Ask Me Anything!! Camping, Survival & Wilderness Skills

What's up friends? Welcome to Ask Me Anything. This is an episode where you guys get to ask me questions about anything that you want to. And I just absolutely love doing these videos from time to time. So here we go. Let's dive into the first question. All right, first question comes to us from Elaine Wright. What is your opinion on exchangeable knife blades? Yeah, I love exchangeable knife blades. There's one knife in particular that I love to use when I'm out camping and that is the Olfoworks Camp Utility Knife. And this thing is a retractable blade knife and you can replace the blade in it in just a few seconds. It's pretty cool. This is a great thing to have with you to cut cordage, open up food bags, etc. Or if you're at home, open up some Amazon boxes with. So yeah, that is my favorite exchangeable blade knife. There you go. Thank you, Elaine, for the comment. Moving along to question number two. Can you do a new neck knife video because the old one is outdated, please? This is from Hiberty Hobbs. Well, Hiberty, I do want to do a neck knife video, another one. The first one was pretty fun. I enjoyed doing it and I could see doing another one. So yeah, I'll put that on the agenda for this year to do a new neck knife video. If you have any neck knives that you love, put them in the comments below and maybe I'll snag one of those to do for the video. Thank you, Hiberty, for the comment. All right. So next is The Village writes, what sleeping bag would you recommend for subzero temperatures? I would recommend the Mountain Hardware Lamina, and that gets down to 20 degrees, negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit or negative 29 Celsius. And it comes in right around $340. So Mountain Hardware Lamina, that is a really great sleeping bag for the price that's going to get you subzero. There's lots of options for sleeping bags that are at zero or above. One of my favorite options is the Zero Storm Loft quilt from Outdoor Vitals. I use that all the time when I'm out winter camping. It just goes down to zero degrees Fahrenheit. But if you want that extended range, then yeah, go for that. If I was planning on some really nasty cold weather, I would go with the Mountain Hardware Lamina. Yeah. All right. Next question from Rainer Golden. Now, Rainer is the producer for Miranda Goes Outside. He and Miranda work together to create their content and their videos, which is just amazing. And Rainer is a very, very smart, very awesome outdoorsman. Yeah, he's great. Love that guy to death. Okay, Rainer. He says, what's the best way to start a campfire when all available wood is wet? Look for pine resin. That is my first tip. I would say if you are in a pine forest at all, finding pine resin is going to be like cheating because if everything else is wet, you can still get a fire going with some fatwood, it's called. So if you look on a tree and if you grab like if this is a tree and this is the lower part of the tree, you'll find that the junction between sticks like this and the trunk of the tree is full of sap. And so if you can break that off, you can smell it and it'll smell really, really good, really aromatic. And it's just really dense. That's fatwood. And so you can take that and shave it into little shavings or make a fuzz stick out of it. And you can get that sucker to light like a torch. That's a really good natural fire starter that will work even when it's damp. If you find a dead birch tree, you can just peel that bark right off of there and use that. Even if it's soaking wet, you can take a lighter to that sucker and it will light. It's got a lot of resin in it as well and it will light under very damp conditions. But I think Rainer, what you're really asking, the spirit of it is, what happens if you don't have dry kindling and dry fuel, logs and little sticks? What you can do is you can take some wet kindling sized sticks and you can split them with a knife. It's called batoning and you got to do it carefully. But on the inside will be dry wood. Typically, unless you're in the Pacific Northwest in a rainforest, you will find some dry wood on the inside of logs and sticks about this big around. Typically what you want to do is you want to take your knife and you want to split kindling or fuel down to smaller bits and expose the dry inner wood. Most of the time when you pick up a log that has wet bark on the outside of it, the inside of it will be dry. And so as long as it's not green, if it's not been alive in the last year, then it should be dry on the inside. You can split that down with your knife. People will also make fuzz sticks. They'll take their knife and they'll shave little shavings that are still attached to the twig and they'll make a fuzzy stick out of it. And that also exposes a lot of dry wood and creates a lot of surface area for a fire to start and to immediately dry out everything that's surrounding it. If you're looking for dry tinder and even kindling, you can just look above you in the trees. Oftentimes you'll find lots of dead wood just hanging up in trees. And if you find a tree like this one over here that exhibits the