"Know Before You Go" (KBYG) Online Avalanche Education Program Just in time for winter the Utah Avalanche Center has produced a new set of Avalanche safety classes and made them available online. The free "Know Before You Go" (KBYG) online avalanche education program was specifically made to help people learn about avalanches and the best way to ski, ride and hike in avalanche terrain safely.
There are 5 interactive courses designed to help everyone learn the principles needed to be safer and more confident in the avalanche terrain.
You can find out more at both the “Know Before You Go” and the Utah Avalanche Center websites.
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Packing Lighter for Endurance and Speed These days many people are not just out there backpacking, they’re lightweight, ultra-lightweight and super-ultra-lightweight backpacking so that they can travel further and faster. So what are the definitions of lightweight, ultra-lightweight and super-ultra-lightweight backpacking, and what gear do you need to jettison from your normal load to give it a go? The short answer is that for lightweight backpacking your “base pack” should weigh less than 20 pounds. Ultra-lightweight requires a base pack weight of less than 10 pounds and super-ultra-lightweight requires a base pack that weighs less than 5 pounds. Note that “base pack weight” refers to the weight of all the items in your backpack, including the backpack, with the exception of your consumables (food, water and fuel). Base pack weight also doesn't include the clothing that you are wearing to hike. Alternatively “skin-out weight” refers to everything in your pack plus your consumables and the clothes that you are wearing. In other words, skin-out weight is what you weigh with your clothes and backpack on - minus the weight of your naked body. But there’s a lot more to Lightweight, Ultra-lightweight and Super-ultra-lightweight backpacking. Luckily one of our website’s readers found a great article on Angie’s List (thanks Steven and Stephanie - who knew that they had hiking articles on Angie’s List) that summarizes this trend and provides lots of links to other websites to give you all the necessary information to get you started. Since the article nicely aligns with our thoughts on the topic we thought that we would pass it along - "Ultralight Backpacking: Keeping the Packing List Short". You can find the article here: https://www.angieslist.com/articles/ultralight-backpacking-keeping-packing-list-short.htm ….and here’s a complete listing of the 21 links that the article references: 1) Start Lightweight Backpacking - https://www.gossamergear.com/pages/start-lightweight-backpacking 2) Ultralight Backpacking Guide (How to Easily Conquer Lightweight Hiking) - https://backpackerverse.com/ultralight-backpacking-tips/ 3) Working Gear List: The Big Three - http://www.thetenaciouscrasis.com/working-gear-list-the-big-three/ 4) The Big Three: How to Lighten Your Backpack, Sleeping Bag and Shelter - https://seattlebackpackersmagazine.com/the-big-three-how-to-lighten-your-backpack-sleeping-bag-and-shelter/ 5) Lightweight Backpacking Step 2: The Big Three - https://www.itstactical.com/gearcom/load-bearing/lightweight-backpacking-step-2-the-big-three/ 6) Ultralight Makeover - http://www.backpackingnorth.com/ultralight-makeover-overview/ 7) How Much Should Your pack Weigh? - https://www.rei.com/blog/camp/how-much-should-your-pack-weigh 8) A Weekend Backpacking Checklist for First-Timers - https://www.sierratradingpost.com/blog/article/first-weekend-backpacking-checklist/ 9) Lightweight Backpacking: The Big Three - https://sectionhiker.com/lighten-up-your-backpack-the-big-three/ 10) How to Pick Your Big Three - https://thetrek.co/pick-big-three-shelter-sleeping-bag-pack/ 11) Water for Hiking - http://www.hikingdude.com/hiking-water.php 12) Hydration - https://www.thehikinglife.com/health-safety/hydration/ 13) How to Cut Water Weight: A Backpacker's Guide to Hydration - https://www.greenbelly.co/pages/how-much-water-should-i-carry-backpacking 14) Ultralight Backpacking: 10 Tips for Shaving Weight Without Sacrificing Comfort - https://bearfoottheory.com/ultralight-backpacking-tips/ 15) Tips for Lightening Your Backpacking Load - https://www.backcountry.com/explore/tips-for-lightening-your-backpacking-load 16) How to Calculate Backpack Weight with LighterPack - https://backpackers.com/how-to-calculate-backpack-weight-with-lighterpack/ 17) Organize Your Backpacking Trip - https://www.backpacker.com/stories/organize-your-backpacking-trip 18) How to Pack and Organize a Backpack for a Euro Trip - https://www.eaglecreek.com/blog/how-pack-and-organize-backpack-euro-trip.html 19) Long-Distance Hiking: Lessons from the Appalachian Trail - http://hikinghq.net/book_long_distance.html 20) Pack Like a Pro: Ultralight Backpacking with Scott Robertson - https://www.osprey.com/stories/pack-like-a-pro-ultralight-backpacking/ 21) Making the Switch to Ultralight Backpacking - http://www.lovetheoutdoors.com/making-the-switch-to-ultralight-backpacking/ If you read the article you’ll see that many of the embedded links talk about the need to first sort out your backpack, shelter and sleeping bag/system (the “big three”) since they are the absolute required gear and weigh the most. After that, assuming that you still have remaining weight allowance, you need to add water, food, fuel, cooking/eating utensils, first aid kit, etc.
So, if you’re interested in challenging yourself with a Lightweight, Ultra-lightweight or Super-ultra-lightweight backpacking adventure, look over all this great information and get out there……. Seirus Innovation 1171 Mens Xtreme Waterproof All Weather Form Fit Glove with Soundtouch Touch Screen TechnologyIf you’re outdoors, and the weather is both cold and wet, one invaluable piece of gear that you need is a good pair of waterproof gloves – especially here in New England. The only problem is that many waterproof gloves don’t breathe, don’t allow you to have good dexterity and aren’t sturdy enough for actually doing real work - like chopping wood. Recently we’ve spent a fair amount of time looking for a good pair of waterproof gloves and finally found a pair that we liked; the Seirus Innovation 1171 Mens Xtreme Waterproof gloves. We like the fact that they provide a tight fit and have a tall wrist cuff that keeps out the cold air and snow – while allowing us the dexterity to use tools in the cold. You can find the details about the Seirus Mens Xtreme Waterproof gloves on the Camping/Tools page.
Another Good Source for Gear Reviews, Gear Checklists and Outdoor Knowledge These days there’s lots of information related to Hiking, Camping and Shooting gear on the internet – some of it good and detailed - and some of it superficial and just plain wrong. Since we like to help our readers save time by focusing on information from good online resources (instead of wasting your time surfing all over and filtering out bad resources) we list the best sites that we find on our website under the heading of “Other Helpful Information Sources”. Because the content on the internet is constantly changing, we also update our references when we find new ones that we like. Recently the folks at MyOpenCountry.com found our website online and reached out to us to us since we both love the Outdoors and share a common point of view. We hadn’t seen their site before so we looked it over and really liked the information that they were putting online. We especially liked that they had a specific sections for “Hiking & Camping Gear”, “Hiking & Camping Tips & Guides" and “Trip Inspiration” – much like the content on our site. In addition to all of their other content, the folks at My Open Country just published a great detailed article with their point of view on the gear you need for Hiking titled "What to Carry: 3 Season Hiking Gear Checklist”; they even included a downloadable checklist to make things easier for you. Their article starts with some "Quick Tips: Do's & Don’ts" and then the covers the areas listed below in more detail:
So, if you’re searching for another great outdoor information source, you might want to take a look at, and bookmark, MyOpenCountry.com. If you want to see our latest gear checklists you can download PDF versions of them here:
Hiking Gear Camping Gear Disaster Preparedness Gear Shooting Gear When Will the Trees Get Their Peak Fall Colors in Your Neck of the Woods? Since Fall is now officially here - it's time to start looking at all the beautiful Autumn colors. Luckily there’s a great online resource that you can use to see when the tree colors should peak anywhere in the US on a “Fall Foliage Prediction Map”. Here’s what they are predicting for the upcoming week: And it looks like they are predicting the week of 15 October will be the peak for “leaf-peeping” here in New England: If you want to see what the predictions are for your part of the country, or a part of the country that you plan to visit to see the beautiful fall colors, then you can check it out the on the following website:
