General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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A traveller to a country with different customs is well advised to read up on the customs of the people of that country, and to learn how the residents expect polite people to behave. Everywhere, ...
I hope the bear experts on the site can shed light on several aspects of a black bear encounter my husband and I had some years ago in the Sierra. It was mid-May, about 9500 feet, well above timbe...
I always see it pointed out, when discussing how to handle/avoid bear encounters, that black bears can climb trees. Granted, but does that matter? Has there ever been a case of a black bear pursu...
I am hiking in black bear country (no other kinds of bears there). It's dark, I have a whistle hanging around my neck to scare away such a potential bear and I'm using my torch light to be able to ...
There are 16 subspecies of Ursus americanus, the black bear. The Wikipedia article describes their different physical characteristics and geographical distributions, but not differences in tempera...
This question is prompted by the replies to Questions about specifics of black bear encounter with mother and yearling cub. That question was about an encounter over 30 years ago, before the era o...
When an adult black bear without cubs in sight got a hold of an open bear-can, is it advisable to try to scare him/her away (with noise, or by approaching him/her as a group?) I am asking both for...
E3 is a 7000 km hike through Europe. What resources would every member of a small group of average adults need in order to realistically have chance of completing it: Vacation time Money Equipmen...
I am researching the E-paths and trying to figure out what people do for lodging during their hike. It's Europe, so could I just pitch a tent wherever? Are there marked campsites? Do I need to s...
Just a quick question, when hiking are there opportunities to work as you go? Just small cash-in-hand jobs or is it advised to save for a while before setting off?
At the gym today, a climber referred to "back-stepping" for a move that I would have referred to as a layback. I said, "I would have called that a layback," and he said, "Yeah, the difference is ki...
This is a question that has bugged me for some time. Some very hard sport routes are very, very long. Some examples: Chilam Balam: 80 m (260 ft) - Video (Adam Ondra) Jumbo Love: 75 m (250 ft) - V...
What, you may ask, is coasteering? Does saying it is similar to kloofing help? Thought not. Many sites describe coasteering; here is a brief description exerpted from outsideonline.com, What Is C...
Reading some of the comments on this answer: ....they're seen in the UK as winter birds. Not, I think, that they're not around in the summer; more that other birds aren't around in the wint...
When American robin chicks fledge, meaning leave the nest, it is pretty much empty. It's also fairly clean, as the parents have been removing the waste from the babies after each feeding. Aside f...
Observing and understanding the behavior of wild animals is an integral part of enjoying the outdoors. Hence the following question about the behavior of robins. Even when it is not breeding sea...
There is a notorious kind of crack called offwidths. Several friends of mine stated, that they were pretty devastated at first when they were not able to do 5.8 offwidths in the valley. Later they ...
We used to have lots of crows in our area -- Northern Virginia, outside DC. Then West Nile virus struck roughly 15 years ago, and crows disappeared from our area. According to the Centers for Dis...
In the largely indoor sport of oneupswomanship, real fur, especially mink, sable or chinchilla, offers a great advantage; no one wearing a synthetic fabric, however stylish the coat or jacket, is i...
6 weeks ago a pair of Torresian Crows ("also called Australian crow or Papuan crow") began roosting in close proximity to my residence. Their chicks have left the nest and they do not seem to be mo...
From personal experience I tend to wear two pairs of socks, normally some running socks and then my hiking socks on top of that. It helps me avoid blisters. Quite a few of my friends thinks this is...
A few weeks ago, I strapped a target onto a tree that was about 1.5-2' in diameter to sight my muzzleloader on private property. I fired about a dozen .50 cal bullets into the tree. In addition t...
I picked up a pair of these Danner DFAs (normally I wear a 9D) in 9EE. I went a little wide to prevent cramping I occasionally felt. Now my other shoes, including other pairs of Danners are all snu...
About 3/4 weeks ago I bought some Karrimor Traveller Supa Men's Walking Shoes and I've noticed that the insoles are starting to move around inside the the shoe. After a few hours of wearing them, t...
My main problem when bouldering and sometimes while climbing is, that after some time the skin/flesh of my middle and lower phalanges start to hurt and the skin comes off so further climbing become...
