General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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I did my first via ferrata this weekend and noticed there were often long vertical distances separating the cable anchors. At times this length was around 10m. This meant that a fall before reachin...
After tying on a new fly when fly fishing, you need to trim the excess string. As this needs to happen every time, what tool(s) would make the job easier?
I am aware that the statistics regarding a 40ft climbing fall, which result in "decking-out" are not favorable. I survived such a fall only recently. Major injuries seem to have only been a broken ...
Is there a way to upgrade a bag to have hip belts? If so what should I look for in identifying a good product to fill this niche? Something like this but a hip belt I would prefer not to have to...
We know that you can start a fire with a battery. the better prepared you are the easier it is going to be. I am not prepared and all I have in my pockets is my car keys, which includes a keyless ...
Context: Rope, aka cordage, is useful in many bushcraft projects. Cordage can be useful to hang things up, and it is particularly valuable in constructing tools (e.g. bow drills for fire making, m...
This a question about the outdoor survival show Alone. The teams are allowed to choose 10 items from a list of 40. Currently season 5 has aired as of this writing, I have never seen the show, but...
I saw the footage of the fatal diving accident of Yuri Lipski. One thing I wonder is what really happened. He doesn’t seem to try to inflate his Buoyancy Control Device (BCD) to get back up. Did ...
I'm looking for hiking trails in Zion National Park in Utah, USA. Here are the criteria: 5-8 miles Moderate skill level (prefer not too easy, but not too strenuous) Prefer no more than 2000 feet...
I live in the Sierra Nevadas, a little over 8,000 feet up. There's an area in my yard that has rocks with a bright shiny sheen to them. I've seen some kind of coating on nearby plants (which doesn'...
I am looking for an article that was published in either Rock and Ice or Climbing Magazine around 1999. I know the area and route of the article topic as well as the author's name. I may even have ...
I have raised cross bar on my SUV roof as the image shows: I also got a couple 15ft. long Thule ratchet straps for tie-down canoes. Now my question is, can I tie down ski and snowboards on the ...
I found these small corroded canisters on top of a mountain in Nevada, They were about 3 inches long and some had a metal post inside that has green corrosion on them. I think they are trash f...
Canoes and Kayaks have a lot in common, and for the most part I can look and say that is a Canoe and that is a Kayak. But I have been seeing some vessels that blur the line between them. It seems...
So pen launcher bear bangers have apparently been around for quite a while, the training video for Truflare looks like something from out of the 90's, but they don't appear to be very popular, and ...
The roadside in our semi-rural area is relatively litter free. With very few exceptions, it can be easily picked up with one hand, and is not gross. But one litterer is getting to me. He (or s...
I have an old Plano plastic tackle box that I am trying to clean up. It has these places on the underside of the lid. I’ve tried a few different things to clean it up to no avail. This box has been...
Most of the guides I have found relating to Dutch ovens recommend placing hot coal on and underneath the oven, or hanging the oven from a tripod. I was wondering if my cast iron Dutch oven could b...
I was reading the answers at Can I place a Dutch oven directly into/next to a camp fire? and recalling a recent TV episode about forging iron (coal fire) where they said the coals were hotter then ...
Like most climbers in my area, I use a rope bag to avoid having to reflake the rope after every climb. The downside of this is that the rope gradually aquires twists and after enough climbs, the r...
MSR WhisperLite backpacking stoves are ubiquitous, but they lack a key function: the ability to simmer easily. How can you set a WhisperLite to simmer without having to constantly watch the stove a...
Fingernail clippers are super helpful in outdoor situations. This is my number one always in my pocket survival tool. But they have a tendency to come apart, there are even videos showing how to p...
When I visited Yellowstone National Park, I learned that there was one river that flowed over the exact point where the massive supervolcano would erupt from (if it ever does), OR where fault lines...
I saw an article about the Long Trail, a 272-mile trail through the Green Mountain range in Vermont, USA. It's famous for being the oldest hiking trail in the United States, having been built betw...