https://smokymountains.com/fall-foliage-map/ How to Never Have a Serious Poison Ivy Rash Again Well, now that Summer is in full swing, all the plants are growing like crazy here in New England; even the poison ivy (and it's cousins poison oak and poison sumac). So if you want to enjoy hiking and camping in the woods, but avoid getting a serious poison ivy rash what should you do? The first thing that you need to know is that you don't get poison ivy rash from contacting a poison ivy plant - you get it because you didn't wash off the Urushiol oil that comes from contacting the plant or another object that contacted the plant. Urushiol oil in poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac is what produces a severe skin rash. Timely removal of the urushiol oil will prevent poison ivy skin reaction. Clean your skin within 2 to 8 hours of contact. When doing this, the most important thing is not the type of soap that you use - but that you use a wash cloth to apply vigorous friction to make sure that you get all the sticky urushiol oil off of your skin. To make sure that you do this it's a good idea to soap up and wash off 3 times. Here's a great video from retired biomedical scientist Jim Brauker that clearly demonstrates the poison ivy problem and solution. Bought New Buck 110 AutoMany times in the outback we find that we need to cut something - but have our hands full because they are holding other items – normally the items that we are trying to cut. In situations like this you need a knife that has the ability to flip open or open automatically. Because of this, although we have several other knives in our gear, we recently purchased a Buck 110 Auto.
You can find the details about the Buck 110 Auto on the Camping/Tools page. If You Love Hiking Waterfall Trails – Then You Need to Bookmark This Website One of our favorite hiking activities is to hike to see waterfalls. Luckily there is an online database that lists the known waterfalls by Country, State, name and map location - the "World Waterfall Database". https://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/ "The World Waterfall Database was established to provide a complete, accurate record of the waterfalls throughout the world, largely because such a record had not ever been established." The website has lots of great detailed information on the waterfalls. They’ve even a glossary of waterfall related terms (https://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/glossary) and lists of waterfalls by category:
Here are the maps for the waterfalls in New England:: Here’s what all the map icons mean. Details about the site’s icons and how to use the site can be found at:
https://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/help#status So if you are looking for waterfalls on your hikes – you should really check out the "World Waterfall Database". Bought New Best Glide ASE Adventurer Survival Gill NetAny of you that have watched the TV Series “Alone” know how handy a gill net can be. For our normal fishing adventures in the outback we carry Uncle Flint’s Survival Fishing Kit II and 220 yards of 30 lb Berkley Trilene clear fishing line. But line fishing, with either a pole or by hand, takes time since you have to be present at all times to be effective. In a real survival situation this is not practical. So “just in case” we recently bought a gill net to keep with our other “deep” survival gear since it can be set up and left unattended while your time is devoted to building survival shelter, providing medical attention, signaling or other survival activities. Please note that gill nets should only be used for survival applications since they are outlawed in most states for sport fishing.
You can find the details about the Best Glide Gill Net on the Camping/Tools page. Bought New ZODI Outback Gear Battery Powered Shower If you are camping in the outback sometimes it’s nice to wash more than just your hands. If there’s a pond or deep stream nearby, and you don’t mind the brace of cold water, then you can just jump in. However, since you probably don’t want to use soap when you do this (even biodegradable soap like Campsuds), a better solution is to take a shower – especially a warm shower. To solve this problem we just bought a Zodi Outback Gear Battery Powered Shower.
You can find the details about the Zodi Shower on the Camping/Tools page. |
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