Tracking Barometric Pressure With A GPS

Extend the usefulness of your GPS by tracking and monitoring the local weather.

Resetting your GPS to monitor and plot barometric pressure is a great tool for the backcountry hiker.

The following is the lead-in to an article that I recently wrote for the web site: www.seattlebackpackersmagazine.com.


Barometric pressure data is important because it gives the hiker an idea of how the weather is developing and changing. I use my Garmin GPSMap60CS receiver to provide barometric pressure information while hiking in the back country. 

To read the rest of the post go here.

Note: www.seattlebackpackersmagazine.com is a wonderful resource for those living or planning to hike in the Pacific Northwest.  The site's posts are writen by experienced hikers.  The editors provide a crip, clean and fact based product.   Bookmark this site; it is simply the best.

Navigation Classes

Navigation & wilderness survival classes scheduled for Central Oregon.

I have just completed scheduling classes for Spring and Summer through Central Oregon Community College's Continuing Education Program.

Please visit the Outdoor Quest web site for the complete listing.

Call 541 383 7270 to schedule and sign up for a class.

New for 2013 is a four evening series of classes dedicated to land navigation for hunters.  This will be an in depth map, compass and GPS class for the dedicated backcountry hunter.

Winter Survival

My friend Leon is a writer about all topics relating to survival.

His latest work is in the Bend Bulletin.  The topic for this week is preparing a survival kit.

To read Leon's post go here.

Ranger Bands

A friend of mine made up some Ranger Bands as a Christmas present this year.  They are very handy.

Wikipedia describes them as:

"This type of rubber band was popularized by use in the military. They are essentially sections of tire inner tubing cut into various sizes. They have the advantage of being versatile, durable, and resistant to weather and abrasion. They are commonly used for lashings, and can also be used for makeshift handle grips, providing a strong high-friction surface with excellent shock absorption."

 

The inner tubes I am using are from a bicycle.

Here is a simple video that gets the concept across quite nicely.

Emergency Shelter

The following is Peter Kumerfeldt's post on emergency shelter options.


There may come a time when you have to spend a night out that you hadn’t planned on. It may be because of weather, darkness, injury or more commonly, getting lost! Regardless of the cause you are now faced with nine or ten hours of discomfort at best and, at worst, the loss of your life because of your lack of preparedness for the event.

No one wants to spend a cold, wet, hungry, lonely night out away from family and friends but it happens! And it happens all to frequently. It happens to both to the experienced and the novice – none are immune from the possibility of having to survive cold temperatures, high winds and precipitation sitting under a tree waiting for the sun come up the next morning. It is more likely that the experienced person will be better equipped and ready for a night out. It is also true that more experienced people, based on their know-how and past successes are prone to over-estimating their skills and abilities to spend a night out and underestimate the impact of the environment and the weather on their ability to survive.

To read the rest of Peter's post visit his blog here.

Winter Hiking - Layering Your Clothing

Sectionhiker.com has a fine article about layering your winter clothing.  This is post is a follow-up to "Base Layer Clothing Selections."

Many winter hikers use a four layer clothing system:

1. A base layer, consisting of a synthetic wicking long sleeved shirt and long underwear.
2. A fleece sweater as an insulating midlayer.
3. A hard shell jacket and pants as a wind-proof/waterproof layer.
4. A puffy down or synthetic jacket and pants for even more warmth.

During the day when you are active, you’ll most likely be wearing layers 1-3, in addition to gloves and one or more hats, although during periods of high exertion you may take off layers 3 and 2 to vent as much extra heat as possible in order to avoid sweating.

To read the rest of Section Hiker's post go here.

Finding Direction Without a Compass

Preparation and carrying the ten essentials is vital to any outdoor trip.  Map, compass and GPS make up my navigation kit.  Still, the unplanned happens and the magnetic compass may be broken or left at home.  Knowing a few common practices can make a difference.

How can you determine direction without a compass or when the compass is broken?

There are a few viable techniques that can be used to determine direction.  But first, let’s eliminate two methods that are not practical.

Let’s eliminate the old axiom of moss growing on the north side of a tree.  It is just not reliable.

To read the rest of the post go here.