DNRguide.com - Guide and Blog

On portage trail to winter camp

For you camping and trekking enthusiasts who are holed up in snow country for multiple months -  why just wait until spring before you pitch a tent?   Today, winter camping is hot. 

Why?  Like many new developments, it is gear driven.  Canvas tents like the Snowtrekker create a welcome shelter wherever you might land & for whatever weather winter might dish up.  Heat is now an option.  With sled (preferably a long & narrow tobaggon) in hand, you can load a tent, food, clothing, sleeping bags AND a lightweight steel wood-burning stove - and snowshoe in to wherever your heart and health permit you to go. 

These little wood fired gems can not only dry you out from mishaps, but they will sweat you out of your jacket and boots even in sub-zero weather.  What had once been in many views a close cousin to a SufferFest, the day of just cold camping in winter is well nigh over.  Heat is in.  Some hot winter campers tend fires all night to keep things cabin-like, but many simply let the fire die out - relying on their sub-zero bags to carry them through the night.  Able campers can launch fires quickly for warm morning starts. 

January Day in BWCA (-22 below at night)

In addition to providing heat (and ambience…), the stoves are delightful “indoor” cookstoves that keep hotwater and coffee at hand, plus offer plenty of space for frying your fish - or bread - or really anything you enjoy on trails.  Most have a little warming shelf that attaches for moving things off the boil.  In many ways, it is the center of attention - if not the soul of the scene. 

What else is on the short checklist?

Wear wool - underwear, pants, sweaters, shirts, jackets, and socks.

Boots for serious warmth - and waterproof warm slippers for hanging out inside the tent.

Headlamps (and a good book).   

Sub-zero sleeping bag along with a Thermarest to keep dry & a second pad for insulation. 

Waterproof tarp for the sleeping area (for bottomless tents).

Snowshoes suited for the location.

Ax, sharp saw, and hatchet. 

A site with a wood supply. 

Get good advice or go with a guide for a great start. 

Don’t waste another winter sitting inside looking at your July memories.   In Minnesota, the BWCA is a canoe country at rest - just waiting for winter visitors.  Come see for yourself.  Or discover a white haven in your locale.

DNRguide’s blog on mini pontoons generated more reads than most other blogs to date, so it seems a follow-up would be fitting.  This summer I was happy for the chance to run a better video on details of a representative mini pontoon.  You can see it below.  The footage is of some Mitey Toon mini pontoons at the Northern Exposure manufacturing site in Duluth, Minnesota. 

Boaters with access to smaller or protected waters who want a low-cost easy boarding water craft with two soft seats will find a mini pontoon a tempting solution for getting on the water.  A pleasure boater will find the ease of use relaxing, and if you fish - the mini pontoon is sneaky quiet with electric power and normally comes with a 6′ by 8′ flat platform to work from.  And if you like green - but need power on the water - the totally electric mini pontoon could be your ticket.

Unless you’re in a social snooze and out of the news loop like Rip Van Winkle, you have heard multiple broadcasts about the U.S. government plan to jumpstart the auto industry with a billion dollars by enticing one-year plus owners of gas-guzzling (18 mpg or less) clunkers to buy a new more fuel efficient car.  If you have a car that qualifies and its valued less than the available $3,500 or $4,500 federal vouchers, the time to hunt for your next car or truck is RIGHT NOW.   Go to Cars.gov for information. 

Why RIGHT NOW?  The program runs from July 1 thru November 1, 2009 OR when the money runs out.  The PUBLIC RESPONSE HAS BEEN SO OVERWHELMING THAT MANY EXPECT THE MONEY TO BE GONE BEFORE JULY IS OVER. 

What does DNRguide think is the most important thing to do if you want to get the Cash for Clunkers money?  You must do business with a dealer who knows how to apply for your voucher.  Period.  The race is on for who gets the money - and the customers who buy from the well-prepared dealers are going to win. 

Normally a car buyer first looks for the dealer who gives the best price on the car.  With the Cash for Clunkers deal, your absolute first priority must be to find a dealer who knows all about the Cash for Clunkers program AND has the ability to process your car voucher FAST and CORRECTLY.  Only then do you go about making the best deal for the car you want.  Do not put any money down until you know they can deliver on submitting your Clunker information to the federal CARS program.

