Joseph's Tips

[oldsarge]

Copy and paste all these fine tips in Word. By the time this contest is over, you'll have a nice file to keep on hand.

[ponderosa]

Kids love to make their own trail mix. Set out a variety of cereals, candies, dried fruits, crackers, etc and let them fill their own baggies. Keep it a special treat just for hikes as a great motivator to keep them going down the trail.

[Hikenhunter]

Tip #2 10/3/12----Take a 3 1/2" pencil stub. Carefully roll 25' of duct tape on it and include it in your backpacking repair kit. The tape comes in handy for many uses in the field and if you need to leave a note for some one for any reason you have the pencil.

[Grandpa]

Oct 3. When making foil dinners, wrap the dinner tightly in a layer of foil. Then wrap it again with wet newspaper. Finish with another tight wrap of foil. The wet newspaper barrier will spread the heat evenly and help prevent burn spots.

[mccallum]

We all have had this break in the field.

As we all now Duct tape will repair anything; I can attest it will hold a cabin tent center pole up at tention for two nights (do not know if it will lst longer we broke camp).

To prrevent the need for duct on said cabin tent buy hose clamps to use if and when the tention devise breaks on the tent pole!

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


I love this particular thread. So much to be learned here.

My hint today has to do with...on those rare occasions (I hope) that you may have a close encounter with a bear. Grizzlys in particular.

Much has been written and/or hyped about them. And Dr. Tom Smith, a LONG time AK wildlife biologist whose specialty is bears, begs to differ.

For examples: When you're facing one of those giants, no NOT try to make yourself bigger. Do NOT 'talk' to the bear. No NOT wear bear bells. Do NOT shout. Do NOT lay down. Do NOT run or back off.

You can see his complete talk on this subject on You Tube's 'Safety in Bear Country - Dr. Tom Smith - 2012 NOLS Faculty Summit'.

His reasoning is completely understandable when you 'see' his talk.

[ponderosa]

Here's another one for keeping kids engaged in a hike:
Barnes & Noble sells these nifty single page laminated wildflower ID guides. They have colored drawings of region-specific wildflowers, front and back. Let kids carry one, and use a crayon or dry erase marker to mark off each flower they identify on the hike. When you're done, wipe it clean to use again the next time. I've used this to entertain kids from 3 to 17, and a few adults for that matter. Bonus, they're learning something!

BARNES & NOBLE | Rocky Mountain Wildflowers by Craig MacGowan, Mountaineers Books, The | Paperback

I've also seen these (along with similar guides for birds, berries, mushrooms, etc) in many national park bookstores.

[EmberMike]

Cut your tent's ground pad to the right size, just a couple of inches less than the footprint of the tent.

If you are already out in the woods, your ground pad extends beyond the footprint of the tent, and you don't want to rough-cut the pad, roll the edges under the tent, rolling towards the ground and not towards the tent. Any ground pad extending beyond the tent footprint will draw rain and moisture underneath the tent and up through the tent floor.

If you're concerned about gear weight, cutting the pad is the way to go. No need to carry pad weight you won't use.

[Hikenhunter]

tip#3----10/4/12----Always carry a whistle when hiking or boating. In times of trouble the whistle can be heard easier than yelling and screaming for help. Blow the whistle in bursts of three, all seasond outdoorspeople know that bursts of three is a distress signal.

[Grandpa]

Heyyyy, you guys/gals in the east have a two hour headstart on us westerners. No fair