General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
Filters (None)
Sometimes there are sources of water which are slightly contaminated with salt, such as coastal wells or pools of rainwater in rocks near the coast, or water containers with pinhole leaks which hav...
While Planning a hike in Western Ghats, India by studying Satellite Images, I came through various identifications for a forest area like National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, etc. On studying furthe...
A recent question got me wondering if there are Takedown Compound Bows. I Googled around and found several longbows, (recurves, etc) that can be taken down for travel. But I did not find any comp...
I want to take some photographs of Kingfishers in the United Kingdom. How do I find them, get close to them, etc? Image Source
Is there a formula which can be used (I'm thinking one that gives amount of water needed factoring in time or distance covered and temperature) to roughly work out the amount of water that needs to...
I am currently in Denmark without access to a car. During the weekend I use the bus to go to some remote coastal place in order to fish. It takes 1 hour to reach that place. I carry one rod with me...
I'm writing a story in which someone is shot in a cave system. Another character is an adjoining tunnel some distance and at least a few tunnel intersections away. Would the sound of the shot reach...
A long time ago when I was about 10 I went potholing on a school trip in Devon, and despite mild claustrophobia I found myself eventually enjoying it - egged on brilliantly by my friends. I hadn't ...
Within the mountains (and other wilderness areas) of Västerbotten and Norrbotten in Sweden, there is a lot of cultural heritage, with Sami huts ("kåta") like Måskåsj-gammen or like this one between...
Wikipedia notes that the E1 is marked from Okstindan to Børgefjell National Park, but is ambiguous about the national park itself. Indeed, Norgeskart has a route northward from the park boundary (...
Deaths from the "brain eating amoeba" Naegleria fowleri are fairly rare but each is highlighted in the press, as headlines containing brain eating beget clicks. While it's not yet understood why t...
No decompression diving (No stop diving) refers to "diving that you can always ascend directly to the surface without stopping, yet without significant risk of decompression sickness" (according to...
Handheld desalinators operating on the principle of reverse osmosis are available for emergency use in lifeboats. Sometimes they appear for sale unused in their original packaging at a very steep ...
I have lots of these hawthorns in my neighborhood (Mount Lebanon) but I am afraid to eat from them. Are they safe ?
Where I live, winter is still a good bit away, but last year I slipped on ice and ended up with a black eye and a broken wrist. This year I sincerely want to reduce the chances of that recurring. ...
Locally Search and Rescue doesn't charge but what happens if you're in an area where they do? They obviously have your name and address but it doesn't seem fair to bill the person who was prepared...
When the RMS Titanic sank, there were not enough life boats, many hundreds of people went into the cold water and many died from hypothermia. The water temperature in the area where Titanic san...
If you are held back a few days by bad weather or some other unforeseen natural circumstance and you know emergency services are looking for you because you can hear the helicopters but you know yo...
A recent comment said: For kayak I’d say “usually 1-2 person” as tandem kayaks are very common. 3 person kayaks are rare but not unheard of, example Pamlico 160T has a third mini-seat for a chi...
There is a video of a seal sucker punching a kayaker with an octopus, Source I suppose the seal wasn't exactly trying to hit the kayaker, but why would it be flinging the octopus around above t...
In recent news reports that all seem to be saying the same things: Jakarta Post Indonesian teenager survives 49 days adrift in Guam waters NPR: 19-Year-Old Survives 49 Days At Sea After Floating ...
A common improvised dust mask is taking a bandana and tying it over your nose and mouth. I'm asking this question because I'm wondering what else one could add to this set up if anything. First, I'...
Many but not all sailboats have numbers displayed on their sail, what do those numbers mean? I am looking for a general answer, not one specific to the random example image below. example image f...
A comment on a different question suggests that an ice yacht (or iceboat), a boat made for going over ice instead of through water, is not merely a water boat with skates strapped on for ice, but t...
If a saltwater angler goes out on a boat, how much could we expect that person to catch during a typical day? I would like to set some personal expectations. Obviously if the variables are against...
