I’ve seen some creative recipes in the backcountry. But never have I seen deep fried donuts. Can’t wait to try this out in the backcountry.

A deep frying method for donuts and corn dogs on the trail by wawhiker using peanut oil with a backpacking cook kit. Visit wawhikers blog site for more cool stuff.

Admin

I created TheBackpackerTV because of my passion for the outdoors and seeing nature up close and personal. To share my experiences, and the experiences of others for everyone to enjoy. We go watch hundreds of videos each month picking the very best for you. Enjoy!

   

REI put’s together a great article on how to choose Snowshoes.  Of course one of the important things to consider is; what am I going to use the snowshoes for.

With a little knowledge, buying the right snowshoes is a walk in the park.

Flat Terrain

• Designed for easy walking on flat to rolling terrain; ideal for families.
• Includes entry-level models that offer good value.
• Easy-to-adjust bindings and less aggressive traction systems.

Rolling Terrain

• Designed for hiking on rolling to steep terrain; suitable for all but very steep or icy conditions.
• A step up from entry level, good for hiking off the beaten track.
• Designed with more aggressive crampons and beefier bindings.

Mountain Terrain

• Designed for icy, steep terrain.
• Aimed at snowshoers who want to blaze their own trails for day hiking, winter summiting, backpacking or backcountry snowboarding.
• Made with climbing-style crampons and rugged bindings that can withstand harsh conditions and terrain.

While most snowshoes fall into these 3 categories, a few models are designed specifically for trail-running, fitness or climbing.

Find the Right Snowshoe Size

Aluminum-frame snowshoes come in multiple sizes, usually 8″ x 25″, 9″ x 30″ and 10″ x 36″ or something similar. Composite snowshoes come in one size (typically 8″ x 22″) and offer the option of adding 4″ to 8″ tails to help you stay afloat on snow. Why does size matter? It’s a key factor in getting the right amount of flotation.

Step 1: Narrow by Gender (or Age)

Snowshoe sizes and shapes vary as follows:

• Men’s snowshoes are designed to accommodate larger boots and heavier loads.
• Women’s snowshoes tend to feature narrower, more contoured frame designs and sizes down to 8″ x 21″. Their bindings are sized to fit women’s footwear.
• Kids’ snowshoes vary by intended age. Smaller sizes are intended for casual snow play, while larger models offer the same technical features found on adult snowshoes.

Step 2: Consider Snow Conditions

Recommended loads are based on light, dry snow conditions. But consider that on powder snow you need bigger snowshoes to stay afloat than you would on compact, wet snow. In other words, a powder-happy Utah snowshoer may want a larger size than a same-sized snowshoer in the wet snow of the Pacific Northwest.

Packed trails, brush and forest call for more compact shoes, which are easier to maneuver in tight spaces. Steep or icy terrain is also best explored with smaller snowshoes. Open areas with deep drifts require larger snowshoes.

Tip: Get the smallest size that will support your weight for the snow conditions and terrain in your area. As long as you have adequate flotation, smaller snowshoes will be much easier to handle.

Step 3: Determine Your Weight with Gear

Your weight, including equipment, is referred to as the recommended load or carrying capacity on snowshoe specs. This is a major factor in determining the right size. In most circumstances, a heavier person or one with a heavily loaded pack will require larger snowshoes than a smaller person or one carrying gear just for the day.

Read the rest of the article at REI.com

Admin

I created TheBackpackerTV because of my passion for the outdoors and seeing nature up close and personal. To share my experiences, and the experiences of others for everyone to enjoy. We go watch hundreds of videos each month picking the very best for you. Enjoy!

   

Survival in winter is a whole different game than during the warmer months. December and January in the mountains is typically the coldest month of the year. Temperatures routinely go down to minus 20 F, sometimes much lower. When combined with winds that can be gale force, the situation can turn deadly fast. That is, if you are unprepared to meet the outdoor survival challenges of this beautiful mountainous landscape.

Many people have died in cold weather conditions when just a little knowledge on how to build a simple winter survival shelter would have saved them. Unexpected things can happen – lost hunters, downed aircraft, hikers caught out at night when they underestimated the time it takes to get from point a to point b. Perhaps someone has been injured and you are faced with going for help, leaving them alone in subfreezing weather with little chance of survival in the open.

