video Archives - Page 14 of 15 - The Outdoor Adventure

Primitive Skills: how to cook food on a rock

June 10, 2011 cooking, survival, video 3

I keep going to outdoors stores looking for a nice frying pan. I come up with the same problem, they’re too small or they’re big and too heavy to justify for that one fish you might catch. Every now and then I find on the internet a frying pan of reasonable weight, but they carry a price tag that I don’t want to pay. Tinfoil is reliable, but you need to pack out waste. Again I’ve taken a lesson from times gone by: cooking with a rock.

Yup, with a small fire and a nice slab of rock you can fry up a whole variety of food. Some of the tastiest pizzas are cooked on a hot stone and it is now a novelty to roast steak and seafood over a cooking stone. They’re just reinventions of an old concept that predated the cast iron frying pan.

It’s simple in concept but you have to be careful. You really need to watch out for rocks that have moisture in them. Just like in a campfire, a river stone or shale that hasn’t been dried carefully the heat from the fire can cause the moisture to vaporize and in turn cause the rock to explode. ¿Flying fish anyone?

Create two stable piles of stones and place the large cooking slab across them like a bridge. Next, start your fire and when you have a good coal base, move the coals under the bridge. Keep adding small wood to the fire as needed. It will take a while to heat up the stone to make it hot enough to cook on. If you heat it too fast it can shatter. Once the stone is heated, you can add food to your new cave-man frying pan and enjoy a fun, tasty dinner.

One of my favourite benefits of using a stone is that it cooks evenly, unlike the thin frying pans that are built for backpackers. Take a look at the following video to see this technique used to cook a tasty trout!

If you missed the post on how to fillet trout, take a look at this post.

Gear Review: Swiss Ranger Military Surplus stove

May 29, 2011 cooking, gear, review, video 0

A look at the funky looking swiss ranger solid fuel stove. It is military quality (and weight). Coming in at 14 oz for a windshield, canteen and 2 cup aluminum cup for about $10, this little unit is a cheap way to get into backpacking.

It isn’t slow, it isn’t fast. It isn’t light and it isn’t heavy. It is cheap. All in all, it is a middle of the line entry level stove to start you off hiking.

Take a look at the demo video below and if you want to buy one, try Cheaper than dirt. Wish I made a commission selling it 🙂

Tips from kids: Bears! How to stay safe on the trail

May 25, 2011 Adventure, kids, survival, video 2

My kids love learning about animals and the outdoors. We thought we’d teach them a bit about bear safety via books, DVDs and answering their questions. This is what they remembered:

How to fillet a trout without a knife and cook it without a frying pan

May 18, 2011 cooking, DIY, survival, video 2

The Native Americans weren’t the typical wasters that the disposable society of today has created. They knew easy efficient ways of harvesting, preparing and cooking wild foods. A good example of this is how some groups used to fillet and cook trout. It’s a really simple technique that doesn’t rely on tinfoil or a cooking pot. You end up with more meat than a typical fillet and no bones… None at all.

Take a look at this video (excuse the background noise and laugh with the kids) of us preparing a trout and roasting it over a fire with sticks. Sorry we couldn’t save some for you!

Is this to complicated? Would you like to cook food on a rock? Take a look at this link

DIY: How to make Char Cloth

April 30, 2011 DIY, Fire, video 0

A while ago I linked to a video on using firesteels to start a fire. A good way to catch the spark is char cloth.

It doesn’t take much to make the char cloth and it is good to have on hand for emergency tinder.

All you need to do is burn the cloth in a container where very little oxygen can get access.

Take a look at the following video and give it a try. As always, be careful and know what you’re doing. I can’t take responsibility for personal injury (however unlikely).

San Pedro Caves and a bit of 4x4ing

April 23, 2011 blog, video 0

A few weeks back my parents came to visit us, so we decided to take a trip down to the small town of Sorata. My parents were kind enough to watch the kids while my wife and I went for a trip down to the San Pedro Cave.

The cave is quite large and humid, but the feature piece is the underwater lake. There was at one point blind fish in the water but they have disappeared. Nevertheless, you can take a peddle boat the length of the cave and enjoy the rock formations and sound of bats overhead.