Someone suggested using a Safety Spark Bunsen Burner/Laboratory Lighter with 5 Flints to start tinder for an emergency fire. I don't currently own one so can't try it. I have used them to light f...
NOTE the following is while the camper is unoccupied and stored in my back yard. The Propane/CO detector in my camper started going off randomly a few weeks ago. I thought it was from some random ...
My research thus far has acquainted me with a kind of trade-off: one can try to minimize the amount of contamination (from bacteria/parasites) or one can try to minimize the amount of particulates ...
I want to go out in a canoe onto a large lake and stay out for the entire weekend. I have checked the whether and determined that it will definitely be excellent weather and very calm all weekend l...
In the answer to Can I get fresh water from ocean fish flesh? I learned that the water I can get from eating fish has a low enough salt content that it will hydrate me, BUT the high protein count w...
I was looking into portable desalination hand pumps. and I found this one one Amazon for $959 it says the Katadyn Survivor 06 is the world's smallest hand-operated desalinator and can easily fi...
I know that rabbits eat their droppings (cecotropes) and I have heard of feeding rabbit droppings to pigs. Rabbits are vegetarians. There droppings do not have the same consistency or negative sec...
I was recently told that many of the clothes we wear are made up of materials that are dangerous to marine wildlife, and the undersea environment. I'm curious as to whether or not it's true. I kn...
I am currently stuck in the wilderness, and I have been out here for a while. I want to focus light. There are various reasons for wanting to do this, with the two biggest reasons being for vision ...
If a trail is listed as 1500m of elevation change, what exactly does that mean? For example, if the trail goes up 500m, then down 200m, then up 100m, then down 300m, then up 400m, is that consider...
When coming back from a day of hiking and eating I often notice that the top of the straw of my water bottle is dirty on the inside. I've come across quite a few options to clean the inside of the...
This 1998 Draft Wilderness Management Plan proposes to set aside large parts of Grand Canyon National Park as wilderness. However, despite large areas being declared "Wild" in the park backcountry...
This year beginning of May 2018 we with my friend visited Valle Grande in Italian Alps. Begging from 1500 meters there was snow, on the high of 1900m there was pretty deep snow and it was actively ...
Hiking on the west coast of British Columbia, there are likely to be cougars around the trails. What do you do if you see one?
Our tent pan has a LOT of very tiny holes in it. We've never had to use a footprint, and our tent has always kept water out, but that is no longer the case. I don't want to carry a footprint due ...
My rucksack has a small pocket on the hip belt, but I can’t think of anything useful to keep in it while day hiking. What types of things is such a pocket intended for? If there is no common purpos...
Is bear spray (pepper spray specially formulated to be effective against bear attacks) effective against other animals, especially mountain lions or wolves? Or is there something in it specifically...
Just for fun, how would I go about lighting a fire with naturally shaped rocks by striking sparks? It might be useful if I were to camp in the far north, where there are no trees. What should I use...
This tent appears to need just 2 diagonal poles. How do I figure out what length diagonal poles I need for an 8 foot x 10 foot (footprint) tent, taking into account the radius of curvature?
I have a nice and small tent I really like that is around 30 years old. It is from Sierra West, but I don't remember the model name. Here is a picture so that you can see the size and general con...
For some reason I have had multiple encounters with mountain lions. In my 20's while camping in a somewhat remote campground near the continental divide in CO I woke to a large mountain lion layin...
My inexpensive nail clippers are chrome plated steel. All the keys on my key ring are brass or some other non-ferrous metal (I checked with a magnet). The nail clippers have that small nail file ...
I’m looking for a bag to help carry my bow. Not that hard in huge forums to find some good suggestions but the think is I’m looking specifically to carry a compound bow without exposing any of the ...
I'm (trail-)running quite often and I'm used to wear lightweight standard running sneakers. However, I feel like they are made for the gym or flawless asphalt. The pitty is that I like to run on va...
I am looking to purchase a ski jacket. I want it to be warm in the temperature range of -5ºC to -13ºC and have decent impermeability characteristics. I am female, my height is 163cm, my weight is 5...
