A Journey to Ultralight

May 25th, 2019 Took a last minute solo canoe-camping trip yesterday down Masons River into Belfry Lake in eastern Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. After concocting a system involving several fleece blankets, I managed to unload my new 80lb beast of a canoe off the top of my car on my own. Pushing off at about 1pm, I paddled down Masons River from Gabarus Lake South. Battled a 40km/hr head wind coming off the nearby ocean once hitting the open lake. After a 2km paddle down Masons River into Belfry Lake, I paddled two more kms, making my way to the northern edge of the lake and on to the last of three large islands in the lake named Rams Head Island. While I was launching my canoe, a man told me one of the three islands has a Scottish pioneers cemetery located on it. abandoned home along Masons River paddling across Belfry Lake towards Rams Head MacLeods Island, MacIsaacs Island and Rams Head Island in Belfry...

The pack was blue. Bright blue, with a shiny aluminum metal frame. I walked all over the house with it, stuffed with my dolls and animals and my plastic bow and arrow and at times, the cat. I couldn’t wait to join my dad in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota, canoeing and hiking and fishing for 2 weeks. I was 5. The rule then, in 1975, was that if I wanted it on the trip I had to carry it. Dad wasn’t going to carry it, Mom wasn’t going to carry it, my 2-year-old brother certainly wouldn’t carry it. If I wanted to bring it, it had to go in my pack and I had to schlep it. If we were in the middle of the wilderness and I didn’t want to carry my prized stuffed dog named Emmitt anymore, well then that matted bit of fur was going to be left in the middle of the wilderness, all alone. That was enough to scare me to leaving the dog at home, as well as the plastic standing robot that actually shot darts with suction cups, the bow and arrow set, and my indian...

Description Traveling with a suit, a dress, or anything that needs to be hung can be a hassle but the Biaggi Hangeroo Garment Satchel will make your business trips and weekends away a whole lot easier. This ingenious garment bag doubles as a spacious carry-on satchel, so your days of lugging around a garment bag and a carry on are behind you! Once you pack your hanging dress clothes, simply zip the wide side panels up, and you're left with an interior main compartment roomy enough to pack all of your carry on belongings. The satchel’s rounded edges keep your clothes fresh and wrinkle free, and zippered pockets and a cushioned shoulder strap, provide practical functionality. Once home or unpacked in your hotel, the Garment Satchel folds completely flat and can be stowed away until your next getaway Features Two bags in one! Garment bag transforms into a carry on duffel, large enough to pack for a long weekend or to use as your carry on for a...

This is a story of choices. Some were good, some potentially deadly. Necessity and Planning After the first twelve months of fatherhood, I needed to pop the release valve. My wife had been able to get away for a long weekend in California for a bachelorette party. I hadn’t had an opportunity to get away for more than a half day for a ski tour. And, while I was exceptionally grateful both for the new addition to our lives and those few hours of touring, it wasn’t enough. I began planning. I knew that I wanted to take a solo trip. I also knew that I wanted to test myself. At first, I wasn’t sure how that test would work. I’d probably figure it out later. Let’s begin with a location. Colorado is home to vast swaths of wilderness. I wanted to be in one of them. I was also working with a limited timeframe, which knocked out some wilderness areas that are on my bucket list. Weminuche wasn’t going to happen. Really, the shorter the drive the better. It meant more...

I’ve been a collector of Blades since before my teens, and a retailer coming up on 15… or maybe 20 years. Drop has really been kind of an interesting experience for me, because I do occasionally get to see some unusual tech and sometimes EDC items that otherwise I might not have been aware of. And maybe it’s because I have a deep love of cutlery and bladed weapons, but I find myself trolling through the site looking at it what’s available; and it’s just it’s pretty much the same. And the bladed community here is just always confused me.. every single knife is about the same, they’re almost all drop points and although the handle materials change and brands change.. it’s really just the same knife over and over and over again... occasionally you’ll see a tanto or a slight variant; but rarely… and almost never a serrated blade. And I’m just deeply amazed at this diversion of serrated blades. And I’m just surprised there isn’t more of a request for diversity here.... and I...

And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...