Photo by eliduke
Dr. Welch is a professor of pediatrics at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y. He is also a licensed professional guide, a certifying instructor (and field course instructor) for the Wilderness Education Association and a member of the Wilderness Medical Society. Welch has drunk from many water sources with no filter other than his teeth.
While at the University of Cincinnati, Welch conducted a 1995 survey where 48 of 50 U.S. state health departments responded to a questionnaire about giardiasis in their jurisdictions, the agencies studied 80 outbreaks of giardiasis in 1991; 19 outbreaks were linked to contaminated water, and just two were associated with campers or backpackers.
Two departments considered water-associated giardiasis to be a problem for backpackers in their jurisdiction, though the study found neither had any data to reinforce the claim.
“This was a classic food/hand epidemic in all respects,” Welch says. Read more »
You Sweat You Die
Wearing Cotton – Cotton is great for bombing around town or the trip to the mall. It is soft and comfortable but once cotton is wet, it stays wet and loses any insulating properties. If the summer nothing is worse than your sweat drenched clammy cotton shirt sticking to you. Pick wicking clothing; you can even find wicking sport shirts and underwear at Walmart.
Wearing too Many Layers – Piling on a bunch of layers before heading out is great, just don’t over do it. What is the point if a mile into the hike you are going to over heat and have to shed a layer? I keep a record of what I wear and the temperature so I can look back and compare for current conditions.
Bundle Up When You Stop – When you stop hiking, you lose body heat fast, epically if it is windy. Bundle up when you stop for food or to take a break to avoid the chills. Once the chills set in it is hard to get rid of them…
Sweating – Les Stroud says it best “if you sweat, you die”. Sweat is your body’s way of removing excess heat through evaporation. After sweating when the temp drops the chills set in and can quickly lead to hyperthermia.
by silent stereo
Making the transition from car camping to wilderness camping and backpacking leaves the question about bathrooms… Believe it or not you are going to have to go in the woods, you are going to have to dig a hole and bury it and maybe even pack it out… Let’s dive umm.. head first into this semi-taboo subject.
Most privies are gross. We all hate using them but when they are available please use them… They place them in areas of high traffic to keep the area clean, if they are used it works!
Urinating in the woods is pretty self explanatory. You just need to pick a spot at least 200 feet from any trail, camp, or body of water such as lakes and streams. Women have it a bit harder than the guys here. Avoiding pee in the boots can be a challenge Read more »
photo by gregor_y
Your first aid kit should be more than a few ibuprofen and a couple band aids. How much you choose to take is really up to group size and the length of the trip. Do you need the same kit on a 2 mile hike with the family as you would on a seven day trip in Alaska, I doubt it? Should you still bring the kit with you on the family hike? Most definitely…
Items that can be used elsewhere are best for you kit. So think out side the box. For instance, you already have 20 feet of duct tape on your hiking poles do you need more? The hand sanitizer you have on your hip belt can be a great first aid item.
You could have the best most well stocked first aid kit in the world and it will not do you a bit of good without proper training. Everyone should take a wilderness first aid course NOLS and SOLO both offer wilderness first aid courses. If you can’t take a course at least buy a good book on wilderness first aid and READ it!
Here is my suggested list of first aid kit items, keep in mind this is not a survival kit… Read more »
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Simple hiking etiquette can go a long way in making trail experience more enjoyable. Most state parks have rules and regulations posted but trail etiquette is a bit more.
Share the trail – Common rule is bikers yield to horses and hikers. Hikers yield to horses and horses yield to none. This is the common rule. I like to yield to bikers as well. I feel it is safer this way. Greet others as you pass. Uphill hikers should yield to downhill hikers.
Leave only footprints and take only pictures AKA leave no trace – Taking rocks, carving trees, damaging plants, etc. Not cool man, don’t ruin it for the next people! Even biodegradables like orange and banana peals should be packed out.
