The website CalTopo has been a powerful, versitle and useful mapping program/website for a number of years. SAR responders will also recognize the usefulness of “SARTopo”. Those who have used Caltopo will know that its usefulness ends when you close your laptop or desktop. . . that is until last week, when […]
Yearly Archives: 2018
13 posts
I’m a little behind in my writing right now, so here is a little amusement. I recorded most of my drive through Maggie Slot Canyon. I have never driven a slot canyon and it was something I’ve been pining to do since I got a driver’s license. Right now, […]
Turning north onto Nebraska Highway 67, the gray, squat monolith was readily apparent. It stuck out from the landscape with a spooky stillness. I pulled into the muddy gravel lot. A couple with their daughter were just getting into their car with bright smiles. It was sunny. The parking lot […]
All in all, the remnants of these societies, well preserved because of the hot/dry climates, make for some good exploration.
This month – we consider “On Whale Island: Notes from a Place I Never Meant to Leave “ After Daniel Hays and his father built a twenty-five-foot boat and sailed it around Cape Horn, he thought he’d finally put his wanderlust to rest. He went back to school, bought a […]
I recently purchased a titanium wood stove from Seek Outside. This stove weighs 46 ounces including the smoke stack, damper and arrestor. I intend (in the beginning) to use the stove with a Tipi Tent (RedCliff) for winter travel. The RedCliff comes it at 78 ounces. All combined, they weigh […]
The quick patter of droplets on leaves told the story of a thunderstorm that had just passed. Myself and two other candidates waited in their vehicles under the cover of electrified darkness. Through my rearview mirror I spotted a dome light. “It looks like it might be a go”, I […]
“We’ll have to use the winch”, Cupcake declared. “Really?”, I thought to myself. All I really need is for one of you to actually “try” to ground guide me and perhaps to engage the lockers. This doesn’t need a winch. But, for the first time in a long time, I […]
Knot tying is an ancient thing. The earliest knowledge of knots (that I have ever found) dates to 300,000 years ago. Perforated stones, beads and pendants from that era have been found – suggesting the use of knots. Archaeology has suggested that knot work is important to human development. Without […]
This month – we consider “Island of the Lost: A Harrowing True Story of Shipwreck, Death and Survival on a Godforsaken Island at the Edge of the World” In January of 1864, five sailors from the wrecked schooner Grafton are stranded on remote and icy Auckland Island, some […]