Posts by ShemSeger
Downwind. The first time I got caught in open water with whitecaps was when I was 13. We were on a multiday canoe trip and the winds picked up on the last day when we had to cross the lake. Instea...
Would they eat wild horses? Yes, and they do. Would they control their populations? No, not really. The fact that there were 30 - 60 million bison roaming North America before westerners came to t...
"Mountain Exposure" is a very broad term. Simply defined, it means you are exposing yourself to some risk of injury or death in the outdoors. Your level exposure while climbing is determined by h...
Red Ochre Red Ochre is a natural earth pigment found in clays that are rich in iron. It's been used for thousands of years by cultures around the world as a natural sunblock. It's also the same pi...
Now that parts of the Park have been reopened, I've learned that there are several answers to this question. In the case of "when is it safe", the answer is essentially, "when the fire is out". The...
RETREAT Your option 2 is best, but having said that, rescue crews will want to know you're out there sooner than later. In the option 1 you described, you would be activating your PLB, then waiti...
I have to contend with 100km+ winds with my 17.5ft canoe, so I've tried pretty much every method of attaching a canoe to a roof you can conceive, and the one that works the best is this one: It'...
Yes You can use a canoe paddle without issue, kayak paddles are simply more efficient. They actually make adapter grips so you can convert your two piece kayak paddle into a traditional style can...
The rains are doing all sorts of things to the landscape in Waterton-Glacier National Park this summer. All of the trails in the park appear to serve as water ways for rain runoff, and the rain app...
The best thing to do would be to simply bring two water bladders and switch the hoses over your shoulder after the first is emptied. Alternately, you could try routing two hoses over your one shoul...
I'm a Glacier National Park local, as in I can see the park from my house, and my house is on the map that they hand out at the gate for Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Very Likely. In...
I've been in the early stages of hypothermia before, and I can tell you from experience that when you're in the early stages of hypothermia, you're convinced you're okay and that nothing is wrong; ...
The rule with Via Ferrata is to always have at least one point of safety clipped in at all times. Many people have fallen to their deaths while unclipped from their safety lines in order to pass an...
Outdoor rock is more abrasive and wears your skin off much faster than the plastic holds in the gym. For example: The rock I climb mostly is considered to be the oldest stone in the Canadian rockie...
Sew it back on and tape the seam. Stitching GoreTEX is the same as stitching any other material, the difference is you want to use Tenara thread, and you waterproof the seams on the inside of the...
If you're cost motivated, then you don't need to look at anything else other than the price tag. Cheap bikes are cheap, so it doesn't really matter what they come with as long as they work. If you'...
Bats eat hundreds of mosquitos per bat every night, which is amazing for human peoples and the principle reason people hang up special made bat houses. Bat guano (poop) also creates habitats for ot...
GoreTex Gaiters are what I've always worn, and I've never had a problem with wet socks before. The GoreTex is nice and light, and breathes so you don't overheat or get very clammy underneath. You c...
I made a hiking "wheelbarrow" out of an old external frame backpack by bolting a pair of swoop handle bars to the top, and a Monty BMX wheel to the bottom. It was pretty awesome, I made it for an o...
No, plants cannot be relied on globally for directions. But they can give you hints sometimes. The only thing plants can tell you is in which direction the sun typically shines from. This isn't es...
A lot of timber gets harvested in the winter, especially now that you can harvest timber from the comfort of the heated cab of a harvester. Falling trees in the winter does the least amount of dama...
I visit a lot of caves in the Canadian Rockies, and there are similar concerns with transporting microorganisms from cave to cave, as well as diseases such as white nose syndrome in bats. For the a...
Porcupines are den animals, and rarely venture far from their dens. Trees are where they find food, but they seek shelter in little hidey-holes wherever they can find them. Most of the time, their ...
I mark all my stuff with an engraver. All my Nalgenes have my name engraved right on the front under the Nalgene logo. You could engrave whatever you want on the front then do marker over top. The ...
Hot water bottles work great for keeping you warm at night in your sleeping bag. They shouldn't be relied on for warmth though, if you're consistently cold then you should get a warmer bag, or lear...
