At 2 pounds, 4 ounces, it's not light, but it's also not going to be what keeps me from accomplishing any of the things I want to do. Plus, finite limit on how much food I can take, so maybe I'll wind up coming in with less weight!


A bear canister is also an invaluable opportunity to hone your ...

ps where in Wisconsin? The Voyageur (from Grand Portage MN) is more convenient to the Feldtmann loop than the Ranger from Houghton.

+1 on Feldtmann Lake (and side trips up to the ridge, so you can look back on the lake and see even more moose, and to rainbow cove). If you can eke out an extra night, do the whole Feldtmann loop!

I circumambulated Mt Rainier on the Wonderland Trail a few years ago. They have bears. (Also glaciers.). Camping is allowed only in designated areas. Each area has a fixed tetherball-type pole about 12 feet high, with 4 or 5 hooks radiating from its apex. The foot storage protocol is to keep your ...

there's the Waterloo-Pinckney trail in SE Michigan---a little over 30 miles, point-to-point, with several backcountry sites along the way. The terrain is low-key midwest glaciated, plenty of pothole ponds, little hills, and wetlands. Even though it's moose-free, I like it quite well. I think I put ...

It’s cool that you can pitch the XMid without the fly! Condensation isn’t a picnic—one of my backpacking mates negates the weight she saves by sleeping in a single-wall trekking pole tent by lugging along a humongous towel to wipe it off with. But my bigger reservation is that if the fly and the ...

Owing to circumstances beyond my control, I was seconded in August to a wildlife photography expedition. The objective: Fish-eating grizzlies in Alaska. Mr torpified was understandably concerned that I’d perish. So I brought my Garmin InReach along to send him reassuring messages at the end of each ...

Kelly wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2025 4:17 am
Both Adotec and Ursack bags are on the list. Neither are cheap but they are compliant.

Also one of them has a leading contender for greatest product name of all time: the ursack minor!

I'm one of those who's deficient at eating while hiking. It's worse in the Sierra, with altitude as an exacerbating factor. Often, all I can stomach is ramen. Although not a freeze-dried meal in their own right, these ramen enhancers---they're at least visually a decent approximation to the ...

I wonder if there’s scope for volunteer trial maintenance, TP distribution, etc? Drumming up/organizing volunteers and supplies is one issue. But supposing, say, a volunteer trail crew got themselves to ISRO, would anything stop them from clearing deadfall?

once the interior got wet after a downpour of Noachian proportions on Catalina Island---but user error (not fully battening down the hatches) may have been partly to blame. Otherwise my experiences have aligned with dcclark's.

Water bottle gymnastics tolerance levels vary, but the angle of the side pockets on my SWD pack make them pretty easy for me. I’ve got a pretty early model —so early that they fulfilled the order in two weeks! — that’s got both hip pockets and stretchy shoulder strap pockets, which are a big bonus ...

5) what backpack are you putting it all in? My purple Superior Wilderness Designs Long Haulhttps://www.swdbackpacks.com/product-pa ... rnal-frame has been my go-to, unless I need to carry moose carcasses or a large bear canister.

Welcome back, Tortuga!

Quieter forums: I suspect other newfangled (snappier and more photo friendly) platforms have siphoned off activity/new recruits. But words abide, and so will we.

island changes: brace yourself for a new and most inane LNT briefing upon arrival!

I feel like this is a setup for a Far Side cartoon involving sly moose deploying used winter sports equipment to trick humans into something…but if it’s not, I’m supremely envious of the humans making those tracks!