Posts by Lost
What are the relative advantages / dangers of different cooking wear? I'm a one-pot gourmet that has been using the same stainless steel pot for 15 years, but am considering an upgrade. Some thing...
In the corridor zone (where you are planning) you are only allowed to camp at designated campgrounds, which are secured on a reservation basis. If they are full, of the options you list, 2. Pray ha...
According to one study of one species of mosquito, "attractiveness was found to vary inversely with their reflectivity or brightness, although the different textures represented in the series tende...
There are a lot of unspecified variables involved here... type of socks, fit of the shoe/boot, type of shoe, conditions you are hiking in, etc. But in general, double-socking may offer the follow...
From personal experience, these are the relative advantages / disadvantages I have discovered personally or witnessed first hand: Ole' Blue: - The lovable, closed-cell foam pad. Virtually indest...
Wilderness medicine protocols taught by the major Wilderness First Aid / First Responder training companies (and subsequently adopted by most outdoor organizations) are fairly standard and quite cl...
According to this article (full disclosure: I wrote it) lead-based ammunition is a well-known threat to Condors and other scavengers, and may have negative effects on humans who unknowingly ingest ...
Perhaps the most obvious and commercially available is solar, which has options ranging from small pocket-sized chargers to roll-out military grade flexible panels. I believe Brunton makes a consum...
In this question, it was asked whether bear-spray was effective against other animals, such as wolves. I know the old adage that "there has never been record of a healthy wolf attacking an adult" ...
In answer to the original question: There are several products on the market designed for dogs with sore paw pads. These are often wax based, and adhere to the skin to provide some protection. S...
Given that the active ingredient is capsaicin which is used in self-defence sprays for all types of purposes, bear spray should be effective on anything with tear ducts, soft tissue, sinuses, eyeba...
As with any wild animals, different species and different individuals are going to respond differently in different situations. Some snakes are extra-ordinarily docile, and no amount of heavy-sto...
Quite commonly, due to the barrage of newness the body experiences on an outdoor outing (new sensations, new exercise habits, new diet, etc) the body can stop the system up while it tries to figure...
Assuming the cat-hole is the preferred protocol for waste disposal in the area you are backpacking, what should you do when the soil is buried below A LOT of snow, and/or frozen?
In addition to @Pearsonartphoto's technical specs, it is important to remember that a Sat Phone is one tool at your disposal, and not a replacement for smart decision making, or proper planning. I ...
There are several types and configurations of mosquito nets that you can use: ones that hang (from a single center point, or from four corners), ones that drape over your bag with one or two pol...
Depending on what you mean by "can you eat it" you can eat anything really, it just depends on how much worse off you want to be afterward. According to this article, dangers include: trichinelli...
Say you have a cooler of frozen food and ice to last for several days or weeks of river-trip / car camping. To keep things as a cold as possible for as long as possible, is it better to leave the c...
For years I backpacked without a sleeping pad, until one particularly chilly night during which I tried to heat up the earth with my paltry 98.6 degrees F (37°C). In that instance, would I have b...
I have heard many people say that eating snow actually can increase dehydration since the energy required for the body to heat up and melt the snow is greater than the benefits received from the mo...
When practicing Leave No Trace camping (which I am sure we all do), which camp spot should I choose, assuming there is not an obvious well-impacted "sacrifice site" nearby to concentrate my impact ...
A tent can provide a psychological barrier for the bear - which won't do much to deter it if it smells something it wants inside (food), but can prevent haphazard encounters. For example, if a be...
Pack stoves come in a variety of flavors, consuming white gas, denatured alcohol, propane, wood, gels, unleaded, kerosene... etc. Given the assumption that I will be carrying all the fuel I need (...
When trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together, what does one need to consider? I am assuming I can't just grab any two sticks and start rubbing... Should they be dead or green? Har...
Although leeches are relatively harmless, and you are not likely to bleed out from a bite, the blood stain on your clothes can be off-putting to your hiking buddies. Is there any effective way to ...
