Search
We used to have lots of crows in our area -- Northern Virginia, outside DC. Then West Nile virus struck roughly 15 years ago, and crows disappeared from our area. According to the Centers for Dis...
I'm planning on taking a trip across the US and was planning on doing as much dispersed camping (a.k.a.backcountry camping) as possible. I wanted to educate myself on where it is legal to go off tr...
I am unfamiliar with saltwater shore fishing rigs I have seen some premade, but I am looking to make my own. Generally the most common ones I have seen online seem to have a large weight on the ...
I have an all natural bug spray that uses distilled water and a combination of four essential oils, and NOT containing DEET. If I spray it on my body and clothing before climbing will these essenti...
After my first wild camping experience, I found that my hand torch was really inefficient in the evening compared to other people's head torches - what are the features that make a good head torch?
Most torches have their brightness specified in lumen, sometimes one also sees a lux number, at times both. While the technical meaning of these units are clear (lumen is luminous intensity per ste...
I wonder why fly fishing leaders have to be tapered? Is the most important reason to preserve flight dynamics when casting? Would a simple untapered leader not present a dry fly, for example, in th...
This BBC news article Mount Everest: Altitude sickness claims third death in four days caught my attention. From what I understand the best cure for Altitude sickness is to get lower, fast. This...
I'm planning to use a butane "canister stove". The only canisters I can find locally are Butane/Propane mixes. My understanding is that Propane canisters are extra heavy b/c Propane is under highe...
I just moved into a travel trailer with my pets (two cats and a bunny). I have a built-in garage and there is no place to run to if there is a tornado. I was wanting to know if it would be safe to ...
If you notice a loss of pressure in an inflatable boat/dinghy while underway, how can you prevent or slow the loss? This is most important in full inflatables. Even if you are in shallow enough w...
Last year we visited some friends at their summer home in Lamoine, Maine, in Northeast United States. They took us to a place called Somes Sound, on Mount Desert Island. It's either in or near Acad...
In an English climbing guidebook about a French region, I read the term spit anchor in the general description of the equipment of the (multi-pitch) routes of some crags. I never heard that term b...
I often take a slice of bread to the beach when I go on my beachcombing ramblings, and throw pieces of it to the shore birds that are, like me, combing the beach but, unlike my search for "jewels" ...
I've heard that a swan can break your arms with a flap of its wings, etc., but am not sure if that's true. There's a nature reserve - local to me - where the swans come up on foot out of the water ...
Some background: I go fishing 3-4 times a week at a local river for catfish, carp, perch, bass, and sunfish. My favorite bait for catfish (and the one that I find most consistent) is fresh cut pe...
What are the risks of climbing a via ferrata alone? Would going through very easy via ferratas still pose high risks? Are well visited and easy climbing via ferratas necessarily a great danger? I...
When American robin chicks fledge, meaning leave the nest, it is pretty much empty. It's also fairly clean, as the parents have been removing the waste from the babies after each feeding. Aside f...
I have been watching this climbing video of Alex Honnold. In this video his friend goes ahead of him and cleans the wall of any debris or slippery rocks. What are these people who clean the walls...
In windsurfing there exist many different moves. Apart from the very basic techniques (like uphauling the sail), which moves are considered essential for windsurfing? Which order is good for learni...
There is already the question Please Explain Rock Climbing Grades however I would like to know about aiding grades. StrongBad's answer to an aid/trad question mentions A0 and C1 grades. Are these t...
When I was in Boy Scouts every month we went camping places that seemed to be deep in the woods with no one else around within hiking distance. When I go to reserve a campsite as an adult they're ...
When searching for a light and low-cost backpacking tent dome tents accounted for about 90% of my search results and the rest were primarily pop-up, pup, or tiny one-man tube style tents. I was su...
Some newer tents have integrated pole systems where the poles collapse quickly but stay attached to the tent body. The obvious pro of this design is that setup and takedown is faster and can be do...
I am currently endeavoring on an Antarctic expedition and wanted to know more about different repair options for our tents in down to -80 temperatures and in extreme high winds.
