Survival Rule of the Day

The rule of threes:

3 minutes without air
3 hours without shelter
3 days without water
3 weeks without food

These are very general estimates but what they do convey accurately is the order in which one needs to acquire each of the essential survival necessities. The rule I'm going to discuss today is concerning water.

If you've gone several days without water, but are finding plenty to eat then do not eat! Your body needs water to digest food and without a source of fresh water to hydrate your body, you will speed up the process of dehydration by eating. You're going to die of dehydration well before you succumb to starvation.


Survival Rule of the Day:
No water? No food.

Best Adventure Game of All Time

I know this is abstract, but bear with me here. Of all the adventure games ever made, few have ever been so far ahead of their time. If you were breathing during the late 90's, I hope you were playing The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. And if you were, chances are it's among your top ten best adventure games ever. It is, and always will be, my number one.

As a kid, nothing inspired me more than role-playing an adventure seeking, kingdom saving, princess winning elf. In fact I think I can attribute a lot of my childhood obsession with bladed weapons, blacksmithing, magic, and the general fantasy nerdiness to this game. This is a good thing, however, as it has evolved to a life-long passion for the outdoors, adventures, and being a badass in general. I still have an obsession with making and using bladed weapons, although my chances to save a kingdom (and a princess) are limited these days.

Nothing was more fun to me in my youth then wandering the wilderness with my friends while carrying fake Master Swords, Biggoron Swords, and the Hyrulian Shield. I even bought myself an Ocarina at a renaissance fair, entirely due to my love of Link and his badass little blue potato ocarina. Really, when I start thinking back, I feel like I need to give more credit to this game for shaping my life. It has been a good role-model to me. I also need to go find more Great Fairy Fountains... and collect some chickens...

This all said, today I had an urge to YouTube some Ocarina of Time ocarina songs. People on YouTube have done a fantastic job of posting original and remixed versions of these songs, some amazing, some... not so amazing. It's truly unique how many young talented musicians have done covers of these tunes on various instruments. Today I YouTubed the Song of Storms, from the crazy music man who hangs out in the windmill, incessantly cranking out the tune on his music box in Kakariko Village. Oh, Kakariko Village... *sigh*

Here's a set of lyrics that someone posted to follow the tune of The Song of Storms and I think that, regardless of whether or not you're a Zelda fan, you'll love these lyrics. They're prefect adventure lyrics, to be sung at any time on an adventure while, perhaps, trekking across the lands or riding the prow of a ship, dazzling droplets of water splashing up in your face.

In the night

Blew a storm

Taking shadows to the shore

Lightning filled the sky

Thunder roared and cried

Close your eyes

Come along

Dance until the night is gone

Singing a song of storms

Credit: YouTube user: lostthegame1

And here's the video for the original music to the Song of Storms, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Backpacking Treadmill Training and Conditioning

It's winter time and a lot of the backpacking community is looking for ways to get into or stay in shape for the warm-weather backpacking season! Using a treadmill is a great idea. Running on a treadmill will help your cardio, but running and backpacking are two different worlds. There are separate muscle groups that need conditioning for carrying that heavy backpack load.

Here's what you need:

1. Your backpacking gear
2. Treadmill
3. DVD player or laptop computer
4. Earphones

Here's how it works:

Set up the TV and DVD player, or laptop on or in front of your treadmill. My laptop fits nicely into a little area on my treadmill's control panel. Throw on your backpack and your boots or shoes and hook up the earbuds. Toss in your favorite outdoor show *cough* Survivorman *cough* and do some walking. I like to put my treadmill up at a º10 angle (that's as high as it goes) and walk for 15, put it flat for 15, and then back to º10 for 15. By then an episode of Survivorman is just finishing up, I've been inspired by watching beautiful outdoor shots, refreshed some survival knowledge, and gotten in my workout for the afternoon. Perfect.

Don't forget if you're trying to really train hard and condition, push the pace to where you're just starting to need to jog to keep up and then back it off one. Don't run with your pack on, it will hurt you and your gear in the long 'run'. Keep pushing yourself every day and pretty soon you'll need more outdoor shows to watch (or you could re-watch Survivorman).

Good luck!

Les Stroud | Gemini Award 2009

Unfortunately Les didn't win Best Host at the Gemini Awards. He remains one of the most under-appreciated television show hosts. Check out that Tux though, suave.

How to Live the Simple Life

This is a guest post by my dear friend Neal Popa.


    Though the thought is a sad one, it is a nearly universal truth that the word was larger and full of more wonder when we were young lads and lasses. I recall going on expeditions into a patch of trees in front of my home that measures no more than 50 yards by 50 yards, yet as a young boy I could (and did) spend hours in that lot of trees with my brother “exploring.” We explored the same area just about three times a week, digging holes that had no purpose, leaning sticks against trees for no reason throwing rope around low branches and trying to get onto the roof of our shed. I am somewhat ashamed to say that I cannot recall our thoughts and dreams as we did these things, but I know for a fact that they were the best kind of dreams, and the most creative of thoughts. 


    The wonderful thing about it was we were never more than a five second run to our front door, and the lemonade and cookies that waited inside that door. Now, as young men of twenty, the world is a smaller place and the jumble of trees and bramble that separates the house from the road, or the corn from the bean fields, is not as wondrous as it was before. This unfortunate phenomenon makes old-school summer fun and childhood adventures much more difficult to come across.

A simple solution to the problem? Look up.


    Before the weather got too cold, I walked out my front door ready for an adventure that should take my mind and body a good distance from the comfort of my bed. What was different about this little personal trek was that I was out of the house for no more than an hour and never left the yard. Armed with my trusty recurved bow and duct-tape quiver across my back, a garage-sale kitchen knife thrust through my belt, a stout stick, a bugle horn, and dressed in dirty Goodwill clothing I walked to the side of the house and into the section of un-kept grass and shrubbery. It was on the small patch of land that I found my freedom, crawling on all fours through bushes and pivoting my head to watch for “enemies” or “game” I made my way slowly and peacefully to the largest bush in the plot, in the furthest corner of our property. 


    Shrugging off my few pieces of gear I reclined in the tall grass and watched clouds. From my bed of grass and earth I could see nothing of this man-made world, could only hear the soft wind through the grass and the crunch of dried leaves beneath my head as it moved ever so slightly to find comfort. The clouds floated by slowly, the sun lowered in the sky casting its colors onto my world and the occasional rustle of field mice put my body on edge, my mind thinking it was a thief or wild boar in the distant brush. 


    Perhaps I am childish, perhaps I let my mind go to freely, perhaps I am not mature or serious about the “important” things in life. But I was smiling, and for that hour I was miles away from the house, from any street or phone line. I was in a world and time where cars and highways did not and will not ever exsist. Looking to the sky as I was, the world around me that I could not see was whatever my mind wanted it to be, the thoughts and dreams of a young boy came back to me and the adventure of a young man still floated through my head and heart as freely as the clouds I watched floated through the sunset.


Just look up.