property of marcessence, it will have leaves on it year round. I'll just show you. So everything around me is wet right now because it's been like 50 some degrees all day. Everything is just soaking wet because everything's melting. But this tree over here is a tree that exhibits the property of marcessence. It holds on to its leaves year round and these are bone dry. And if I throw them on the fire, they will light right up. So that is a piece of dry tinder that you can get very quickly right around you. Another thing is to look up in the trees above you, grab those pieces of kindling down and use those to start your fire. So there you go, Rainer. Thank you so much for that awesome question. Find pine resin, find birch bark, crack open some logs or some sticks to expose the dry inner bits. And lastly, look for trees that exhibit the property of marcessence and get those dry pieces of kindling and leaves off of those trees. Stick them in your fire and get them going. Speaking of fire, we gotta we gotta stoke this thing up and get this thing going again. It's pitiful. It's a pitiful fire. Next up is from Caden. Why haven't you done a review on the Olight Arc Pro Ultra flashlight yet? Well, Caden, I know you really want me to do this review. I've seen you post this comment a bunch on my page on various videos and I would love to do a review of that flashlight. In fact, Olight is talking with me right now about maybe sending me the Olight Arc Pro flashlight to try out. So we'll see. We'll see if it comes in the mail. If it does, then I will do a video review of it for you. So thank you for the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The squeaky wheel gets the cheese. I don't know. Something like that. Anyways, Koss Writes and Hikes says, what is the best way to start and maintain a fire in an American desert type climate? Thinking Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. So I have very little experience in deserts. My friends like Eric Hansen, they have much more experience with this sort of thing. But I can say I do know a few tips and tricks that I've learned along the way is look for juniper trees because juniper bark is awesome. It's very flammable. And juniper just goes up like a like a dream. Another thing I've written down a couple things here is find dead branches from creosote bushes. So if you've got creosote bushes, learn how to identify them. Get those they are excellent. They're flammable. Mesquite, dry cedar bark. Excellent. But the thing you really have to kind of like think about with regards to fire in a desert is that everything is so dry that it's very dangerous or can be very dangerous to start a fire. So think about safety. Think about getting it up off the ground using rocks or build a mound out of dirt. Get that thing up off the ground so that you're not going to ignite the leaf litter and other debris in the area and get a forest fire going. You don't want that. So that's what I got for you. Thanks, Koss, for that question. All right, moving on. Country Rodden Real asks, what is the best way to sharpen blades? So the best way to sharpen blades. It's a great question and a question that I have considered for well over 30 years of doing outdoor stuff. And lately, the thing that I've really enjoyed using is this little guy right here. So this is the Wicked Edge Venture Series. So what's really fun about this this tool is that you've got magnetic platens here. You can put the 500 grit diamond stone on one side or you've got the I don't know what this is. I think it's a thousand grit on the other side. And then you just take this guide and you snap it on and it slides back and forth. And so you put your blade in there and you just do like this and it sets the angle for you. And instead of being lazy, I'm going to get up and get my knife right now so I can show you this properly. Okay, this is the Gerber Camp, the Gerber Camp Knife, Camp something. I can't remember. I can never remember what this knife is called. But yeah, you just set it in the guides and it slides back and forth over the stone and it sets the angle perfectly for you. And what's really cool about this is I think it's like 40 bucks for the Venture and it is very lightweight. It weighs I think four ounces. So this is actually viable for backpacking. You can use this for backpacking, which I love. I love to have sharp things, sharp knives, good sharp tools, and this allows me to do that in the field. So that's what I use right now. I also have a Wicked Edge system at home. They're not sponsoring this video or anything, but I do like their like desktop units like the Obsidian or the WE-64, stuff like that. So yeah, thank you for that question. Let's move on. Clay Berry Battle Gamer. Clay, you're awesome. I know exactly who you are and we went to battle games together. You were a contestant and I was a cameraman and it was good to see you compete. Clay, you're awesome. So let's see. You write, who makes the best pants for the outdoors? And I've got to say, it really comes down to two different brands for me right now. I really love Fjallraven Keb trousers. They are fantastic. They're the top of the line in my opinion. They