Activity for gerritâ€
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
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| Edit | Post #41359 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #41217 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #41058 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #41056 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #41045 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #40866 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #40758 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #40477 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39793 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39623 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
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Drinking water in the backcountry wilderness in Northern Great Plains (Grasslands National Park). How to deal with the salinity? If the topographic map is to be believed, there are plenty of streams in Grasslands National Park, but apparently they are saline. Last and Ginn report that there is no other area in the world that can match the concentration and diversity of saline lake environments exhibited in the prairie region... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Do Glacier National Park (USA) backcountry camps have bear poles / bear canisters? In Glacier National Park (USA), there are 63 backcountry campgrounds. I looked at the backcountry campground website including the map and campsite information. Are there bear poles/boxes at backcountry sites? This forum post from 2008 states that All of the designated backcountry sites have bear ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Are ski areas in the United States shutting down? Climate change means ski resorts at mid-latitude lower elevations are doomed. Winters used to be colder and snowier than today, and lower mountain ranges such as the Ardennes or German Mittelgebirge are no longer sure to get snow in winter. If they haven't shut down yet, it's a matter of time until... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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What can I do when I or someone in my party falls through a floating mat? Once, I had the opportunity to walk on a floating mat on a guided tour with a nature organisation in De Wieden (Dutch: trilveen). On the surface, it looked (to my amateur eye) exactly like other peat, but walking on it felt like walking on a huge trampoline. Where I stood, I sank about half a metre... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Do U.S. Wilderness areas allow bridges? A U.S. wilderness area prohibits road-building and other forms of development. Are bridges on hiking trail permitted, or are all river crossings in wilderness areas necessarily unbridged? (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Do animal trails have switchbacks? When hiking in a rarely frequented area, trails may be very faint to the level of being essentially invisible. In such situations, it has happened more than once that I accidentally followed an animal trail (either from wild or farmed animals). There are various ways to tell the difference. For ex... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Did any lighthouses provide directional navigation signals? Were any lighthouses designed to also provide directional information? Yes. All of Norway has that. Maps indicate what colour is shown in what direction: Source: Norgeskart (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Why does North Cascades National Park get so few visitors? Although existing answers are not bad, I think they fail to stress the most important reason. North Cascades National Park is not easily accessible by car. The only roads in the park are the Stehekin Valley Road, which is only accessible by ferry + foot/bicycle, and the Cascade River Road, a rough,... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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Fall/autumn colours in northwest North American mountains I've noticed that the vegetation in the subalpine forest is very different between the Alps, the Urals, Scandinavia, or the Canadian Rockies. In the latter, I didn't find any at all. In the Alps, the subalpine forest immediately below the tree line is dominated by spruce and larch. The tree line f... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Where can I find resources to find user-contributed GPS tracks? Different sites are strong in different parts of the world or for different activities, even if most aim to cover all activities. This is a list of such websites. This is a community wiki effort. Please edit this answer to add other sites you are aware of. Global, all activities Alltrails (form... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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Where can I find resources to find user-contributed GPS tracks? For trip planning and navigation during my outdoors trip, I would like to load a track into my GPS (or GNSS) receiver. Where can I find websites that gather user-contributed GPS tracks? (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Topo map server out there somewhere? Norway Norgeskart (location) Sweden Kartsök och Ortsnamn NB: does not provide same view as paper maps. Finland Karttapaikka Switzerland https://map.geo.admin.ch/ (location) France Carte topographique IGN Spain Visor Iberpix Russia Many options (see this question on GIS.SE), I... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: As of 2019, why do mountaineering courses still teach how to use a paper map? The most important reasons have already been given in other highly upvoted answers. Planning, coverage, resolution, etc. I want to address the cost aspect. Given the low price and weight of electronics The Garmin GPSmap costs €400. There are cheaper models, such as the eTrex which sta... