Posts by Olin Lathrop
"Get out as fast as possible" doesn't make sense considering you are "hours or days" from a trailhead. If the allergic reaction is going to kill you, like swelling up your throat to the point you ...
Protecting against UV is usually done with a covering like fur, feathers, scales, a hard shell, etc, or pigment. Our own species is a great example of the latter. It seems we emerged on the plain...
I don't know of any organization as you describe, but there certainly ways for adults to learn outdoorsmanship. There are likely outdoor clubs in your area that run educational programs. Here in ...
Bison roam over large areas of Yellowstone, and you'll certainly spot a few from the road. They don't care about cars and humans much. I remember them being readily visible from the road in vario...
Another answer talks about hardness. There is some relevance to that, but more importantly, ice is brittle, regardless of how hard it is. You don't need much of a tool to scrape or crack chunks f...
The cause of the itch can be quite different. For mosquito bites, the itch is due to a allergic reaction to the mosquito's saliva. The strength of this allergic reaction varies between people, an...
In my experience, hiking alone is definitely faster if the intent is to get to the destination quickly. I lead organized hikes often (roughly one/month) for the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) an...
That was almost certainly done by a porcupine. Like beavers, their primary food source is the cambium layer under the bark of trees. That's actually the only living part of the trunks and major...
I go to Arizona and hike around the desert pretty much every summer. One thing I've noticed that makes a difference is to immerse yourself in the heat. Don't try to avoid it; embrace it. I have ...
This is not a direct answer, but still relevant. Technically, "chipmunk" is the common name for a limited few specific species of ground squirrels. These usually have the stripes that run along t...
Wood is not a simple chemical. It releases a number of different compounds when heated. Try distilling wood some time. Put a few slivers into a test tube and heat it. Pipe the result into anoth...
Where: North-central Massachusetts When: 8 April 2017 Whenever I'm out and about, I look at wetlands as I go by to see their general state, how much the invasive phragmites is pushing out the nati...
Make the end objective not finding you, but some object. Then you can follow around and watch how the other guy solves the puzzle.
I don't have a direct answer to your question, but basic logic says that would be unusual. Think about what seasonal migration is for. It is to get access to different conditions than any one pla...
This is really a comment, or several of them, but too big to use the comments mechanism. Alberta is a big place with quite varied climates. In particular, you can divide the province into the R...
As far as I can see, only your original picture from 2016 shows sign of woolly adelgid. The tree is not in focus since the point of the picture was the doves, but here are some clues: The white...
15 km (9.3 miles) is really long for the average 5 year old, especially when it's 65% longer and at higher altitude than what she's used to. This sounds like a bad idea to me. You say you can car...
Unfortunately, much of the shoreline of Mt Desert Island looks like that, particularly on the east and south. Stop and think about what you were doing before and after being there. There is only ...
Pressure can tell you altitude (both up in mountains or down in caves). This is the basis for how many altimeters work. It helps if you know the pressure at a nearby known altitude. This helps...
The tent. Whatever you are tying the hammock to is obviously sticking up a bit. Let's assume trees. Things that stick up are more likely to be hit by lightning. Since the hammock needs to be ti...
Today GPS systems are relatively cheap and widely available. You don't even need a dedicated GPS receiver. For example, I often use a Android tablet with a built-in GPS, and software that can rec...
I'm not sure what exactly makes a trail more blind-friendly as apposed to something like wheelchair-friendly, so I'll answer for handicapped-accessible trails in general. The vast majority of trai...
Both words refer to the same topography, which is a saddle point. The land goes up in two opposite directions, and down in the two other opposite directions. To me at least, a col is just this ba...
I have never heard of wild boars charging a tent. I really don't imagine that happening, assuming there isn't a human visibly standing in the doorway or something. Wild boars predominantly charge...
Seals appear at various times in various places on Cape Cod. There isn't a guaranteed time and place to see seals, but some spots are better than others. For example, this picture was taken at He...