don't get better than that. Like very, very hard wearing. They have good patches over the knees and areas that are high wear, good vents in them. Love, love, love Fjallraven Keb trousers. Second best would be right now the Outdoor Vitals Altura Dynamic Pants. So that's what I have on right here. The Altura Dynamic Pants are just phenomenal. So definitely check those out. Those go for $134. So a little bit cheaper. I wear these pants like all the time at home, out in the woods. They're super comfortable. They're hard wearing. They have the vents on the side. They're great. So thanks Clay for that question, man. Next up, Roku Deboy. Roku Deboy. Right. I love these screen names. Will everything be all right? Man, that's a heavy question. Well, Roku, tell you what, man. I don't know what you believe, but I believe that God's got it all figured out. All right. That's what I know. And it will be all right. In the end, it's going to be all right. There's always bumps in the road, along the road of life. And it can just be really sucky sometimes. But for whatever you're going through right now, man, just know it's going to work out. Okay. And I hope that it does work out for you very soon, my friend. All right. Thanks for writing that question. Let me know if you need anything else. Just shoot me an email. Okay. All right. So Estricity9598. Estricity. What's better, tent camping or bushcraft? And what's the best way to camping? So if you're new to camping, I would definitely say you're going to want to try tent camping first. I wouldn't dive into bushcraft until you've got some experience with tent camping. The reason is, is that tent camping gives you a feeling of security and safety when you're zipped up inside that tent. It's not much, but it is a feeling of security. It also separates you from the elements, from the bugs, from the moisture, moisture from the ground, moisture from the air coming down on you in due in the middle of the night and also in rain. So yeah, I think tent camping is awesome. It's a great way to learn how to camp. Bushcrafting is more tricky because you've got to make your own shelters. And so that requires that you know how to use the tools to make those shelters like knives and saws and hatchets, axes perhaps, even a settler's wrench, which is like a big drill, stuff like that. If you've got experience with those tools at home, then maybe go out and try building a shelter in the woods with some downed woods and dead wood. Don't cut up trees that are living, please. Bushcrafting is a lot of fun. Sleeping in a bushcraft shelter or a survival shelter, like a debris hut or that sort of thing, is a little daunting because you are really connected with all of nature at that point. There is like, you don't have a sleeping bag, you don't have anything like that, you're just laying on some pine boughs perhaps, the spiders, all the ticks, the ants, they're going to be all over you in the middle of the night. And so that takes a little bit of mental fortitude. Just know that going into that sort of experience that you're going to be more connected with nature may be in a way that is going to make you very uncomfortable. So, all right, bushcraft is something I would say down the road you try. And if you're new to camping, take that tent of yours, get it out in the backyard, set it up. Don't be afraid of what your neighbors think. They're just jealous, okay? Sleep in the tent in your backyard. Get used to the sounds of nature because you can always bail out and go home and sleep in your bed if you need to. That's like a really low barrier of entry method of getting into camping. So there you go. Anninwhack1998 says, LNT, I'm not sure what that acronym means. Sorry, I'm an old man. I don't know what that means. Show us your backpacking garbage carry method. And do you put your garbage and carry it out in your bear can or hang? Thanks. This is a really good question. This is something that I kind of found out along the way. Basically, what I do is I always have gallon Ziploc bags with me in my backpack. And I'll put my food wrappers and everything directly in here after eating them. Zip them up. And then, yeah, they go in my bear bag. If I'm in bear country, which I am right now, I'm in black bear country and cougar country. I will put this in my bear bag and hang that sucker up. Also, just for rodents, too. I mean, I get more trouble from rodents than anything else. So mice. Up here in northern Wisconsin, there's a lot of mice. That and chipmunks. Chipmunks will chew right through your backpack in about 10 seconds to get whatever's in there if you set it down. So be very careful with your food and your scents, like even sunscreen and lotions and stuff like that should go into a bag like that. Get sealed up and hung up in a tree because bears can smell from a very long way away. And so can a lot of animals, even skunks and raccoons. They're notorious for getting into stuff like this. So, yeah, that's how I handle my garbage. I use bags that seal up. I used to use like grocery bags and then tie them up. But then I realized like there's still holes in it and the scents can come out. It's not helping the situation