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There are two ways to test gear like this, Do it in a situation where it won't matter. Go without a sleeping bag for a night with it still in your backpack. Use a space tarp instead of your rea...
Conditions: I live near a wide (~1000ft or 300m) and fairly deep river across from the area where I work. This area is slightly earthquake prone -- near a fault line that has had multiple magnitu...
I am about to start a long backpacking trip through South America, and I would like to take as little weight as possible. I have the rest of my stuff more or less sorted out, but I am a bit at a lo...
Here's an article about the Iroquois long house: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/longhouse Woodland Cree made log cabins, generally with shed roofs covered in layers of poles, d...
This sort of hard decision happens at lower elevations. In some ways harder: The Death Zone scenarios obliges you to abandon the victim to save the rest of the party. At lower elevations it's of...
Conditions that can lead to clear ice such as this are: Water with few impurities causing less scattering of light: This lake does not have any water flowing into it, therefore rain is the only s...
Sometimes natural building techniques just aren't suited for a certain environment. For example, an exposed cob oven in vermont vs. a stone oven would turn out very differently, the cob falling apa...
You may want to wash them because they stink too much for where you need to keep them. If it's just about mud, just brush them. Mine tend to get smellier if I've run through puddles or heavy rain, ...
I've been hanging these fat balls for a good while and they're intact. Previously I was hanging a feeder filled with seeds (for birds) in front of the window and that was also intact for a while; s...
After a brief exchange of comments, I think I have enough to take a stab at an answer, with the caveat that this will be mostly informed-guessing on my part. After all, every animal has its persni...
Some time ago I bought Vango F10 Xenon UL 2 tent. Had no chance to use it yet as I had to cancel the trip I was planning on using it on. Now I'm planning something new, but as it's going to be in s...
I think it heavily depends on what kind of hike you are planning on. I typically prefer applying the following: A trail with a lot of ups and downs and often through ankle-high water and/or rain:...
For rain pants, there are both breathable pants that let sweat out and non-breathable ones that do not. The problem with the non-breathable pants is that your sweat can build up inside and then you...
The non-breathable cheaper wet-weather protection is useful for when you must sometimes go outdoors in heavy rain to do essential jobs, but not for very long. Long enough that you would otherwise ...
As a cyclist, I expect to get wet if I'm riding hard in the rain. But if I'm wearing something waterproof -- breathable or not -- the (cold) rainwater will be kept separate from the (warm) sweat, ...
To ride a motorcycle, for example, you will never chose breathable fabric. If you have to wear rain pants, temperature is such that sweat is almost never an issue and you want your garment to be as...
GENERAL CONDITIONING As @ap2 has said training is quite task-specific, so the priority for hiking hills with a heavy pack is to get out as much as possible and hike hills with a heavy pack. You wa...
The tent is probably not strictly necessary, a tarp or just the fast setup should probably work fine unless it seriously rains or you are above treeline while it rains or it gets really windy. At t...
Around my work I walk in local parks for a couple of hours a day, and I've noticed we have Green Woodpeckers, and I've seen them quite a few times and can now recognise them rather easily. Recentl...
Tents with (the outer tent) made of cotton or "technical cotton" (cotton blends) are heavier, more expensive, and take some more time to dry but they also have benefits (see below). Sure the weight...
My wife and I are avid inland, freshwater kayakers - both on calm lakes and up/down rivers and streams. We have only done day trips. We are also moderately experienced backcountry campers. Now w...
I've been paddling three times (one week each) in rental (Canadian) canoes. My girlfriend and me brought all gear and food with us and there still was plenty of room for our dog in the boat. I kno...
You already washed it, so it is probably not as waterproof as it was new. If the pores/fabric are open enough to trap butter and keep it through a wash with dish soap. you have two options. Buy...
You don't. The tent is not an insulated structure. It protects from the wind and the rain. Inside your tent, you need insulation, such as a sleeping bag or warm clothes. That's what you warm up. ...
From my experience, tinned meat/fish is perfectly ok in such long trips. Combined with pasta and one-two types of porridge (rice, buckwheat, etc), it's good enough for two-meals-per-day style trekk...