What many would be survivors do not realize is that in cold environments snow is your friend. That cold white stuff can be used as an excellent insulator. If you can use snow to your skillful advantage, you can probably survive just about any winter weather mother nature can dish out. This video teaches you how to protect yourself from the some of the winter elements.

For more info on survival techniques visit WillowHavenOutdoor.com

Admin

I created TheBackpackerTV because of my passion for the outdoors and seeing nature up close and personal. To share my experiences, and the experiences of others for everyone to enjoy. We go watch hundreds of videos each month picking the very best for you. Enjoy!

   

I couldn’t really resist putting up this video. One: Well, it’s obvious, and two: because it’s obvious. Actually, she does make some excellent points.

“Backpacking and Hiking tips from the trail… Cindy shows you how to stay clean and fresh on the hike and actually takes a shower in the woods”

Video shot by  SoulSurvivorX2 

Admin

I created TheBackpackerTV because of my passion for the outdoors and seeing nature up close and personal. To share my experiences, and the experiences of others for everyone to enjoy. We go watch hundreds of videos each month picking the very best for you. Enjoy!

   

This is a “What If” and not an actual Emergency Overnight. This is an emergency outdoor protection gear review of backpacking gear I carry on a dayhike – featuring the MSR E-Bivy, Sea To Summit Thermolite Reactor Extreme Sleeping Bag Liner and Equinox Tarp Ultralite Poncho/Shelter with Extension. Video shot by wawhiker

The North Face® athlete Jimmy Chin shows us how to pack a backpack for a long trip or big day in the backcountry.

Weight Distribution: Always put your heaviest items close to your back, centered between your shoulder blades. For on-trail travel, place heavy items a bit higher inside your pack. This helps focus more of the weight over your hips, the area of your body best equipped to carry a heavy load.

For off-trail travel, place heavy items a bit lower in the main compartment. This lowers your center of gravity and increases your stability on uneven terrain. You are the ultimate judge of comfort. Experiment with different load arrangements to determine what feels best to you.

Here are a few examples of relative item weight:

This video shot by BackcountryEdge, discusses how shoes and socks work together to keep your feet happy and why wool or a synthetic sock should be worn for hiking and backpacking.

You’ll probably put close to 1,000 miles on a pair of hiking socks before you’re ready to toss them. That may sound like quite a haul. But remember that it’s actually only about a year if you take simple hikes each weekend.

Over those 1,000 miles you want comfort. The word has the sound of luxury to it, but during a hike, comfort is important. Chafing, blisters, and other foot injuries can turn a 3-mile hike back to the trailhead into a nightmare if your socks fall apart on you.

Moisture wicking is a must. ‘Wicking’ means taking sweat off the surface of your foot and transferring it away from the foot. If your sock doesn’t do that, you’ll develop chafing, blisters, fungi, and other nasty results. Forget about bad odor here, we’re talking health problems.

100% cotton is still a real good way to go. Nature’s fabric provides all those wanted attributes. But shrewd engineers have gone past nature in certain ways too. Blends – wool, Lycra, and others – and micro-geometry have been united to give great support and comfort, superb thermal control and advanced moisture wicking.

Even the best socks lose elasticity at the top and often folding them down over the top of the boot is the only option to get them not to slip inside your boot when you’re on a hike. Still, get a type and brand that don’t lose elasticity rapidly. Hiking socks are more costly than other kinds ($10 per pair or more), and you don’t want to have to buy new ones every month or so.

AMC Outdoor blogger Matt Heid explains his method of making Cowboy Coffee in the backcountry.

Pouring off Cowboy Coffee In the video, I show my recommended way for getting cowboy coffee out of the pot, by skimming the top with a small cup or other scooper. However, you can also simply pour out the grounds-free coffee by slowly and gently tipping the pot. As the coffee level gets lower, pour a thin slow stream that allows you to see when grounds first appear.

The Risk of Boil Over After adding the grounds to the pot of hot water, the usual recommendation is to return it very briefly to a boil on the stove. All the bubbling churns the water and grounds together for maximum mixing of the two key ingredients. But this is not an essential step–vigorously stirring the grounds and water with a spoon or stick does the trick almost as well.