and they just don't create a very tidy, clean situation. You don't want to train wildlife to human food. That's the biggest concern for their own safety. So we want to keep the animals safe. Great question. All right, moving on. This is from my friend Alex Halavig. Hey, Alex. Thank you so much for writing a question. Alex used to live pretty close to me and now he moved out to the beautiful mountains of Utah with his girlfriend and he is making videos out there. If you haven't checked out Alex Halavig's channel, check it out. I'll put a card up here for Alex. I'll put him down in the comments. Definitely check him out. All right, he looks like Thor, right? He looks like the back. He's like the backpacking version of Thor. So there you go. He says, if you could make one fantasy creature real, what would it be and why? This is a great question and it took me a little while to really ponder this. But I think it would be a dragon because if you have a dragon, you can go defeat the dragon. Isn't that the most amazing fairy tale ending to a story is to defeat the dragon? Could you imagine having like a dragon claw as a necklace or something like that? I don't know how big it would be, but yeah, I just think that'd be cool. So a dragon. And my second choice is Bigfoot, but we all know Bigfoot is real, right? So that's not fantasy, right? Okay. Makita 47 writes, years ago, a lady backpacking the Appalachian trail disappeared. Her remains were finally discovered after several years passed from her disappearance. What are ways someone in a similar situation can do one, self extricate and two, make themselves easier for SAR to find them? This is really a deep question. I love it. I think what, I think the story that you're referring to is Geraldine Largay. She was known as Inchworm and that was her trail name. And she was 66 years old when she went missing. And then they later found her remains, which is super sad. And I'm not sure exactly what happened there, why she got turned around maybe or lost or injured. It couldn't make her way back on trail, but yeah, there's definitely some things to do. So I would say, first of all, have a good navigation system and make sure it's charged. The smoke. There we go. First thing I would say is have a great navigation system and make sure it's charged. So I have two methods of navigation on me at all times. And for this trip, I have my GPS watch. This is my Suunto Vertical 2 watch. This has a really great GPS on it. And I can look at the area's terrain. I can set waypoints and track my way back through the forest if I need to. So this is my primary. And my secondary would be my phone. I have Onyx Backcountry on my phone. The offline maps are all up to date. And that is what I choose to do. I used to carry a map and compass a lot. So if I'm in an area that I don't know very well, then I'll take a paper map and I'll bring a compass because I do know how to use a compass. It's kind of an art form these days. A lot of people don't know how to use compasses. But that's what I would do first is have a good navigation system. Secondly, I would have a personal locator beacon. So like a Garmin InReach Mini. And that's a really great insurance policy when you're out in the backcountry. I have my Garmin InReach Mini on me all the time because I like to text my wife when the reception goes down. That's my backup communication. The third thing I would do is just stop and make some signals. So if you have a space blanket, it's reflective. I would take that sucker, lay it out, make a flag out of it, string it up, or put it on the ground and put some rocks on it so it's shiny. That's going to catch someone's attention that's flying overhead or even walking through the woods. If they can see that that glint off of this material, that's going to potentially save your life. So I always carry a space blanket with me, not just for wrapping myself up if I get injured or if I get really cold, but as a signaling device, these things are really great or they can be really great. They also make like dual layer ones that have orange on one side and the shiny stuff on the other. That's a great start. So you want to think about contrasting materials when you are out in the woods and you think about like if you have a snow, what can I put on the snow that's really high contrast like logs, anything that's like dark. You can make SOS or big arrows on the ground that point to the direction that you have headed in. Those are three things that I would do if I was in that situation. I would use my navigation, I would use my personal locator beacon to send an SOS, and then I would work on some signals so that people from the air could see me, people from the ground could see where I have been on trails. Yeah, there you go. Excellent, excellent question. Thank you so much. Moving on to hempknight935. Favorite knife steel? Yeah, okay. CPM MagniCut is my current favorite knife steel. I really like CPM MagniCut. It's extremely tough. It holds an edge really well. It is expensive, so if you're looking at knives CPM MagniCut, you might be paying a pretty penny for it. My Leatherman has MagniCut, which is really great. My second choice