“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time.” ― Aliyyah Eniath, The Yard
🛶Suwannee River, Florida
If you have five days to relax check out the 91 miles section of the Suwannee River. Start at White Springs and paddle to the town of Branford. Sean Fitzgibbon and I did this trek December of 2009. We feel it is one of the most scenic and uncrowded part of the river as well…
🃏1000 bornes card game
This past campout Sean introduced me to an old card game 1000 Bornes. This game has existed since 1954 and goes by many names, and there is even a Cars Lightning McQueen edition. The object of Mille Bornes is that the players are in a road race. I know, we went kayaking to Travestine Island…
🩹Skin ‘tastic thinking First Aid
Knowing First Aid is one of the ten essentials that every outdoor enthusiast should know. Survival is about your mind working with skill to live. It’s about staying calm in the remote wilderness settings and thinking how to use the items you have available in multiple ways to get home. There are many posts and…
🌀hurricane calm survival plan
Hurricanes bring many possibilities into the minds of people. There are feelings of awe to panic. And the people who live within the cone of probability their focus is more of uncertainty. Have I prepared for the worst outcome possible? If you are a paddler, backpacker, outdoors-man/woman then you probably are more prepared for a…
🎦The Summit A Chronicle Of Stones to Serenity
The Summit: A Chronicle Of Stones to Serenity (2009) is a beautiful film. It is a movie that showcases why adventures go beyond the possible and make the improbable a reality. The panoramic images of snow clad mountains surrounded by a sea of clouds painted in sunsets is what many outdoor enthusiasts yearn to see;…
🏕️hammock comfort
There are many advantages to hammock camping in Florida. Many people think that the heat, humidity, and biting insects are a deterrent to camping. That does not need to be the case. Hammock camping is fast to set up. The the material aids in comfort; say goodnight to hard ground, rocks and sticks poking your…
🥪Reuben sandwich
Tasty food options are endless with a Snow Peak❄🗻 Gigapower stove and a hot sandwich maker. The results are always yummy 😋⛺ Cooking Tools With the GigaPower stove, on a low flame, I am using a SnowPeak accessory windscreen and a Burner Pad. The burner pad or Cooking Net disperses the flame. To make the…
🍗Florida Fried Chicken
To make fried chicken for dinner in a Dutch Oven while camping your prep time begins just after you have eaten lunch start the process to brine the chicken in buttermilk ¼ cup of salt and sugar in a sealed container and refrigerate / put on ice (not under the ice) in the cooler. 90…
🥗Bean Salad
Here is a yummy 😋 and filling backcountry dish. A bean salad drizzled with a brown mustard & olive oil dressing goes will with a hot 🐷ham & 🧀cheese 🍔sandwich made in a Chums Hot sandwich press. And don’t for get the 🍎 apple, Recipe for bean salad: 1 can of pinto beans 1 can…
It is ok to say no
It’s ok to say no when you feel like a situation is not safe. This goes for guides, owners, employees, customers, family, parents, children, and on an outing with friends. There is always the fear of upsetting a person when you say no. You may see that the environment is not safe, the equipment is…
🔦Camp Lights
Candle light It is challenging to pick my favorite camp light. Candle, battery, solar, iso-butane fuel, oil burning, wood, there are so many choices to brighten up the campsite.My oldest camp light from the 1990’s is the candle lantern by Northern Lights which is now UCO. It is a fun Wilderness Survival BSA merit badge…
👨👩👦Perspective of an Outdoor Dad
It is common to be at the crossroads of going on an intense athletic adventure or choosing to be at home with the family. I have known many active fathers and mothers who frequently choose some alone time. And often those parents receive scorn from others. There is a trade off, opportunity cost, consequence, and…
🎦Halloween Survival Thriller Movies
🎃 Halloween fun. If you cannot get on the water this weekend for a moonlit paddle or venture into the woods 🍂 🍁 to curl up around a campfire 🔥 with friends to tell stories, 🏕 then I have the movies 📽 for you. Halloween is a great time to enjoy the rush of being…
🍩Dutch Oven Apple Fritters
Apple fritters bring everyone closer to a campfire. Your friends become mesmerized watching and listening to the little ball of bough turn into a golden delicious delicacy. I prefer using a 10 deep Lodge Dutch oven with a 9 inch Deep Fry Basket. Honey Crisp & Granny Smith applesPealedDicedSprinkled with cinnamonCanola Oil at 375 degrees…
🍗Dutch oven Chicken Fajitas
Chicken Fajitas are a tasty and fun item to cook around the fire with a part of your Dutch Oven. Most Lodge Dutch Oven lids have a Concave means “hollowed out or rounded inward” surface. This is a great searing, sautéing, cooking surface. The only thing a camp chef needs todo is place a Lodge…
🍪Peanut butter Smore Cookie
In the evening around the campfire many of us start to crave a sweet treat. Lately I have enjoyed experimenting with a stove top hot sandwich cooker (mountain/campfire pie iron, Pudgie pie). 14 minutes tasty treat In fourteen minutes a tasty sugar packed treat will surprise your camping friends. This is a glamping camping cooking…
