Gear and Skills

Fishing for Fun & Survival

In a backcountry survival situation, FISHING is an excellent source of food, and in some environments it may be your ONLY source of food. During normal times, trying your hand at fishing with some of the more arcane techniques can also be a whole lot of FUN! As Hank Williams Jr once said, “We’re from North California and South Alabam’, And little towns all around this land. And we can skin a buck, and run …

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Gear and SkillsVehicles

TESTED: Lightforce Lights HTX2 Twin Pack

For the last ten years, I’ve had a pair of Lightforce Blitz lights on the front of my Tacoma – and they’ve been awesome lights.  Ten years is a long time to have any product, and it’s even more impressive when you consider that these lights have been outside for that entire time.  These lights have baked in the Arizona sun, and frozen in the Colorado winter.  They’ve held up to more than 150,000 miles …

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Gear and Skills

Long Term Review: Maxtrax Xtreme

MAXTRAX has a great product in their MAXTRAX Mark II vehicle recovery board.  They’ve been proven the world over, and everyone from special forces units to families out on afternoon adventures rely on MAXTRAX Mark II’s to solve vehicle recovery problems and so much more. In the professional guiding world, MAXTRAX are the only vehicle recovery boards on the market to be endorsed by the International 4 Wheel Drive Trainer’s Association (I4WDTA) Product Recommendation Program …

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Gear and Skills

TESTED: Baja Designs XL Lasers

Baja Designs (BD) calls themselves The Scientists Of Lighting.  While that title may strike you as the brilliant work of someone in the marketing department, ask anyone who has used their products and I’d be willing to bet that they’ll tell you their lights are the gold standard.   A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to check out a BD prototype light that used a laser to create light instead of the LEDs …

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Gear and Skills

TESTED: Offgrid Trek 215w Solar Blanket Bug Out Kit

I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide between adding a dual battery setup to the Jeep, or finding a better solar option for “unlimited power” when stationary.  Like most of you, I need peace of mind running the fridge in camp and easy access to power for charging USB devices. At Overland Expo East 2019 I ran across a veteran owned Canadian company that makes serious expeditionary grade kits that are ready for …

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