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I just noticed I called this thread "Controversial guide . . ." it's not controversial but "Conversational."

Mr. Groves failed to reach his Kickstarter goal, so no book. Perhaps he will find another way to publish it.

Once I see the book, I'll do a review and post it here. He doesn't do much social media promotion, so it will be tough for him to raise the money he needs for this project.

Kickstarter is legit - that's not to say they couldn't get hacked, but it's fairly unlikely. They won't charge your card unless Groves hits his funding target and he never sees your card info. I've contributed to this and other projects with no problem so far. It's another story once Groves...

I like the cotton ball starters - I shocked my wife when I showed her how they kick right off with a spark from a magnesium fire starter - probably work fine with a spark from a rock too. I keep them in little round screw-top plastic containers so the vasoline doesn't get everywhere. If you...

Speaking of new to camping . . . Professional outfitter Brad Groves has written a book titled, “A Conversational Guide to Backcountry Equipment: How to choose & use your gear & apparel.” Groves says, it “is a nonfiction book, written to help people significantly learn about and use the gear...

The most recent camping thing I bought was a Eureka Sunriver 2 tent for backpacking. Apparently it has been discontinued so it was on sale. Northern Dancer would be proud of me! Anyway, nice tent, big enough for me and it works great. Used it on a 3 night trip around the Wild Rogue...

It's true - a bee (or wasp) sting can cause serious infections of various kinds. However, it is extremely rare - that's why it makes the news when it happens. For more on this issue see: Fatal Infection after a Bee Sting | Clinical Infectious Diseases | Oxford Academic Ms Alejar was stung in...

Spent 4 days hiking the Wild Rogue Wilderness Loop Trail in Oregon a couple weeks ago. Along the way, we encountered this critter. I apologize for the focus - I was shooting flowers and my depth of field was too small. Anyway, it's a California Mountain King Snake - a non-poisonous...

Kenya:

After the Modoc Indian war in far north California, Indians began haunting the place (Lava Beds National Monument). I put a blog post about it at Ghosts Haunt the Lava Beds | EXPLORE! Blog One story from 1894: "It was about an hour that we sat thus, and then we all had an experience. The...

I'm not much for winter camping for about the same reasons as @to7update. People do it and enjoy it so I made a blog post you can read here: Winter Camping | EXPLORE! Blog There are a couple of videos where you can see that this fellow uses a tarp - not even a three season tent.

I like the commercial versions - much lighter and adjustable for height. I started with a staff, but switched over to a pair of trekking poles when I got into backpacking. In my case the poles have a camera mount on the top so they make a great monopod - beats carrying around a tripod. The...

I don't know a good mobile way to remove things like fluoride, mercury, sodium, aspartame and human hormones (although activated charcoal - not what you find in your campfire - can help with some). I do know that the methods mentioned by @Alexandoy and @Jasminecottontail will do nothing to...

I tried one of those bracelet repellent things and the first mosquito that found me alighted a cm from the bracelet - I don't bother with that anymore. People around here avoid DEET completely - it's nasty stuff. I've been using Repel Lemon Eucalyptus. They claim it repels mosquitos for 6...

I've been using the Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System for awhile now and I haven't gotten ill using it - that's the main thing. It does seem to make sense to try to keep the clean and dirty parts apart. I keep some alcohol wipes, the filter and the back flush syringe in a zip lock...

I agree with Northern Dancer. Weather can be dangerous. If caught in a lightning storm in the forest, don't get under the biggest tree. That's often the tallest one as well - guess which tree the lightning will choose to hit. Usually like Northern Dancer, it's the wind. If trees start...

This won't be much help to @Faust, because my needs are different. Perhaps this will help someone else. My main thing is to have camera mount on my pole so it can be used as a monopod. I have a Tracks Sherlock staff, but when I went to buy another to use the pair as trekking poles I learned...

In this video I share what's in my pack - unpack and repack it - babbling all the way . . .

@Northern Dancer post about Long Range Traverse, piqued my interest. Starting with no knowledge beyond that shared by @Northern Dancer, I did some research and ended up writing an article about how to do your research when planning a trip to experience an unknown trail. The blog post shares...