Half the fun is getting there and back on the muddy roads that hug the side of the mountain. Rarely ever more than 1 1/2 lanes wide with blind corners, they keep you on your toes. We went at a particularly rainy time of year and frequently encountered washouts and mud slides. We had a blast.

Take a look at the video below as we try to capture a little bit of what we saw.

Ray Mears: A real survival expert

April 16, 2011 review, survival, video 0

Most of us have heard of, if not seen TV’s survival experts Cody Lundin, Les Stroud and of course the notorious and some would say dangerous to imitate Bear Grylls. Each have their quirks and enfasis, but each try to make survival interesting. But probably the best guy out there (on TV) to actually teach you survival would be Ray Mears.

Ray Mears grew up in England teaching himself bushcraft. he didn’t have a lot of money so he improvised, learning how to venture into the outdoors and make the most of your surroundings. He ended up starting his own survival school in 1983 and has produced with the BBC many different bushcraft and survival programs where he demonstrates survival and traditional skills from around the world. If you want to see a couple clips, take a look at this Ray Mears youtube playlist. You can read Ray Mears’ bio here.

If those clips from the BBC above wet your whistle for some real instructionals on survival skills, take a look at Ray Mears’ DVDs on his website. They ship worldwide. I really like the fact that he combines bushcraft and survival with history. I would consider the Northern Wilderness DVD series a great instructional tool about the formation of Canada.

Probably my favourite quote from Ray Mears is: “Without a doubt, the hardest thing of all in a survival situation is to cook without the benefit of seasonings and flavourings.” And that is said with a straight face and total sincerity. Yes, survival is that easy for him.

Take a look at the following clip on building a survival shelter:

DIY: Improve that portable backpacking wood gasifier stove

April 9, 2011 cooking, DIY, video 1

Many people complain about the high efficiency wood backpacking stove, saying that it makes your pots too sooty. Check out this little adapter and let me know the results:

I’ve removed the side air intake for the inner can and expanded the air intake on the outer can. Also, to make it burn more cleanly I added a reflector that forces the unburnt fuel out next to the jets.

Thanks to bmadau on http://backcountryforum.com/

Please try it out and give your feedback.

An unsuccessful fishing trip in Sorata, Bolivia

March 26, 2011 Adventure, blog, video 2

Travelling down a major road strewn with boulders, mudslides and small lagoons should have perhaps served as a warning to us of the success of the trip. but, for some reason, it didn’t deter us.

I wanted to get in a few sights and hopefully a bit of sport fishing when my parents came down to visit. We got all the gear together and made a few homemade flies for the trip as well. Then it was off for the 3 our drive to Sorata, Bolivia in the raining season.

Regardless of the fact that the river looked like brown soup from the runoff, the hike down to the water and through the brush generated excellent memories and beautifully views to remember.

Take a look at the video below of the adventure and stay tuned for part 2 of our trip.

Military surplus esbit stove review

February 11, 2011 cooking, gear, video 0

Here’s a video review of the esbit style stove:

Please note that esbit makes tablets that are much better than the two I’ve tried.

DIY Video: Pot Stand for the Alcohol stove

January 24, 2011 DIY, gear, video 0

Here’s a quick video of me making the potstand for the alcohol backpacking stove that I documented earlier.

Youtube video: Trip the Elysian Fields (Mount Rainier National park)

January 15, 2011 Adventure, gear, video 0

This video was made by a Trail Ambassador for Gossamer Gear (they review and test gear for Gossamer Gear). In the video he goes on a 3 day trip with his daughter to the Elysian Fields. Nice balance of scenery and informative talk about his gear.

Also, checkout his video camera: ContourHD 1080p Full HD Helmet Camera

I found it nice to see that he has taken his kids backpacking since they were 7.

As he says, “… I started taking my kids out by car camping and they would play in the area. Then it was car camping with little day hikes. They did their first overnight backpacks at about 7, though many kids go out much younger. My daughter has turned out to be a great hiking partner, and the times spent are invaluable.”

Maybe I can convince some friends to try the trail with me.