Recent content by Seeker

Like Will Derness, I've done the hair tie thing inside the bowline, but I also use velcro computer cable ties... you can fasten them to the bowline the same way as a hair tie, then wrap them around the coiled cordage to hold them fast. On my poncho, I have a couple feet of cord on each corner...

Plowpoint is my favorite... these are both 10x10. I also have a much lighter 9x9 (smaller by 20%, lighter material). with mosquito netting, summer trip, lighter bag. Same location, colder weather, no bugs, no net, different bag.

I use a large capacity ultralight pack, line it with a 35L drybag for the 'cannot get wet' stuff (sleeping bag, clothing), and use other small drybags for the rest of it, using the pack's pockets as needed. I've tried carrying a small day pack, a thwart bag, and a pocketless drybag w/harness...

I've done a lot of things over 45+ years... carpenter's and mason's helper (my dad, and the mason next door when dad was tired of me), door installer, car salesman, janitor, business agent (trying to sell businesses), and a few others over the years when things were bad. Also owned a cleaning...

Lila's Mount Frederica, Low's Grass Pond Mountain, and the Hitchens' Pond Overlook, already mentioned, are all nice short hikes from lakes/ponds. One other I've done is Long Pond Mountain, off Long Pond in the St Regis. One I would like to do is St Regis Mountain, in the same area. This is...

This is my nomination for the "most-in-need-of-replacing" portage sign in the St Regis Canoe Wilderness... it's facing west on Lydia Pond, marking the portage trail back to Little Long Pond, which explains why it's so weathered (and you can't really see it from where you stand on the shore...

If I'm in my Nessmuk XL, just the one double paddle... it's got a solid ferrule, spruce shafts, and carbon-fiber blades, and I can pretty much fix anything that breaks, or rig up any wreckage to use one blade if it's that bad. If I'm in my other canoe (Chum), I bring two paddles (both ash)...

The older I get, the more I appreciate a chair, soft bed, and flat surfaces at a convenient working height. My luxury items these days are either a hammock or full-sized and well insulated Thermarest mattress, an air pillow (you can adjust it 'just right' to prevent sleep-induced injuries), a...

I have a couple of these. The big ones (Klymit Static V insulated, Thermarest insulated, and thermarest normal neoair) all require 16-20 breathes to inflate. The smallest, a Klymit Inertia(?) weighs only 8oz, and inflates in about 10 breathes, but it's thinner and only designed to support...

After years of thinking through this, I've pretty much got my solo gear dialed in to what I actually need and use, no more, no less. On tandem trips, I still bring too much, mostly because I'm responsible for the other person and they're maybe not comfortable with something I'd do alone (e.g...

When I first moved to LA in 2002, I was terrified of the gators, water mocs, coyotes, feral dogs, and hogs, but refused to stay inside. After a few years, a friend suggested a pistol (revolver for reliability, chest holster for access), and I was cured. Seldom had to use it, entirely on water...

I used to be able to sleep anywhere, anyhow, with a pack or helmet for a pillow... no more. I'm well past the age where I can go to bed fine and wake up injured... it's happened! And then it takes a week to get that kink out of your neck and back. A good pillow is no longer a luxury item...

Most beautiful I've seen is probably the entire portage between Turtle Pond and Clamshell Pond in the St Regis Canoe Wilderness... from the initial entry into a moss-filled evergreen forest at Turtle, to the sudden transition to hardwoods to the beaver meadow to the hillside paths and glacially...

I don't catch or eat a lot of fish, but one of my favorite ways to cook a trout is in foil. You need a trout, a lemon, an onion, an apple, and some seasoned salt, and a piece of foil. (I prefer the thickest kind, because you can burn it in the fire without it falling to bits, all the stuck...

I'm down to two canoes... a Robin-refurbished Chestnut Pal and a Hemlock Nessmuk II. (I sold my OT Yankee to a cousin, but can still use it if I want to.) The Pal was/is a roughly 15' tandem, weighs about 50-55 lbs, and I've refitted it as a solo by making a seat for the center position. I...