You can see the rest of the article by going to the AMC’s Blog site

It really makes no sense in buying new gear with every small puncture. In the end, each piece of outdoor clothing / shell (and even your tent’s flysheet) is susceptible to cuts and tears so you might as well accept it and be prepared to fix it.

I used to invest emotionally in my brand name clothing but I realized it’s plain silly and now I don’t give a crap if what I’m wearing has a logo or not. As long as it’s functional, keeps me warm and dry, that’s all that matters. And I advise you to do the same. Repair what can be repaired and go on with your climbing, trekking or whatever.

The McNett Tenacious tape seems to be the best of it’s kind. I’ve read a few reviews and people seem to love it.

The salesperson in the mountain shop told me he used it to seal his inflatable sleeping mat and it still holds. It seems the bond is pretty strong.

The tape is transparent and comes in a 50 cm long roll. That’s enough for you to patch a dozen jackets.

How to use it

Cut a patch and make its corners round
Make sure the area you’re placing the patch on is clean and dry (trim loose threads in the cut)
Peel off the paper
Apply the tape on the cut and press hard
Leave it 24 hours as for the bond to reach its full strength
Where to buy it

The Tenacious repair tape (also called ripstop repair tape or seam sealing tape – you can seal the sewings in your waterproof shells) can be found in most of the specialized mountain stores.

If there’s no such shop in your area, here’s a list of direct links where you can buy online your waterproof repair tape:

Rei.com

Old El Paso Tortilla Stuffers in flavors of Mesquite Chicken, Carne Asada and Garlic Chili Chicken has been out since the Spring. You can generally find these at Walmart.

Ready in 60 seconds, the product is designed for those occasions when “I need a quick, substantial bite to keep my family on the go.”

The heat-and-serve product comes in shelf-ready packaging and provides a microwavable solution to meals that require little or no cleanup.

Cooking freeze dried foods in the backcountry is much of the norm when going backpacking. However, there is a limited amount of food out there, and quite honestly, can get pretty boring pretty quick on a multiple day trip. The key in cooking freeze dried foods is it’s lightwieght and easily accessable. The bad news, it can be bland and boring.

Being creative with your food can make all the difference in your trip. The key here is to plan ahead.

Maddy The Goose put’s on a great video on cooking freeze dried Bean Burritos in the backcountry. Cooking in the backcountry can be really fun if you prep, and actually like the food your eating.

Visit maddythegoose on YouTube.

Ben and Josh venture to America’s only remaining major sleeping bag factory, in Haleyville, Alabama to see just how a sleeping bag is made. So much goes into making these popular sleeping bags. From the beginning stages of raw material processing, to the final packaging and shipping, you’ll notice tremendous efficiency and skill in the workers at Exxel Outdoors. During our visit to their plant, we quickly noticed how much pride they take in the products produced, and after watching this we’re sure you will too!

Sleeping Bags

As always, please stop by http://CampingGearTV.com for more info on backpacking and camping gear reviews!

I’ve seen a lot of “DIY” vids, but this one I really like. Simple, easy, and useful. According to MandyTheGoose, it’s completely changed the way he cooks in the backcounry. What I like about it, is that it makes total sense and is ultra lightweight. I’ve used this same material as a reflective pad while winter camping in the snow.

A pot cozy is a simple and elegant alternative to simmering that will dramatically save fuel. It will also allow you to cook many foods that you wouldn’t normallly think of for backpacking, such as uncooked rice, beans and thick pasta. If you want a pot cozy but prefer not to make your own, you may order one from www.AntiGravityGear. Several stock sizes and custom sizes available. Part of profits go towards supporting boy scout Troop 270 in Hampstead, NC and other outdoor maintenance agencies.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:
1) 3/8 ” closed cell foam (cut an old foam pad or buy a cheap one from K-Mart or WalMart)
2) 2 inch wide aluminized furnace tape (duct tape can be used but makes for a slightly heavier cozy).
3) Heavy duty Aluminum foil

TOOLS REQUIRED:
1) Scissors
2) Felt marker
3) Yardstick
4) Tape measure

This video was shot by YouTube User: MandyTheGoose

Admin

I created TheBackpackerTV because of my passion for the outdoors and seeing nature up close and personal. To share my experiences, and the experiences of others for everyone to enjoy. We go watch hundreds of videos each month picking the very best for you. Enjoy!

