Posts by Sherwood Botsford
When car traveling we freeze pop bottles mostly full of water (2" header air space) A 2 liter (2 quart) bottle takes a fair amount of time to thaw; it doesn't spill and make things soggy; and you h...
A 23 foot hull might be capable of using an inboard motor, in which case two of the holes could be for cooling water. Boats are usually designed to be maintained. You should be able to get to the...
Deer are browse feeders. They nibble on shrubs during the winter. You want to keep the forest clear enough of trees that shrubs do well. In our region (Alberta) dogwood and alder are the big one...
When a canoe has one end on shore,it's unstable. It helps if one person squats with knees on either side of the bow while the first person steps in. At the end, the bowsman steps into the canoe a...
Towing doesn't work well. The trailing canoe will tend to swing wildly from side to side. This is a chronic problem when towing a swamped canoe to shore. This may be affected by how the trailing...
I have not found anything yet, but have two partial solutions. Sneakers + gaiters. For this I need to buy sneakers in at least 1 full size larger, and go extra wide. My intent is to go in wearin...
From experience, traveling under a full moon works well. Warning: The shadows are inky dark. You will still need a torch or headlamp, but in the open you can turn it off. I have done winter tri...
Thirty odd years ago there was a fad for shoes generically called snow joggers. It was a super lightweight boot in appearence -- usually 6-8" tall, but with a very light construction throughout. ...
I'm taking inventory on my tree farm. The temperature today is -7 °C with a light breeze. Windchill of -10 °C. I figure that there are lots of people who have this problem. Writing a journal, desc...
Various sources say 5 to 10 micrograms/deciliter of blood is the usual point of concern. In adults symptoms show up at around 60. Children are developing so the lower 5 is recommended as their ma...
Try and see. Standing dead poplar burns very well, as does standing dead spruce. Standing dead birch produces a short burst of flame from the bark, and then smoulders with little heat and extreme...
I don't see why it wouldn't. Any small sailboat that had a place for stepping the mast and that already had centreboard or leeboards should work. Caveats: I had a 1 week course in sailing usin...
I use total elevation change -- where down is also counted as well as up. I find that downhill (especially steep downhill) also slows down horizontal travel, so when estimating time for a trail, I...
Solution 1: Make a tool. When I played the flute I made what amounted to a shepherds crook with an almost closed loop on one end. Thread the corner of a rag through it, and draw it through the b...
After reading the "you're doing it wrong if you need to" I'll take a contrarian view: I've camped several times using an outfitter's tent -- canvas walled, barely liftable dry, and barely dragable...
I have spent somewhere around 1000-1200 nights in the Canadian Rockies, Prairies, boreal forests and tiaga. I rarely have used either a water filter or sterilizer tablets. Nor have people on our ...
Cannot speak to your specific species, but I have found that any form of grease: lard, margarine, butter, engine oil, transmission oil, is effective against at least horse flies, black flies, sand...
Simulate the setup as follows: Use several 1 gallon milk jugs as your 'person' In the middle jug, put a hole in the cap, and insert a temperature probe. (Many multi-meters come with a temperatu...
Charlie Brumbaugh's answer is fairly comprehensive about the dangers. I will address some ideas on how to deal with this sort of trip. Avalanche Hazard. A: Take an avalanche safety course. It w...
National Forests In the U.S. you have a huge system of national forests. Many of these have extensive trail networks. Many have parts that are too rough for economic logging. Go remote Places ...
Sorry, but this is a 'how long is a piece of string' question. Variables: Size and shape of the canopy. (Yes, sides will require greater weights) Nature of the site (exposed, sheltered) Speed o...
Duct tape works as a temporary repair. Get rid of the duct tape glue. A: remove the duct tape. B: trying various solvents, remove any residual glue. You can try solvents first on the duct tape...
The national parks, such as Jasper are pretty sticky about trail use, especially on popular trails. (Jasper's skyline trail has a party every 15 minutes both ways when I did it. Never again.) At ...
Ten feet isn't unreasonable, although it's right at the edge of day to day accuracy. I used a Garmin 60c along with aerial photographs to create an orienteering map. I had an overall accuracy of ...
A big part of this is "which canoe? which kayak" A long paddle in a white water kayak is a pain. They are slow. Ocean kayaks are much faster but are less than nimble to turn. I find the positio...