would be CPM 3V for hardness, or sorry, for toughness. It's just really excellent. It's an excellent knife steel, so CPM 3V is my second choice. This comes with a disclaimer. I'm not really like a huge knife material nerd, so there you go. Thank you for the question. All right, so shellapel, oh boy, this is a super long name. I'm not even going to pronounce it. I'm going to put it up on the screen. What is your favorite kindling to use when creating a fire? I think what you mean is tinder, because kindling is like small sticks like this. This is kindling. I think what you mean is tinder, and I do have a favorite tinder right now. Fiber Light by Outdoor Element. This is something that's kind of new. It just came out recently. It's waxed wood fibers, cellulose. I don't know what it is, but it's got wax in it, and stuff lights up super quick. Absolutely love Fiber Light by Outdoor Element, so definitely check that out. Get you some of that for sure. Cattail pods, cattail seeds, like the pods, if they're dry, man, that stuff goes up like crazy. So if I ever see some of that in the woods while I'm walking, I'm always shoving that in my pockets. Either birch bark, cattail, or if I find a good chunk of fatwood, I'll stuff that in my pockets. I know I'm crazy, but if you get in the habit of this, it really helps you out in a survival situation if you've already got a bunch of dry tinder in your pockets. But yeah, definitely check out this stuff, Fiber Light. I'll put it down in the comments. It is so fun to use. It just is really a great way to start a fire. So thank you for the question. Richard T. Van Helsing, 1474, writes, what is more important when making a shelter, fire or be in cover from wind and elements? I think it comes down to the mental aspect of survival and making a priority list based on your health. If you've been injured, if you are soaking wet, is it raining out? If you are dry, but it's starting to rain and then you need to make a shelter and then start getting a fire prepped. If it is starting to rain and you are still dry, then grab all the dry kindling and tinder you can and then get that shelter set up fast and then make your fire. But if you are hypothermic because you've fallen in a river, then yeah, you need to get a fire going immediately. Don't get a shelter going. Don't worry about that at all. So yeah, it just really all comes down to priorities at that point. So I can't answer that specifically. I can only answer it by saying you got to think, you got to think it through, think through the situation. All right. Kenan Tsoi, I can't say it. Kenan Tsoi says, what is the best tent for camping? Well, it depends on the type of camping that you're doing. I think that if you're going out by yourself, you could get like a one person tent like this. This is the Black Deer 1P tent that I'm trying out this week just to see how this thing does. But yeah, it's a very small backpacking tent. It's very light. It's an ultralight tent. If you're going out with a lot of gear and you want to keep that gear dry, if you're going to be in a lot of wet weather, then you want to do like a two person tent because you want to have a space for your gear. Or if you have two people, maybe you want to have a 2P or a 3P tent. It really comes down to are you car camping or are you backpacking? Best budget car camping tent is the Teton Quick Tent, in my opinion. I've left that thing out in the rain, in thunderstorms, and no leaks at all. It's been great. And it's $139. So it is a great budget tent. It is a little bit on the heavy side. It's about four pounds. But that's why I have it in the car camping category. If you want the best backpacking tent for long trails, for backpacking, I would say Durston X Mid at $319. So Durston makes incredible tents. Pick up an X Mid. You won't go wrong with that. It's 319 bucks. It's a little bit spendy. But if you're doing a long trail or you're doing a lot of backpacking, yeah, that's the way to go. The Flashlight Channel writes, you carry a firearm on the trails? I don't carry a firearm on the trails. And here's why. It's heavy. It's uncomfortable. And it really just comes down to that. Like, I just, I don't really have much need for it. I'm not in an area where there's a lot of predators. So yeah, that's not something I do. Definitely not against it. But just for me personally, I don't do that. I would rather carry bear spray if I'm in an area with a lot of bears, because it's more effective than a firearm is. The only guns I carry are these right here. Right? Okay. Stupid joke. Okay, moving on. Stop Paddle Time writes, what's the most versatile piece of gear you can't live without? Well, Jacob, thank you for that question. For me, it's going to be the Leatherman Wave Alpha. So right now, that's my multi-tool of choice. I love the Leatherman Wave Alpha. It's a great multi-tool. I'm constantly using it and it's got that MagnaCut steel, which I love. It's a little overkill. It's super expensive, but yeah, it's something I use a lot. So it's worth it to me. Thank you for the question, Jacob. All right. Mori Penguin writes, what's the best way to stay warm while hiking and camping? Also, what's