REVIEWS

It wasn’t so long ago that there were only a few companies making backpacking meals and the selections they offered were pretty limited. Now you can go to a backpacking specialty store and find a lot of options. Not long ago I was at REI with my daughters and they browsed up and down the [...]

I’ve owned the Monkey Man Jacket by Mountain Hardwear for a little over 2 years now and I decided a review was long overdue. I wear this jacket alone when I’m tooling around town, hiking, camping, playing in the snow, or I am just a little chilled at night, sitting in front of the computer. [...]

So my wife and I have been wanting to get a family camper trailer for quite some time now. The only problem is I want something that I can take off roading.  No offense but I’m not a huge fan of KOA or Yogi Bear Campgrounds. My idea of camping is generally me and my [...]

Helping keep kids organized can be a huge struggle when traveling or camping. My wife and I have tried several different methods to help keep our daughters things organized on road trips or camping outings.Everything from individual backpacks (which is the second best method in my opinion) to ziplock bags. This has been one of [...]

Spring is here. What that means if your an REI member is that you should be receiving shortly ( if you haven’t already) your yearly dividend and your 20% off coupon! WHOO HOO! I love REI and I am planning to use my dividend and 20% off coupon towards a new pair of  hiking shoes. If your [...]

My youngest daughter is over three years old now, and we have gotten an awful lot of use from our Kelty FC3 child carrier, so I figured it was time to do a review of it and tell you about the good things and a few minor complaints we have experienced. When our first daughter [...]

Nearly all of our daily activities involve or include electronic technology to some degree… even the ones in which we consciously choose to try to escape the fast paced, everyday lifestyle we exist in. Whether it’s a GPS device or smart phone with GPS capability that we use to find our desired solitude, a rechargeable [...]

One of THE necessities anybody should have with them when venturing into the outdoors is a knife of some sort. There are so many instances where a knife comes in handy or quite possibly may be needed to save your life. This is my review of  my SOG Aegis knife with the Tanto blade. I purchased it [...]

The MSR (Mountain Safety Research) Pocket Rocket backpacking stove retails for a very affordable $39.95, but is it worth it? The manufacturer claims it weighs  just over 3 oz., and it will boil a liter of water in less than 4 min. As you can see, mine weighs in at 4-1/2 oz. (but that includes a [...]

When I began to research online sleeping bags for my toddler, I found it pretty difficult to find one that was not Hello Kitty, or Thomas The Train and had a temperature rating that I was comfortable with for spring and fall camping. The problem with even a standard kids sized bag is they still [...]