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Monthly Archives: September 2010
Photo Friday: Robert S. Donovan
Today we’re premiering Photo Fridays, a new feature on UpNorthica. Each week, we’ll spotlight photographers whose work will make you see the northwoods anew…
We loved Robert S. Donovan’s hatchet photo taken in the Boundary Waters. Macro pictures add depth to the often passed-over details of your trip. Can you hear the splitting of the wood?
More of his outstanding photos here.
Sea to Summit Delta Plate
Eating out of your titanium cook pot is all fine and dandy on a solo trip. But if you’re with a group, you may not feel like swapping germs.
Sea to Summit Delta Plates show that good outdoor dinnerware is about more than just being lightweight.
Made of BPA-free food grade Nylon 66, they tolerate your hot soup or cold mousse. Another nice feature is the hex pattern on the underside, which reduces material while keeping direct heat off your lap.
Each plate features a handy finger grip. The curved sides are deeper than most plates, which means your food stays in place. The Delta is odor and stain resistant. Throw it into the dishwasher when you get home. No special handling needed.
Weighing just 3.7 ounces, its not a big deal to toss four into your pack. They nest together without using up precious room.
With a high practical value and a low price point, the Sea to Summit Delta Plate makes a nice addition to your mess kit.
Buy here.
Boundary Country Trekking: Skiing The Yurts
What should you do this winter? Go north, of course. Adventure doesn’t hibernate in the Boundary Waters. Breathe in the frosty air while skiing yurt to yurt.
Located about 30 miles outside of Grand Marais, Boundary Country Trekking offers yurt-to-yurt skiing packages along the Banadad Trail, much of it in the Boundary Waters.
How do you get to experience such unique lodgings and hang out with ol’ man Winter?
Do the Northern Lights Make Noise?
The aurora borealis made an appearance last night, which brought to mind a recent debate we’ve had amongst ourselves: Do the northern lights make noise?
While the web holds up many personal accounts of ‘crackling hisses’ and ‘swishing’ sounds, there seems no conclusive scientific proof that they’re audible – to the unaided ear.
This Minnesota Planetarium video, however, features the fittingly ethereal sounds of solar particles hitting Earth’s magnetosphere, captured using special recording equipment. Sound artist Steve McGreevy travels to Canada to be there for the auroral show. We especially liked his descriptive names for the sounds: “growlers,” “howlers,” and “hissy whistlers.”
What about you; have you ever felt you’ve heard the northern lights audibly? Tell us your story.
Meet America’s New Favorite: Bear Head Lake State Park
North America has a new favorite vacation destination. And it’s right in our backyard.
Thanks to an internet poll by Coca Cola, Bear Head Lake State Park in Ely edged out better known parks, like the Great Smoky Mountains, by a land slide. 1.7 million votes secured the $100,000 prize for Bear Head.
It became popular because of two well known research bears, Lily and Hope. We suspect that many of those polled, however, are unfamiliar with the park itself.
If you can’t get to the Boundary Waters, check out why you’ll want to make a trip here.
Terramar Children’s Thermolator II Crewneck
Keeping the kids warm, particularly in the frost brushed mornings of the Boundary Waters, is a worthy consideration to everyone planning trips during the months of September or October.
This fall we’re taking the kids. How do we keep those bodies from becoming blue?
Layers.
Choose a good base-layer to start with. We like Terramar Children’s Thermolator II Crewneck with Ec2 Qwik-Dri. Yes, it sounds like it could take down a bear, but what matters is that the poly/spandex blend ensures that it wicks moisture, dries fast and has exceptional warmth with minimal weight. Top and bottoms weigh 6 ounces respectively.
After initial tests, the fit is true to size. And, because we know our kids will be wearing these for 72 hours straight, it boasts a antimicrobial process to help eliminate the stinks.
Finally, if you are saturated with a rare day of sun, it has a UPF rating of 25+ blockage.
Because our kids grow fast and we are concerned about cost, we are happy to report that you get all this coverage and durability for around $13 bucks, which means you can afford more treats for the trip.
Buy here.
“Man Vs. Wild” Video Game More Fun Than Eating Raw Muskrat
Every Boundary Waters camper has had to rough it at one point or another. But have you ever had to ward off a hooded viper, or drink your own pee to survive until you got back to your entry point?
Now you can, courtesy of survival expert, Bear Grylls. This fall will see the release of the “Man Vs. Wild” video game by Crave Games. It’s all here: spearing catfish, skydiving over mountains, scrabbling over “slippy” cliff faces… good clean fun (watch the trailer here). Even the grub-eating gourmet himself gives it his seal of approval: “It’s the only video game I’ll ever let my kids play.”
The Man Vs. Wild video game will be available for Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. And if you have to camp out in line to get your copy, just remember to bring a multi-tool and canteen.
Via Trailspace.
UpNorthica Reviews: Integral Design Siltarp 3
Mountaineers are protected from snowfall. Rangers get a break from the wind. It’s hard to beat the quality and durability of Integral Design’s outdoor products. Even the government uses them.
But isn’t a tarp just a tarp? Read on to see what we uncovered.
Just What is the Monowalker?
Works like a backpack, acts like a bike trailer, looks like a… wheelbarrow?
The unexpected design of the Monowalker is hard to describe in a word. Maybe that’s because this gear carrier purports to do so much: It’s a hiking trailer with a harness (and is that a ski attachment on the wheel?). Add on an extra wheel and it converts to a bike trailer. Or stow the whole thing away as a backpack, for the lighter loads.
Seemingly though, nobody in the blogosphere can decide whether the Monowalker is a good idea. And neither can we: While the thing can better distribute payloads up to 100 lbs, do you really need that much stuff? For winter camping, it could be more maneuverable than a pulk sled, but the wheel/ski could snag pretty easily in roots and such.
We’re stumped. So go check out the product’s site, watch the video and mull over the 900 euro price tag. We’ll let you decide.
Photographer Brian Pittman
We were impressed by this moody panorama of Koma Lake by Brian Pittman. See more of his well-crafted photography on Flickr, here. Breathtaking.
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