the topographic map is to be believed, there are plenty of streams in Grasslands National Park, but apparently they are saline. Last and Ginn report that there is no other area in the world th...
I had a near miss yesterday as I tried a strategy of a fellow surfer: I buried my mechanical car key in the sand, put my bag on top of it, and went surfing. A few dogs on the beach must have shifte...
In Glacier National Park (USA), there are 63 backcountry campgrounds. I looked at the backcountry campground website including the map and campsite information. Are there bear poles/boxes at back...
There are lots of ski models out there, ranging from $60 to $2000. But what difference does price actually have on the performance you get out of the skis? How does one know that it makes sense to ...
While doing some research for my answer in are ski areas shutting down? I was a bit shocked by the American prices for lift tickets. Vail is at $220 and while this may be an exceptionally expensive...
I asked a question about marking trails and one of the answers suggested nailing markers to the trees. Does this damage the trees? I'm mostly concerned about long-term infection or rot that will ev...
I'm currently trying to remark a trail that seems to be forgotten or had very little use in the past few years. The markers that remain (different types of ribbon) are fraying or crumbling dependin...
Interesting video I ran across. The high point are quotes from sugarbush's president. All the rest information is less important, except for statistics. I'm not sure where they got their stats. NSA...
Another scary scenario: Let's say you're in a situation where you have to jump off of a cliff into the water to survive. The cliff is at least 100 feet high. What would be the best way to surviv...
I received an old climbing rope, whose history is unknown. I know this rope should not be used for any situations where a fall is possible since it may have already sustained one. However, can it ...
While hiking Ryan Mountain (elevation 5457 feet) in Joshua Tree National Park last month, I saw several of these grayish plants near the top of the mountain. I did not see any at lower elevations. ...
I'm going to make a bosun's chair to lift me 40 ft in the air to a tree platform (with at least a 6' clearance, so closer to 50'). Of course I would like the right type of rope with the right tensi...
I bought new mittens for my kid for the coming winter holiday. They should be waterproof or at least water-resistant. Normally when i buy clothing, i wash it before wearing. The fabric may not hav...
I own a 1988 Malibu Skier, and one of the things I've been thinking about upgrading on it is the fuel gauge. Specifically, I want to be able to have some kind of digital reading of how much fuel I ...
I am often skiing with some friends, and would love to have some way of communicating. I've seen quite a lot of bluetooth based systems for motorcycles, but not as many for skiing. The ideal syste...
I really need to wax my G-1000 trousers - but I do not own a clothes iron and only a flimsy travel hairdryer. The instructions for the trousers/wax say, I should use either to melt the wax after ap...
Some skis nowadays have a different sidecut radius at the front, center and back of the ski. With the different radius they claim to be suitable for both long and short turns. (So far the theory) ...
Once, I had the opportunity to walk on a floating mat on a guided tour with a nature organisation in De Wieden (Dutch: trilveen). On the surface, it looked (to my amateur eye) exactly like other p...
When hiking in Israel I've seen some trails that had information on them to contact IDF first for permission before going on them. How I'm supposed to get the permission? How much in advance you h...
A U.S. wilderness area prohibits road-building and other forms of development. Are bridges on hiking trail permitted, or are all river crossings in wilderness areas necessarily unbridged?
When hiking in a rarely frequented area, trails may be very faint to the level of being essentially invisible. In such situations, it has happened more than once that I accidentally followed an an...
I'm wondering how long before one needs to clean their personal water bladder/reservoir while on a thru-hike, extended backpacking trip, or survival scenario. I know it's advised to clean after ev...