Posts by Kate Gregory
Front country is a rarely used term; it would only be in contrast to backcountry. Backcountry camping means that you are not near the road or in a developed area. Typically sites can only be reache...
Use the GPS to determine your position and then text or email that to your rescuers. That will be the end of the GPS's contribution to the rescue process. Staying put is generally best (saves your...
When I cook home-dehydrated food, I often rehydrate for a day - but not on the stove. In the morning, I boil water for coffee, pour some over dehydrated meat in a Nalgene, leave the lid on loosely ...
Like most activities, campfires aren't simply ethical or unethical. There are only a few things in this world that are always ethical or always unethical. Rather, there are ethical and unethical wa...
It is true that people say this. While I know that the plural of anecdote is not data, I will tell some stories. I camp in black bear country (Algonquin and other Ontario parks) and we hang our foo...
I wear lightweight gardening gloves, cotton I suppose, available in men's, women's, and children's sizes for $3 or so at pretty much any hardware or gardening store in the summer. I avoid anything ...
If you need to ask, the answer is almost certainly never. There are places (Northern Quebec, Labrador, Ontario and Manitoba near Hudson's Bay) where due to polar bear activity you should be accom...
If you were a voyageur, among your most important equipment would be your fellow voyageurs and a larger boat so as to hold them all. Assuming you're a little more modern and have a 16 or so foot bo...
Here's the theory: at noon, if you're in the northern hemisphere, the sun is due south of you. At 6am it's due east of you and at 6pm, due west. (Day length may tweak this a little if you're far en...
If possible, don't pitch your tent on the sand - get back a bit into some vegetation. Then apply these strategies: set up your cook area well out of traffic and impose a strict no-running rule an...
I have bought the Copper Spur 3 and slept in it now on a cottage lawn and on a backcountry campsite. The advantages (lightweight, easy to set up) are real. There are some disadvantages that I have ...
At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old person it seems like EVERYTHING is slipperier than it used to be. I'm not sure if new stuff starts slippery and gets less so, or if things are now made mor...
First, you won't need to make this observation if you routinely drink when you stop to rest, and if you eat something at least slightly salty whenever you snack (if your snacks include jerky or sal...
The key here is to plan the meals. If you know all the dinners you will make you will know what pots etc you need. That said: Plates 1 per person + 2 or 3 for cooking purposes Mugs 1 per person, ...
There are all kinds of people who put up the fly first, then crouch under it putting up the inside. It's generally a very unpleasant experience from all I have heard, what with the crouching, crawl...
An absolutely vital part of my camping equipment is what we call the washing up bowl: a rectangular plastic tub that's smaller than a sink, but larger than your plates and pots. I actually take two...
I have a workhorse of a tent, an Alpine Meadows, (described in this answer) that I really like. We bought it 30 years ago, and at first we just had way more stuff than we should, and eventually we ...
This afternoon there was a tornado warning - TAKE SHELTER IN A PERMANENT BUILDING IMMEDIATELY - for the west half of Algonquin Park issued through the usual channels including Twitter. I believe by...
You are going to need some sort of sticks. If you're canoeing, you have paddles. (It would be great if you had 4 - lash them together blade to blade and get longer stretcher handles. With only two ...
I would recommend a soft open frameless pack, like a Duluth, which is made of canvas. We can fit three food barrels into our Duluth, but they are olive barrels (watertight) not the standard blue on...
If you have children with you, you will have no worries about keeping yourself busy, you'll be plenty busy. If the weather is nice, your kids might enjoy games like: Throw Rocks in the Water Run ...
Two parts to your question, and two parts to my answer. First, how can you plan your route lake by lake when you don't know the weather etc? You plan for somewhat shorter days, and deal with delay...
You need to distinguish between a backcountry campground - a bunch of sites together - and a backcountry campsite. In Algonquin, while you may only camp on designated sites, you are all alone as th...
Generally "X gives way to Y" rules can be found not just on trails but on open water (steam gives way to sail) and in rivers and channels, even on city sidewalks. They seem to be based on these (po...
I buy small bricks of "light" cheese (typically cheddar; we have also tried mozzarella) and keep them sealed as long as possible. (The lower fat cheeses are less likely to sweat beads of oil on a h...
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