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Are Italian mountain huts accessible when unstaffed? Do I need a key? In the region managed by CAI Vigezzo, there are actually many bivaccos (unstaffed shelters) that are open year round. As most of those were not on either the Swiss topographic map, or Openstreetmap, or online sources I consulted prior to departure, I will list them here. During my hike 2019-10-25/2... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Does a pound on your foot equal 5 pounds on your back? No, this has not been shown in realistic mountain hiking settings. It has only been shown for fast hiking. The answer by Tullochgorum links a 1984 US army study. It is quoted here (emphasis mine): The men walked on a treadmill with three different speeds; 4, 5.6 and 7.3 kilometers/hours. (..... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How can I pack my food so it doesn't smell? You could consider a smell proof bear bag. Although bears are not a danger near Tromsø, the bag is generally useful as a stuff sack for food. My friend keeps all his food in such a bag, even when he's not hiking in bear territory. It helps to keep other animals out as well¹. You prob... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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Systematic and random error of GPS or barometric altimeter. How to optimally use GPSMAP 66s? A barometric altimeter is supposed to be more accurate than a GPS altimeter in the relative sense (total ascent, total descent, during stable weather), but may have considerable error in the absolute sense (more than 100 metre error if pressure has changed a lot since last calibration). The GPS alti... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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Are Italian mountain huts accessible when unstaffed? Do I need a key? I am considering a late October trek through the boundary area between Ticino (Switzerland) and Verbano Cusio Ossola (Italy), including the Valle Cravariola. This takes be along several bivouacs and rifugi on both sides of the border. Because camping may be difficult and of unclear legality (althou... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How serious is bear safety in the sub-polar Ural / Komi Republic / Yugyd Va? Answer is work in progress! Still working on the translation. Help is welcome — my Russian is very limited. There are several relevant pages on the park website (all in Russian). At the Инструкция по те&#x... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Why did backcountry camping at Canyon de Chelly collapse? Looking at Canyon de Chelly backcountry camping visitation by month: Backcountry camping went from usually more than a hundred per month, up to several hundred per month, throughout spring, summer (except for August, which is probably too hot), and fall in the 2000-2017 period, then collapsed to j... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Finding fuel for a Trangia stove in Russia For my Trangia stove, I usually use denatured alcohol / ethanol / methyl alcohol. Bringing methyl alcohol into Russia is apparently prohibited, and bringing ethanol is subject to a 22€/litre duty. I've understood that actually finding спирт, as it's apparently c... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Why aren't (poly-)cotton tents more popular? A good cotton tent is expensive, but can be very good value as they last a lifetime and are childproof. In The Netherlands, families may camp up to 5–8 weeks per year, car camping on campgrounds in western or southern Europe. They quite often have cotton tents, I'd say they are the majority ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Require advice on power conservation for backpacking trip Although this has been mentioned in some comments, it needs to be stressed more strongly: Do not rely exclusively on electronics for navigation, in particular not on a smartphone! You must always bring a paper map¹. You must always know where you are on that map. I recommend to hang a good m... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Where can I find nature in Sweden, like that of Abisko? The Scandinavian mountains reach from Stavanger in the south to the North Cape in the north. You can easily explore where mountainous areas are via the interactive topographic maps of Norway and Sweden. Southern Norway is geographically closest, but is less well connected, with only few trains conn... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Does an ice chest packed full of frozen food need ice? As others have pointed out, you cannot do so with a portable cooler. It is, however, possible to keep ice for months, passively. You will need to dig an ice house, which should be the size of a typical basement/cellar, and fill it with several tons of ice during the winter. The Grand Canyon North ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Peak time for autumn colours in Югыд ва/Yugyd Va (sub-polar Ural, Komi) I would like to enjoy autumn in Yugyd Va National Park. In Northern Scandinavia, I have experienced that the peak autumn colours are approximately 25 August to 15 September in the Swedish and Finnish mountains, but 2–3 weeks later closer to the coast in Norway. I think the larches in North A... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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What does the Garmin GPSMAP 66 "SOS beacon" function do? According to the Garmin website, the Garmin GPSmap 66 includes an SOS beacon: These devices include an LED flashlight and SOS beacon that can be used to signal for help. They are thin on details, and Google Search just turns up the exact same formulation on different websites. What does this S... