General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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Last Weekend I made a hiking trip. The coordinates and lakes we crossed I can piont on a map and now I am looking for a good onlinetool to put in the points I remember connect them and calculate th...
Tangentially related to Pitching a tent in the rain? I want to know what the fastest way is for one person to setup a tarp as a big umbrella over a section of camp or as a leantoo for folks to gath...
I saw people using a square tarp sort of like this: Will you not get flooded during rain? Specifically, I'm wondering about water flowing in on the ground from the front. Tyically, tents have ...
A friend of mine had a car accident where he hit a whitetail. Sadly it died instantly. This made me wonder if someone is going to check if the roadkill can still be eaten. Maybe not for humans but ...
It's generally prohibited to camp in the great outdoors in a few European countries like Germany (check out this related question). Speaking for latter, it's allowed to sleep in your car however. ...
In the US, National Scenic Trails span many different land types (state/federal parks, forests, etc). While these all have different rules on pets, I was wondering if the National Trail System desi...
I often wonder if it's even legal to practice Parkour in the cities of the EU? The runner is kind of trespassing the plots, isn't he?
Today I walked in the woods and it was quite late in the evening. While I was walking, a deer jumped and ran away. I guess I disturbed it while it was sleeping. And it came to my mind that I'm the ...
A recent question made me wonder how a running belay is really done. Suppose you are climbing an alpine route, maybe of difficulty UIAA 5. You encounter a stretch of 100m of UIAA 1 terrain with n...
In Treasure Of Khan by Clive Cussler, the main protagonist is lost in a desert and uses his watch to determine directions, here is the quote : An old survival trick, he knew that south must be...
Let's please begin with the understanding that I have already sought and received professional medical advice. Also, about two weeks have passed, my heart and lungs still work and nothing has turn...
My backpack (Osprey Aether 70L) is moving from left to right slightly, albeit annoyingly, when I walk. I believe I adjusted the harness correctly, following the manufacturer's instructions here. I...
My daughter is going on a trip with me and we bought the backpack for the smallest torso size that we could find, it is a 37 liters Quechua backpack but after many tries fittings it up one of the f...
I have been trying on some new hiking boots. The ones that seem most comfortable in every other way feel somewhat snug on the top of the front of my foot (the instep, I think). Possibly because o...
I'm a +5 in the ape index, (6'2" tall, with almost a 6'7" wingspan) Buying nice fitting jackets has never been a luxury I could enjoy. My solution for a while was to buy jackets made for ice climbi...
In very deep temperate forest (5+ days out), what dangers can endanger the life(s) of a group of several fit individuals. Motivation of the question
What are some good techniques to use (materials, knots, etc.) for building a raft by gathering wood in the local area? I'm talking about something to sail on still or slow moving bodies of water, n...
Say I want to carve a spoon from wood that I find, are there any trees I shouldn't use due to their toxicity? Are any that are particularly easy to carve or hardy?
Am building a Frisian schouw, I have oakwood and build a frame on which the wood can rest. How would I know the wood has bend enough and how serious would it be if it is bend to far?
If one wants to buy a wooden sail boat, even a rotten one as a fixer-upper, what are the hotspots to check to determine if the boat is suited to repair or suited for the scrapyard?
This question is about the simple type of bow often (but not exclusively :) ) made by children that consists of a branch of wood with a cord tied to both its ends. Obviously such a branch should be...
I have many trees on my land that need to be cut down. I would like to know what suitable workflows there are for the whole process. Should I cut a tree down, cut it up into small pieces, and split...
I've seen lots of people do this, and unless it was clearly stealing en-masse for profit I doubt there'd be a problem, but is it legal to pick up dead logs, kindling etc. and take them away to use ...
So other than toxic burning wood, which types of wood are safe to use for cooking fires but will just make my food taste bad? I live in the Southwest, and all types of woods that I have cooked over...
During a fire building process, can heartwood be used as a fuel for the fire? Assuming you are working with less than perfect materials, there is always a danger that your fire will go out at the p...
While car camping this past weekend, I bought some firewood from the park headquarters but unfortunately, it was split into very large pieces that obviously wouldn't light very well. I tried splitt...
Winter is coming. I need lots of wood to keep warm. I know there are many variables involved but I would like to get a rough estimate of what one can expect to chop in a day. Assumptions Averag...
I know from personal experience that greenwood (freshly cut) does not provide as much heat energy as seasoned wood (has been down for 6-12 months). When burning it spends a lot of it's energy boil...
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...
Is there an app that will tell me where the nearest cell phone tower is when I am out of cell range? I'd like something like this so that I can know which direction to go to get to a signal in the...
A couple years ago I have traveled to rather remote areas alone on multi-day hikes and the cell phone coverage was poor. During my hike I wanted to let someone know about my progress (the tracking ...
I have decided that I would like to hike. I have read a bit on hiking, and bought some gear and a backpack to get started. I want to start with backpacking through mostly flat forests, and later a...
Petzl have a diagram on their website for what they call a Double Mariner. It's identified on the site as having a 7:1 mechanical advantage, but I can only see it as having a 5:1. Can somebody con...
I've read that in the western US, backpackers need bear canisters or bear bags, for bears or for other animals. For example, a post comparing different methods is here. I must admit I'm a bit dau...
I am planning my first multi-day hike. I haven't selected a pack yet. I do not know which size pack I need. I see that packs are rated in liters. That got me thinking since some white garbage bags ...
So I've been running to work as my form of commuting and I've been getting by with my Gregory Z45 internal-frame pack for carrying whatever I need for the day. What bothers me about this pack is t...
If I know my route will take x days, over terrain y, with a change in height of z, in temperatures of p, is there a simple rule of thumb which will let me calculate food requirements? Water is rel...
The author of a question on this site wondered if they had possibly seen a snowy owl. A quoted source in this answer to that question used the word irruption in part of a sentence about where the...
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...
It feels like methane is growing popularity to cook food while camping. I've only used the "classics" like methanol, propane and butane. Why would I prefer methane gas as my camp stove fuel?
The Kenow fire ripped through the Rockies near where I live. Flames were reported to be hundreds of meters high coming off the tops of some trees. Some of those flames licked the crags I most frequ...
I am preparing a dayhike with some buddies of mine but to get to the trailhead, we have to cross more than ten river crossings which are passable by huge vehicles. The water there is quite fast and...
Most small (110g, 225g) gas cartridges now use EAN417 threads with a valve. Research on this forum suggests that in France, the CampingGaz standard is preferred and that, allegedly, isn't EAN417. ...
Anyone recognize the bird call in the first 20 secs of this recording: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8sb5jjx3maeuk4o/Birdcall_Sept_Bethesda.m4a?dl=0 Recorded in Bethesda, Maryland in September of 2...
What are some quick ways to dry clothes in moist weather?
What books have you read that have given you a better understanding of an outdoors activity? Ideally I would like to compile a list for all activities. e.g.: Climbing Canoeing Backpacking Ba...
I am looking into getting camping equipment and doing so long term hiking. Haven't been camping in years. How would test my equipment if I live in the city? I would be hiking solo across the USA, H...
I'm partially handicapped, and sometimes can only walk short distances without the use of a wheelchair, especially outside. I like to take walks alone in the winter (especially to see winter bird...
I am going to be relocating to the Colorado desert for a long-term research project and need a portable shelter. The only one I've found so far that will conform to my needs in the turtle tuff shel...
I have seen a lot of trail signs and one thing I noticed is that sometimes they have the distance from one point to another like, Phelps Lake 4 miles Death Canyon Shelf 8 miles and somet...
