Recent content by Cookannapurna

Bonjour!

I alternate between a pair of Kenetrak pack boots and a pair of the higher end (forget the model) Muck hunting boots. The mucks are great b/c they are warm, waterproof, and easy to get on and off. The pack boots are better if I’m snowshoeing. They lace up and fit a little snugger. Both come up...

Canoes almost exclusively. I’m in RI and paddled a Nigel Dennis sea kayak for a long while (still own it, it’s so customized to me, I don’t think I could sell it if I wanted to). My knees can’t take it for very long anymore. My exception is my Jackson kayak for fly fishing. It’s designed for...

I have far too many ways to purify water to just use my platypus. I also have a thing with stoves! I should admit to a gear problem in general. I’m 50 and have in the outdoors in some form since birth. It started with hunting, fishing, and canoeing with my grandfather and uncles, moved to Boy...

Many times dinner is my only “true meal”. I’m totally ok most days eating GORP, dried fruit, homemade fruit leather, and homemade beef jerky starting when I get up. Dinner is commercial freeze dried, or most of the time, home dehydrated. If there are no portages, all bets are off for meals...

I rarely portage more than a mile and a half. I still prefer my traditional packs (Duluth, Frost River). I really like my FR with the calfskin padded straps. I use the tump on either. Most of my gear is on the lighter “backpacking” end of the spectrum. I use a hammock, and eat a mix of...

That is a fantastic rod. My wife had one built for me a couple of years ago (same 7’6” 3wt). It’s one of the 4 rods that live in my rod vault now n top of the truck (and I’ve got 35-40 rods!). I have a problem. It gets fished a lot. My “home stream” here in RI is the Wood River. I may not be...

I carry daily, usually a custom Kimber 1911, other times call for a smaller firearm. More for 2 legged predators than anything else.

Many of my fondest memories include a campfire. I hope and pray to make many more. Just sat around one in my backyard last night. Both of my teenage kids (17,18) ended up there with their friends. They took over when my wife and I went in. I don’t know what it is, but the crazier the world...

I have my original grey waterworks, but that hasn’t been used in years (I even have a couple replacements for both the ceramic and pleated filters). I mainly use the platty gravity feed. It’s almost too easy after all the years of pumping. I also keep a bottle of polar pur in the kitchen stuff...

Keep the posts coming. I just found this thread, and have spent the last hour captivated.

I’m a lifelong fly fisherman (51years now). I haven’t had a hook with a barb in 30 years. The few flies I buy that have barbs get mashed before they go in the box, the multitude I tie every year were mashed for years, and now are tied on barbless. I fish a bunch (maybe too much), I’m sure I...

Cook is my last name. I climbed Annapurna in 1993. It’s also the name of our last husky in my pic.

Dots of either aquaseal or seamgrip.

I bought my wife one of the soft Yeti coolers with backpack straps for the beach (we live in southern RI, and she lives on the beach all summer). She can strap all her beach stuff to it, and easily carry it. It keeps ice all day on the beach. It’s paid for itself just as n not buying stuff...