Readily available technology, known as photo stitching, is allowing casual photographers to easily create amazing images. The technical terms used vary by vendor, but to the lay person they end up sounding pretty much like: Really cool 3D virtual reality things you can spin around in and look at everything … Continue reading
Let me start by saying that I am neither a caveman nor an expert in paleolithic food consumption. I have not published a PhD dissertation comparing The China Study with benefits of dino-dining. I leave dietary science research to the more qualified, or at least the more openly opinionated. I’m … Continue reading
Removing harmful pathogens from questionable water sources is a challenge for any outdoor enthusiast. The most common methods are boiling, filtering, chemically treating, and exposing to UV light. When most of us think of UV light, we think of an expensive battery powered device, such as a Steripen™. The sun, … Continue reading
A clear night sky in the wilderness offers spectacular views of celestial objects, including the International Space Station (ISS). After all, the dang thing weighs 954,334.8 pounds and covers an area of 26,909.78 square feet. I mean you’d have to be practically blind not to see it. According to the … Continue reading
New employees of any company or organization are faced with digging their way through various policy and procedure handbooks. Typical tomes requiring shoveling include volumes on workplace health and safety, anti-discrimination policy, sexual harassment, and most recently the dos and don’ts of bullying. These manuals are typically painful to read … Continue reading
Ambiguity is fun. Is Logan Bread the answer, or simply part of the question? Or perhaps, both? I was at a dinner party recently where a woman, after sampling a brownie-like item declared: This tastes healthy. There was immediate recognition, by all within ear shot, exactly what was meant. Needless … Continue reading
As with most griefs, there are five stages of wilderness laundry: Denial: I don’t smell anything. Why are you sitting way over there? Anger: Seriously, it is not that bad! Besides, you don’t exactly smell pine scented! Bargaining: Listen, I’ll take a quick dip in the lake when we get … Continue reading
Those of us of a certain age remember Euell Gibbons, a man of seemingly normal human intelligence, declaring on network television: “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.” What an idiot! Not Euell, me. Years I wandered through thick pine forest, lugging my rolled oats and dirt flavored … Continue reading
Leave No Trace principles limit our wilderness take home pay to memories and photographs. Since memories quickly fade with age, we should probably give these photograph things a snap more exposure. Professional photographers aside, most of us set our artistic dial on decent. Decent seems to be the minimum level … Continue reading
Wilderness adventure brings to mind two conflicting persona’s – the rugged outdoor survivalist matching wits with Mother Nature, and his cousin the Nature Channel HDTV voyeur. Each labors for his love. The former hacks free his boulder trapped arm with a penknife, while the latter pries free his remote control … Continue reading
Backpacking with small children is mental, and I mean that in every possible sense. To do so requires Olympic class mental gymnastics and probably some mandatory drug testing. Consider for a moment oil and vinegar. At first they don’t seem to go well together, but if you shake them really really hard … Continue reading
In most of our United States anyone serving food to the public, including a wilderness guide preparing meals in the backcountry, should be Food Handler Certified. The goal is preventing food borne illnesses. The industry certification covers standard topics such as causes of food borne illness, factors that contribute to … Continue reading
Permits? We don’t need no stinking permits! Or do we? Backpackers love to travel in spectacular remote wildernesses. These highly desirable lands however are not controlled by a single entity. Understanding the mountainous range of permit requirements can feel as wild as the wilderness you want to backpack. As an … Continue reading
![By Vinish K Saini from Chandigarh, India (Moon n Venus played hide-and-seek) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://howtowilderness.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/800px-Voobie_-_Moon_n_Venus_played_hide-and-seek_by-sa-150x150.jpg "800px-Voobie_-_Moon_n_Venus_played_hide-and-seek_(by-sa)")
Star Struck You don’t just want to be a star gazer. Anyone capable of tilting their head back at night can be that. You want to be a Rock Star Gazer. A Rock Star Gazer is a gazer who says: That red star is Betelgeuse. It represents the arm pit … Continue reading
There are a wide variety of tent shapes and sizes, each reflecting the personality and style of their owner. In spite of their apparent differences, most tents are designed to solve a common fundamental challenge – how to efficiently protect the tent occupant from the elements. A wilderness shelter can … Continue reading
When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go This is without doubt the number one or number two challenge in the wilderness. Many of us wish we could avoid the subject, but in the end, it’s not our call; it’s nature’s call. Try as we might, there is simply no avoiding … Continue reading
If you ever wondered what it’s like to be swept up in a snow avalanche, watch this 9 minute “point of view” video from Verbier Switzerland in Feb 2011. The fact that it is only 9 minutes long is very good news. It takes about a minute and a half … Continue reading
The shocking thing about shock is that most of us have a fairly muddled understanding of it. When we think of shock what often comes to mind is a sudden anxiety producing surprise – something that generates a reaction to fight, flight, or faint. It might be the way you … Continue reading
What is a WFR? A Wilderness First Responder, sometimes referred to as a “woofer,” is an individual trained and certified to provide extended emergency medical care in a wilderness setting. In comparison think of an urban first responder as focused on providing care during the “golden hour” – that critical … Continue reading
Although a strong urge to perform math is probably not what drove you to leave civilization, there are times when guess-ti-mating is an important skill: Your wilderness permit says your campsite must be at least 100 feet from water. You are wondering if that tree branch is really high enough … Continue reading
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