🔥A Stove for every generation
I have the original Snow Peak ❄🗻 Giga Power manual stove purchased in 1999. It has survived sand, saltwater, 💦🌊, being frozen in ice, ⛄, and falling off a cliff. From sea level to above the tree line this is the best item I own. Because this stove has surrived kayak expeditions, thru hikes, mountain…
🥾Hiking on water
The beauty of the Brooker Creek Preserve is in a few hours a person can experience four unique Ecosystems. Most of us with out a thought will hike down a Pine Flatwoods trail or enjoy the shade under an Oak Hammocks habitat. And then when on the days hike the ecosystem changes and you see…
🥪Fresh hot sandwiches
When you are tired of boil in the meal bag meals reach for a hot sandwich cooker
🦪Littleneck Clams in Bacon-Cream sauce
You can learn to make anything on a MSR Dragonfly white gas stove. Including seafood pasta, like this Littleneck Clams in a Bacon-Cream sauce. single serving recipe .75 pound live littleneck clams, rinsed3 ounces of evaporated milk1/3 cup Clam Juice (seafood stock)chopped clove of garlic1/4 cups ofcelerybell pepperred oniondiced bacon slicediced roasted seaweed as a…
🥞Banana pancakes
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🔥Camping Stove Tricks
Some people eat to live and others live to eat. Now a days I am moving away from boiling water for dehydrated freeze dried meals. I use three types of stoves to cook whole nutritional foods on depending on location, weather, and my food desires.
🛶Silver River, Florida
Silver River is located east of Ocala Florida fed by Silver Springs. Most paddlers, us included, access the river via Ray Wayside Park 3 miles past the Silver Springs Attraction on SR 40.
🥪Dutch Oven Cornbread Reuben
The recipe for our Dutch Oven Cornbread Reuben is easy, and satisfying for four hungry adults. you will need the following: 31 charcoal briquetts (21 on the lid + 10 under the Dutch Oven)12 inch Dutch Oven2 tbs oil2 cups cornmeal & 2 tbs of cornmeal1 egg1 cup buttermilk1/2 pound thin sliced corned beef1 can…
🩹Wilderness safety skills
You lived in the city all your life. Now a new partner, love interest, friend, or coworker challenged you to step outside of your comfort zone to go into the wild. And you are strapping on new hiking boots, stuffed camping and cooking gear into a new backpack and jumping onto the hiking trail. And…
🏕️How to Camp from your Kayak or SUP
The Kayak is a means to move you from one location to another. Just as hiking (backpacking), automobile, an ATV, mountain bike, horse, et cetera, are ways to move you and carry your stuff. The interior available space within many kayaks is greater that the average 60 liter backpack that people use for multiple days…
🌀are you Ready for: hurricanes
With today’s advances in weather forecasting we often have plenty of time to prepare for a hurricane. It is a matter of securing stuff and being ready to drive to get out of the path of the eye of the storm. It is just stuff. Remember we can replace most stuff. We cannot replace your…
🛶Why SUP?
A Stand up Paddleboard is like a flying carpet on the water.
🧗I drove my son to climb the walls…
…at Vertical Ventures in Saint Petersburg Florida.
🛶Trade in your Hiking boots for a kayak
When I first moved to Florida from Pennsylvania I was accustom with backpacking and hiking in the mountains. As you know the Tampa Bay area of Florida is not know for mountains. Florida is known for its water. And the kayak is a fun means to move you from one location to another. Just as…
🥾Trail Review – J.B. Starkey Wilderness Park
Address: 10500 Wilderness Park Blvd, New Port Richey, FL 34655 “J.B. Starkey Wilderness Park covers over 8,300 acres of land and is a cooperative venture between the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) and Pasco County Parks and Recreation. Together with the adjoining 6,500 acre Serenova Tract to the north and the 1,300 acre Anclote…
🩹Jeff’s Favorite First Aid essentials
The best first aid is prevention. The second best is training. The third best is the basic first aid essentials that I always carry in Florida
You Ate What?
Yes, this past weekend I treated guests to three yummy meals: I am working with a friend to compose a cooking book and YouTube segment. So, presently I am keeping the recipes secret. For Breakfast I made Stuffed French Toast . . . . . For Lunch I made Fish Tacos . . . .…
I Can not Believe…
…that a person I met never washed their sleeping bag. Their belief was that the material would be damaged and the stuffing would loose it’s insulating properties. Where they got indoctrinated to that belief is beyond me. Also, think of the stink. When properly taken care of a down sleeping bag should last close to…
🎒What type of Turtle are you?
Like a turtle backpackers carry their home on their back
🔪Does the size of your Tang matter?
There is an ongoing debate among Bush Crafters about a fixed blade knife’s tang size. “A tang or shank is the back portion of the blade component of a tool where it extends into stock material or connects to a handle – as on a knife” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_(tools)#:~:text=A%20tang%20or%20shank%20is,%2C%20scythe%2C%20screwdriver%2C%20etc.)
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