A pending super car deal means nothing if you are working with one of the many clueless new car dealers who haven’t taken the essential time to get organized to serve their customers with timely Cash for Clunker voucher processing.  Already, the inept dealers are trying to blame the government for the program organization.  In contrast, the smart new car dealers who took the time to read the 130 page instruction book from the feds, are making lots of car sales - and have organized to make sure their customers get the voucher money they are eligible for.

Bottom line?   If you want any chance to get the Cash for Clunkers money -

• decide immediately what car you want & would be eligible for the federal voucher.
• find a dealer who knows how AND can deliver on timely application for your voucher. 
• quickly negotiate a good deal. 

Everyday across the US, any number of the fifteen million outdoor enthusiasts who own all-terrain vehicles (ATV) jump on their four-wheelin’ horses and head down one of thousands of developed trails that lead across desert terrain, woodlands, high-country, urban woodscapes, and river runs.   Most riders return with stories and memories of vistas and an exhilerating scoot across the terra firma.  But each year, 150,000 of these same riders head down a path that lands them in the emergency room, and over 900 find their way to the graveyard.   Over twenty-per cent of these fatal rides happen to riders under sixteen. 

The original three -wheel ATV proved to be a human disaster just like the Chevrolet Corvair that was unsafe for humans at any speed.  Adding a fourth wheel took the much maligned ATV off of life-support.  Now deemed safe enough for normal humans, the market took off.  But like the recent 2007 report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission documents, even though a fourth wheel made a big difference in reducing injuries and death for ATV riders there are still thousands of injuries and hundreds of deaths that occur every year. 

If you ride, there are a few things that DNRguide wants you to know about that can keep you on the path that brings you safely home to ride again & again.  Safety experts, ATV clubs, manufacturers, and dealers agree that paying attention to these few items make all the difference for keeping fun fun on your ATV. 

• Take an ATV course.  All kids must comply with this, but the 90% male-riding ATV public will learn something.  This is information you aren’t born with - but can live by. 
• Wear the right gear.  Helmet, googles, gloves, long-sleeves and pants, and real shoes.  Nothing macho about taking a stick in the eye, or doing head plants without helmets. 
• Never allow a passenger on a single-rider ATV.  The simplest explanation here would be to post a picture of one of the many children who have died from parents violating this edict with their child.  Big people get hurt as passengers too because the weight distribution shifts to the back of the ATV, and flips happen.  If you like riding two-up, buy a two-up, and we will all give you a thumbs up.
• Follow the marked trails at safe speeds.  If understanding what safe speed is all about is a challenge for you, maybe you need another sport.  Getting launched off an ATV seat as a human missile takes the brag out of braggers. 
• Stay off public roads except to cross them.  Here’s the deal.  Cars own the road.  ATVs own the trails.  They stay off our trails.  We stay off their roads. 
• Booze and drugs don’t belong on an ATV.  If you are horrified at the thought of killing someone with a knife, what happens in your brain that you are willing to drug and drink while flying through the woods on a ATV and risk killing other people there?  Hundreds have died from this.   And some have gone to jail. 
• Children under 16 who drive ATVs must be supervised.  ATVs are not a babysitter.  When you buy ATVs for your family, make this a condition in your home BEFORE you buy them.  No follow rules - no ATV.  Period.  Twenty per cent of ATV injuries and death happen to children largely because this rule is not respected.  Is the loss of your children worth gambling with this rule? 
• Ride with a Ten Per Cent Margin.  You keep your money in safe places.  Why not your life?  Maximize every risk, and eventually you lose.  Nobody wins every time when you run the edge in any game.  Give yourself at least a ten per cent margin in speed, running curves and corners, traversing, and tackling hills.  Such safety is not an exact science, but if it keeps you from maxxing out limits - you will find your way home every time & in one piece.  That’s the best fun. 

Go to the ATV Safety Institute site for information on a safety course. 

Happy trails … and find the fun and safe path home.    Your DNRguide.