There is still 10′ of snow at Sawtooth Lake, so its good timing that we have been doing some canoeing. We launched our boats at Leslie Gulch, and headed up the lake toward a hot springs. We turned around before the hot springs, because the wind was picking up and we would be fighting the [...]
Outdoor Gear, Patents, and Outdoor Trips by Bob Shaver, Patent Attorney
Category Archives: Backpacking
Scout Backpack to Wilderness Hot Spring, and Morel Mushrooms
I led a scout backpack on the Middle Fork of the Payette in Idaho, and was reminded how delicious morel mushrooms are. It has been a wet spring here, and we found maybe 30 morels around our camp, and it added a bit of interest to the freeze dried menu. We hiked about 2 miles [...]
Bob’s Survival Kit
This survival kit is put together so that a hiker will have greatly improved chances of surviving a few days in the mountains. It is small and light enough so that a hiker need never hesitate to take it along on even a day hike. I have been on many mountain rescues where a hiker [...]
Titcomb Basin in Wind River Range, Wyoming
Just got back from a 7 day hike in the Wind River Range, to the Titcomb Basin. Almost the whole trip was over 10,000′ elevation. Our itinerary: Eklund Lake, Island Lake, Upper Titcomb Basin, layover day and day hike to top of Knapsack Pass, Island Pass, Upper Sweeney Lake, and to Elkhart trailhead. This was [...]
Baking Pizza on a Caldera Cone and Stove / Outback Oven
On a July hike to Imogene Lake I tried making pizza using the Caldera Stove and the Outback Oven. These two make a nice combination for baking any bread or cake. This is a view of the ingredients in the bag, and the Caldera Cone Ti Tri assembled. My version of pizza uses a cup [...]
The Outback Oven used with the Caldera Cone Stove and Windscreen
I really like the Caldera Cone Tri-Ti Stove and Windscreen. Its great for cooking meals, heating water, and frying fish. I wanted to add baked breads and biscuits to our meals, so I got an Outback Oven and began experimenting with its use with the Tri-Ti Caldera Cone. The Outback Oven, ultralight version, comes with [...]
Alice Toxaway Loop in Idaho
This summer a gang of Troop 100 scouts and their parents, and some family members, repeated our loop hike from Petit lake, to Farley Lake, to Toxaway Lake, over Snowyside Pass, and down to Alice Lake, and back to Petit Lake. The previous two hikes of this route were thinly attended, but this year, participants added [...]
Food plan for 8 day backpack
Here is a list of the evening meals we took on a recent 8 day backpack in the Sawtooths. These meals are for 2 adults, and they were very tasty. These taste better than freeze dried meals, are cheaper, and are less bulky. Pasta with Pesto Sauce and Salmon Bits, from Prosecutor’s Cookbook At Home: [...]
Spring Break Scout Hike: Grand Gulch in So. Utah
Troop/Crew 100 started the 2009 hiking season with a great 5 day backpack in southern Utah, in Grand Gulch. We had 4 groups of participants, who started at 2 different trailheads, and camped at different campsites over a 5 day period. Two groups started at Kane Gulch, and two started at Collins Springs. The shortest [...]
A Friendly Pika
It is pretty rare to see a It is pretty rare to see a pika, and being a few feet away from one is even more rare. It has only happened once to me, in 40 years of of hiking. This little guy approached four of our group, including a dog, went around us off [...]