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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With what unit are river flow speeds indicated on the Genshtab Soviet military maps? On the Genshtab (Генштаб) Soviet military maps, I can read that this ford through the stream Вертный has a stony bottom, a depth of at most 4 dm, and a width of 29 m (under typical circumstances)¹. That is indee... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How serious is bear safety in the sub-polar Ural / Komi Republic / Yugyd Va? In Norway, Sweden, and Finland, there are resident bears, but they rarely go near people, nobody practices the kind of bear safety that is necessary in parts of North America, and this does not lead to problems. The only problems I've heard about involved people with dogs, often while hunting. How ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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When should I avoid geotagging? I did not use to think of geotagging photos as a leave-no-trace issue. In fact, one slogan says leave only footprints, take only photos. Yet the Leave No Trace Social Media Guidance states: Tag thoughtfully – avoid tagging (or geotagging) specific locations. Instead, tag a general locati... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How can I safely use a candle lantern inside a tent? You need a large tent if you want to have anything safely burning inside. The small, sleeping-only tent as most summer backpackers carry along won't do. Nomads have been having fires in tents for aeons and aeons, and still do. They usually also forced pack animals to carry their stuff, for it was ... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: To activate PLB if you know search and rescure are looking for you but there is no emergency? No, do not activate a PLB unless there is an emergency. There is already a standard for signalling to a helicopter whether or not you are in need: Source: Parks Canada Mountain Safety If you are in need for help: raise both arms. If you want to signal that you are not in need for help: raise one... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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Why are long-distance hiking trails in the USA so much more famous than in Europe? There are several famous long distance hiking trails in the USA, connecting the Mexican border to the Canadian border. The most famous ones are the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) at 4,279 km and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) at 4,989 km. Europe has some well known trails such as Tour de Mont Blan... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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What is a kassakåta? Within the mountains (and other wilderness areas) of Västerbotten and Norrbotten in Sweden, there is a lot of cultural heritage, with Sami huts ("kåta") like Måskåsj-gammen or like this one between Sjisjka and Tjåurek: Sami hut between Sjisjka and Tjåurek, 18 June 2011... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: How to prevent sleeping bag from expanding in its bag Get a special bag for the sleeping bag. Your special bag should have compression straps. If it's also a dry bag, it should ideally also have a valve. I have bought the compression dry bag PS10 with valve and belt from Ortlieb. It's like other dry-bags, but with a valve and compression straps. I ... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: How can I hike across the Grand Canyon if I don't have a backcountry permit? Grand Canyon National Park employ a waiting list for unreserved permits. If you have a week, you have a very good chance of getting a permit even on campgrounds in the corridor. We visited Grand Canyon National Park in May 2018. We applied in December 2017 for overnight permits at the Cottonwood C... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: how high does a fence need to be to prevent European brown bear to climb it? Turn your fence into a cage. If you have a 50×50 m² area, surround it by a 4 metre high fence, and fence the roof as well. That's 4×50×4 m² = 800 m² of fencing for the walls and 50×50 m² = 2500 m² for the roof, 3300 m² of bear-proof fence in total... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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Why aren't the mule trains outfitters required to clean up after their animals? When we venture into the wilderness, we bury our solid human waste (or may even have to pack it out in some places). The basic guideline is to not leave faeces anywhere where it can be discovered or uncovered in the future. Yet along the popular North Kaibab, South Kaibab, and Bright Angel trails i... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Reusing disposable water bottles vs. buying dedicated bottles I used to complement my 3 litre hydration bladder with one or two 1.5 litre plastic bottles in dry climates, where carrying 3 litre of water may not be enough. However, when I first hiked on multi-day trips in areas where water filtration is essential, I realised that the Steripen does not enter the... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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Where can I find the current status regarding fire bans in Norway? Due to forest fires in Sweden, many Swedish counties have issued a total fire ban, such as Västerbotten and Jämtland. In most cases, this includes camping stoves, and therefore has the potential to strongly impact any outdoor recreation unless backpackers are happy to skip hot meals. In D... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |