I am not a scientist, so tell me if this makes sense. There are about 40,000 Scout troops in the B.S.A., they go camping (this is a very conservative average) of six weekends a year. 40k * 6= 240K weekends I’d guess, conservatively, that two-thirds of these troops own stoves or lanterns that use disposable gas canisters or disposable propane cylinders. 60% of 240K = 144k weekends The average troop has 20 Scouts....
Over time I have managed to get my weekend backpack down to around 25-30 pounds. I am not an fully anointed apostle of the ultra-lightweight sect but I have certainly benefited from a lot of their ideas. The backpacking cook kit described here weighs in at well less than two pounds depending on your choice of stove. Without the stove my choices will cost you somewhere between $20-25.00 – a pretty good deal....
Cold weather camping in very cold weather from Northern Tier where crews regularly face temperatures lower than -20F. That’s cold! A double sleeping bag, techniques for keeping clothing from freezing, and drying out boot liners; some good advice. Okpik, (Inuit for Snowy Owl, pronounced OOk’ pick) is a winter cold weather camping program offered at Northern Tier. From a weekend in a cabin to more ambitious adventures like dog sledding Okpik has it all....
Here’s a great idea for making campfire potatoes wrapped in foil. Alternating slices of onion and potato? Why didn’t I think of that? Campfire Potatoes Ingredients: large baking potatoes whole onions, red or yellow dill, parsley, bacon bits Directions: Slice potato almost all the way through, but leave enough to hold it together. Slice the onion, and put one slice in between each potato slice. Sprinkle with bacon bits and a little dill....
Here’s a simple formula for how to build a campfire, it’s easy to remember. (here’s a video that illustrates the technique) ‘Gather’ and ‘Build’ are the key concepts: GATHER …everything before you strike a match. The sizes and amounts are rules of thumb, don’t over-engineer things. For some reason my Scouts always seem to break the sticks they gather into tiny pieces, keep them close to the sizes specified and you’ll have a better chance of succeeding....
Don’t assume your Scouts know how to sleep warm while camping, it’s important to instruct them and be sure they are properly equipped. In especially cold weather changing clothes before getting in a sleeping bag can make a big difference, as can having a pair of loosely fitting wool or fleece socks just for sleeping. Sleeping bag insulation will be compressed when it is packed ss fluffing it up and redistributing the insulation is important....
Scouts and whittling evokes a vivid boyhood memory of sitting on the back porch steps whittling a green stick with a steak knife purloined from my mother’s kitchen. Since then I have always had one kind of pocket knife or another and whittled when the opportunity presents itself. Sometimes it’s nothing more than reducing a stick to a pile of chips, sometimes it’s carefully shaping the links of a chain out of a single piece of wood....
In the age of the automatic dishwasher most folks have little to no idea of how to hand wash dishes at home let alone when camping. I still see Scouts washing dishes underneath a community water spigot or, even worse, in a stream or lake. Good dish washing technique will help you stay healthy (especially on extended trips) and minimize impact in the wild. Here’s a short version Pre-Rinse – each individual uses a little bit of drinking water to rinse out their dishes and utensils, drinks that rinse water, and then puts their dishes on the wash pile....
The long history of the “buddy system” in Scouting has shown that it is always best to have at least one other person with you and aware at all times of your circumstances and what you are doing in any outdoor or strenuous activity – Guide to Safe Scouting “Where’s your buddy?” is a pretty common question when we are out camping. (more likely to be directed at a patrol leader or senior patrol leader -“where is that Scout’s buddy?...
Informative article from Tim MacWelch at Outdoor Life Survival on how to find and use fungi fire starter: If you have birch or black Locust trees growing near you, then you probably have some very flammable species of fungi also growing nearby. A classic fire starting tinder of the northeast is the fungus that grows on Birch trees. The species Fomes fomentarius is also known as horse hoof fungus, tinder fungus, tinder conk, and tinder polypore....
