When you hike, you carry a survival kit that should cover the basic needs for yourself in a survival situation. When you hike with children you carry a bit bigger kit to help you care for your needs and the child’s. But what happens if you get separated from the child? Your best line of defense is a survival kit suited for your child’s needs and abilities.
The basic needs that you’ll need to meet are Shelter, Warmth, Signaling and First Aid. These are real needs for a child. If they have to spend the night hugging a tree until the survival crew gets there, if it gets cold, if she cuts herself or if he needs to signal to a helicopter or emergency crew then they will definitely need to have the means to do so in their kit and as importantly, know how to use them.
But that’s not the only thing you’ll be interested in. Psychology is just as important. To keep them from panicking and getting themselves in a worse situation you’ll want to give them things to keep them occupied. This can be a flashlight to keep the scary things away at night, candies to suck on, toys to play with or what have you. They will need to pass the time, be it 5 minute, one hour, or 1 day.
In the below video you’ll see the kit I put together for my 5 year old daughter and my reasoning for the things I included.
In my search to turn old junk into DIY projects, I’ve come out with a new alcohol stove: The tomato burner. It’s a side burner stove made out of 2 small tomato paste cans. Technically that should mean it’s healthier :).
The benefit of the small size of the stove is that it is more efficient for smaller pots. So here’s the video walk through and how to:
“Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink.” So says the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I say that our friend forgot to pack his desalination still. I had been planning to make a still to purify and remove the salt from salt water for a while. A few days ago I finally pulled out some of the gear I take with me on every hike and tried making one. It worked!
As will most survival skills, the chances of you actually having to do this is slim, but knowing how to desalinate water is one of those skills that could just save your life if you do need it.
Obviously there are other ways to do this then the one I present below, but I tried to make this with only things that a regular backpacker/day hiker would carry with them.
One container to boil water
One container to catch water
One tube from a hydration pack
Tin foil
A means to cool down the tube
a means to boil water
That’s it! Take a look at the video below to see the process and how my setup turned out.
If you want to do this as a kids project, it is a condensed way of showing them the water cycle.
Looking for something to sit on on your backpacking trips, but short on space? I was. A Chilean company called Doite, which makes a wide variety of backpacking and outdoors gear has come out with their adventure chair, a highly portable seat that comes in its own case. It’s called the “Piso Adventure” or Adventure Stool.
Here’s a short list of features and details:
· Set-up stool size: 29 x 15 x 29cm
· packed stool size: 22.5 x 18* cm x 3cm (*18cm at the widest point 10.5 cm at thinnest)
· Weight with case: 25.3 oz / 1.586 lbs / 0.72 Kg
· Weight without case 23.15 oz / 1.448 lbs / .66 Kg
· Good for up to 80 kilos (176 lbs)
Obviously this thing would be considered to be more of a luxury item, but for anyone that wants to be a bit more comfortable and off the ground on your day/weekend trips you might want to consider this cool little product.
What I like about it
Size and weight
I love how small this thing is. I started backpacking with my daughter (5) recently and I wanted to take some chairs with us (we were planning on doing some fishing, plus there wasn’t a lot of deadfalls around). I ended up strapping them to the outside of an already heavy pack and it wasn’t any fun. On the other hand, I took two of these Doite chairs on a day hike with my son (3) and daughter (5) and it took me a bit of time to find them in the pack they were so small.
Realizing that any stool/chair is a luxury and adds weight, these don’t do too badly at 1.5 lbs. Especially when they are advertised as weighing 1.9 lbs (0.9 kg).
Comfort and sturdiness
Doite got the collapsible frame done right. Despite being so compact (enough to fit in a backpack pocket) it is sturdy and durable. The frame is reinforced by a strap on each side and a metal hook lock on the bottom (with 4 different settings). Although the stool is rated for 176 lbs, I come in right around that range and feels like it could handle another 20 lbs without any trouble.
Complaints
It’s a bit short. I foot tall is a bit small for me. It does fine and it’s comfortable but they could have added another few inches (without affecting the size too much.)
