Don’t Forget Those Pearly Whites

I was reminded of this just a few days ago. No, not on a camping trip or even in the wilds. It was, nonetheless, a good reminder to review my medical supplies. This is not the sexy side of wilderness medicine. What attracts most of us to the austere or wilderness medical setting is the…

Altitude: It May Not be as High as You Think

For many, the thought of going “to altitude” brings images of Mt. Everest or similar mountaineering peaks. Physiologically, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Depending upon susceptibility, humans can begin to experience symptoms of altitude illness as low as 1500 meters above sea level. The chances increase after 6,500 feet and further still…

Zika—Don’t forget about this viral illness

As with most stories that make a splash into the headlines, Zika virus had its 15 minutes of fame, but has since seemed to fade into the arena of “old news”. So, as the intrepid traveler, is this an infection you should be worrying about or was this just a story for a news starved…

Wilderness Texting

On a recent adventure into the Colorado wilderness, we came along the note above. One hiker was communicating to the group that they were taking an alternate route and would meet them at base camp in a few days. While this may seem unusual in today’s world of text messages and wide cell phone coverage,…

New Trangia 25-8 Stove

We had an excellent oatmeal breakfast with the Trangia 25-8 stove this morning. This is a new purchase for us. We decided to move into the bigger size to make meal preparation for 2 a bit easier. It is a bit heavier than our previous mini-Trangia but much faster when cooking for more than one…

Improvised and Multi-Use Gear

There are any number of pieces of hiking equipment that can be improvised or turned into multi-use products. Some hikers just enjoy seeing what they can get away with as far as the lightness of their pack. But there are good reasons to lighten the load, if possible. The lighter the load, the easier the…