3: Skills Worth Knowing

Knots, knots!  Where would the outdoorsineer be without a proper knowledge of knots?  Lying broken and bloody at the bottom of a cliff, most likely.  There can be no greater companion to the weary traveler than the noble knot.  A good knot can get you out of many dangerous situations and can open up sections […]

When in the depths of the cruel and wonderful wilderness, there can be no more essential companion than a strong fire.  A fire marks your campsite as your own, so that fellow travelers know to leave well enough alone and stay away.  It provides light by which you may write poetry or do whittling.  And […]

A vexing problem that has confounded many would-be outdoorsineers is this: how does one remember the difference between the terms “upstream” and “downstream”?  Unlike the difference between left and right, which has an easy mnemonic device1, there is no easy way to remember which part of a river is upstream. This confusion has gotten many […]