I’m a field biologist, and, if you couldn’t already tell, I’m pretty passionate about the outdoors. So it goes without saying that I’m outside for work, I’m outside for leisure, I pretty much live out there. And I love it. But one thing I do NOT love is the many varieties of blood-sucking insects, particularly ticks. Ticks are probably my least favorite thing of all time. Not only are they gross, sneaky and annoying, but they can also carry with…
Who knows why you get out there. Maybe it’s to have fun, to spend time with friends, to get away from the world, but have you ever thought that the reason might be something deeper? Have you ever wondered if perhaps there might be a connection between the earth and your very being? I’m not trying to sound like a hippie here, or a treehugger, although I may have a little bit of each of those inside of me, I…
Spring is coming and though I am utterly psyched about the longer days, warmer weather and the wild-flowers that it promises, there’s one thing that I’m not looking forward to. The bugs. I am lucky enough to live in an area with fewer mosquitoes than many other places in the world, but we do have them, along with horseflies, ticks and other terrible biting insects. I am outside a lot and I’ve always taken a little bit of an issue…
Alright, Folks, it’s time for another outdoor safety post. Spring is hopefully right around the corner and where I come from we’ve been getting a lot of cold, dreary rain. Although thunderstorms tend to show up a bit later they can occur at any time and this rain has put them on my brain. I do enjoy thunderstorms much more than this dismal weather we’re having however, it will hopefully be no shock (pun intended) to you that they can…
So you want to go on an outdoor adventure and you want to do it right. You’ve assembled some gear, you’ve done your research and you’ve bought yourself a personal first aid kit. Well, I hate to be the one to burst your bubble but, that little kit you just purchased from Walmart is most likely pretty useless. There are a lot of dinky first aid kits out there that are just saturated with bandaids in a few different sizes,…
Gloves can be a tricky topic. Because of changes in weather, activity level, variance in the tasks we need to accomplish, personal preference and even personal health issues (like Raynaud’s disease) there is no one glove that simply checks all the boxes. As a two foot traveller, you may spend all day, or even multiple days, out in the winter weather. As is the case with all your extremities, your hands can be quite vulnerable to the cold, and it…
So you’ve decided you want to go snow hiking. You want to experience the wonder of the natural world in winter. As with any extreme environmental situation, it is very important to be prepared for the conditions that you will face. In this post we are going to discuss the snow hiking equipment you should have on hand when you’re out there adventuring this winter. This post will focus on winter day trips. If you are planning on heading out…
The Southwest of the United States experiences a unique season called the monsoon season. Monsoons are usually associated with the tropics as cool ocean air rises when it hits the warmer currents over land. This forms clouds that can drop heavy rains for a long time. The US states of Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Utah and Colorado get the periphery of the Mexico monsoons. And when heavy rains fall suddenly on dry desert ground flash flooding often occurs….
Maybe you’re already familiar with topographic maps or topo maps for short. Maybe you’ve seen them with all their squiggly little lines and decided that they were too difficult to decipher. Or maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about. No matter which of the above scenario’s describe’s you, this post is going to help you learn, or enhance your own map reading skills. By the time we’re done, you’ll discover that reading a topographic map isn’t all that…
There are so many global positioning systems (GPS) out there from high-accuracy, heavy-duty units that cost thousands all the way down to completely free smartphone applications. In this age of technology, many may wonder, “who needs a compass anyway?” But the truth is that knowing how to use a magnetic compass can still be a very useful skill to have in your quiver. A compass is superior to a GPS unit in many ways. It is small, lightweight, cheap, needs…