Here’s some advice from Wade Bastian on the Appalachian trail gear he carried on his hike. Wade set out onthe 2200 mile trail withfellow Eagle ScoutBucky Kellorgin February. As planned, Wade interrupted his hike to spend the summer employed as a peak steward in New York’s Adirondack mountains (he’s stewarding a peak in the photo above). Bucky completed the trail in July, here he is on Katahdin with fellow hiker Brightside...
A couple of years ago we replaced our troop’s tents with the Marmot Limelight 3 (you can read about the rationale and the Marmot Limelight here) The folks at Teton sports offer a similar design, the Teton Mountain Ultra 3 . I had my first chance to set up the Teton Mountain Ultra 3 this weekend, and wanted to share my first impressions. Like the other Teton gear I have reviewed I was impressed with the over quality of the tent....
The Philmont dining fly or crew tarp is a 12′ by 12′ nylon tarp rigged for simple, easy setup. Hiking sticks or trekking poles can be used as poles, eight stakes and three paracord lines are all else that’s required. A 40′ paracord ridge line is rigged underneath the ridge of the tarp and a loop of the line is threaded through the end grommets. A small stick is secured on each end of the ridge with a lark’s head knot, a clove hitch is taken around the pole, and the end of the ridge line is secured with taut line hitches....
If you think the advice in this infographic is nutty, heretical, or (to be charitable) merely inadvisable; so did I until I tried it. I first read about this in Cliff Jacobson’s book Camping’s Top Secrets. Jacobson is an author, wilderness guide, Distinguished Eagle Scout, and a regular contributor to Scouting Magazine. When I interviewed Cliff on Scoutmaster Podcast 54 he mentioned that many people react negatively to this particular advice, they insist he’s wrong....
Our latest ScoutCircle presentation featured Derek Hansen, Scoutmaster and hammock camping guru. If you are curious about hammocks and how Scouts can use them take the time to watch the presentation. Derek is a great speaker and shares all of the basics in this presentation; here’s the resources mentioned: Hammock Forums Derek’s website The Ultimate Hang Derek’s hammock suppliers list Derek’s book The Ultimate Hang on Amazon (available as a Kindle E book)
One of my old Scouts through-hiked the Appalachian trail a few years ago. He joined us for a camping trip afterwards and showed us the camping hammock he had used for his hike, I was impressed. I bought a Hennessy Hammock (the deluxe explorer) and used it on several occasions. I was close to being a hammock camping convert but there were several things about the hammock that put me off....
UPDATE 11/17 Our Limelights are still going strong after six years of continuous use on Scout camping trips. We’ve had one or two tears, but everything else is holding up admirably. No problems with poles and zippers, waterproofing still strong. The Limelight model was updated since we bought ours, they now have straighter walls and are more box-like, I’d imagine this makes the interior larger. I have had positive reports from those who own the new model....
Walter Underwood has posted a great review of the Mountain Laurel Design’s two pound Speedmid shelter: It is plenty roomy inside. I’m 6’ 3” and my tent buddy is nearly as tall, and we both had room, with our gear inside. The tent walls do slope at a pretty low angle—the heavy nighttime rain was surprisingly close to my head and a little distracting. This was a very exposed campsite and it was uncomfortably windy and...
The tent you are looking at are standard German scout tents. Each scout carries a panel and when they reach the destination for camp they put the pieces together. These tents are called ‘khote’ and are based on the shape and function of the Saami tipi-like reindeer skin tent. The Saami (sometimes called Laplanders) are the indigenous people of Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia....
Silnylon has been taken the backpacking world by storm. Lightweight ripstop nylon cloth is impregnated (as opposed to coated) with silicone creating waterproof featherweight material for packs, tarps and other gear. I have used 10 X 12 foot silnylon tarp for the past few years instead of a tent. Offered by Campmor the tarp has three ties along the center seam and plenty of grommets along the edge offer many options for pitching....
Philmont Scout Ranch is a BSA High Adventure Base offering an extensive program of treks for Scouts. Here is how to rig a 12×12 tarp (a method I have heard called the Philmont dining fly tarp) to stand up to strong winds and rain. This rig will keep about eight people (who get along fairly well) out of the rain. The side guy-line is about 30 feet long and is threaded through the grommets on the tarp and staked down with three stakes....
A tarp creates an dry island of refuge if it is properly rigged; if not it becomes a flapping, dripping, water-catching pain. Here’s an idea from Cliff Jacobsen’s book Camping’s Top Secrets on rigging two tarps to create a chimney to keep a fire going in the rain. Here’s a view showing how the tarps overlap for a foot or two by tying them together at the grommets. The back edge of the top is rigged up to the tree to create the opening that forms a chimney....
Gutter spikes (seven inch long aluminum nails used to secure gutters to a house) make inexpensive, lightweight, strong, tent stakes. They are available at home centers, hardware stores and lumber yards. Gutter spikes at Amazon I special ordered a box of 250 at the local lumber yard, enough to outfit all of our tents two or three times over for much less cost than ‘real’ tent stakes. Get this and over 40 other infographics and helpful PDF documents here If you’d like to print this infographic download the PDF file below formatted for 8 1/2 x 11 paper....
The Eureka Timberline 4 may be the most popular tent ever. Many scout troops choose the Timberline because: It is easy to set up and easy to pack up.While the tent is easy to pitch it is advisable to read and follow the pitching instructions carefully so the poles don’t get bent. It is durable. Ours last for ten years or more, that’s about 250 nights of camping. Replacement parts are easy to get....