Posts by Sherwood Botsford
Usually the last thing you want for snow is a waterproof jacket. Many waterproof breathable layers will ice up inside because at low temperatures water doesn't have a high enough vapour pressure t...
I currently own 7 pairs of footwear: Croc knockoffs. Used in camp. MEC moc boots. Much like a diver's boot. 3/16" neoprene with rubber soles, toe and heel caps. I like these for any trail wor...
Can't speak to avalanche beacons. However, I have lost a GPS hiking in bush. My suspicion is that I broke the cord, but never noticed it. I have also lost compasses that were strung around my nec...
A somewhat more general answer, not focused on the Adirondacks. Most areas have an agriculture or forestry division, or natural resources division that has done extensive soil maps of the state. ...
Take a closer look at european construction techniques up to the invention of asphalt and steel roofing. In general, if you can keep the water off of the building, you can use a water soluble medi...
Good snow goggles as described in ab2's answer take a while to make. A quick and dirty way for temporary use can be made with bark. Birch bark is probably easiest to work with, but any smooth bar...
For traveling we will pre-freeze pop bottles with ice or juice. When we stop at a motel, we refreeze the bottles. This works well. As we drink the juice, we will refill with water. For your use...
I currently have the Canada NTS 1:50,000 maps, and the 1990 revision of the complete park map. They don't agree on details, and so far the NTS maps have higher error rates. I also have a couple o...
For odd sharpening tasks like this I have a dremmel tool (handheld rotary tool) and a set of inexpensive diamond hones. Use it wet to keep from clogging, and use very light pressure. You can also...
The primary occluding agent is air bubbles that separate from the water as ice forms. You can get clear ice cubes for drinks by heating the water first to expel most of the air before you freeze i...
Short answer: You can't judge a wet rock's traction by appearance. The slipperiness usually depends on a biofilm on the rocks themselves. That, in turn, will vary depending on flow velocity, tur...
For those of you who haven't noticed, your GPS may have become a time traveler this week. Background The GPS system was invented in the 1980s and uses an epoch of Jan 1, 1980 as the starting poin...
Original answer below. Apparently I'm not the only one incensed by Garmin's behaviour. Garmin has a firmware update for the PN-60 series version 3.7 that was NOT present on their website last tim...
Another trick you can use if it's sunny and open enough for shadows: Take a bearing, and note the angle of the shadows to your bearing, or to the sun to your bearing. You still need to check th...
I normally don't wash them. Let them dry. Brush hard with a bristle floor scrubbing brush. I don't worry about them being wet either. They are synthetic generally and won't rot. I backpack in t...
On a dare with a friend I went into the Saskatchewan River while the river was still running with broken ice, and there were bergybits in the main current. The bet was to stay in 1 minute up to ou...
The parks are quite regulated, and for many you need a permit for back country (random) camping. The wilderness areas are more liberal. They like to know where you intend to go. Note however tha...
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...
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...
A mix of spruce resin, lard, and wood ashes was used by both voyageurs and natives for caulking the seams of birch bark canoes. Spruce logs have smaller branches than pine, and so are easier to ma...
Suggest you confirm by observation: This is sort of what I would expect to see from a squirrel eating. Take a closer look and see if you can figure out if they are crap, or just cores and peels...
After a while you get a feel for the country that comes through from the map. E.g. In Willmore Wilderness, you will often find hunting camps that are clear and pretty well made, but are only us...
This assumes they are normal pants, without a zipper on the leg. Put them on, then roll up the cuffs to the length you want. Normally pants that are worn with boots are 1-2" longer to keep the bo...
Science for this is simple: Hypothermia is not instant, and has a well known progression. Survival times in fresh ice water are 15 to 45 minutes; depending on your body build, subcutaneous fat, a...
I used to snowshoe in winter, and would be out all day. I would take a 2 liter pop bottle, and put a pair of work socks on it to insulated it. This went into my daypack next to me. I always carr...