I live in a relatively rural area of North Wales in a new build house. I've been trying to encourage birds into our garden with limited success. There are plenty of birds in the area just not many ...
So I climb. It keeps my hands pretty rough, but for my day job I am a desk jockey now. I was wondering, are there exercises can I do to keep my hands rough so they don't get torn to shreds when I d...
I am evaluating the acquisition of a backpack with an avalanche airbag. I have a good overview of the different technologies and of the products on the market. However, I find no information from...
I'm fairly new to climbing, I've been climbing just over a year. This is my first pair of shoes. I've worn the soles down, and wondering whether this kind of wear can be repaired or not, or if I s...
We've had a harsh weather turnaround lately in central Europe. It went from a pretty warm late summer to a pretty cold autumn in nearly one single night. As this happened, earthworms started to com...
When I was growing up and fishing for Large Mouth Bass with my grandfather we primarily used plastic worms. Color and style matters a lot, and different worms had significantly different results. ...
So, my two kids are old enough to go fishing and have fun, but they get bored after an hour or so. I purchased some worms from a local shop, and at our rate of fishing, it's going to take a while ...
I live in Massachusetts, which is part of New England, in the Northeast section of the United States. We have a large number of birds I identify as crows, and only crows. I've heard of ravens, but ...
I live in Crow City, USA (AKA Monterey, California). I can't tell one crow from another without their perching right next to me on a bust of Portola. They seem to all be clones of each other, as f...
A bowline knot is an excellent rescue knot as it tightens when under load. However, its very use as a rescue knot may make it hard to tie - for example, if a person fell and damaged one arm to the...
Why is it advised (here at Outdoors) to tie a bowline knot with its ending on the inside ("Standard Bowline") and not at the outside ("Cowboy Bowline")? See pictures below. If you're unlucky the e...
A comment: One little thing that I understand differently: Sport climbing did not evolve from trad climbing (at least not in the modern sense), but more of artificial climbing. Using gear f...
On a recent walk we ended up with a lamb following us. I picked it up and took it back to its mother. As I walked past someone else on the trail shouted that I shouldn't touch the lambs as "it ...
Some revolvers like the earliest Colts do not have top straps, and that is the easy way of telling them apart from the early Remingtons or from any modern revolvers. What exactly is a top strap on...
I've been bouldering in rock climbing gyms for a while and am able to send V2~V3s. I've never bouldered outdoors before and I wonder what are the differences, and are there any outdoor specific tec...
Suppose I am descending the Matterhorn along the Hörnli ridge, and night falls when I am near the Solvay emergency hut (4003 m; safe bivouac is several hours of descent away). In this case, I belie...
When I swim in the sea around Singapore, I get stinging/prickling/electric sensations on my skin in certain areas of the water sometimes. There aren't any visible creatures nearby. What are these...
I always wanted to visit Balkan region, but I'm affraid of scorpions. As far as I searched there's plenty of those terrifying creatures, but none of species I found was poisonous. So I have two que...
I've always been taught to keep a whistle on me in case of emergencies - it makes sense since it's small and lightweight but could really help in an emergency. However, something I've never really...
When backpacking, I might carry a MagLite flashlight or something similar that requires two AA batteries. I tend to favor rechargeable batteries for a variety of reasons. How can I recharge my ...
As I'd like to do some survival in Europe, one way to gather food is hunting. In which Europese countries is it legal to hunt small game like rabbits and ducks, without or with an easy to obtain l...
I have been told that the best time to look for deer antler sheds is during February or March when there is some snow on the ground so it is easy to spot the antlers. I do not have a dog, so I cann...
I'm hoping to find a spot that gets snow in March, where the temperature doesn't get above freezing during the day. I'd like to avoid the AM ice/PM slush conditions that occur in many places in th...
Bowline knots are among the most commonly used knots across many different outdoor activities. It is used to create a fixed loop at the end of a line, while still being easy to tie and untie. How...
Similar to the previous question that turned up when I searched on this topic: Is there a standard set of light signals for mountaineers?, but for sound? Repeating sets of 3 blasts is standard fo...