There are several famous long distance hiking trails in the USA, connecting the Mexican border to the Canadian border. The most famous ones are the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) at 4,279 km and the Co...
Suppose I am out in the wilderness and an emergency arises. I have an accurate fix on my location (from GPS, map and compass, astronomical observation, etc...). I manage to get in touch with emer...
I found a pair of waterproof pants abandoned on the trail, they were fine except for several large rips that the previous owner had tried to fix with ductape. How can I patch these rips?
I was at an event this weekend and noticed that many of the portable canopies had weights on the legs. My Canopy has stakes and rope tie downs, but often the soil is not appropriate for these (to...
I was hiking in Switzerland yesterday and came across a small river which holds very little water on most days (or even none) and grows a lot after rainfall. The day before yesterday it rained for ...
Does anyone know of a reasonably simple means of using household items to objectively measure the insulating value of a sleeping pad, in a way that accurately predicts that aspect of performance in...
We have a question about how noodling compares to regular fishing for the effect on fish populations, but after reading about it, I am failing to see what the advantages to the humans are. Basical...
Found this on my living room wall. I live on the ground floor with lots of plants right outside the window. Have spotted a similar looking bug outside on the road near the area too.
I understand how noodling for flathead catfish can be hazardous for the human. This activity has resulted in bloody knuckles, broken wrists and even death. These hazards do not even include those...
Given we are in a non-life-threatening situation, splitting logs is often beneficial. However, I feel things get murkier in a survival situation. I have brainstormed about this for a while, here i...
It seems that in the backcountry of Canadian parks, one may only camp on campgrounds, and reservations are required. For example, in Jasper National Park, one must camp on campgrounds to be reserv...
We are a couple (34,38) looking for a three days hike in Chamonix area. We are interested in a hut-to-hut hike, thought about Vanoise national park or Mont Blanc area, looking for something of medi...
At a local park I've seen hiking/mountain biking trails marked with a green circle, blue square, or black diamond representing easy, intermediate, and hard trails. I've only ever seen this while h...
I have an old six-reed inflatable camping mattress -- one of the ones with six long parallel chambers that you inflate with lung power. It looks similar to this one. The chambers are sealed with...
We've often heard that moose are most active in the early morning or late in the day, around dusk, and are usually near a natural water source. Every year, we travel a few hours away to areas tha...
I've already read this and this to get some background knowledge on GPS tools, but I'm still left with some questions: Is there any way I can get a device that consistently provides accuracy to w...
One person I regularly climb with uses a belay technique that I was taught to be unsafe, so I would like to know just how unsafe it really is. With a classic tube-style belay device, after taking i...
I would like to be able do trips with the following characateristics one day: Solo. May do in combination with other paddlers, but my primary interest is getting out there on my own. Multi-day t...
If you are canoeing on a lake and the wind suddenly starts blowing to the point where there are whitecaps, what is the best direction to head to get off the lake? Would it be the shortest way back...
I have a short climbing rope and two carabiners. I want to use it as a strap to carry something (it is not intended for climbing). As the rope is too long, I fold it once. At one "end" I make a fig...
The skills mentioned in "What is bushcrafting?" sound useful but potentially destructive. How does bushcrafting relate to the "leave no trace" principles?
Forest fires seem to be more numerous and larger, and the forest fire season is getting longer. Some of these fires are caused by arson. For example, from USA Today: The man suspected of ign...
Some people say it is just a term some people use for wilderness survival, but some people say it is not survival. What actually is bushcraft?
Do water shoes (not socks) expand some so when purchasing you should go down a size? I wear 8.5 shoe but water shoes do not come in half sizes so wandering if I should go down to an 8 since the sh...
When there is no snow cover on the glacier and crevasses are visible, no need to really worry about crevasses. But what about when there is a layer of snow on top of glacier, hiding crevasses, and ...
Assume I am completely naïve of boating concerns, that I know the following: There are things that float and carry stuff across the water called boats. A boat needs something to make it move. Som...
