Camping

IN 1999, the portable structure or tent which is called 'Tensile 1' was awarded the 'Worlds Largest Portable Event Venue'. The structure has a surface area of nearly 14,000 square metres or 150,000 square feet in one structure, ie not lots of smaller structures joined together. (Guinness World Records, (1999) Guinness Superlatives, London).

A medial direction using a compass refers to navigating straight ahead to maintain the current direction without veering to the left or right. It involves walking in a straight line relative to a compass reading, typically without any deviations.

It is not safe to camp in a pop-up camper during a thunderstorm, as these campers are not designed to withstand severe weather conditions. Thunderstorms can create strong winds, lightning, and heavy rain, putting you at risk of injury or damage to the camper. It is best to seek shelter in a sturdy building or a designated storm shelter until the storm passes.

The gas cooker will get to that temperature very quickly. Any liquid you are trying to boil depends on the size of the cooker and its burner size, the amount of liquid you intend to boil and also the altitude that you are at. The higher the altitude, the longer it takes water to boil.

Yes, there are some snow tent camping sites in northern California, particularly in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Popular areas for winter camping include Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lake Tahoe, and the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Be sure to check for any necessary permits or regulations before camping in these areas during the winter.

Wood burns quickly on a blazing fire because the high temperature of the fire causes the wood to quickly release gases and volatile compounds stored within it. These gases ignite easily, leading to rapid combustion and a quick burning rate.

Sure! Some examples of feature writings include human interest stories, editorial pieces, reviews, profiles, and in-depth investigative articles. These types of feature writings often focus on engaging storytelling, analysis, and interpretation of events, trends, or personalities.

The Outdoor Megastore, which is located in the UK, does sell ski apparel, accessories and equipment. It also specializes in camping, hiking and cycling equipment.

Pocket knives can be made from various materials, including metals, handle materials, and other components. Here's an overview of the common materials used in the construction of pocket knives:

Blade Material:

Steel: The blade of a pocket knife is typically made of steel, which offers durability, hardness, and corrosion resistance. Common types of steel used for knife blades include stainless steel, carbon steel, Damascus steel, and high-carbon stainless steel.

Handle Material:

Metal: Some pocket knife handles are made of metal, such as stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, or brass. Metal handles offer durability, strength, and a sleek appearance.

Wood: Wooden handles, such as those made from hardwoods like walnut, maple, or ebony, provide a warm, natural look and comfortable grip. Wood handles may be treated with finishes or sealants to enhance durability and moisture resistance.

Plastic or Polymer: Pocket knife handles can also be made from synthetic materials like plastic, nylon, G-10, or FRN (Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon). These materials offer lightweight, durable, and affordable options, with various textures and colors available.

Composite Materials: Some pocket knife handles are constructed from composite materials, such as carbon fiber, Micarta, or laminate, which combine layers of different materials to create a strong, lightweight, and visually appealing handle.

Other Components:

Bolsters: Bolsters are metal fittings that reinforce the junction between the blade and the handle. They provide added strength and stability to the knife.

Fasteners: Pocket knives may use various types of fasteners, such as screws, rivets, or pins, to hold the blade, handle scales, and other components together.

Liners: Liners are thin metal plates that are often used to reinforce the handle and provide additional strength and stability. They may be visible or hidden within the handle construction.

Pocket knives come in a wide range of designs, styles, and materials, allowing users to choose the combination that best suits their preferences, intended use, and budget. The choice of materials can impact the knife's performance, durability, aesthetics, and overall feel in hand.

The frequency with which you should sharpen a knife depends on various factors, including how often you use the knife, the type of knife, the cutting tasks involved, and your own preferences. Here are some general guidelines:

Usage Frequency:

High-frequency usage, such as daily cooking or professional kitchen work, may require more frequent sharpening. If you use your knife less frequently, it might not need sharpening as often.

Type of Knife:

Different knives serve different purposes, and their sharpening needs can vary. For example, a chef's knife used for chopping and slicing might need more frequent sharpening than a utility knife or a specialized knife.

Cutting Tasks:

Cutting tasks also influence how often a knife should be sharpened. If you frequently cut through dense or tough materials, the knife may require more regular sharpening.

Cutting Surface:

The surface on which you cut plays a role. Softer cutting surfaces, like wood or plastic cutting boards, are less abrasive to the knife edge than harder surfaces like glass or granite. Using softer cutting surfaces can help maintain the edge for a longer time.

Knife Maintenance:

Regular maintenance, such as honing with a honing rod or steel, can help extend the time between actual sharpening sessions. Honing doesn't remove metal but straightens the edge and can be done more frequently.

Personal Preference:

Some individuals prefer their knives to be extremely sharp and may sharpen them more frequently, while others are comfortable with a less acute edge. Personal preference plays a role in determining the sharpening frequency.

