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Several years ago, I helped two men move a large turtle about 1,000 feet to a stream. They had been driving by and saw the turtle on the road, and saw me in my driveway. I got a hand-truck and a …

The situation: you are backpacking and are above timberline. Streams are ubiquitous, you are well equipped so exposure is not a problem, the entire party is uninjured and healthy. But a large, rapi …

The newsletter from the Virginia Wildlife Rescue League reported the following incident. A man, his partner and her 4 year old daughter were walking in Farquier County (a rural county), when they saw …

My question is motivated by the earlier question How To Quickly Warm A Tent, which generated a lot of interest, and one of the best comments ever on TGO: All I could think about after reading your …

This article [the one you linked in the question you just posted] makes me concerned about safety. I can't afford private tourist guides, and I dislike travelling in a group. …

This question is not a duplicate of either (1) Ice skating on a frozen lake -- how thick should the ice be?, which only asks how thick the ice should be; or (2) How to determine the thickness of ice? …

This question is prompted by two comments on this site: Sue, in What are these bulges? Are they harming the tree? and Erik, in What are the dangerous animals in Southern Nevada (1) Sue: "Have you be …

We had an extremely impressive thunderstorm last night, unprecedented for the fairly moderate Northern Virginia weather, and impressive probably in most places. I was glad not to be in a tent. I was …

As a general rule, I think it unwise to attempt, solo, for the first time, the sort of climb that one has no experience with, especially if it carries the potential for a serious accident. You have …

Wood ash As @Monster said: anything that stops light from reaching your skin. The OP her/himself suggested mud. All you need to get wood ash is a campfire, which you probably want anyway, in …

On a backpacking trip, calibrate the altimeter only at the trailhead and at places, such as a pass or a lake, that are marked on a topo map. In your comment you mention maybe calibrating the altimete …

I am reading Escape Routes by David Roberts. This is a collection of 20 articles ranging from a winter ascent in Iceland to the first descent of a river in Ethiopia, the Tekeze, a major tributary of …

Two parts to this answer: First, I am playing around with some statistics on assaults and murders in the US National Parks, and I am coming to the conclusion that the most dangerous animal in the outd …

Hyenas aren't closely related to wild dogs (1), but a predator is a predator is a predator, and running from a predator says "I am prey." How worried should you be if you come upon hyenas? The fir …

I can't answer about a small town in Canada, so I will answer about my own small town (really just a village center) in northern Virginia. I don't think there would be any great physical dangers here …