Stay on marked trails – This keeps you safe and protects flora and fauna. Even when navigating a tricky area like a big puddle, stay on the trail, get them boots wet. Staying on the trail helps prevent further trail erosion.
Keep the noise to a minimum – Noise travels in the wilderness, others might be trying to enjoy the quiet.
Clean up after pets – Bag the poop and carry it out.
Keep a leash on your pet – Use it when others are around. Not everyone loves your muddy dog as much as you!
Report any problems to park authorities – trail damage, vandalism, suspicious people, etc. The rangers will thank you.
Survive!
I finally finished up the original survival man Les Stroud’s book Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere – Alive. As a fan of his show I really wanted to read the book. If you watched the show the book just reiterates most of was covered in episodes of the show, just more in depth. Les goes into detail about water, shelter, food, navigation, etc. for various locations worldwide. The best part of the advice he offers is you know it is tested and true. Les has spent years in the wilderness practicing his skills.
In the book, he covers building survival kits for auto, home and wilderness. If you carried everything he recommends on every day hike you would have legs of steel.
The book was informative and kept me entertained. The added survival stories were fun to read. If you are a Les Stroud fan pick it up. Survive! Would make a great gift for anyone who loves the outdoors.
GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Dualist
Having a hot meal after a log day of hiking is just awesome. Even the simplest things taste wonderful, after a 10 mile day you can have the best instant noodles you have ever had. Setting up a backcountry kitchen can be challenging seeing that most people don’t really know what they need or want till they are out there cooking at camp. Here I hope to steer you in the right direction in building your perfect backcountry kitchen.
Parts of your basic kitchen:
- Stove: When it comes to picking out a stove that will work for you first you need to think about what kind of cooking you plan on doing. If you plan on mostly instant noodles, oatmeal, and dehydrated meals almost any stove will work for you. If you want to cook gourmet backcountry feasts than you will need to look for a stove with good flame control so you can simmer and whatnot. For simple cooking you can go with anything from a low cost alcohol stove to a fancy jetboil stove. Cooking that requires more finesse like simmering and low heat you need to shop around a bit more. Stoves like the MSR Simmerlight, Jetboil, and MSR Dragonfly.I carry a MSR Whisperlight mainly because I picked it up at a yard sale for $5 a few years ago and it does everything I need, It is a great stove for boiling water and simple cooking, very reliable…
- Cookset: Here it is all about size and weight. If you cook for only yourself a small pot will do, something like this 0.9L Vargo Ti pot would be great. If you hike with groups varying in size a full cookset might be a better choice, allowing you to pick and choose what you take a long. This Optimus Terra 3 piece will treat you right.Want it all? Want to impress your friends? Weight not a concern? Get the MSR Flex 4 system or the GSI Outdoors Pinnacle set.I’m cheap, I carry a super cheap option for a solo pot. An aluminum grease pot, I got mine at kmart for about 6 bucks…
- Utensils: I think Utensils are the most fun to buy, they are cheap and you can find them in every style. The funny thing is almost anything will work, heck a stick could do the job. All you need to do is stir and shovel…Plastic “silverware” from a fast food joint is free and does the trick. Need something a bit more sturdy? How about the light my fire spork, or the Brunton Folding Spork.
Having a great camp kitchen can really make or break a trip so shop around read some reviews and choose carefully…
Guest post by Gerry Gosselin
Want to be a guest poster on HuskyHiker.com? E-mail me
Hunting season is upon us! As a non-hunter you can assume the primary hunting season for most game animals will run mid October until Jan 1. This is an important time of year for hikers and backpackers to be alert to their environment and dress safely.
