General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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What should one look for in the specifications to determine whether a handheld purpose-built GPS receiver provides good navigational consistency under reasonably normal, low-speed conditions? Highl...
I am going to try to hike across the Grand Canyon in May, from the South Rim to the North Rim, and back. Unfortunately, I have discovered that I am probably too late to secure a back-country permit...
What are some different ways I can signal for help in the wilderness? I'm looking for methods that apply in all seasons, particularly in the mountains, with forests or meadows & plateaus.
Tri-Cams have a reputation for fitting where other protection will not, and they are light weight and inexpensive compared to SLCDs. Unfortunately they also have a reputation for being hard to cle...
I'm about to go on a 2 month trip from England to Mongolia via Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakstan to mention a few far flung countries. Ideally I'd want a gas stove top such that refuelling th...
I am taking up hiking again on weekends, and also trying to do more walking to get out of the house of an evening. I regularly see people doing Nordic Walking in my neighbourhood, and I also see t...
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...
My Ventile jacket is getting a bit dirty. Is there anything special I need to know when washing it, or will a regular washing liquid and low temperature do?
I'm looking for a decent fridge with a 12V-outlet to use in the car for car camping. When I say fridge, I mean something that can keep products cool at 4°C/39°F, regardless of outside temperatures,...
I have a bag liner that claims to add 15 degrees to the "range" of a sleeping bag. Is it reasonable to assume that it would work the same for all bags? For instance, would it extend a 40 degree b...
In this question, it was asked whether bear-spray was effective against other animals, such as wolves. I know the old adage that "there has never been record of a healthy wolf attacking an adult" ...
I am going to buy sunglasses. Here is how and where I am going to use them: mountain trekking - with altitude mostly below 2000, however I will use them in the following months on higher mountain...
I have used the Mega Mid tent almost exclusively for hundreds of nights out over the last many years. It's versatile, well ventilated, light... but has this pole sticking straight up the middle. I...
This year, a Danish citizen went missing without a trace in the mountains of northern Sweden. It is not the first time; in total, ten people are registered as missing after venturing into the mount...
I'm doing the popular tourist trek from Lukla to Everest base camp in late April / early May. I know the minimum temperature is on average -1 Celsius (30.2 Fahrenheit) in the Khumbu region at this...
I was climbing with someone recently and they complained that there was too much slack any time the line wasn't completely taut. By the same token when they were belaying me it was almost hard to ...
When I'm rock climbing, I feel like I've got hand holds down as far as where to grab on and understand that the hands are mainly for balance. However, I can't seem to figure out my feet. There are ...
I have a very nice sleeping bag which has been kept stuffed as compressed as possible in a backpack for a couple of months. After reading about the negative effects of such actions, I was wondering...
This question was already asked about personal locator beacons (PLB, Wikipedia page which is a great comprehensive article.) However it does not cover how to choose a PLB or the differences between...
I recently bought a new tent, is it worth the extra $40 to purchase a footprint for it as well? Or are there alternatives that can be found on the trail or even made at home?
When camping in bad weather I'm always asking myself if it is a good idea to cook in my tent with a gas cooker. Obviously there is the danger of fire. But how dangerous is this really? Can you easi...
I am planning a multi-day hike in the Drakensberg area of South Africa. This is a beautiful landscape with interesting flora and fauna. Consequently I want to have my Digital SLR close to hand. I d...
I have read several blogs and watched videos on hunting where I have heard people use the term glass. I have no idea what it means and I have found very little on Google about what it could mean. ...
This is especially problematic if you dress up in layers, the last one being, for example, a raincoat. Putting a burn hole through your rain coat let's the rain in... Are there some tricks in fire...
While camping with some friends in Anywhere National Forest, I found a deer tick on a friend. After removing it with tweezers, is there anything else I should do? Should we abandon our trip immedia...
Every time I go camping and it starts to rain, I can't sleep anymore because the raindrops that fall on the tent causes a really loud and annoying sound. Is there any technique or tool to avoid or ...
If I'm out in the wilderness and I don't have a signal mirror, what other objects could I improvise to work similar to a signal mirror?
What is the good choice for the running shoes for winter conditions in city (mostly running on asphalt)? When the snow is shoveld, normal running shoes would be no problem, but when the snow fallin...
Looking at the webcam, it looks like things are still pretty wintery in that area. Being Michiganders, some snow is not going to deter us (we love winter camping), but we at least want to be prepa...
Recently I came across pour and store bags. They seem a bit similar to the bags for trekking freeze-dried meals like Travel lunch. That gave me the idea of preparing the meals myself beforehand and...
From a comment on the How to select paracord question I was curious, what is the benefit of paracord over hardware store yellow twisted poly stuff? The yellow stuff is cheap, readily available, fl...
I have used several different products and none of them work that well. Bottom line, is there a product that will subdue the offending groover? So a groover is a river toilet. On multiple day rive...
How do I pack a backpack to prevent injury to my back and keep it comfortable while hiking?
I've recently heard an opinion (from a sailor that attempted to beat a 122 day, westward route, around the world sailing record) that freeze-dried food is actually very healthy, as it contains less...
I recently bought a pair of Meindl Ohio winter boots. I am generally happy with them, but I have noticed that, after a day of wearing the boots, the tongues of each boot tend to migrate outwards. ...
This answer has inspired me to a question: say you are a castaway on a desert island. There might be a plane flying casualy but you can miss it. So you want to create some pattern (e.g. put some br...
People used to tolerate a much wider range of temperatures. What techniques can I apply to widen my body's range of comfort? A few examples that may or may not help: Spend a lot of time slightly...
After several trips with poor fitting hire ski boots, and having had no end of trouble finding suitable fitting hire boots at the current resort, I went and bought a fitting pair. The boots have be...
I'm looking into buying a rope for rock climbing, and I know that I need a dynamic rope for lead climbing. However, trying to find information on the elongation percentages of ropes is proving tric...
In many European countries, dedicated long-distance hiking trails are marked with a white-red marking, like in the photograph below: Source: Wikimedia Commons. I've seen this in at least The Net...
Is there any resource (website, book, etc) that lists all European countries, and the state of free camping? Specifically, I want to see in which European countries I'm not fined when I place my t...
Let's say you are camping with a large group, and someone starts a camp fire. You're away for a bit and come back to find everyone panicking and the fire to be much larger than actually planned (i...
I've watched a few videos on cutting tools and the use of axes. However I'm not clear on what the advantage (or disadvantage) is of a tomahawk style axe over a typical belt or hand axe, such as th...
How do I know what type I should use when I'm planning a camping trip?
It's late October and in cold, northern hemisphere climates, winter has arrived, and moderate northern hemisphere climates will follow soon. In my area, small lakes are already frozen and people ha...
Possible Duplicate: What is the best way to store my sleeping bag for long periods of time? We're at the point where we have more than one set of gear. We use different gear for differe...
I have a belay device that looks like: which I used when I am belaying someone who is top roping or leading. However, my rope only goes through one of those slots. What is the purpose of the oth...
While going through some rapids, we slid across a jagged rock and it put a huge gouge in the bow of my fiberglass canoe. What method and process is best for repairing it, so that next time I hit so...
A page like this one, as well as a number of questions on this site, discuss how to pack food safely from bears. What about other animals? This post advises a pretty sophisticated way to protect ...
I recently bought a new pair of cross-country skis that matched my weight (with or without a backpack), but when I tried them out for the first time (over a two-day period), I didn't have as much g...
