Posts by whatsisname
While camping with some friends in Anywhere National Forest, I found a deer tick on a friend. After removing it with tweezers, is there anything else I should do? Should we abandon our trip immedia...
In addition to the fire hazard, cooking food in your tent in bear country is a good recipe for waking up to find a bear trashing your campsite, and/or you.
There is not a definitive guide for all locks, however most of the major locks in the US are run by the US Army Corps of Engineers, and they do not charge recreational boaters to pass through them....
PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are not "special" containers, they are the most widespread containers holding potable water in the world, with more than 100 million used per day. Now, yo...
You most definitely want to be selective when selecting rope for a sailboat's running rigging. I'll group sailboats into two categories: racing and non-racing. Racing sailboat is simply any boat wh...
It's a novel idea, but it's not going to work in any practical sense. Most of those foams take about 15 minutes to setup, and you'll have to come up with some way to fabricate a mold while you spr...
There are basically two major types of generators for this situation: traditional and inverter generators. The expensive ones are the inverter generators, and the difference between the two types i...
I once tied a bear bag with a haphazard bundle of knots, and despite being seemingly impossible to untie, it came loose when lowering the bear bag and nearly smoked my friend standing under it. Wha...
One word: Racing The numbers themselves usually don't mean anything. Usually, the number is essentially "how many sails of this model have been produced before this one". So, the first boat will ...
I believe you are thinking of the Yellowstone Caldera
You are way over thinking it. Presuming the water in the bottle was properly clean, potable and microbiologically safe to begin with, and you're a normal healthy human, the water in the bottle wil...
I hope you like a non-answer. There rarely ever is a theoretically optimal time to tack that can be described in the abstract, as there are so many unknown, random variables. The best time to tack...
I have hauled a backpack and a baby in a front carrier, while also walking two dogs. I wouldn't "recommend" it to anyone, however, I will continue doing it, because it is my only practical option. ...
Gelcoat cracking is pretty much a fact of life in boat ownership. The sun and water is a tough environment. However, gelcoat cracking is usually not too concerning as long as it is fixed right away...
The right way to view the pros and cons is to understand the basic mechanics of how a sailboat works, so you can decide what's appropriate for your situation. The first thing to be aware of is th...
You've got quite a bit of study before you are ready for this kind of voyage. I am not how far off shore "open ocean" means to you, but if it's anything beyond swimming distance to shore, you're go...
Using a sleeping bag liner can usually add 5-8°c or more warmth capability to your sleeping bag. However, do not use a cotton liner if you are in cold climates, as that can hold onto moisture from...
In addition to telemark, there are randonnee, aka alpine touring bindings. These are basically regular alpine bindings, where the heel can be released, for climbing. When going downhill, the heel c...
To my knowledge, all popular routes in the United States require packing out all waste. Here are the rules for Yosemite, which has good guidelines applicable everywhere: http://www.nps.gov/yose/pl...
The first step is to make doubly sure there isn't already a bridge, or a common place people already cross at. No sense in getting wet or risking anything if there is an easier, or proper crossing,...
I have not encountered a situation where a sleeping bag was "too warm" and I was unable to do something about it. I've gone backpacking in the mountains where it was 70 at night one day, and the n...
Your understanding of wind-chill is a bit confused. The reason the wind feels colder is because of convective heat transfer. When there is a difference in temperature between two objects, thermal e...
Generally, places where it is forbidden there is good signage, or it is a place where it is not surprising to be forbidden. Generally, it seemed that random stretches of highway would be posted, b...
I would recommend checking out something like Hobie's Mirage pedal driven kayaks. With their spiffy pedal drive, you can trivially outrun(outpedal?) just about anyone while hardly breaking a sweat....
From the sounds of it, to develop all the skills you are interested in, you are not going to learn them all with a single class. Additionally, it will likely take several years to hone your skills ...