No one wants to be accidentally fired upon while on a recreational hike. If you see a hunter, don’t be shy to make noise to alert him to your presence. Don’t wave your arms around, just yell out or use a whistle. Unfortunately you usually won’t be able to see a hunter before he sees you. State regulations vary, but the hunter is usually required to wear a certain amount of bright hunter orange clothing so as to be seen by other people (called hunter orange). When bird hunting only an orange cap is required. For deer hunting a vest is also required. Most game animals either don’t see in colors very well or don’t see hunter orange as a warning sign. There is an exception though, and that is wild turkey. Turkey season is particularly dangerous because turkeys see colors very well. A hunter is allowed to be dressed entirely in camo from head to toe during turkey season. Read more »
As the weeks pass the stock of dumb-phones that cell carriers are offering shrinks more and more. It seems that more and more people have a smart phone, I have a driod from verizon wireless and love it. The Android market offers lots of apps geared toward hiking. The GPS in many smart-phones are as good as hand held GPS receivers, many have an electronic compass and as long as you have cell service you can get up to date weather including radar maps. A smart-phone can be a great tool on the trail…
Here are my top 5 FREE hiking apps for android:
1. Hi-HikerPro
Hi-Hiker Pro is a all in one tool which is really all the different devices needed on the trail. It includes a pedometer, stopwatch, compass, flashlight, maps, altimeter, GPS tracking, weather forecast and emergency call. You can save your different sessions and import/export your trips as a GPX files to visualize your them on Google Earth.
2. My Tracks
My Tracks developed by google enables you to record GPS tracks and view live statistics – such as time, speed, distance, and elevation. Once recorded, you can share your tracks, upload them to Google Spreadsheets and visualize them on Google My Maps.
3. Peak.AR
Peak.AR offers a panoramic augmented reality view of the surrounding peaks. It uses the compass and GPS receiver in the phone to let you know what peaks you are looking at and how far away they are. Sometimes lacks accuracy but still pretty neat.
4. AlpineQuest GPS Hiking (Lite)
AlpineQuest GPS Hiking (Lite) is a maps program, you can store maps on your SD card so they can be accessed without network access. USGS TOPO maps can be made and saved via the AlpineQuest website. AlpineQuest will also track your route and allow you to save waypoints if you buy the full version of the app.
5. Wheres My Droid
Not really made for hiking but I’m including it here because it is a great tool for loved ones. With Wheres My Droid you can set up a phrase so when it is text to you it will auto reply with your location. I like this because Miss HuskyHiker can see where I am on the trail as long as I have network access. Great peice of mind for loved ones if you often hike alone.
And always remember to keep your phone on silent when hiking, nothing is worse than a ringing phone in the middle of the woods especially when you are trying to snap a shot of a deer or neat bird on the trail…
A healthy lifestyle starts every morning first thing. Here are some tips to help get your day started off on the right foot…
- Drink 8oz of water first thing – Over night you become dehydrated, drinking first thing will help fight fatigue. I like to keep a bottle of water bed side so that it is room temperature and ready right when I get up.
- Get out of bed – Avoid hitting the snooze and lying in bed, killing time in bed is bad for motivation.
- Move – Stretch then jump rope or do jumping jacks for a minute, doesn’t have to be a lot just enough to get the blood flowing. You will be more alert and ready to take on anything.
- Eat breakfast – I know you have heard this a thousand times and there is a reason… Breakfast is important, eat a wholesome high protein, high fiber breakfast.
- Set goals for the day – Set small goals to be completed that day, this keeps you moving forward and on the right track. Goals can be little things like eating a salad for lunch or not spending money on eating out for the day.
- Avoid rushing – nothing will stress you out more than rushing to get out the door in the morning, give yourself plenty of time to get ready… “to be early is to be on time and to be on time is to be late”
- Listen to music that excites you – Either on the way to work or in the shower music can set your mood for the whole day.
- Be a courteous driver – on your commute allow other drivers the right way wave and smile. This will lead to less stress for you and you just made their day!
- Enjoy some fresh air – Have some free time? Rather than watching the news spend it on the deck getting some fresh morning air. Coworkers will fill you in on the new at work so don’t worry.
- Kiss everyone in the family before you leave – even the dog!
hiking, how to, outdoors | Husky Hiker - Jim Bradley | 
9/5/2011 11:12 AM | 
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