Transparent Kayak – very pretty but not very practical for the Ozarks
I was adding some pictures to the Ozarks Walkabout Pinterest page today when I re-discovered this picture of a transparent kayak
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I was adding some pictures to the Ozarks Walkabout Pinterest page today when I re-discovered this picture of a transparent kayak
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The trails of the Ozarks are very rugged, fairly remote and access for any rescue party will be difficult. Our worst case scenario is that one of us will suffer a fall and become incapacitated.
If the worst happens we assume that there will be no cell phone service, and that any rescue attempt will likely take a day or more. So even on a short day hike our emergency kit is designed to enable us to survive overnight in the wilderness.
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Kayaking in the winter is great fun, and we discovered a very simple modification you can make to your kayak that makes paddling in cold water and weather even more enjoyable.
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Can a simple piece of one ounce gear invoke actual love? Yes. I admit it. I love my Platypus SoftBottle!
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Ginger wanted a pad that was slightly thicker, (more comfy), wider and warmer than our Therm-a-Rest ProLite Plus sleeping pads. We found our NeoAir All Season pad online at a very reasonable price.
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I bought my GoLite Ultralite 800 Fill 1+ season quilt in March 2011 for shoulder season and summer backpacking and camping. I’ve used it since then for backpacking, hammock camping, car camping, and various other odd nights out away from home.
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In 2012 Bass Pro updated the Ascend FS10 and Ascend D10 sit-in kayak models. Previously the hulls were to all intents and purposes identical. The new Ascend FS10 hull retains the same shape. The new Ascend D10 is a completely different boat, which means the previous D10 model reviews cannot be relied upon.
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We began car camping with cheap Walmart sleeping bags. When we started backpacking we needed lighter more compressible sleeping bags. Our first choice of bag was a failure, three years later, we have two sleeping bags each for year round camping and backpacking. Here are our tips on buying a sleeping bag, and what else you’ll need to get for a comfortable nights sleep in the wild.
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If one thing is likely to start a passionate gear discussion, it’s hiking and backpacking footwear. I’m in a minority on this subject and I know it. Why? If you look closely at any of our backpacking or hiking pictures, you’ll see I’m almost always apparently barefoot…
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We bought this super little lantern for backpacking, car camping, kayak camping and home emergency lighting. I was skeptical of being able to fit it in my backpack – but it fits in an outside side pocket just fine, it is that small.
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Here’s how I fitted out my Ascend FS10 kayak with some dry storage, an anchor trolley, and a camping foam sleeping pad for year round fishing on the Ozarks’ lakes. Updated: June 29, 2012.
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When we first started hiking the question soon arose, “Do we need hiking poles?” (also known as trekking poles). We thought that they were pretentious accessories only used by the sort of people who like to buy every latest gadget and bit of gear to look the part. I just could not see the need for them.
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I am a microbiologist by training and therefore have a healthy respect for getting horrendously sick from the water. We hike in the Ozarks and that means pretty much everywhere you go there are houses on septic tanks upstream from where you are. We have livestock that drink from streams. As we do not live […]
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If you own a plastic kayak and you want to start adding fittings and making modifications, there’s no getting away from it, at some point you are going to have to start making holes in your boat’s hull. Let’s see how to do it.
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I’ve finally got round to fitting a jamming cleat for the anchor traveller (trolley) on my Ascend FS10 kayak.
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We’ve bought our Mont·Bell Super Spiral Sleeping Bags back in 2010. They were expensive, but it’s a purchase we’ve never regretted, and we’d buy them again. We wanted bags that would keep us warm three season camping and backpacking and that were warm enough for the occasional trip out in winter. These bags have exceeded […]
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We’ve owned our Coleman Exponent multifuel stove since 2010, and it’s our go-to stove for car camping. In this review we explain why we purchased it – not all the reasons were logical, how it’s worked out for us, and we give some hints for using it while camping and backpacking.
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I had been totally unsuccessful at finding a reasonably priced dry box that would fit between my feet and be easy to open in the Kayak. Then I discovered that .50 caliber ammo boxes are waterproof…
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We spent a long time researching and looking at tents. Each time we thought we’d found the one we wanted we saw another we liked even more. A three season tent was essential for spring and fall camping, some useable vestibule space that would double as a wind break for cooking was also high on […]
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We enjoyed our Memorial weekend camping so much, we decided to get set up properly for camping. As two of the kids are willing to give camping a try, that left us with an accommodation problem. So we bought another tent. We picked the Coleman Sunlight Ridge tent, based on price and size. It’s big […]
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