Archive for May 2015

Outdoor Gear … Consider Renting

Outdoor Gear ... Consider Renting

I have long been a bit conflicted about the huge array of gear and clothing that retail stores — nowadays almost exclusively dominated by “big box” stores — sell to all skills levels of outdoors people at fairly astonishing prices.  I suppose that what most bothers me is the disconnect between the gear that we need  (perhaps better defined as the gear that we are told, or believe, that we “need”) just to enter the Great Outdoors.  To me, the Great Outdoors should be the great equalizer where everyone, regardless of skill level and wallet or purse size, can experience and share the beauty and wonder of our natural world. Still, I accept that having proper gear and clothing can make this experience not just more safe, but more comfortable.  Heck, let’s face it, not having a tent, or a cheap one at that, or an inappropriate sleeping bag, on a […]

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Blisters – Prevention & Treatment

Blisters - Prevention & Treatment

As part of our everyday lives in our front-country worlds, blisters on our feet are not that big of a deal.  That’s because you probably rarely get them, and, if you do, they are usually easy to remedy and protect.  In fact, they are likely little more than an inconvenience. However, in a backcountry setting, you will definitely view blisters from a completely different perspective.  To write that they are “painful,” as many of you would likely agree, is more than an understatement.  Not only can they can easily ruin an otherwise wonderful day of hiking, but at worst, they can be truly debilitating. So, rather than risk letting the time, effort, and money that you spent preparing for your much anticipated hike go to waste, I thought that I would share with you two related articles from Wilderness Medicine magazine which is published by the Wilderness Medical Society.  After all, I believe […]

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Using the Outdoors to Find Your Bearings

Using the Outdoors to Find Your Bearings

Usually at some point while teaching a wilderness survival course, I explain to a class that the skills and knowledge that they are acquiring isn’t just limited to dealing with an emergency situation in a remote outdoors location.  Their wilderness survival ability is also applicable to Life in general. That’s because survival isn’t really so much about how much gear that you have in your backpack, or how much specialized training that you have.  Rather, in any survival situation, it’s what’s in your head and heart that most matters. So if you want to be a good survivor, and even test your chances of being one, oftentimes you can just look to see how you are “surviving” in your daily life.  This may sound odd, but the simple truth is that the hardships that we sometimes experience in our daily lives — whether being laid off unexpectedly from a job; being diagnosed […]

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