the weirdest thing you've eaten while hiking? So I would say layering is definitely super important. Get your base layer, your mid-layer, your shell layer sorted out so that you can adapt to the conditions around you. Moisture management is super critical. So you don't want to sweat in your clothes. Otherwise, you're going to get chilled later. Wear leg gaiters like these on your legs. It's going to keep your legs not only dry if you're hiking through snow or through wet grass, but it's also going to keep the arteries in your legs warmer, which will in turn keep your toes warmer. So think about that. You've got to keep your legs warm so that your feet can stay warm. Down booties. Having down booties like I have tonight for camping is just critical for me because my feet get cold. So those are an excellent thing to have. Invest in those. Eating high calorie foods. That's a really great way to fuel your body. Think about what you're eating and how that's going to affect your warmth. Pumping your arms. So actually like a penguin, kind of like pumping your arms like this gives blood flowing through your arms into your fingers and your hands. So if your fingers are getting cold, that's one way to get them warm again. And then eat before going to bed. Think about that fuel to fuel your body before you go to bed. Thank you for that question. That's a really, really great question. What's the weirdest thing I've ever eaten on trail? It would have to be freeze-dried mole crickets. Yeah. They look like Hellspawn. Something straight from hell. They're really creepy looking. And yeah, you can buy freeze-dried mole crickets and you can eat them. And they taste awful. So there you go. If you need something awful to eat, freeze-dried mole crickets. All right. Moving on. KRICKL3 writes, never watched you. This is my first POV of you. If this question makes it up, I'll watch you. What is your YouTube about and what videos you make like content? Okay. So I make camping, hiking, survival content. I just like to get people outdoors with skill and confidence. So that's what I make. And my second channel is called Gordon Crum. And that's mostly trip videos, challenges, and nature stories. So if you want to go check out my other channel, I would be very appreciative and grateful of that. It is Gordon Crum. I'll put a card up here. Thank you for that question. All right, moving on. We have a couple left here. David Cooper writes, what is your favorite backpacking food meal? Anything from Pinnacle Foods. Like, no kidding. Pinnacle Foods makes awesome, awesome backpacking meals, freeze-dried meals. So I also really do like Readywise Pro Meals. Those are really good meals as well. Like the beef bulgogi kimchi fried rice is excellent. The chicken a la vodka is really good. So yeah, Readywise is another really great meal company. At Refrigerator Society writes, in a survival situation, would you rather have five pounds of dehydrated food or 10 pounds of canned food? Well, it depends on the survival situation. If my survival situation is I'm trying to run away from a zombie herd, then I'm going to want backpacking meals because they're really lightweight and I'm going to want to be mobile and get away from that zombie herd. Or if I'm staying at home during some disaster where water security is an issue, then I'd want canned food because a lot of times canned food, it has plenty of water in it so you don't have to rehydrate it. So I don't need extra water just to make food. That's what I would do. I would want to have canned food. So thank you for that question. That's a fun question. All right. So Backpacking and Blisters, the podcast, writes, if Twinkies are the number one survival food for the apocalypse, what's number two? Thank you, Carl, for writing that. Carl Mandrioli from the Backpacking and Blisters podcast. Great podcast. It's a well-known fact that Twinkies are like gold in the post-apocalyptic world. If you have Twinkies, you can barter and barter your way into anything else that you need. So definitely have Twinkies. And the second most important food item would be like pemmican or hardtack. So pemmican is basically meat that is preserved. And hardtack is like flour, like a bread that has been preserved. So you can rehydrate those items and make a hearty meal, a stew, like slum gullion or something like that, and stave off hunger. So there you go. Thank you, Carl, for writing that wonderful question. Brian Smith Jr. writes, what is your favorite food to bring to eat? And I would say, aside from a good meal, a very important thing that I always bring with me is like chocolate. So I'll bring a candy bar with me, like Butterfinger or Dove chocolates, because for some reason I just crave chocolate when I am out in the wilderness. It's a little comfort from home. So that is what I bring with me. Chocolate. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for writing in all those questions. It's been so fun to hang out with you and answer them by the fire here. And I hope that you found that useful or at least entertaining. If you liked this video, please hit the like button and subscribe for more content like this. We'll see you guys later.