Search results

I don't rely on cell service, but have gotten it in some weird places. When I do, I make a point to text my wife and let her know I'm doing well... places I have gotten coverage are almost always high... Hitchens Overlook on Lows/Bog River, Mt Fredrica on Lila, Grass Pond Mountain on Lows...

I generally try to avoid folks, but I've run into several who were memorable... Saw one guy on Low's Lake one year, in a white canoe with a sail, headed straight across the lake toward my lunch spot... beached about 10' from me, and out comes Conk, with whom I've stayed in contact on and off...

It's funny... scrolling quickly through this thread, I recognized a canoe, stove/frying pan, and pack, and stopped... yup. it was Robin's... just funny how you know people by their gear combos sometimes. I pack a bit heavier with my daughter, a lot heavier with my wife, very light when alone...

Whatever strokes I learned in Scouts were lost in the 25 or so years that went between the end of my Scouting and my rediscovery of the water... The only thing that stuck was kneeling... I've always preferred to kneel... feels right, somehow. And when I started solo-ing, I figured out that...

I can't recommend a specific breed, mostly because I'm not a dog person and have only had one dog (inherited) in my adult life, and he wasn't the best in a canoe. Scared of water too. But I will say that the funniest thing I've ever seen in that regard was a co-paddler whose name escapes me...

I always carry at least a Swiss Army Knife Tinker in my pocket, every day carry. In the woods, this becomes a SAK Fieldmaster or Huntsman, which has a saw and scissors in addition to the Tinker's tools. The SAK's tools are stainless steel, and the blades are a slightly harder steel, but still...

Goal post off the trailer hitch with a couple ratchet straps to keep it from swaying (tied into the grocery bag hooks in the trunk), bungy cord across the goal post, ratchet strap through the doors in the middle, and front painter (split) ties into two tabs under the hood. Have done 8 hours at...

Age as brought few maturity-related fears... if anything, I've realized I've lived to 57 even with a brain that sometimes tries to kill me. "Respect" is more the word... I have a greater respect for bears, bad weather, and the possibility of injury... all can be mitigated with proper planning...

This is more of my backpacking setup, but I have a Gatewood Cape with a bugnet/groundsheet insert that is really compact and light (20oz or so). It's not a tent-like vestibule, but you can cook in it while sitting up in your sleeping bag. They also make a 'tent' version of it called the...

I chose "air mattress" in the poll, because that's mostly what I use. Other trips, it's a hammock, and still others (in colder weather), it's an air mattress with a foam pad on top. My favorite mattress is a ThermaRest NEO Air, full length. I also have a Klymit V Insulated, which is better...

I don't have a pertinent suggestion because I'm a down bag user... and often a hammock hanger, especially when new to an area. Your comment about finding a 'good' site is very valid. The hammock really helps with this, enabling you to put up a safe, dry shelter almost anywhere. Once I scout...

You can't see it, but my pack canoe is off to the far right, in the near garage bay, same pulley system, but upside down. I ran a couple pieces of large PVC pipe through the straps, and it's far easier to get in/out that way. The pulleys run about $30 on Amazon, and are held into the rafters...

I bought an elastic belt at of all places the Aldi grocery store, on a whim, and it has worked well... I am not overweight by much, 5-10, 190lbs, and it does fine on my 36" waist. You can also get nylon webbing in any length, color, style, thickness, or width, along with buckles, at Strapworks.com.

Glenn, I know your comment wasn't directed specifically at me, but I was going to go look it up anyway, and here's the quote I'm talking about... it's from Townsend Whelen's book "On Your Own in the Wilderness", and i think the copyright is around 1960, toward the end of his life. Anyway...

I've run the riffle between Turtle and Slang Ponds on my own (1 inch drop in elevation, 50' long, maybe, for those unfamiliar), and was in the front of a canoe steered by a much older and experienced Scout on a trip down the Delaware River about 45 years ago... I theoretically know how to steer...

I thought Shackleton was crazy (for polar exploration), but he did apparently say "there's no such thing as bad weather, only improper clothing". And I tend to go camping when a lot of other folks won't... I go because I planned to, and took the time off work, and have the skills to stay warm...

The biggest "trick" I have is to take my time and do it right.... normal fire prep involves double handfuls each of pencil-lead, pencil, thumb, and wrist-sized wood. Rainy prep should be double that, triple if you have time. I try to acquire a good stash of birchbark, and once you get it...

I created a first aid kit a few years back and have pretty much stuck with its contents since then. Fits in a Mentos container... several bandaids, a couple Q-tips, a pair of tweezers, tick key, and a few tablets each of Motrin, Pepto, Immodium, Zyrtec, Benadryl, and a sample packet of...

I didn't respond, because it depends on the canoe... In my Hemlock Nessmuk XL, it's a seated solo, and I use the double almost all the time, except for the times I get into a really narrow, brushy channel and break my paddle down, which isn't really so much paddling as it is "getting out of the...

If this is going to end up similar to the one we did a couple years back on Little Tupper, it was most excellent... I won't be able to commit until closer to time. (New job, lots of travel, sudden changes to schedule.)