As a general guideline, a kitchen knife that is used regularly for typical kitchen tasks might benefit from sharpening every 2-3 months. However, it's crucial to pay attention to the knife's performance and sharpen it when needed. Signs that a knife requires sharpening include:

Decreased Cutting Performance: If the knife doesn't cut as smoothly as before, it may need sharpening.

Blade Feels Dull or Tugs: A dull blade tends to tug or drag on food rather than effortlessly slicing through it.

Visible Nicks or Damage: If the blade has visible nicks, chips, or damage, it's time for more than just honing, and sharpening is necessary.

Adjust the sharpening frequency based on your specific needs, habits, and the condition of your knives. Using proper cutting techniques and storing knives appropriately can also contribute to maintaining their sharpness for longer periods.

A Victorinox is a good pocket knife to go camping with. It has stainless steel blades and 7 functions to utilize. It also comes with a lifetime warranty.

Good foods for camping are foods that will not spoil on your trip (if you are camping with a cooler, this includes pretty much anything you eat at home) and foods that are easy to cook at your campsite. If you plan to cook over a fire or a simple backpacking style stove the best foods are foods that can be cooked on a grill, on a stick or in a packet of foil like hot dogs and other meat, marshmallows, baking potatoes, corn and foods that can be boiled like noodles, soups, corn, and veggies. Canned foods that just need to be heated up are good for people who are uncomfortable with cooking in a primitive kitchen. Other good camping foods are foods that don't need to be cooked at all like sandwiches, crackers, chips, and fruit. That said, you really can eat whatever you want when you go camping: the deliciousness of your camping food is restricted only by your own creativity and ability to cook in a primitive kitchen.

For a backpacking trip the best foods are non-perishable foods that are lightweight, high in nutrients/calories and use a minimal amount of fuel to prepare. Foods like nuts, dried fruits, beef jerky, powdered soups, pasta, couscous, parboiled rice, and dried veggies. There is advice and good recipes for backpacking at the website in related links. The website is about hiking the Wonderland trail around Mt. Rainier but the meal planning advice works for any backpacking trip.

10-1000 USD depending on specifics.

I don't know of any distance between tents that is a requirement anywhere, but you do not want to have any guy lines from the tents criss crossing and causing a tripping hazard. I have set up tents really close before because there just wasn't enough room but I prefer to spread out. When you set up your camp with several tents, you should set it up with specific things in mind. Where is the trails coming in and out of the site, do not block the trail to the outhouse, bath house, rest room, etc. Set it up with plenty of room to breath and work around the camp. Keep tents away from the cooking area. The cooking area attracts critters, big and small, during the night. If Bob snores or worse yet, has eaten more then his share of the beans for dinner, then you may want some distance from his tent particularly up wind. (Pay attention to the wind direction). Seriously though, you want to set up your tents in a way that will not hamper your movements and actions in the camp and keep things safe.

Tents should be 200 feet from lakes and streams, and about that far from cooking areas (especially in bear country).

Don't forget about lightning. If it looks like storms are approaching, spread your tents out by at least 15-20 feet for safety. Otherwise, the whole campsite could get zapped by one strike. (Learn more about lightning before you go!)

Scheduled for the weekend of May 21, 22, 23rd of 2010

wild guess, gasoline

Sometimes its not leaking, its condensation on the inside of the tent that falls when its knocked off from the slightest touch. If the tent has lost its waterproofing, the water may be 'transmitted' throught the fabric through wick action of someone touching it.

The Appalachian Trail stretches 161 miles in the state of New Hampshire, how long it would take you to hike that far depends on a lot of factors. The trail in New Hampshire is fairly difficult so depending on your level of experience you could hike anywhere between 5 and 9 miles per day, so it could take anywhere from 17 to 33 days to hike all the way through.

The Quinny Footmuff is an accessory for the Quinny stroller. It acts as a cover for baby, providing a sleeping bag type design to keep them warm. The Quinny Footmuff is designed to be strapped into the seat, but still provide easy access for getting baby in and out.

No matter how good a knife is and how well you maintain it, in the end you have to sharpen it.

Professional chefs need to sharpen their knives on daily bases. Obviously, home cooking is less demanding.

Contrary to the popular belief, butcher's steel is not a sharpening device, but is designed to realign the deformed edge, which (deformation) is the primary reason of the knife dulling.

Knives hold a straight edge at the molecular and super-molecular level. Unless damaged by abuse, knives will dull when the fine edge becomes bent or rolled back upon itself, although the degree of bend is invisibly small. Stroking the knife's blade (both sides on European blades; Japanese blades are usually one-sided) on a honing steel at an angle of between roughly equal to the actual angle of the blade, will often renew an edge to its original sharpness by straightening the edge.

For chefs' knives, you should hone your knife nearly every time you pick it up -- 20 or so strokes will do. Note that honing an edge on a steel does not remove metal from the blade as does actual sharpening. If you must actually sharpen, the best way is to send the knife to a pro, and pay them to do it right. If you need to sharpen the blade yourself, here's the most detailed procedure I know.

