Getting equipped
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How to choose and use a camp stove
By Krista Karlson Sharpen your dinner duty skills with this easy guide. When I first started camping and backpacking, I’d strategically avoid dinner duty. I’d offer to set up the tent or get water, but I never helped cook because I didn’t know how to use a stove. I felt embarrassed, like I wasn’t “outdoorsy”…
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Predator Safety Precautions
Photo credit: US National Park Service By Carley Fairbrother I’ve written a few pieces on bear safety for Camping for Women, but I’ve never really covered how to avoid them when you are on the trail, or what to do when you come face to face with them. Now before I get started, I want…
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Get Your Children to Sleep Easily
By Margaret Smith 5 Great Ways to Get Your Children to Sleep Easily While Camping Camping is a fun and inexpensive activity that lets your kids spend time with you and the great outdoors. But as with all things when children are involved, there are some challenges that lay ahead when planning a family camping…
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How to Build an Emergency Snow Trench Shelter
By Carley Fairbrother Why Build a Snow Trench Shelter? Imagine you are out for a snowshoe or a backcountry ski, and you get lost, or a storm makes travel too dangerous, or your friend gets injured. You need a shelter, and fast. Luckily for you, you are surrounded by one of nature’s most convenient building…
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How to hike and camp while on your period
By Krista Karlson When my partner and I go for weekend trips, we pack like this: throw everything we might need in a pile on the living room floor, transfer the pile to the back of the car, and start driving north. Last week, as Friday approached, I knew I’d be adding one more thing…
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8 Ways to Mentally Prepare for a Solo Adventure
By Marinel de Jesus Being a solo traveller, and even more so, a solo hiker or backpacker can be an intimidating endeavor to undertake. I cannot emphasize enough the need to be comfortable when partaking in anything serious such as hiking or backpacking in the wilderness by yourself. The same goes for travelling as it’s…
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A review on High-Altitude Trekking in Ladakh, India
Political Location Map of Ladakh (Leh) Getting there: The easiest way to get to Ladakh is by flying from Delhi to Leh (the biggest town in Ladakh). It’s a two day drive from either Srinagar or Manali and you will pass over some of the world’s highest motorable passes. Be prepared for road closures, altitude…
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The Lean-to Virgin, A Comical Journey
By Janiel Green My first backpacking trip turned out to be an utter disaster. The trip consisted of a backpacking, snow-shoeing trip up the mountaineering route at Mount Whitney in California. I labelled myself as a failure and the weak link in the party of 3 who attempted the trip. Granted it was my first…
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Trekking in Bhutan – From Dream to Reality
By Mary Lyons Bhutan had been a dream destination of mine for a long time, since before I moved overseas. Fifteen years ago I saw a quick blurb about it on television and thought, “I have to go there.” Just a couple of years ago, I finally went. Bhutan is more accessible than many people…
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Hiking the John Muir Trail
By Kristin Hanes When I decided to hike 230 miles of the John Muir Trial through the California Sierra Nevada with my boyfriend, there was nothing to warn me how hard it might be. I joined the John Muir Trail Facebook group, with thousands of members, all of them posting beautiful pictures of alpine lakes,…