General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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Warning: Contains details that may be too graphic for some cat lovers. Today's New York Times has an article titled Man who Strangled Cougar Cited a Lesson from His Cat. See He's no Chuck Norris...
We have bird feeders of all shapes, sizes, and types of material. Some we've had for years. We dump out leftover bird seed and shells when we refill them. If there are obvious dangers, like algae, ...
The picture below was taken at the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, a park with lots of flowers and vegetatation in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Can anyone identify the bug I found there, shown in the picture be...
I started to track my finished routes and I cannot find anywhere a definiton of an attempt. Of course if I try to send the route, give up in falf, go down, have a snack and then go again and finish...
While hiking near Lake Chelan (Washington, USA), I noticed this item affixed to the tree located at 48.150978, -120.493732: The tree in question is a short hike from a boat landing and right off...
A question from August 13, 2018 asked what type of caterpillar was living in a cocoon on a tree at the Mass. Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, on Mt. Wachusett, in Princeton, Central Massachusetts, USA. ...
An example of the earthen material I have in mind, this video shows some daub prepared for a wattle-and-daub house at timestamp 7:45: https://youtu.be/wPWLlVVVDN0 Cob, cobb or clom (in Wales) i...
The sole of my trekking boots get separated from the boot body. Since the boots would be otherwise usable - they are more than ten years old but without much use - repairing them would be an option...
Stand Up Paddleboards (SUP) come in both inflatable and rigid. What should I consider when choosing between the two styles?
I'm working on a novel. The main character recently (six months ago) lost her arm above the elbow. She's attending a summer camp, and I'm wondering if, with proper planning (and probably a mountain...
I'm interested in the GSI Bugaboo 4-person cookset and the accompanying Destination Kitchen however I have two similar/related concerns about safety and I was hoping someone in this community might...
I did a few sport climbs this week, and on two, it seemed that the area between bolts was just blank, and if I went to the side it was easier. I could still reach the bolts, but I was afraid I was ...
In Dean Potters and Sean Leary's 2010 attempt to take the speed record of The Nose at El Capitan in Yosemite, Dean Potter has something white on his legs (and arms?): What could this be, and whi...
We just bought a tandem kayak, we took it to the water and we can’t make it go straight. My husband is bigger than me so he sits on the back. We rented kayaks before, so we are wondering if it cou...
Related to the idea of a flatter shooting cartridge, and the reason why a flatter cartridge makes it easier to hit the animal within the vital area, is the concept of point-blank-range. What is po...
We recently (July, 2019) went to Bar Harbor, Maine, United States, to visit friends who live on the ocean. My husband took a walk on an established path (he's very serious about Leave No Trace) at ...
Molded kayaks are usually made of polyethylene, an otherwise extremely durable material which can be damaged by the sun. The used market is full of kayaks manufactured ten or twenty years ago whic...
I'm keen on learning more about different woods and how they burn in particular in the context of bushcraft. There is a lot of existing literature on all the different woods out there. I started to...
In addition to choosing a correctly sized paddle board, one also needs a correctly sized paddle. How does one determine the correct size of paddle for stand up paddle boarding?
I know that NC permits open carry but I'm actually interested in cultural implications of running into people in the woods who may be weirded out by it. I've hiked a lot in places where it's legal ...
Due to some peculiar health issues, for the time being I cannot study around people. I've found a secluded place in my college, it's outdoors, no one goes there and still catches wi-fi. However, ...
About a month ago, my youngest son found a dead rabbit in the woods while camping and brought me to the spot to show it. The rabbit looked like it had just died and didn't show any obvious cause of...
In this question a couple years ago: What do life jacket ratings mean (Type I, Type II, etc)?, we see the traditional types many of us learned about in Boating Safety courses, or in Scout/ Youth ca...
I am planning an adventure, and realized that while I will have one able bodied paddler, I will likely have two canoes of load. In thinking about it, I have imagined several scenarios where this m...
Last September my wife and I went surfing in Peniche (Portugal). We took a beginners course there. We had a lot of fun but I found the greenwaves and their strength when they come crashing down on ...
What do the red and blue solid curves in this Google Map indicate? This is around Dachstein, Austria. Link: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Dachstein+Krippenstein+-+Dachstein+Tourismus+AG/Lodge+...
I've heard from a friend that some bees exhibit behavioral changes during a solar eclipse event. I'd like to know what the changes are. Apparently there's a cycle that starts as the eclipse begins...
I'm assuming that if I bought a 15 meter slackline, I could actually tie it between two trees at any length less than 15 meters apart and use it. Please tell me if that assumption is wrong. So what...
Recently I was part of a wilderness SAR training event where there were drone-based FirstNet cell tower deployed to provide emergency personnel with cellular communications in remote areas. Perha...
On the morning of September 11, 2001, two airplanes flew into the "Twin Towers," part of the hub of the World Trade Center in New York City, United States. The towers, which at one time had been th...
The original Timberland classic 6-inch boots were made 40 years ago for the cold, wet and mountainous terrain of New England. They were innovative footwear for their time, but now have become mostl...
On my walk around town today I found this small black bug, (keychain carabiner for scale). Closeup It has two antenna and it seems that there is white on the edge of the segments. Does anyon...
A recent question discussed how to maximize water retention on a desert hike. One answer suggested that 100g of protein lead to 800ml loss through urination, so protein intake has to be minimized....
I have started looking at sit on top kayaks. Several have looked promising. Though I just realized, in most of them the lowest point in the boat is where your butt goes. I normally travel in a cano...
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...
Inspired by a space blanket being included in emergency winter kits, I wonder if there's any rigorous study about whether these things actually work and in what ways to best use them. In my own ex...
I'm working on a survival story and want to make it authentic. If you were stranded on a mountain trying to get down as fast as possible, what would you do? EDIT: What if this was after a plane cr...
There are a number of "survival" products on the market that integrate "extra" strands into the standard paracord (US MIL spec, ~4mm accessory cord, usually 7 strand nylon or cotton) Most of them...
On a hike a while back, I was going up the less favored side of a large hill. Due to recent geological activity, the hill side had sort of cracked/split creating a 5-10 foot wide pathway along the ...
As I look for a new hunting rifle, I see that some have fluted barrels, such as the Mossberg Patriot for example and some do not. What would the advantage of a fluted barrel be?
I normally use weather.gov and/or weather.com for weather forecasts. Neither provides UVI (or at least I can't find it). Also, I rarely go outdoors, so I don't have an intuitive sense of when I get...
One summer evening we drove to Race Point, the farthest tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. We were told there was a lighthouse at that spot, and wanted to see the light shine through the darkness...
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 ...
I found this abandoned building with what looked like some sort of radio gear while hiking near Mono Lake California. The shed on skids Close up of inside Does anyone know what this was or...
My wife and I started hiking this season (we have been cycling for 10 years before that). We have pretty light and compact gear, except for the backpack. We carried Osprey Atmos 50 and Osprey Talon...
In Grand Teton National Park they have Rocky Mountain Goats and Bighorn Sheep and because they are worried that the goats will spread diseases to the sheep, they want to mountain goats gone from th...
Having just bought my first pair of skis, I am unsure how to best stack them in the default side-by-side position in which they are alligned at the tip and at the tail ends. I thought the bindings'...
I went and applied grangers DWR treatment to my waterproof cycling jacket and put it in the dryer for a few minutes to set it. After my first couple rides, it appears there are a few small spots wh...
I recently bought a knife that near the handle end of the blade has a sharp, curved part: I don’t think it’s a choil because it’s sharp. What is its use? I thought something to do with stripping...
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...