You can of course omit some parts and still get good results. First, determine the angle of the edge of the blade. You can get this information from the manufacturer, or you can try and observe it very carefully. Know that the very edge of the knife is almost never the same angle you see from the back of the blade to the edge -- the edge is typically different. As a last resort, re-grind the edge to a known angle, around 20 degrees, using a grinder -- something better left to a professional.

I like to use 3 whetstones: one course carborundum water stone, a fine water stone, and an Arkansas oil stone. All of these are easily harder than the metal of the knife blade itself. Work from the coarsest stone to the finest. If you can, avoid working much with the coarser stones, as they remove a lot of metal from the knife. Wet the stone and rinse it thoroughly to make sure the pores on the stone aren't already clogged with metal. Place the stone on a damp dishcloth (s it doesn't slide), on a flat surface. Rest the edge of the knife on the stone at the angle of the edge, so that the sharp edge is pointing away from you, and place your fingertips lightly on the flat of the blade, so that you can exert an even, very gentle pressure along the length of the blade (instead of exerting all the pressure from your grip on the haft alone). Slide the knife back towards you (blade pointing away) slowly and evenly, being careful to maintain that exact angle.

Whetting the blade at too large an angle will result in a dull knife; using to fine an angle will result in a knife that starts sharp but dulls very quickly. As you draw back, be careful to follow the curve of the blade (if any) -- you don't want to change the geometry of your knife. Very few knives of any kind have a perfectly straight-edged blade. I like to do about 10 strokes, then turn the knife over and repeat for 10 more strokes on the other side. On the coarse stone, do this until the knife blade is uniformly even and sharp. DO NOT USE THIS TECHNIQUE TO REMOVE NICKS -- you can tear up your whetstones and it's almost impossible to remove enough metal to take out a nick -- that needs to be done by a pro. The coarser the stone is, the more it will leave the edge microscopically uneven. An uneven edge can cut like a micro-serrated edge, but will feel uneven, and will quickly dull as the serrations and uneven spots wear down, and the blade evens out. As soon as you can, shift gears down to a finer stone and repeat the process.

Remember throughout that your goal is to change the knife as little as possible. You want to leave as much metal on the blade as you can, and never change the curve or shape of the blade. The edge you're working towards, when viewed from the front or back of the blade, should be neither concave nor convex relative to the original shape of the knife (except for some oriental blades, which are designed as convex blades on one side, and require a different technique). The Arkansas oilstone uses a fine mineral oil instead of water, and is extremely fine. Use it to finish your blade, and feel free to spend quite a few strokes on this step. At completion, hone the knife on a sharpening steel before finishing. Note that you cannot indefinitely sharpen a knife to regain the edge. Eventually, the thickness of the remaining blade will increase as more and more metal is removed, and sharpening the knife from thick stock down to a fine edge will no longer be possible with this method. At that point, a pro will need to re-grind the blade. As this actually does change the geometry of the blade, you should start thinking about replacing the knife. Note that a professional sharpening and a re-grinding are not at all the same thing. If the knife is good quality steel and new its a case of maintenance, use a high quality knife honing steel, a few strokes every single time before you use the knife and during if doing a lot of cutting, will keep the knife razor sharp.

If the knife is already very dull (shame on you!!!) a carpenters sharpening flat stone is very good at reviving a knifes edge, just be aware that the angle you sharpen a knife at is crucial. Take it to a professional sharpener, then maintain the edge as above. Sharp knives cut people far less than blunt knives, because less pressure is used to cut. Care for your knives and they will last a lifetime.

Notes regarding the Diamond Hone. It looks like a steel but it's not. As diamond is a lot harder than steel, using a diamond hone will remove steel from the blade. Don't use this tool for honing; use it ONLY for actual sharpening.

The best place to find free camping is on public lands. A small clearing, a fire ring and a picnic table is all you'll get - but if free and privacy is what you seek, these are the best.

There are numerous small campgrounds in remote regions in the western USA. The farther off the pavement you go, the better chance if finding a free, secluded camp site. Some with decent scenery, forests, waterfalls, rivers, creeks, nearby hiking & biking trails. All are without flush toilets or RV hook-ups. No amenities means minimal upkeep, so there is usually no charge for these spots.

BLM (Bureau of Land Management) & NFS (National Forest Service) have most of these no-cost style campgrounds. Do a search for BLM camping or NF campgrounds in your state to find what is available in your desired area.

Primitive camp sites are also free. These are also called open, dispersed or dry camping, without any facilities what-so-ever. No developed campground, just you and a rock ring for your camp fire. But be warned: wild fire dangers are real in Cali, so you will need a free fire permit from the nearest ranger station, a water bucket, and a shovel.

My 13 year old outdoor site specializes in finding these FREE type of camp sites. I point you in the right direction for what ever terrain you desire and let you know what to expect in the boonies. I can also sell you a waterproof topo map so you won't get lost on the back roads.

Happy Camping!

DanaMite

Total Escape - California, Off the Beaten Path

http://www.totalescape.com