The packing case is made of the same material as the seat and is in my opinion unnecessarily heavy. The medium duty zipper on the case doesn’t extend to the ends of the side of the case and that makes it a bit of work to get it out.
All in all though, I’m happy with the chair despite a couple of improvements:
I would probably replace the bottom metal lock system with some strapping to save a bit more weight. It uses steel for the frame which is heavy, but I don’t know if you could save any weight on them without compromising integrity.
The final downer is that you’ll have to ask a friend to pick one up for you next time they’re in South America. I haven’t found them available in North America.
Final Thoughts
If you’re someone who wants a little bit of luxury, but can’t afford a lot of pack space, consider this “Piso Adventure” (Spanish for adventure stool). Impress your friends at the fireside and keep yourself higher and dryer.
Take a look at the website for this and other DOITE gear.
A little while ago I posted a 2 part write up on the father daughter backpacking trip I did with my 5 year old. I put together 2 videos for the blog and I wanted to share those with you all. To save you time, I’ve included both parts below.
Well, I did a bunch of fishing this summer ranging from bass to trout to steelhead and even a bit of the salmon run. Most of it was of limited success, so when my father in law talked about the pink salmon run I had to give it a try.
It was packed. 1 rod length is the rule and everything has to be synchronized. Very few lines tangled and even the Europeans with their almost non-existent english knew the key phrase, “fish on!”. At which point you watch the fish, reel in if necessary and if available you grab a net and get ready to dip.
It’s a fun game in the river. The slow moving fish that comes to life as you reel it in close enough that it sees you and then runs away with your line. The snags that seem like fish until you have to wade down stream to try to untangle. Well, it was fun to watch everyone else play the game…
I had to watch the seasoned pros to see what I was doing wrong. Was it the speed? the rhythm of the retrieval? the color of the dick knight? Eventually, after a few hours of envious glances at the other successful fisherman, the adrenalin of the jumping “humpys” that signaled the arrival of another school, I figured it out. It was the bite. It was incredibly subtle. Almost unperceived in the Snohomish River. I couldn’t feel it, I had to watch the rod. The slight bounce of the tip as the protective pink nipped at the invading lure had to be met with an immediate strike. It made me realize that I had missed many a hit earlier that day. After that the game was a foot… or a fin i guess.
I lost many a fish, but managed to limit on three decent sized males and a female (all weighing between 6 to 8 pounds). Both my father-in-law and I carried home limits, much to the chagrin of other fisherman and the glee of the family. We enjoyed three of them on an open fire on a camping trip that weekend which made me think of taking a week or two off next year just to fill the freezer with those fresh, tasty fish (and probably a few smoked ones as well).
Are you a pink fan? What’s your most successful year or favorite recipe for pink?
Just bear with me for one more video. This is the conclusion and final morning of the hiking trip. It was a great experience and worth starting on a Thursday. Saturday was absolutely jammed with people going up for day and weekend trips.
Well, I have more video than I thought so this is part 3 of 4 videos of the backpacking trip. More eating, more fishing and my DIY coffee cup at less than 2 oz.
At the end of July my brothers in law and I went on a 3 day hike into the Mason Lake basin via the Ira Spring Trail. We had a blast. This video looks at the fishing on day 1, home made sushi made with fresh cutthroat trout and the first part of our trip up Mount Defiance. It also looks at my new (used) golite mesh tent and tarp.
At the end of July my brothers in law and I went on a 3 day hike into the Mason Lake basin via the Ira Spring Trail. We had a blast and got a lot of it on my Panasonic Lumix point and shoot camera. For the next few posts I’ll embed videos of the experience. Highlights include a secret campsite down at lake koola koola, the never before seen nutty mushroom probar, fresh sushi made on the trail and a terrible encounter with freeze dried shrimp risotto with asparagus and mushroom that ma or may not have included shrimp and a summit of mount defiance.
My Wife’s family is from South Africa and always had fond memories of Biltong. Biltong is a thicker, moister beef jerky with a secret ingredient: Coriander. It provides a nice change from beef jerky, it’s home made so it doesn’t have chemicals and preservatives and in my opinion it tastes far better. The only problem is having to share it on the trail!