Palca and Morning Edition Executive Producer Madhulika Sikka test if hot tea can cool you down on a hot day Keep cool by drinking hot drinks? “Trust me,” she said. “I’m Indian, I’m British. A billion Indians can’t be wrong. They drink hot tea in hot weather.” “The hot drink somehow has an effect on your systemic cooling mechanisms, which exceeds its actual effect in terms of heating your body,”...
Advice on what to do when lost in the woods was created in 1947 by the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. ( It is part of the Oregon State University Archives). The advice still rings true today. What to do When Lost in the Woods PDF File What to do WHEN LOST IN THE WOODS A CLEAR HEAD WILL FIND ITSELF. If everyone remembered this, there would be fewer reports of persons lost in the mountain and forests, according to United States Forest Service rangers....
Interesting article from Robin Wood on making axe handles. First wood selection. The perfect wood is nice straight grain ash fairly fast grown, if it gets more than 6-8 rings per inch it is much more brittle, 4-6 rings per inch is perfect. Having said that a hewing axe like this is nearly always used one handed and the handle does not get the same stress as a felling axe so I would use pretty well whatever wood you have though with a preference for more fibrous species, ash, oak, elm etc....
Cook wild is not a new concept; cooking over anything other than a wood fire is a relatively new development for the human race. A recent study showed that 43 percent, or some 3 billion members, of the world’s population rely on wood fires for their primary source of cooking and heating. Gas or electric stoves are great but we are in danger of losing the knowledge and skill required to cook over a fire....
This fanciful chain reaction pioneering project was found at the Ropes and Poles Blog Rain falls during the night and runs down the trough into the billy-can, thereby upsetting the balance of the guillotine and bringing the razor-sharp knife into operation… A signaling device and an ‘ingratiator’ at one go? – not bad eh?.
There’s nothing quite like baking a pineapple upside down cake in a dutch oven. It’s easier than you think! Preheat the dutch oven until a hand held inside gets uncomfortably warm in five seconds. While the oven is heating mix a box of white or yellow cake mix according to the instructions on the box. Spread margarine around the whole inside of the oven. Melt about 1/3 of a cup of margarine in the bottom of the oven, add about 2/3 cup of brown sugar and mix well....
I learned how to care for cast iron cookware like dutch ovens from some old timers. Their methods are compatible with standard Boy Scout principles and more modern methods. Some of this may be considered “heretical” by the “authentic” dutch oven cooking folks. You’ll have to decide for yourself. Here’s some hints that have served me well: Use plenty of oil. Use oil even when browning meat, even ground chuck. Maybe not so much with ground beef....
Andrew Skurka guides us through his 4,700-mile, six-month trek around Alaska and the Yukon. Andrew is an accomplished adventure athlete, speaker, guide, and writer. The 33-year-old is most well known for his solo long-distance backpacking trips. November 2007, Great Western Loop, 6,875 miles including 5 long-distance hiking trails, 12 National Parks, and over 75 wilderness areas. July 2005 Sea-to-Sea Route, a transcontinental network of long-distance hiking trails from Quebec to Washington, which took him 11 months and which involved 1,400 miles of snowshoeing....
Steve Karoly writes about Dutch oven bread revisited on his blog ‘Round the Chuck Box. This isn’t quick bread, no, it’s slow bread – bread that takes hours to make with kneading and rising and kneading and proofing and yeast. Real bread, not the store-bought lifeless loaf that they strip mine somewhere out there – real bread. The smell of this bread alone is so good that (in the words of the mountain men) it will ‘make you slap your daddy off a creek bank....
The Kybo, that humble wooden facility elemental to our camping memories, can be a little terrifying at first. Eventually all of us must go at one time or another. “Kybo” is a common name throughout world Scouting. A moniker that may hark back to filling Kybo brand coffee cans with powdered lime sprinkled in the facility to alleviate odor and promote decomposition. Have you heard toilet paper called “Kybo Tape” or “Kybo Wrap”?...