Outdoor Writer & Consultant – Wilderness Guide – Custom Canoe Expeditions into the far north
Outdoor Writer & Consultant – Wilderness Guide – Custom Canoe Expeditions into the far north
By Cliff Jacobson Here’s an interesting new product. RADLIGHT is a “take off” on the old Zippo lighter, but it’s much larger, has a very powerful “upright” flame for lighting campfires and gasoline stoves. It’s as windproof as the old Zippos and (unlike Zippo) it’s really waterproof. I submerged mine in water for three minutes—opened […]
Above: Gransfors Axes: Top to Bottom: Small Forest Ax, Wildlife Hatchet, Mini Belt Hatchet Lennart Petterson making a Mini Belt Hatchet It’s small and light and perfectly balanced. It can sharpen a pencil to a piercing point, slice a tomato paper thin, and shave the print right off this page. It will frizz fuzz sticks […]
A properly equipped family canoe. EVERYONE is wearing a life jacket! Hardly a year goes by when there isn’t a drowning on some lake or river, U.S.A. In nearly every case the victims were not wearing life jackets. Boats capsize and people die. Why? Because they don’t know what they don’t know! Those who have […]
Ganesha stove. 700 ml pot on lower level. Top holds larger pots of any size. Note clean burn- barely any smoke. Every once in a very long while, a new camping product appears which is intelligently designed and honestly useful. The Ganesha wood burning trail stove, which will be released this fall, is one of […]
From my just released new book: Camping’s Top Secrets, 5th Edition —————————————- My 90-minute video, THE FORGOTTEN SKILLS details the most important camping skills. If you can do them all you’ll be a hero to your friends! *My teen book, JUSTIN CODY’S RACE TO SURVIVAL! mixes a fictional wilderness survival tale with practical outdoor tips […]
Old Town Tripper canoe. Hood River, Nunavut, Canada Canoeing wilderness rivers in northern Canada and Alaska is the same as paddling in the lower 48, with these exceptions: the water is bitterly cold—a capsize can be serious; the rapids are often longer, wider and much more powerful; portages aren’t marked or cleared, and many dangers […]
FreeStyle expert Jim Mandle, Buffalo River, Arkansas. Bell Wildfire solo canoe; Zaveral 12-degree carbon-fiber paddle. I resisted bent-shaft paddles long after they were in vogue. I thought they looked goofy, and in whitewater, I couldn’t brace on the off (back) side. Then, friends and I canoed the Steel River in Ontario with our solo canoes. […]
Cliff: RioGrande River, Texas. Bell Wildfire carbon/Kevlar solo canoe and Zaveral carbon straight-shaft paddle. Once you’ve used a carbon-fiber paddle, you’ll need real determination to return to wood. Admittedly, there’s a warmth and beauty to wood that is unmatched by synthetics. But a good carbon paddle weighs about half as much as a wood one; […]
Top to bottom: Idaho Knife Works, “Cliff” knife, Grohmann #1 Camper, Spyderco Military knife (this one is left-handed). The Cliff and Grohmann are carbon steel. The Spyderco is high-end stainless. What do you think is the most important tool to have along on a wilderness camping trip? If you said a good sharp knife, you’re […]
Survival Bracelet! Compass, cord, light, kitchen sink!Photo credit: Furkan Sahin One of the joys of being a writer is that I get to try a lot of new stuff. Some products are genuinely useful; others are simply silly. Still, one man’s trash is another’s treasure, and admittedly, I judge them from the view of a […]