Recent content by IdahoBackwoods

If you were in the U.S., I'd recommend Wiggy's Ultralight 0-degree bag, which is available in two lengths and two widths. (It's a synthetic bag, weighing 4-5 lbs.) I don't know who carries it in the UK, though. It has 7-8 inches of loft, which is more than in competing Snugpak bags I've seen.

If you want to know about processing human waste into fertilizer, there is no better source of information than the famous book by Joseph Jenkins called THE HUMANURE HANDBOOK, now in its Third Edition. We use sawdust toilets and have followed Jenkins' advice for 12 years with great success...

But they live close enough to Williams Lake BC to get their mail there. Williams Lake is a small (pop. 10,000) city with all services. It's not as remote as what bb is describing.

My wife and I know what you're talking about. It took us 32 of saving and planning, including 8 years finding the right land in an area we had camped in during all seasons over a 33-year period. But we came here as recently retired people with enough to live on. And although it is 70 miles to...

I've been using a custom fixed-blade knife in S30V for 18 months, and another in D2 for several years longer than that. They are both excellent knives, but the S30V holds an edge longer and doesn't rust. I have no trouble setting the main bevel on the S30V blade with an EdgePro hand...

I have a 13" Silky Natanoko. It looks like the saw in the scabbard on the left in Puub's left-hand photo. It's great for pruning green limbs, but with 7 teeth per inch, it's more fine-cutting than a bowsaw and more delicate. For cutting firewood in a portable camp, I'd take a 24" bow-saw.

You should have a shovel. In fact, you should have a small folding shovel in your camp gear and a full sized shovel in the vehicle. If you'll go out in significant snow or mud, tire chains can be useful. At the very least, you should have good mud + snow tires on the vehicle.

Yes, that's the one. It's a lesson in how mental illness and a failure to face reality can be terminal. Another one is Into the Wild, which is also basically a true story. After graduating from university, a young man abandoned his possessions, gave his savings to charity and hitchhiked to...

After you dehydrate the food, you can vacuum-seal it in Mason jars (canning jars) or in heavy vacuum-seal bags. If you do this, the food will be good for a few years, if stored in a cool, dark place.

Erwin A. “Nimrod” Robertson came originally from Maine, where he had been a jeweler. He was also a champion rifleman in the Maine National Guard in the 1890s. But the Klondike Gold Rush called to Nimrod just as it called to many others. In 1898, Nimrod came over Chilkoot Pass and...

You just reminded my of an incident I hadn't thought about in a long time. I was exploring the north slopes of the Uinta Mountains, in NE Utah just south of the Wyoming state line, and I had stopped to pee. I walked off the trail into an opening in a grove of trees, and started to do my...

The most essential bushcraft skill does not involve making things. It does not require tools. It does not require special “kit.” It only requires the right outlook and the right habits of mind. The most fundamental bush skill of all is the ability to see, hear, smell, and understand what...

A different perspective on this: During the period 1960-1980, there were an average of 25 black-bear attacks per year on humans in the U.S. and Canada. Typically, only one or two of these resulted in serious injury or death. ( Herrero, Bear Attacks, revised edition, p. 5 ) During the...

There are lots of black bears where I live too, and I've been camping in this country for 35 years without any serious trouble. We encountered bears on the trail and while camping, and never had a problem. I agree with Cariboo, that we should be alert in the bush, treat bears and all other...

Well, now you've spilled the beans! <grin>