I don’t know what 440 High Carbon Stainless Steel is, but the blades are made of it and that just sounds cool. Click on the picture to go to the Remington web site. You can then click on the Find a Retailer link at the top of the page to find somewhere to buy this knife (not at the Scout shop in my area).

You get to select an engraving for the blade. Cool. ‘Nuff said (pic click to go to site).

My Cub son almost had a fit when I didn’t buy him the deck of birds cards. I got them for him on another trip because he’d earned it. He loves that deck and can knowledgeably talk about the wingspan of vultures and what-not. In the same spirit, although a little more terrestrial, DK Publishing now has a deck of trees. Click on the pic to go to their site and see all the Boy Scouts of America cards they have. These you should be able to find in your Scout shop.

With most of the country beginning to thaw out, now is a great time to start planning for your first family camping trip, this spring. For many families, this will be the first camping trip since Labor Day. That means camping gear that has been in storage for months needs to be checked before hitting the backcountry. Also, springtime weather is unpredictable, so it makes sense to prepare for the worst, regardless of the weekend forecast.

Roy goes on to describe what to do for those dirty, squashed up sleeping bags you’re a little afraid to unpack. *spoiler* Front loading washing machines.

He’s got comments on canopies, too. Go check it out!

It’ll be nice when I can afford that someday. Until then I just wear my $15 water socks from Big 5 Sporting Goods and switch back to my boots when it looks like I won’t have to tread water for a while.

My answer is more simple. I don’t do gloves. Mittens is my game. Shared heat for Mr. Thumbkin’s 4 brothers. Woolen mittens just like in all the old stories and nursery rhymes are what I go with. I got a great deal from Target one year and jumped all over buying two pair for myself and my son. Now that my daughter is old enough to brave the great white world I have to keep an eye out for her, too. I think I paid $15 for mine and they’ve literally frozen solid, but kept my hands cozy inside.

Don’t have a few months or years to find a good deal on mittens? Check out Gear Guy’s recommendations.

While not completely waterproof (your feet will get wet), another option I like when tramping around in the snow is to take a plastic bag or a couple and stick your stocking feet in them and then put your boots on over the whole mess. It won’t keep you completely dry (for one thing you sweat inside the bags with no way for the sweat to escape), but it prevents the freezing water that makes it past your leather boots from soaking your socks. For best results you should be wearing wool socks, too. The plastic also holds in your feet heat. You just have to be prepared with a pair of dry socks when you’re ready to take off your boots for the night, but you already do that, right?

For a more professional answer, check out Gear Guy’s response.

I bought one at my local hole-in-the-wall hardware store and set it up for emergency lean-to use. They have so many uses and are so economical that Roy just had to write a post about it and I thought it was really good.

The outdoor retail market thrives on convincing us that we need new gear to get the most out of our outdoor adventures. This is actually a good thing, since the industry keeps coming out with better gear, each and every year. It can also go a bit overboard, though, with superfluous gadgets and fluffery that is just a waste of your hard-earned money. One way to save money on camping gear is to look for similar products outside the industry that can serve the same purpose. The big blue tarp is one of those items.

These tarps make great footprints for your tent because they are very tough and will keep sharp objects from poking a hole through your floor. The polyethylene material is also non-abrasive to your tent’s waterproof coating, so it helps extend the life of your tent. Best of all, these tarps work with just about any tent (square and rectangular shapes are best) so you don’t have to buy a new footprint every time you purchase a new tent. We use a 12-foot x 16-foot size and simply fold it to fit the dimensions of whatever tent we are using at the time.

These tarps are available at nearly every home improvement and big-box discount retail store. The most common type is 5mm thick, 2.9-ounce material with a 10×8 weave. There are also heavier-duty versions that are 10mm thick, 5.5-ounce material with a 14×14 weave. We have had two of the 5mm tarps for at least ten years and they are both holding-up just fine.

In addition to their use as a tent footprint, tarps have nearly as many uses as duct tape, which is why we pack two of these. We typically use the second tarp to line the inside of the tent, which protects the waterproof coating from shoes (despite constant reminding, our kids have trouble remembering the ‘no shoes in the tent’ rule) and air mattresses. If we ever needed additional rain protection or a dry place to sit, the second tarp is always available.

Roy has many good insights like this and I hope you go over and become a regular reader. After all, we aren’t just Scouts and Scouters, we’re also campers with our families, generally.

I’ll only excerpt what’s appropriate for the current season, but he’s got a lot more variation based on how the weather turns up.

Most Backpackers are always tweeking their gear, replacing old stuff with new, looking for lighter, tougher, more useful (multi use) and of course just plain cool gear.

Recently I upgraded some gear, namely my backpack.

After years of carrying my Kelty External Frame Tioga 5500 I have switched to an internal frame pack. Now, before anyone says I jumped ship on my philosophy of External frame packs being better for younger bodies or beginning Backpackers.. Stop. I still believe that. External frame packs offer a much easier platform for the beginner and the young Scout to load and carry.
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Pack: Mountain Hard wear Koa 55
Camptrials pack cover
Tent: MSR Hubba
Sleeping Bag: Marmot Sawtooth 15 degree
Bag liner (10 Extra degrees)
Sleeping Pad: Thermarest Z lite
Water pump: MSR Sweetwater

Cook gear:
Stove: Snow Peak Giga Power
GSI Soloist cook system
Guyot Designs -The Utensils (Spork and Spatula)

Platypus Water Bladders (2 Liters X 2)

Fuel canister

Little Stuff:
Compass- Silva
Light My Fire Fire steel Scout
REI Storm Proof matches
First Aid kit (personalized)

What about clothing? Click over to see what goes on him. I like that he has at least three ways to start a fire (he later references carrying a bic lighter in addition to the sparker and matches). Jerry’s not going to get caught without a way to stay warm and cook, nuh-uh. My kind of guy.

First up, is another article on the Gear Guy section of the Boys’ Life website. I referenced his previous post on how to avoid the mosquitoes, but this time he’s taking the “which spray is best” topic in hand. Short version: DEET.

Mosquitoes really can cramp your style around camp. The good news: There are repellents that work. The bad news: Most aren’t made from natural ingredients.

You’ll hear and see all kinds of advertisements boasting natural repellents and how well they work. They might be somewhat effective for a short while, but if you’re serious about avoiding bug bites, DEET-based repellents are the most effective. The stuff really works (it’s what the Army uses), but it’s also the most toxic for our bodies — it smells very strong, will melt some plastics, and don’t even think about getting it in your eyes!

Repellents are available in different concentrations of DEET, from 4.75-percent to 100-percent. Typically, the higher the concentration of the active ingredient, the longer the protection it’ll provide. For instance, a spray with 4.75-percent DEET would last about an hour or so while repellent with 23.8-percent DEET would be effective for almost five hours.

Do some testing of your own to figure out which is the lowest percentage of DEET repellant that still keeps the bugs away for you. Folks who are very susceptible to bug bites seem to feel like 25 percent DEET is the lowest concentration they can get away with using.
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Still, the only way to be 100 percent free of bug bites is to wear Permethrin-treated clothing and spray DEET on your exposed skin.

There you have it. But there’s more if you click on over to the article. More detail on other substances, some advice by readers in the comments section of the article, and locations of where to get these wonder repellents. So go read it all. The skin you save could be your own or your troops’.

Weight: 1.1 oz.

Battery Life: 30 hrs. useable light

Operating Temperature: 14 degrees to 176 degress F

Waterproof Depth: A mere 11,500 ft.

Battery Type: 24A 12 Volt

Click over for additional info and the video review.