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General tips to help you out: If your boots have felt liners, then remove the felt liners and keep them in your sleeping bag. It goes a long way to making things bearable in the morning, but I'd ...
The primary rating that should be on the bag is the pounds of insulation. It is a somewhat imperfect measure, but a summer bag might well be 2 or 2.5 pounds. A three-season might be 4, but that w...
Please don't drink alcohol to stay warm. It may make you feel slightly warmer temporarily, but it isn't actually helping you. According to my favourite volume on Wilderness Medicine (page 156), a...
When exactly do you plan to go? If you head over there in mid-late June, you should be completely fine without reservations. High-season for European trekkers doesn't start until much later in the ...
Some non-tested ideas: Put rubbers/galoshas (or any other huge size boots) on your ski boots. Remove the soles of your previous ski boots (or any other of your old boots with good grip) and glue ...
Beal Ropes has a guide that covers this. Read the page but here are two images for quick reference: A robust half rope such as the Mammut Genesis is probably a very good choice; such a rope is...
From personal experience, I would say that maps made by an organization that focuses on the area in question are the most accurate. For instance, here in the Easter USA, I wouldn't head out on the ...
I haven't used a wigwam, but I expect you'd have the same issues as with any shelter. You have to expect there to be some smoke, but you want the amount of smoke to be as low as possible. Perhaps t...
In one of the series of Survivorman the Les Stroud has put into fire the whole fallen pine. A very thick trunk will burn for a long time. Generally, the thicker the wood the longer it will burn. A...
Depending on the terrain, a map is often very usable even without a compass or a GPS. If the terrain is anything-but-flat you can generally use the contours of the terrain to orient the map correct...
The other answers have great information. I would add some specifics that I have learned from living and backpacking all over Arizona and the white mountains for most of my life. Don't have everyo...
Basically the answer to your question is no, unless you're in very specific areas doing very specific activities. US wilderness areas are much bigger, much less accessible, and much less populated ...
For the US national forests you can find most of what you will need on the US Forest Service website. Specifically for Uintah-Wasatch-Cache you can use this link and it will have the information a...
If you have the option, small boats give you the best feel for how sails work and how changes in trim affect the boat and your course, so at least start on a small boat. Also, taking a few full ...
Stepping on a rock during a hike is always riskier than that of stepping "Over" a rock/log. I must have lost my footing a gazillion times trying to step "On" a rock. Regarding startling a snake/cri...
From the sounds of it, to develop all the skills you are interested in, you are not going to learn them all with a single class. Additionally, it will likely take several years to hone your skills ...
No one's mentioned this yet, so I'll throw this out there: at least for my fingers/hands, I find breathing on them helpful (not blowing on them like you would soup, but the kind of breath that you'...
I used to think I knew the answer to this, from having a couple of very small leeches, but this guidance from wildmadagascar.com is quite comprehensive: Identify the anterior (oral) sucker which ...
I have used a touring kayak for fishing, and it works out ok. You can rig up a rod holder in your cockpit, but paddling is a bit awkward, though this is probably also a problem with any kayak used...
There are several concerns Rodents. Unlike the eastern US, rodents in the West are much more likely to carry Hanta virus and Bubonic plague. These are not common, but unlike the Eastern US, the...
I would recommend checking out something like Hobie's Mirage pedal driven kayaks. With their spiffy pedal drive, you can trivially outrun(outpedal?) just about anyone while hardly breaking a sweat....
Yes, there is definitely a performance difference between different types of kayaks. In fact, there are performance differences among the same types of kayaks. For example, a 14-foot kayak will alw...
Other tidbits I've heard from local** guides: Wearing red increases your risk of being struck by lightning Burning egg shells will anger forest spirits and cause nightmares and illness The quicke...
The park service has some good tips. The biggest ones are: It is hot and dry, and gets hotter the farther down you go. Sweat can evaporate straight off of you before you can even see it, and pe...
Your blood and body need sodium, potassium and various other solutes in order to function (without the correct potassium levels, your heart will start to fail etc) In a hot country, where you may ...