Here’s the recipe that we use in our house and a video “how to” too.
DISCLAIMER: In our house my wife has to make two batches before a backpacking trip. 1 batch a week before as a distraction and then another one 3 days before to make up for the batch I’m finishing off :).
Biltong recipe
This recipe calls for the beef to be marinaded overnight.
Ingredients:
1 kg boneless beef roast
apple cider vinegar (about 1/4 cup or so, plus a bowlful for rinsing in step 5)
worchestshire sauce (about 1/4 cup or so)
1 Tblsp. rock salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 baking soda (to soften meat fibers)
coriander, roasted, ground (if can’t find roasted, plain ground coriander is ok – but not as flavorful. A coffee or spice grinder will grind roasted whole coriander – roasting them yourself is easy – 350 F on an ungreased cookie tray until aromatic – about 3 to 6 minutes)
Partially thaw meat until able to slice with very sharp knife – should still be quite frosted. This ensures clean, neat, uniform thickness slices. If you slice with the grain, the biltong will be chewier, if you slice against the grain, it will be easier to tear. Slice into 1/4 to 1/2 cm. thick slices. Cut slices into any size you want. Trim off excess fat – too much fat, and the biltong will go rancid more quickly.
Mix rock salt, brown sugar, pepper, soda.
Marinade meat in large baking pan (13 by 9 inch). On the bottom of the pan, sprinkle a little salt mixture. Lay on a single layer of meat, sprinkle with salt mixture, then vinegar and worcheshire sauce. You want just enough salt mixture and vinegar and worcheshire to get the salt mixture to fizz. Not too much! Not too little! Repeat layers, ending with the salt-vinegar-worcheshire on top. You want to layer it so that by the end, you’ve run out of the salt mixture. It’ll take practice!
Marinade 12 hours in the fridge. Not much longer than that – if you marinade too long, the meat dries out too much. If you marinade too little, the meat has not cured enough and will be flavourless and will spoil faster.
Quickly dip each piece of meat in a bowl of apple cider vinegar to get off excess salt – not all the salt, just the excess salt. Lay in dehydrator in single layers – no overlapping. Sprinkle with coriander. Dehydrate about 4 hours – the meat should be pliable but not gooshy and definitely not dry. If it’s gone stiff and hard while still warm, it’s dried too much. Once the pieces have cooled, they should be fairly stiff but still at least a little flexible. I always eat a piece or two to test. 🙂
Store in ziplock bags with a paper towel to absorb condensation in fridge or freezer – if you freeze for a long time, it tends to dry out a bit more. You don’t want the biltong to get warm and humid, as it will spoil very quickly.
I recommend you do a small batch (about 1 kg meat) to start, to get the feel of things and to adjust things to get the taste and texture you want. When I do a big batch, I sometimes do as much as 6 to 8 kg at once. 1 kg of fresh meat doesn’t make a lot of biltong! (Probably only about one small freezer bag worth). You don’t want to do too much at once, because then it doesn’t all fit on the dehydrator at once and the rest of the meat marinades too long and becomes too dry.
My sister-in-law added this piece of advice:
“One note, I actually take my meat to the butcher and ask them to slice it in to 1/2 inch slices so that I don’t need to freeze it and slice it. It makes it a whole lot easier for uniformity in the dehydrator. I just take the slices and make them into smaller strips. Super easy, and easier when short on time.”
A little while ago I set off into the hills behind San Miguel (in La Paz, Bolivia) for a couple hours of hiking. The hills around La Paz, Bolivia (10500 feet – 12500 feet) are very water worn like areas of the USA which makes for amazing scenery and steep and sometimes difficult hiking. After climbing up and onto the ridge I hiked along the ridge until I arrived at a famous landmark “La Muela del diablo” (or the Devil’s molar). After that I headed down and back through town. All told it was about 7 KM of hiking and done in under 3 hours.
Here’s a list of the gear that I brought followed by a video of part 1:
The Outdoor Adventure Giving you tips, tricks & recommendations to help make adventuring in the Outdoors fun, safe & exciting for you and your kids.