   

Hiking Lady shows what she is taking on a 3 night backpacking trip to California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. She shows everything she’ll need, from the new CamelBak Antidote reservoir, her hiking clothing, sleeping bag, bear canister, SteriPEN, first aid kit, and more.

Video shot by The Hiking Lady

Backpackers currently employ a number of strategies to try to keep critical gear dry on the trail, but regrettably, many of them don’t work very well under the worst conditions. Also, of increasing concern over the past few years has been the upsurge of interest in lightweight hiking which, in some cases, has prompted manufacturers to overstate the capabilities their ultralight “waterproof” product offerings. It’s also caused some backpackers to make gear decisions that favor of weight over functionality—choices that could ultimately have deadly consequences.

Never under estimate the importance of keeping your extra clothes, socks, and fire starting kits dry. This video by Peak Survival demonstrates a few choices of dry sacks to use.

Explanation of some prep, handling, and storage of dehydrated foods. Jared cooks up a meal from components of his backpack or emergency food system. Yes, we use store bought noodles for the meals. The cooking time was about 10 minutes for the meal in the video, and used 2 cups of water. Another 1/4 cup would have probably been more precise for the task. This method wastes no valuable water in backpacking or emergency situations.

Affectionately known by the lightweight hiking underground as the “PCT Method” (presumably because it was first used by long distance hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail), a bear bag hanging method exists that is lighter, requires less rope, offers the benefits of counterbalancing, is easier to set up, and offers simple and quick hanging and retrieval of your food.

You can make your own system quite easily by assembling the following components:

* Food storage bag
* 40 feet of hanging rope
* Keychain carabiner
* Small stuff sack for a rock (“rock sack”)
* Pencil-sized twig about 4-6 inches long.

Bryan DeLay has 30 years experience in the backcountry and shows us in this exclusive video (produced by TheBackpackerTV), the PCT method of properly hanging a bear bag. Bryan also is a lightweight backpacker and understands that the PCT method can sometimes be the most effective way. and quickest way when your looking for the perfect limb to hang your bag.

Joe Piraino

What can I say? I love being out in the Backcountry. I am the crazy guy that likes hiking and camping in bad weather. One of my all time favorite hikes is the Appalachian Trail. If you have an Article, Video or story you would like to share on thebackpacker.tv send me an email at joe@thebackpacker.tv

There are many ways, (creative) ways, to cook in the backcountry. This is one of my favorites. Steaming rice, while saving your hot water for a hot drink. Minute Rice has really come along way, and now they have compacted there product with the backpacker in mind. Well, I don’t think they actually thought of us, but I digress. Watch this very creative way to make steamed rice from a Heineken Beer Can.

Used my DIY Backpacking Cook Kit and an Alcohol Stove to Steam Rice and make Mushroom Gravy in a Heiny Pot. I came up with the idea of steaming the microwavable Minute Rice using the same method others have used for trail steam baking.

Video was shot by Wawhiker.

Joe Piraino

What can I say? I love being out in the Backcountry. I am the crazy guy that likes hiking and camping in bad weather. One of my all time favorite hikes is the Appalachian Trail. If you have an Article, Video or story you would like to share on thebackpacker.tv send me an email at joe@thebackpacker.tv

Kevin McGowan, NOLS Rocky Mountain boot expert, describes the finer points of getting the proper fit for your boots!

There are lot’s of different products for water filtration or purification when in the backcountry. Not sure there is one better technique than the other. However, the consensus is: you better filter your water.

This YouTube User puts an excellent video together on some products and how they get used.

The various items I use for filtering and purifying water when backpacking. Covers pre-filtering, microfilter hand pumps like the MSR Miniworks, purification tablets, and UV (ultraviolet) sterilization with the Steripen Classic and Steripen Adventurer

There are more products that do the same thing. Do some research to find which method works for best for you.